SEATTLE — Seattle is reversing its policy and will use road salt to melt ice from roads in future storms.
Mayor Greg Nickels made the announcement Wednesday. But Nickels set conditions for using road salt.
They conditions are: when at least 4 inches of snow is predicted or if ice is predicted; under extreme cold predicted to last more than three days; and on hills, on arterials or snow bus routes, and on routes to hospitals and other emergency facilities.
The city earlier would not use salt, saying it was bad for the environment.
Instead, it spread sand on its roads.
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:Police kill armed man wearing Nazi uniform
Seattle police fatally shot an armed man dressed in a World War II-era Nazi uniform after neighbors complained that several men were firing rifle and shotgun rounds in an alley.
Police spokesman Jeff Kappel said neighbors in the city’s University District directed police early Thursday to a house divided into several apartments. When police knocked on the door of one apartment, Kappel said the man who answered held a long rifle with a large bayonet attached.
The spokesman says the man refused several orders to drop the weapon and then pointed it at one of the officers. Two officers shot him several times and he died at a hospital.
Kappel said police searching the house found a large collection of German military and Nazi regalia and a lot of alcohol.
The dead man was not immediately identified.
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:Man killed; hit by up to seven cars on I-5
The Washington State Patrol said a man killed on I-5 near Boeing Field may have been struck by as many as seven vehicles.
Trooper Christina Martin said no one who struck the pedestrian early Thursday stopped. But she told a Seattle newspaper that in the rain and darkness the drivers may not have realized they struck a person.
Martin said the victim was riding in a car traveling south on I-5 around 3:45 a.m. The driver pulled over to the left shoulder, and the passenger got out to vomit. Then he wandered across the median into the northbound lanes.
The State Patrol is hoping to hear from anyone who thinks they may have struck something on that part of the freeway.
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:Retrial delayed in Seattle shooting
The man accused of killing one woman and wounding five others at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle won’t face a second trial until more than three years after the shootings.
Naveed Haq’s first trial ended in a mistrial in June. He was scheduled to be retried in March, but a judge this week agreed to delay that trial until October.
King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas agreed to the delay on the request of Haq’s defense team. But she also called it a “very unfortunate delay.”
Haq has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He is not facing the death penalty. The first trail ended with the jury deadlocked on 14 of 15 criminal counts.
Kelso: Deputies ID body from river
A body discovered in the Columbia River has been identified as 26-year-old Jeremy M. McLean of Longview.
The Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office said McLean’s parents reported him missing Monday night. A fisherman found the body Wednesday.
The sheriff’s office declined to release the results of an autopsy performed Thursday, saying it might jeopardize a homicide investigation.
B.C.: Avalanches kill two men at Whistler
A skier and a snowboarder were killed in separate avalanches at Canada’s Whistler resort, police said Thursday, just days after eight snowmobilers died elsewhere in British Columbia.
Police said the latest fatality occurred Thursday when a 26-year-old man on a snowboard was swept away on Whistler Mountain. A day earlier, a 37-year-old skier was killed on Blackcomb Mountain, also part of the ski area.
In both cases, police said the men were in areas that were marked off-limits. Whistler will be the site of the alpine events in the 2010 Winter Olympics.
On Sunday, eight snowmobilers died in back-to-back avalanches near Fernie, B.C. Three others in their group survived.
There are currently avalanche warnings in affect for much of southern British Columbia, including both Whistler and Fernie.
Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed said avalanches are common but said this season is particularly dangerous.
“The particular conditions we have at the moment are not your normal coastal snowpack. It might be taking some of the skiers by surprise,” Melamed said.
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:2 Canadian tourists shot in Mexican bar
Two Canadian tourists have been hospitalized with gunshot wounds after assailants opened fire at a nightclub in the resort town of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Baja California state police investigator Omar Barajas says the gunmen fled after the shooting early Tuesday at Mermaid’s Table Dance bar. No arrests have been made.
Barajas released the names of two men from Vancouver, B.C., Thursday. But they could not be confirmed with the Canadian Embassy, which was closed for New Year’s Day.
A security guard at the club was also wounded.
The two tourists are listed in stable condition.
Associated Press
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