SEATTLE – Organizers of the annual New Year’s Eve festivities at Seattle Center prepared a seven-minute fireworks display for revelers to enjoy under tight security.

The traditional event features fireworks bursting from the Space Needle.

With the national terrorism alert at orange, its second-highest level, the Seattle Police Department scheduled more uniformed officers and more undercover officers to work the crowd than last year. However, officer Deanna Nollette refused to be specific about the number of police officers on duty throughout the city.

She said commanders for the Seattle police and fire departments planned to be on duty through the night. Bomb-sniffing dogs and police on horseback also were part of the mix.

Space Needle spokeswoman Mary Bacarella said security for the fireworks show has been tripled since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Blaine

More agents added to border patrols: U.S. authorities over the course of 2003 added more than 340 agents to patrol the border with Canada to help keep out terrorist weapons, drugs and illegal immigrants, the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection said Wednesday. That brought the total to about 1,000 agents who are now working the northern border, the bureau said. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, “we have tripled the size of our Border Patrol workforce operating … on the northern border,” said the bureau’s commissioner, Robert Bonner.

Ronald

Underground fire hasn’t contaminated water: A coal fire burning for months near this mountain community has not contaminated any water sources, and authorities say the water remains safe for residents. Tests for contaminants that could have gotten into groundwater and water reservoir systems – the drinking supply for Ronald and nearby Roslyn – came back negative, said Nancy Goodloe, Kittitas County Health Department administrator. Kittitas County Fire Marshal Derald Gaidos said a plan to extinguish the fire has been approved, but he did not know when it would begin. The fire has been burning for at least six months in an old mine after being ignited by a slash burn started by R and R Heights Land Co., which intends to build homes in the area about 25 miles southeast of Snoqualmie Pass.

Olympia

State OKs child-beating suit settlement: The state has agreed to pay $180,000 to settle a lawsuit over the beating death of Zy’Nyia Nobles, a Tacoma toddler who was in and out of state care during her short life. The girl entered foster care when she was 2 months old after her mother, Aretha Sconiers, went to prison for cocaine possession. In February 2000, the state returned Zy’Nyia to her mother, who beat the 3-year-old to death three months later. Sconiers was sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison for homicide by abuse. The girl’s father, Willie Nobles, and his mother, Virginia Parham, sued the state for $15 million, alleging the state Department of Social and Health Services was grossly negligent in returning Zy’Nyia to her mother. Willie Nobles, 27, is serving a 98-year prison term for murder and was behind bars at the time of his daughter’s death.

Kent

Workers evacuated after chemical release: More than 70 people were evacuated from area businesses after a chemical reaction occurred at a metal finishing plant in south King County. A plume of gas was seen billowing into the air around Hytek Finishes Inc. at 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, Kent fire officials said. No one was hurt. Employees said the incident happened when the plastic inner wall of a tank holding nitric acid cracked, allowing the chemical to come in contact with the steel outer wall.

Tri-Cities

High winds blamed in state residents’ deaths: Investigators say high winds may have played a role in a weekend motor home crash that killed six members of a West Richland family. The father, who was driving, and four children were killed instantly Sunday when the vehicle went off an Interstate 15 overpass in Draper, south of Salt Lake City. The family’s mother died later Sunday in a hospital, Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Chris Kramer said. Four other children survived the crash, but one of them was in critical condition Monday at Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Kramer said. The dead were identified as Mark Mattila, 41; his wife, Marjorie Mattila, 35, and children Max, 7; Katie, 6; Marci, 4; and Adam, 5 months.

Oregon

Missing couple found in pickup: Rescuers found a missing Independence couple alive and well in their snowed-in pickup truck, three days after the two went to enjoy the snow. Corina Reynolds, 20, and Charlie Reynolds, 22, left Monmouth at 3 p.m. Sunday heading for the Black Rock area west of Falls City. A snowmobiler found the couple’s 1987 Ford truck at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday while searching the steep, heavily wooded area with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. The couple were cold, but otherwise in good condition, said spokesman Dean Bender, the county’s emergency manager.

Alaska

Oil tanker terminal closed: With the nation on elevated terror alert, the oil tanker terminal in Valdez has been temporarily closed at the request of the U.S. Coast Guard. Tanker loading was suspended Tuesday night and remained closed Wednesday afternoon, said Mike Heatwole, a spokesman for Alyeska Service Pipeline Co., operator of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Tankers load Prudhoe Bay oil destined for the Lower 48 at Valdez, the end of the 800-mile pipeline, which carries 17 percent of the nation’s domestic oil supply.

Associated Press