Northwest Briefly: Most of Mount Rainier Park stays closed for a week

ASHFORD — Most of Mount Rainier National Park won’t be reopened to vehicle traffic for another week.

The park has been largely inaccessible since a rainstorm Tuesday night.

The main access road, Highway 706, is threatened with erosion from flooding along Kautz Creek east of the park entrance at Ashford. Road crews are working to return the creek to its channel and keep the water from undermining the road.

Park Superintendent David Uberuaga says the Nisqually entrance will remained closed through Friday.

On the east side of the park, Highway 410 is open with some delays, but Highway 123 is closed at the junction with Highway 706.

Seattle: Parks board won’t ban nudists

The Seattle Parks Board has declined to ban nudity.

The board refused to change its policy at a Thursday night meeting despite a few complaints about naked bike riders and nude swimmers and sunbathers.

KING-TV reported some people saw more than they cared to in July when nude bike riders flashed through several parks. Others were offended by nudists in a Seattle Center fountain.

Police spokesman Sean Whitcomb said just being nude is not against the law, but showing yourself naked with the intent to alarm and offend is illegal.

Arizona man gets six years selling prescription drugs

A federal judge has sentenced an Arizona man to six years in prison for distributing and selling thousands of prescription drugs in the Puget Sound area.

Federal Judge Ricardo Martinez sentenced Lee Knox, 56, in U.S. District Court on Friday.

According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Knox transported tens of thousands of oxycodone, hydrocodone and other pharmaceutical drugs from California to the Puget Sound area. He was helped by two other men, who have already been sentenced to prison. The pills were distributed Kitsap and Snoho­mish counties.

Prosecutors say Knox made hundreds of thousands of dollars off the sales of the prescription drugs. Authorities seized $175,000 from his bank account and two luxury cars.

At the sentencing Knox said he didn’t know “so many people were dying” on the drugs.

La Conner: Historic cannery demolished

A century-old cannery in La Conner is coming down.

Demolition is under way to prevent the building from collapsing.

The Skagit Valley Herald reported three concrete floor segments are already falling into the Swinomish Channel.

The demolition will cost $560,000 in funds from the city and state Department of Natural Resources.

Town administrator John Doyle said the town acquired the property long ago from Louise Anne Conner. The building has been in the town’s possession two years and was beyond repair.

Walla Walla: Prison lockdown is lifted

A lockdown on a unit at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla has been lifted, although inmates are still under restrictions.

The 117 inmates in Unit D were locked down after a fight that broke out during the evening meal Monday when one prisoner hit another with a food tray.

The fight was quickly controlled, but two prisoners and two guards received minor injuries.

Prison spokeswoman Joni Aiyeku said Thursday that the inmates remain on “restrictive movement,” which means they can do their normal activities, but in smaller groups, until prison officials re-evaluate the situation.

Aiyeku says investigators determined the fight was a “spontaneous event” and not caused by a larger, underlying issue.

Aberdeen: Former union president found dead in prison

A former union president who was serving a life sentence for murder has been found dead at Stafford Creek Prison near Aberdeen.

Prison spokeswoman Sheri Izatt told The Aberdeen Daily World that Constantine Baruso, 80, was discovered about 6:30 a.m. Friday on the floor of his cell during an inmate count.

The spokeswoman says attempts to revive him failed and the death appears to be from natural causes.

Baruso once served as president of the Local 37 chapter of the Alaska Cannery Workers Union in Seattle. He was convicted of aggravated murder in 1991 for ordering the killing 10 years earlier of two fellow union officers. They opposed the regime of Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos who Baruso supported.

Spokane: Father convicted in daughter’s grisly death

A Spokane man was convicted of homicide by abuse on Friday for the horrific death of his 4-year-old daughter.

A Spokane County Superior Court jury decided that welder Jonathan Lytle, 30, was guilty in the long-running torture that led to the death of Summer Phelps. The girl was beaten, bitten, burned and denied food for long periods before she died on March 10, 2007.

Summer’s stepmother, Adriana Lytle, has already pleaded guilty to homicide by abuse and is in the Spokane County Jail awaiting sentencing after the verdict in her husband’s trial. She faces up to 20 years in prison.

Olympia: Political signs must come down

State law requires that property owners take down temporary political signs along state highways within 10 days following the election. The Department of Transportation says all the signs should be removed by today.

Washington voter turnout nears 85 percent

When all the votes are counted the secretary of state’s office predicts the election turnout will be about 85 percent. Secretary of State Sam Reed had predicted 83 percent.

The office said it looks like more than 3 million ballots were cast for the first time in Washington history.

Counties certify their returns on Nov. 25. The state certifies the election on Dec. 4.

Orting: Police expect shooting casualty to survive

Orting Police Chief Bill Drake said an armed woman who was shot by an officer is expected to survive.

Drake said Friday that Nancy Barnum, 55, is in intensive care at Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis.

Drake said a task force investigating Wednesday’s shooting at an Orting home found a note from the woman saying she was upset with her boyfriend. He says they also found the rifle she had raised at officers who responded to the home.

She had called 911 and told dispatchers she was upset with the friend and planned to break into a gun cabinet.

Arriving officers say she moved toward them aggressively with the gun so an officer shot her. She went back inside and surrendered.

Richland: Hanford nuclear plant shuts down for repairs

Washington’s only nuclear power plant will shut down for five days starting Saturday for repairs to small leaks in steam lines.

Energy Northwest said crews will take advantage of the shutdown at the Columbia Generating Station for other maintenance.

The Hanford plant generates enough electricity for a city the size of Seattle.

The power is distributed through the Northwest by the Bonneville Power Administration. Energy Northwest is a consortium of public utilities.

The Columbia Generating Station is due for a monthlong shutdown in May for refueling.

Associated Press