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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Airport standoff ends quietly

From Wire Reports

Seattle – Police at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport shuttled people away from the southernmost passenger screening area Friday night after a man claiming to have a gun barricaded himself inside a restroom.

The man was arrested following a 2 1/2-hour standoff, after Port of Seattle police persuaded him to leave the restroom on his own.

No flights were delayed, and no other airport operations were affected. The man was not actually carrying a weapon.

Police aren’t sure what the man’s motives were, but they said there was nothing to suggest the incident was an attempt at terrorism.

“He said something about being upset because he needed to fly somewhere but didn’t have any money,” said Sea-Tac spokeswoman Terri-Ann Betancourt.

The incident began about 5:15 p.m. Friday when police received reports of an armed man in an airport bathroom. Coming little more than a week after a man attempted to detonate an explosive device on Christmas Day during a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, police immediately routed passengers away from the airport’s south screening point.

The man was arrested about 7:50 p.m.

Barber poles may spin again

BOZEMAN – City officials in Bozeman are considering granting an exception to a city ordinance that would allow barber poles to start spinning again.

The iconic red, white and blue poles stopped rotating in 1990 after the city passed a ban on all moving signs.

City Commissioner Eric Bryson recently convinced other commissioners that an exception should be made for Bozeman barbers.

But debate was cut short after City Attorney Greg Sullivan told commissioners the public hadn’t received enough notice of the proposed change.

Assistant Planning Director Chris Saunders said support is growing and that city staffers plan to bring the issue before the new 2010 City Commission later this month.

Ban expires on coastal drilling

PORTLAND – With the beginning of 2010, a three-year moratorium on oil and gas drilling in Oregon’s territorial sea is expiring.

Environmentalists say they will push the Legislature to adopt a permanent ban.

The Oregonian reports the Legislature might consider just extending the moratorium, or it might skip the topic if it has to focus its brief session on budget cuts.

The state’s territorial sea extends from shore to three nautical miles, or about 3 1/2 terrestrial miles. Congress has barred drilling in the federal seas beyond.

Oil companies are not expected to make a bid soon for drilling off Oregon’s coast.

Environmental groups say a permanent ban would send a message that Oregon’s waters are off-limits.

Snow creates avalanche danger

KETCHUM, Idaho – Avalanche forecasters in central Idaho are predicting considerable avalanche danger this weekend for backcountry adventurers.

The Payette Avalanche Center and the Sawtooth Avalanche Center issued the advisories early Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Idaho Transportation Department says Idaho state Highway 21 connecting Boise to the central Idaho town of Stanley is closed due to avalanche danger.

Road crews on Friday cleared an avalanche from U.S. Highway 20 that is a main route to the resort area of Ketchum.