Week in Review

Did you miss your news last week? Here’s a selection of the week’s top news items from across Snohomish County as they appeared in The Herald. For the full stories, go to www. heraldnet.com.

Sunday, June 18

Developer, city want more time for riverfront project: Five months after the city of Everett expected to hammer out a deal on a expansive riverfront redevelopment project, an agreement still hasn’t been struck. Oliver McMillan, the developer tapped to revitalize an old landfill on the banks of the Snohomish River, is asking the city to extend negotiations for the second time.

Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson planned to ask the City Council to extend until Jan. 31 the negotiating period with the San Diego developer.

David Chircop

Monday, June 19

Marysville residents fight crime, mischief in woods: Ralph Wilson followed his neighbors down the narrow, muddy path, through a tangle of blackberry bushes, into a wooded clearing surrounded by towering cedars. What he saw made him want to cry.

Several stately trees in Mother Nature’s Window, county-owned forest land bordering the neighborhood where Wilson has lived for nearly three decades, have been tagged with white spray paint.

The graffiti is just one reason why neighbors in the area are working with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office to gang up on crime.

Scott Pesznecker

Tuesday, June 20

Rule could thwart Medicaid recipients: Starting July 1, anyone using Medicaid, the federal-state program that pays for medical care for the poor, will have to prove they are an American citizen to continue to get benefits.

The move is part of a national effort to weed undocumented immigrants from state Medicaid rolls.

Sharon Salyer and Jerry Cornfield

Wednesday, June 21

County may take a couple’s home to build a pond: Thirty-five years of stories live on this acre of land. Memories of kids’ baseball games. A daughter learning to drive a stick shift. Children gathering for pet funerals.

Al and Karen Lansing might be forced by Snohomish County to kiss their land goodbye.

Their home might be bulldozed to make room for a new storm-water pond as part of a road project.

Jeff Switzer

Thursday, June 22

MySpace tries to shield teens: New restrictions to protect young people using MySpace.com are a good start, but they aren’t enough to keep predators at bay, experts say

The Web site announced Wednesday it will beef up security for its youngest users by restricting who can contact them.

It also has changes on the way for all users, who will soon have the option to limit who peeks at their personal information

Diana Hefley

Friday, June 23

Gas prices slip down toward $3: The price of gasoline is slowly slipping toward $3 a gallon and lower, a level that would have shocked many drivers last summer but suddenly seems like a relative bargain.

It’s been two months since most stations in the Puget Sound area charged less than $3 a gallon for regular unleaded fuel. And the average price for regular unleaded in the Seattle, Bellevue, Everett area stood at $3.11 on Thursday, the AAA reported.

Eric Fetters

Saturday, June 24

Airbus woes no big help, Boeing says: The Boeing Co. is not rejoicing at the problems besetting its European rival Airbus, Boeing’s top airliner salesman said.

“We don’t particularly like to see them struggling like this,” Boeing vice president of commercial airplane sales Scott Carson said. “It’s not good for our customers and it’s not good for the industry.”

Bryan Corliss