NORTH BEND – A late snowstorm near the end of one of the driest winters on record closed I-90 on Snoqualmie Pass for several hours, and blowing dust bedeviled the lower Yakima Valley.
The freeway, Washington’s principal east-west route, was reopened in both directions shortly after midnight after being closed for several hours because of numerous vehicle spinouts between Easton and the Edgewick interchange east of North Bend, troopers said.
“There’s a lot of snow up there,” trooper Kelly Spangler said.
A number of Eastern Washington highways were closed Wednesday because of the high winds and dust. The State Patrol reported a chain-reaction pileup in Sunnyside after dust obscured Highway 241.
Associated Press
Amboy: Officer’s death is under investigation
An autopsy conducted Wednesday revealed no obvious cause for the death of state trooper Scott Piva, 35, whose body was found in his home Tuesday morning. The Clark County medical examiner is awaiting the results of lab and toxicology tests that could reveal what happened, officials said. The death did not appear to be suicide or involve any foul play, sheriff’s Sgt. Craig Hogman said Tuesday.
The Columbian
Bellingham: 2 rescued from their sinking boat
Two Blaine men were rescued from their sinking boat Wednesday just outside Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham. Shortly after 1 p.m., boat owner Charlie Gorsuch used his cell phone to call for help when his 33-foot boat started taking on water, Sr. Chief Clifford Hohl of the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Bellingham said. The Coast Guard arrived within 10 minutes and took Gorsuch and his passenger off the boat. The Coast Guard crew was unable to pump the water out of the boat before it sank.
Bellingham Herald
Renton: Teen may be tried as adult in slaying
Prosecutors say a 16-year-old Renton boy told friends he’d had it with his mother, so he killed her. “I don’t feel bad about it,” and “She was coming at me. … She wouldn’t stop screaming,” were among the boy’s statements, senior deputy prosecutor Erin Ehlert told a judge in juvenile court Wednesday. Prosecutors intend to charge Frank as an adult with first-degree murder. Frank was arrested Tuesday for the murder of his mother, Melody Maddox. Her body was found Sunday stuffed in a recycling bin outside the apartment building where she lived with her son. The King County medical examiner determined that she was strangled to death.
King County Journal
Kirkland: Tent camp invited back to church
The Eastside’s roving camp of homeless men and women has been invited to pitch its tents for 90 days at Lake Washington United Methodist Church in May. One woman said the proposed campsite with its noise and portable toilets would disrupt an otherwise calm and peaceful neighborhood. “Everybody in Kirkland cares about the homeless, but why is Kirkland the only city housing the tent cities?” said Deirdre Johnson, a neighbor of the church. “I think it’s time other cities step up to the plate. You don’t see a tent city at Mercer Island Presbyterian or St. Thomas Episcopal in Medina.”
King County Journal
Bellevue: Suit filed over fatal gas explosion
The family of a woman fatally burned in a natural gas explosion at her home in September has filed a wrongful death suit against Puget Sound Energy. Frances Schmitz, 68, suffered severe burns in the blast Sept. 2. She died Sept. 25. Her three surviving children filed the civil lawsuit in King County Superior Court.
King County Journal
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