In brief: Police disarm bomb found in parked car
Police disarmed a bomb found in vehicle parked in north Spokane Tuesday.
Montey Brown, who lives near the corner of Cincinnati Street and Wabash Avenue, said he found a cardboard tube with a fuse coming out of it in the car, which was parked with a flat tire.
Brown initially called police Monday to report the “abandoned” car, said police Officer Jennifer DeRuwe. Police who responded did not see anything illegal in the legally parked car and could not investigate it further.
Brown called again at 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, saying he had entered the car and found the device, which was wedged between the passenger seat and console. He then realized it could be a bomb and dropped it on the seat, he said.
When police responded Tuesday, the bomb was in plain view and bomb squad technicians with the Spokane Regional Explosive Disposal Unit responded to disable it.
Police have been in contact with the owner of the vehicle, but no arrests have been made. The investigation is continuing.
Suspect arrested in pharmacy robbery
Spokane County sheriff’s deputies responded to a robbery at the Medicine Shoppe in Deer Park on Tuesday evening.
They arrested 24-year-old Aaron Miller on suspicion of robbery and booked him into the Spokane County Jail, according to sheriff’s Deputy Craig Chamberlin. The investigation is ongoing; Miller may face more charges.
Deputies responded to the call at 4:28 p.m. and were advised a pharmacy employee sprayed the robber in the face with pepper spray before the robber fled the scene, Chamberlin said.
Shortly after deputies responded to that call, 911 received a call near the 100 block of South Fir Street in Deer Park. The caller said Miller was at the Fir address. Deputies responded and took Miller into custody.
The pharmacy was robbed twice in December, according to news archives.
Body found on rocks under Monroe bridge
Spokane police are investigating a body found below the Monroe Street Bridge Tuesday afternoon.
Police believe it may be a suicide, said police Officer Jennifer DeRuwe. It is unknown how long the body has been there, but police responded about 3:30 p.m. when someone reported a body on the rocks in the river below the downtown Spokane bridge.
The unidentified body is that of an adult male, DeRuwe said. The west side of the bridge was closed to foot traffic while officers investigated.
Avalanche danger, slides close passes
SEATTLE – Avalanche danger and snowslides have interrupted traffic across two major Washington Cascades mountain passes.
Transportation Department officials closed Stevens Pass on Tuesday evening because of multiple snowslides. No vehicles were caught in those slides. Officials say they expect U.S. Highway 2 over Stevens Pass to reopen this morning.
Earlier Tuesday, Interstate 90 traffic over Snoqualmie Pass started moving again at about noon after an 11-hour closure for avalanche danger.
Transportation Department spokesman Mike Westbay in Yakima said the Snoqualmie Pass danger was created by heavy rain falling on the nearly 34 inches of snow that fell at the pass over the weekend.
Flooding expected west of Cascades
SEATTLE – The National Weather Service has issued flood warnings for the Tolt, Snoqualmie, Puyallup, Pilchuck and Stillaguamish rivers because of heavy rain and melting snow in the Cascades.
On the Snoqualmie, the Weather Service predicts moderate flooding of farmland and low-lying roads from the town of Snoqualmie downstream through the towns of Fall City, Carnation and Duvall. Minor flooding is forecast on the other rivers.
A flood watch is in effect through Thursday afternoon for most other rivers in Western Washington draining off the Cascades and western Olympics in Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, King, Pierce, Thurston, Lewis, Mason, Jefferson, Clallam and Grays Harbor counties.
Gregoire to meet with governors in D.C.
OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire will be in Washington, D.C., this weekend for a meeting of the National Governors Association.
Gregoire spokeswoman Karina Shagren said Gregoire will leave on Thursday and return to the state late Monday. Topics that will be addressed at the meeting include the economy, job growth and childhood hunger. The meeting runs from Friday until Monday.
Gregoire and the other governors are set to meet with President Barack Obama on Sunday evening and Monday. On Monday afternoon, Gregoire will be at the Pentagon for an official meeting between the Council of Governors and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Gregoire is a co-chair of the council, a presidentially appointed group of 10 governors that focuses on coordination between states and the federal government on emergency response to terrorism and natural disasters.
Float found on coast is Japanese
PORT ANGELES, Wash. – Japan has confirmed that a black float about the size of a barrel found on the Washington coast at Neah Bay in December is Japanese, possibly set adrift by the tsunami last March.
The Peninsula Daily News reports it was examined in January by members of the Japanese consulate in Seattle who sent photos and measurements to Tokyo.
Consul Tetsuo Kobayashi said the float is the type manufactured by a Japanese company and used at oyster farms in Japan. It can’t be confirmed whether it was ripped loose by the tsunami or broke away earlier. Other black floats have been found recently on Pacific beaches on the Olympic Peninsula and Vancouver Island.
Ocean-current experts say more debris from the tsunami is expected to reach the West Coast next year.