WINTHROP – A woman police believe started a fire that burned two hotels in this Old West theme town appeared in court Tuesday as prosecutors awaited the state fire marshal’s report on the blaze.
Nannette Kay Lohr, 35, of Everett had an initial appearance in Okanogan County Superior Court. She was ordered held on $100,000 bail for investigation of first-degree reckless burning, third-degree assault and first-degree malicious mischief.
Prosecutors must file formal charges by the end of the business day Thursday or release her, Deputy Prosecutor Aaron Walls said.
Lohr appears to have started the spectacular fire Friday night by burning items in her hotel room, Okanogan County Sheriff Mike Murray has said.
OlympiaGregoire wants feds to re-examine power refunds: New evidence about electricity market manipulation by Enron Corp. should prompt federal regulators to take another look at Northwest utilities’ bids for refunds for last year’s high electricity prices, state Attorney General Christine Gregoire said Tuesday. In September, an administrative law judge ruled that the Northwest power market was not unfairly manipulated during the electricity crisis earlier in the year and recommended against refunds. But Gregoire argues that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should reconsider the case in light of recently released Enron memos describing trading strategies designed to maximize profits in California’s deregulated electricity markets.
Seattle
Three found dead outside casino identified: The King County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the three young men found dead Saturday in a car outside the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn. They were Javier Santos-Payan, 16; Justo Rojas-Martinez, 24; and Carlos Suarez-Vasquez, 21, all of Seattle. All three died from stab wounds, the medical examiner’s office said. The men were found slumped over inside a blue Honda Civic on Saturday morning.
Renton
Cars derail, damaging dinner train: Four cars derailed from a backing freight train Tuesday, damaging the parked Spirit of Washington dinner train and spilling diesel fuel and caustic soda ash, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad said. No one was aboard the dinner train and no injuries were reported, spokesman Gus Melonas said. A hazardous materials crew responded to the spill of about 100 gallons of diesel fuel from the Spirit of Washington locomotive. Also spilled were about 200 pounds of soda ash, which can burn skin or lungs, from a freight car that tipped onto its side.
University Place
Man fatally stabbed in apartment: A man was stabbed to death in his apartment in this Tacoma suburb, and a man who fled later turned himself in, Pierce County sheriff’s officers said. A 34-year-old man was under watch at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, where he was being treated for a broken leg and other injuries. The victim was identified only as a 68-year-old man. Sheriff’s deputy Dave Hall would not say what led to the stabbing or whether the man in custody and the victim knew each other. The man was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center and will be booked into jail after he is released, Hall said. A knife was recovered from the apartment.
Redmond
I think that I shall never see a cell phone tower like a tree: Redmond has withdrawn a demand that a cell-phone tower be disguised as an evergreen tree, but the requirement will apply to future towers, officials say. An agreement to settle a lawsuit filed by Cingular Wireless, VoiceStream and Nextel in U.S. District Court in Seattle was reached last week. The three telecommunications companies agreed to pay Redmond $12,500 in painting costs, plant more than a dozen 20-foot-tall trees to help screen the tower and place all antenna equipment inside the pole, assistant planning director Jim Roberts said. The three telecommunications companies claimed in the lawsuit that the requirement to camouflage a 100-foot tower in the Ardmore Park neighborhood would have added $150,000 to the cost. The tree disguise is made by Larson Co. of Tucson, Ariz., using PVC pipe wrapped in fiberglass, epoxy and fake foliage.
Renton
Demonstrators pray at site of slaying: Nearly 100 men, women and children held hands and prayed along a road where a white off-duty sheriff’s deputy shot a black man to death outside this Seattle suburb. Neighbors watched and some posted counterprotest signs during the demonstration Monday at the place where Robert Lee Thomas Sr., 59, was shot by King County sheriff’s Deputy Melvin Miller, 49. Miller was on paid leave for several weeks following the shooting, a standard procedure in shootings by law enforcement officers, but is now back on duty, although he no longer patrols the area where the shooting occurred, sheriff’s Sgt. Greg Dymerski said.
Wisconsin
Kent man pleads guilty to fraud charges: A man who tried to board a plane with nine blank passports and $44,000 in cash pleaded guilty Tuesday to making a false claim against the United States and having fake identification. Ousman Sillah, 30, of Kent was arrested March 7 at Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee after he tried to evade a security checkpoint. Authorities said he also had five different Social Security cards and five different driver’s licenses. In May, he was charged with making a false claim on the United States. Prosecutors said Sillah masterminded a scheme to use the fake Social Security cards to obtain fraudulent tax refunds from H&R Block in Ohio and Indiana.
Louisiana
Seattle woman killed in hit-and-run: A pickup truck drove onto a New Orleans’ French Quarter sidewalk, fatally injuring a pregnant Seattle tourist and injuring her infant son and the friend who was pushing his stroller. The driver tried to get away, hitting a parked car and a fire hydrant Sunday night. Bystanders held him until police arrived, New Orleans police Sgt. Paul Accardo said. He said Frankie Andrews, 30, of Seattle and Debra Couch, 33, of Renton were walking near Burgundy and Iberville streets when the truck hit them. Malachi Garrett, 22, of Gretna, La., was treated for a cut on his head and booked into jail for investigation of negligent homicide, negligent injury and hit-and-run.
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