SEATAC – For 25 minutes in the wee hours of April 11, the control tower at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport did not respond to airplane traffic.
“There were two planes affected – one trying to take off and one trying to come in,” airport spokesman Bob Parker said Monday.
The unexplained silence, which started about 3 a.m. that day, ended when a Port of Seattle staff member drove to the guard shack at the base of the control tower.
“They went over to the guard shack at the tower and he (the guard) was able to raise someone,” Parker said.
The matter is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees air traffic control, KING-TV reported. Associated Press calls to the agency’s local office after business hours Monday were not immediately returned.
Associated Press
Walla Walla: 44-day prison lockdown ends
The longest lockdown at the Washington State Penitentiary in more than 25 years has ended after prison officials began enforcing controls on inmates’ movement to work, classrooms and the dining hall.
Signs alerting staff to a heightened security level were switched to “normal” Thursday and about 1,050 inmates in the prison’s main institution returned to normal activities and schedules Thursday, Superintendent Dick Morgan said.
The 44-day lockdown was the longest stretch that extra security measures were in place since the penitentiary was locked down for 84 days in 1979.
The prison’s main institution was put on full lockdown March 1 after an inmate injured three staff members. That attack followed one on Feb. 26 that injured one corrections officer.
Officials said both assaults were by inmates disgruntled about new dining hall procedures. The lockdown did not affect medium- and minimum-security areas.
Associated Press
D.C.: Cantwell retains big lead in fundraising
Republican Mike McGavick raised more than $1.2 million in the first three months of the year, but still trails incumbent U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., in the race for campaign cash.
Cantwell, who is seeking her second six-year term, raised more than $1.8 million in the first three months of the year and had a whopping $5.6 million cash on hand as of March 31, according to new campaign finance reports.
McGavick has $896,000 in cash, his campaign said.
McGavick, the former head of insurance provider Safeco Corp., has raised about $2.7 million since entering the Senate race last year. Cantwell has raised more than $13 million during her five years in office.
The reports for the three months ended March 31 came as Vice President Dick Cheney headlined a fundraising event for McGavick in Spokane on Monday. Cheney also addressed troops at Fairchild Air Force Base.
Associated Press
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