Region in brief: Nobel Prize-winning UW medical researcher dies

SEATTLE – A University of Washington scientist who was awarded the 1992 Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering a biological switch in cells has died. Dr. Edwin G. Krebs was 91.

University officials say Krebs passed away from progressive heart failure complications on Monday.

Krebs joined the UW’s School of Medicine in 1948. In the 1950s, Krebs and a colleague discovered that enzymes that help release energy in cells can be activated and de-activated by the presence of phosphate.

Their work was heralded years later, as more scientists discovered that phosphate is a key regulator of many cellular activities and the human body’s metabolic processes.

Bureau ranks Washington as 13th most populous state

SEATTLE – The U.S. Census Bureau says Washington has grown by about 98,000 people since last year and is now the 13th-largest state by population.

Reapportionment expert Kimball Brace says the state could gain a 10th congressional seat after the 2010 census if those population trends continue. A report by Brace’s Election Data Services, Inc., on Wednesday lists Washington among a handful of states that could gain a seat, while 10 or 11 states are likely to lose seats after the 2010 numbers are released.

The Census Bureau released figures Wednesday showing Washington with an estimated population of more than 6.66 million as of July 1. That’s up 1.5 percent from the July 1, 2008, estimate of about 6.57 million.

Washington has grown by about 13 percent since the 2000 census, gaining 770,000 people.

Men sentenced to fines, jail for buying gall bladders

A Curlew, Wash., man who purchased bear gall bladders from undercover officers will spend a year in jail and pay a $3,000 fine for illegal trafficking of wildlife.

William A. Page, 63, admitted buying 35 gall bladders in 2007 and 2008, including 17 he purchased from undercover Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers for $1,600, officials said. He was sentenced last week in Ferry County Superior Court.

Some people believe that bears’ gall bladders have healing powers, said Mike Cenci, WDFW’s deputy chief of enforcement. Buying or selling the gall bladders is a crime in Washington.

In a separate incident, the owner of JAX Market in Spokane was fined $1,000 for buying four bear gall bladders during a 2008 investigation. Jason Yon, 51, will also forfeit the $800 he paid to buy the gall bladders.

Chopper landings OK’d to collar Idaho wolves

LEWISTON – The Idaho Department of Fish and Game can land helicopters in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area this winter to put radio collars on wolves.

U.S. Forest Service Regional Forester Harv Forsgren, based in Ogden, Utah, gave the state permission Tuesday to land choppers up to 20 times, to collar about a dozen wolves, the Lewiston Tribune reported.

Landing helicopters in a federally protected wilderness has long been a point of contention.