Northwest Briefly: UW wins grant to reduce energy use at hospitals

SEATTLE — The University of Washington has won a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to reduce energy use at hospitals in the northwest.

The UW on Saturday said the grant will be used to create hospital and health facilities that cut energy consumption by more than 60 percent.

A team of UW researchers has shown their energy-reducing strategies add only about 2 percent in additional costs. The UW said several Washington state hospitals have used those ideas or are considering using them.

Seattle man sentenced to 20 years in prison for rape

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A Lake Forest Park man accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl after his teenage son brought the girl to their home has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

KOMO-TV reported the father, Victor Casarez Sr., said at his hearing Friday in King County Superior Court that he deserved the death penalty for what he did.

The son, Victor Casarez Jr., got a six-month jail sentence.

The suburban Shoreline girl contacted police to say she was drugged, sexually assaulted and photographed on July 21 after she went to the house with the 18-year-old son, whom she knew from school.

Fidalgo Bay: Red tide closes shellfish harvest

Washington state health officials have closed Fidalgo Bay to recreational shellfish harvesting because of potentially deadly levels of paralytic shellfish poison, or red tide.

The Skagit Valley Herald reported the beach was closed Friday and will remain closed until sampling incidates toxin levels have declined.

Recreational harvest closures also are in effect in Whatcom and San Juan counties.

Bellingham: Man arrested after fatal shooting

A 28-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a fatal shooting at a Bellingham apartment complex early Saturday.

Police spokesman Mark Young said officers called to the apartment building on reports of gunshots found the body of 49-year-old Bradly Bilsborough.

KOMO-TV reported both men lived at the apartment building, though not in the same unit.

Ore.: Stepmother of missing boy to take polygraph

The stepmother of missing Oregon boy Kyron Horman was scheduled to take a second polygraph test Saturday, a friend of the woman told The Oregonian newspaper.

Jaymie Finster, who has known Terri Horman since junior high, said Horman already took one polygraph test and is scheduled for a second. She said Horman is “not very happy about it.”

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office declined to confirm the friend’s claim and won’t say who has or has not been given a lie-detector test.

Oregon man accused of passing counterfeit money

Police arrested a man accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill at a Roseburg gas station.

The authorities said 22-year-old Tyler Cox of Glide had more fake bills in his possession when an officer stopped him Thursday. He was lodged at the Douglas County jail on forgery charges.

Roseburg police Sgt. Aaron Dunbar said officers have seen a recent uptick in the number of forged bills. He said the majority of bills that police recover are of low quality.

Police say Oregon man confessed to girl’s death

A southern Oregon man told police he “went psycho” when he stabbed his 17-year-old girlfriend more than 30 times, according to court records.

Nathanial Lee Geith, 25, of Grants Pass, has been arraigned on a murder charge in the death of Savanna Albertson. He is being held in the Josephine County Jail pending a bail hearing.

An affidavit filed with the court said Geith told officers that Albertson came at him with a knife. After he took it away from her, he allegedly stabbed her 33 times and bit her face. Geith told police he “overreacted,” “snapped” and “went psycho.”

Oregon man killed in mining-cave collapse

An Eastern Oregon man died Saturday when the walls of a mining cave collapsed on him.

Senior Trooper Tracy Howard of the Oregon State Police said 42-year-old Jose Aguiar Jr. was digging inside a small cave along the Burnt River in Baker County when the rock and dirt wall gave way.

Two men and a boy with Aguiar were not hurt.

Associated Press

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