VICTORIA, B.C. – The British Columbia government is ordering Victoria and its suburbs to develop a plan to stop dumping raw sewage into the Pacific Ocean by June 2007.
The order came Friday, a few days after an independent scientific report commissioned by the area’s municipalities concluded dumping raw sewage into the ocean is no longer a long-term option.
Provincial Environment Minister Barry Penner said he directed the Capital Regional District to provide the provincial government with a fixed timetable for sewage treatment.
Victoria has drawn national and international criticism for allowing 34 million gallons of sewage to flow untreated into the ocean every day.
Yakima: Roommates die in murder-suicide
Two 21-year-old roommates and pizza restaurant co-workers were fatally shot in what police said was a homicide-suicide, apparently linked to depression.
Officers found David McDonald mortally wounded on a couch in the living room and Christopher Colepaugh dead on the floor beside him shortly after midnight Thursday morning in the rental house they had shared for a year and a half, police Sgt. James “Scot” Levno said.
McDonald, the father of a 2-year-old boy who lives with his mother in Yakima, died soon after arriving at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital.
Colepaugh apparently had been suffering from depression before he shot McDonald at least four times with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, then turned the gun on himself, Levno said.
Police said they found a suicide note and inflammatory remarks about McDonald on Colepaugh’s profile on the Web site MySpace.com but would not disclose the contents. Colepaugh’s MySpace profile was removed Thursday.
Selah: Students unearth prehistoric bison bone
A group of 15 students have unearthed what appears to be the leg bone of a prehistoric hoofed mammal on a hillside here.
The bone – believed to be from a bison – was found mixed in with what appear to be the ribs and backbones of a mammoth, which Central Washington University Professor Pat Lubinski and his crew of student paleontologists have spent the past two summers excavating.
A few inches above where the bones were discovered, students also found a flake, or prehistoric chipping tool, a find that makes the site an archeological dig also.
Ephrata: Grant County defenders improving
Grant County public defenders have continued to decrease caseloads and increase face time with defendants, a new report concludes.
In his second court-ordered quarterly report, Seattle attorney Jeffery Robinson concluded there was no need for the court to enforce terms of last year’s settlement between the county and the American Civil Liberties Union.
The county has wholeheartedly embraced criminal defense training initiatives, Robinson said.
Oregon: No charges for sheriff’s candidate
Prosecutors have decided not to file any charges against a former candidate for Benton County sheriff who exaggerated his academic credentials and work experience.
Oregon State Police investigated the credentials of Benton County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jack Burright after questions were raised about his high school and college education. State police said the two-month investigation included interviews with dozens of witnesses.
The investigation found that Burright purchased a college diploma over the Internet in 2003 from “Farrington University,” which turned out to be an unaccredited diploma mill operating out of Panama.
Associated Press
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