In brief: Holy Family announces grant
The Holy Family Foundation announced that it will receive $238,754 in federal funding for Holy Family Hospital’s telemedicine programs.
The money was part of an omnibus spending bill approved last week, said Terri Fortner, the foundation’s executive director.
The money will pay for equipment upgrades for rehabilitation, multiple sclerosis, cancer, surgical and emergent patient services, and new equipment at Mount Carmel Hospital in Colville and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chewelah.
Telehealth equipment links hospital information systems to provide better access to specialized care for rural residents, according to Fortner.
All three hospitals already share a telemedicine network used by the emergency and pharmacy departments.
Seattle
Man shot by trooper identified
An Olympia man who was fatally shot by a Washington State Patrol trooper on Interstate 5 on Christmas Day has been identified as 28-year-old Aaron Larson.
The King County medical examiner’s office said Thursday that Larson died of multiple gunshot wounds. It is ruling the death a homicide, but that only means that a human killed another human.
The ruling can be different from what police investigators and prosecutors conclude.
The shooting occurred in the northbound HOV lane near South 320th Street in Federal Way after Larson ran into traffic.
Officials say Larson took his clothing off, hit vehicles with his belt and tried to open vehicle doors.
The patrol said Trooper S. Michael Cheek used his service gun to shoot Larson after the officer’s Taser did not stop him.
The 36-year-old Cheek is on paid administrative leave as the Federal Way police investigate the shooting at the request of the patrol.
Kennewick
Teen enters innocent pleas
A teenage boy has pleaded innocent in court to killing his friend’s 41-year-old mother and 13-year-old sister last week inside their Benton City home.
Joshua A. Tucker appeared in Benton County Superior Court on Thursday. The 16-year-old is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and is being tried as an adult.
His bail has been set at $1 million.
Tucker’s friend, Donald L. Schalchlin, is charged in Juvenile Court with trying to conceal his sister’s death from his mother, and for trying to help Tucker evade capture by driving with him from the scene.
It will be up to a judge to determine if Schalchlin will be tried as a juvenile or as an adult.
Ellen “Lori” Schalchlin, the mother, and Elizabeth Schalchlin were found stabbed to death on Dec. 19.
Wilder, Idaho
Ammonia leak evacuates plant
An ammonia leak forced the evacuation of about 90 workers at a food processing plant in the southwest Idaho town of Wilder on Thursday morning and sent at least 18 to area hospitals.
Officials at CTI-SSI Food Service say an employee accidentally turned the wrong valve, releasing liquid ammonia into the attic of the plant.
Emergency responders say workers suffered nausea, headaches and stinging eyes.
John McGee, a spokesman for West Valley Medical Center in Caldwell, said there were no serious injuries.
Keith Dunning, a spokesman for the company, said state and federal regulatory officials have been notified and the company is also investigating.
Oregon City, Ore.
Woman well past legal limit: .55
When they got Meagan Harper to the hospital, her blood alcohol level was .55 percent – about seven times greater than Oregon’s legal limit for driving.
“You just don’t see numbers that high,” said Dr. Mohamud Daya, an Oregon Health & Science University associate professor and emergency room physician.
At that level, some people are so drunk they stop breathing, he said.
Harper has drunken driving convictions in Washington and Multnomah counties and was convicted in Wasco County of operating a boat while intoxicated, said Ryan Chiotti, deputy district attorney in Clackamas County. He said she is on probation for driving under the influence and is awaiting trial on another drunken driving charge next month.
A Clackamas deputy found her passed out in a car at a pizza restaurant on Nov. 28.
She appeared in court Wednesday. Chiotti urged she be jailed, under high bail, as “an extraordinary danger to the community.”
Judge Patrick Gilroy set her bail at $50,000 and told her to get help, “or you’ll end up dead or taking someone with you.”
Portland
Snowboarder dies on Mount Hood
The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said a snowboarder died Thursday at Mount Hood Meadows.
Chief Deputy Jerry Brown said the death was an accident that did not involve a collision. He declined to provide more details until the victim’s relatives are notified.
The death was the second at Mount Hood Meadows in less than a year. A 45-year-old Portland skier died from a skull fracture in January. Investigators think a snowboarder struck him from behind as he tried to get up from a fall.
Yachats, Ore.
Male body found at Oregon park
A person walking on the beach Thursday spotted a body in the surf on the south end of Yachats State Park, the Oregon State Police said.
Lt. Gregg Hastings, the police spokesman, said the Lincoln County medical examiner has yet to identify the body, which is that of a white male likely between the age of 35 and 45. The body appeared to have been in the ocean for less than 12 hours, so it not a 22-year-old man missing since falling off a boat Dec. 7, Hastings said.
Hastings said the man was shirtless, but wore blue jeans and size 12 Reebok tennis shoes. He had blue eyes, long brown hair, a mustache and his left ear was pierced. The man also had a large scar on his lower abdomen and a 7-inch scar on lower back.
There was no sign of homicide, Hastings said.
Bremerton, Wash.
Officer discovers deadly situation
A police officer went to a Bremerton home to investigate a report the resident was stealing electricity from a neighbor.
But when the woman opened the door Tuesday, the officer found a kerosene generator running inside. He immediately made the woman step outside and told her the carbon monoxide fumes from running the generator indoors could be deadly.
She agreed and said her cat had just died.
The officer told her that her home had to be completely aired out before she could return inside, but the officer wrote in the police report she didn’t seem worried about it.