NW today: Candidate says illegal aliens ‘should be shot’
What’s news in the Northwest today:
KENNEWICK – City officials here should oust all illegal aliens and turn Kennewick into an English-only language community, a City Council candidate says. Loren Nichols, 55, a Navy veteran, said if elected he would push the council to ban illegal immigrants and order them to leave town in 30 days. “If they value their lives, they would leave,” he said in a radio interview. Illegal aliens “should be shot at the border. That’s how much I value America,” Nichols said.
Wenatchee police tell gang not to retaliate
WENATCHEE — Wenatchee police have contacted a gang that appeared to be the target of a fire that killed two children and warned it not to retaliate. Sgt. John Kruse says the gang was told retaliation would be very detrimental to solving the homicide. Chelan County Coroner Wayne Harris says the boys, 4 and 6 years old, died of smoke inhalation. The Wenatchee World reports the fire is being investigated as arson. Police say the duplex has been a target of gang activity in the past, but no one in the house at the time of Thursday’s fire is believed to be a gang member. The boys’ father suffered serious burns trying to save them and is in a Seattle hospital.
FBI raids Portland city parking office
PORTLAND — FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents raided the office of Portland’s parking manager this morning and served a grand jury subpoena for city transportation records. The Oregonian reports agents also searched the Hillsboro home of parking manager Ellis K. McCoy. The paper says the investigation appears to be focused on McCoy’s relationship with Tampa businessman George Levey, now president and chief executive officer of Cale Parking Systems USA Inc., the contractor supplying Portland’s multispace parking meters called SmartMeters. McCoy has been Portland’s parking operations manager since 2001. Three years ago subordinates raised allegations of kickbacks for city contracts, leading to an internal investigation.
Undersea volcano erupted off Oregon coast
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Scientists say an undersea volcano 250 miles off the Oregon coast erupted in April, just as they predicted five years ago. Oregon State University geologist Bill Chadwick and Columbia University’s Scott Nooner confirmed the eruption in July when a research ship took them to the Axial Seamount volcano and instruments confirmed it had recently erupted, the Corvallis Gazette-Times reported Tuesday. They used bottom pressure sensors to measure how magma caused the ocean floor to inflate before an eruption and deflate after an eruption, the paper reported.
Sales of Idaho wolf tags a fraction of 2009-‘10
TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Idaho’s hunters aren’t exactly howling for wolf tags this season. The Times-News reports tag sales for the state’s second wolf hunt are well below the pace of the first hunt two years ago. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game sold 4,717 resident tags and 175 nonresident tags through Tuesday. Before the state’s 2009-‘10 hunt, 4,000 tags sold on the first day and more than 30,000 were sold in total. Hunters killed 188 wolves during the first public hunt. Tracy Crisp, co-owner of West Addison Sportsmen Supply and Surplus in Twin Falls, says the hype of the wolf hunt has greatly toned down, but some hunters are picking up wolf tags when they get elk or deer tags. The state’s wolf hunting season opens Aug. 30.
Southern Idaho agency to use radio-controlled helicopter
TWIN FALLS, Idaho – The Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office plans to use a remote-controlled helicopter to spot illegal marijuana crops and participate in search-and-rescue missions. Local resident Mike Shetler has volunteered the use of his radio-controlled helicopter, Sheriff Tom Carter said. “Every year we find marijuana in the fields,” Carter told the Times-News. “This costs a fraction (of using a full-size helicopter), and the technology is unbelievable.” Shetler said the battery-powered helicopter weighs about 7 pounds, can reach 130 mph, has a range of more than a mile and has a camera that can stream a live picture.
Yakima prosecutor clears officers in 2 shootings
YAKIMA — Yakima County Prosecutor Jim Hagarty has cleared officers involved in two shootings in Yakima and Sunnyside. Hagarty said Tuesday that a Yakima police officer was justified on May 9 when he shot and seriously wounded an armed man outside a bank branch. Hagarty also says four officers were justified when they fatally shot a man on April 30 in Sunnyside when he fired on officers after a car was stopped. They killed 23-year-old Jose Carlos Campuzano of Grandview. The Yakima Herald-Republic reports Hagarty is still reviewing a May 20 fatal shooting by a Yakima SWAT team in Selah and the Aug. 3 shootout in Yakima that wounded a man armed with an assault rifle in a stolen car.
Returning Bend soldier finds home in foreclosure
BEND, Ore. — A Bend soldier on leave from Iraq returned home Tuesday to find the home where he lives with his father had been sold earlier that day back to the bank in a foreclosure. KTVZ reports Aaron Collette and his father Tim will enjoy the home they’ve shared the past four years for a couple more days before they expect an eviction notice. Tim Collette said he expects to file a lawsuit. He said he has put more than $125,000 into the house. He started missing mortgage payments when his construction business was hit by the economic downturn. Chase Bank won’t comment on Collette’s situation because of privacy laws.
Black bear shot near Great Falls
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A Cascade County sheriff’s deputy has shot and killed a black bear in a yard south of Great Falls. Sheriff Bob Edwards says the bear was shot at about 11 p.m. Tuesday. No one was injured. It is unclear if it was the same bear that was wandering through the south side of Great Falls Tuesday morning, hanging out near a motel but avoiding capture by slipping under a fence.
Feds reneged on land deal with tribe
MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho — The federal government broke its word over a land deal with an Indian tribe from Idaho and Nevada, stymieing economic development plans and resurrecting native groups’ mistrust for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Last year, a U.S. Department of Interior administrative judge approved transfer of a 26-acre parcel east of Boise to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, headquartered on the remote Duck Valley Indian Reservation. The tribe envisions possible gaming, agricultural and light manufacturing operations at the site in the middle of its aboriginal territory. Bureau officials confirmed the transfer last December, documents show. But on June 1, the judge reversed his order and rejected the transfer after the Bureau of Indian Affairs raised objections. Shoshone-Paiute attorneys contend this change of heart reflects “abusive conduct” that’s been the hallmark of BIA behavior toward tribes for decades. Bureau officials didn’t return calls.