In brief: Truck driver dies in West Side accident

A 49-year-old Colville man died in a single-vehicle accident Monday morning near McKenna, Wash., after the commercial truck he was driving rolled in the area of westbound state Route 702 and state Route 507. Speed and poor visibility were possible contributing factors to the accident, Washington State Patrol Trooper Guy Gill said.

According to Gill, the commercial truck, hauling landfill wastewater runoff, was westbound on Route 702 around 7:30 a.m. when it drove through an intersection, then rolled, killing the driver and spilling about 3,000 gallons of wastewater. Visibility was poor due to fog. The driver likely over-corrected once he noticed the intersection, causing the vehicle to roll.

It was not immediately clear if the spilled wastewater posed an environmental threat, although representatives of the state Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were on site, Gill said.

Traffic was being rerouted in the area, although traffic backups were minimal and both Route 702 and Route 507 were set to reopen soon, he said. The driver’s stepson was following his father in a similar vehicle, Gill said.

“This is a very tragic scenario for that family,” he said, adding that the stepson tried to save his father but nothing could be done. “They were working hard on this Labor Day, trying to make a living and now they have to deal with something like this.”

Group seeks to expand North Cascades

SEATTLE – A high-powered group of conservationists wants to expand the North Cascades National Park in Washington to include more than 200,000 acres of federal land left off the original proposal.

The Seattle Times reported they’ll face formidable political challenges. Battles to get Congress to expand parks and wilderness areas usually take years and are often opposed by those who fear new restrictions on recreational use or development.

Former U.S. Senator Dan Evans said protection is needed more than ever as the state’s population grows.

Part of the goal of the expansion plan is to increase park visitation by bringing the park’s boundaries down to Highway 20 and adding about $23 million in new amenities.

The park in north-central Washington was created in 1968. It’s one of the least-visited national parks in the country.

Tropical fish caught off Oregon coast

SALEM, Ore. – Off of Florida they’re called dolphinfish. Off of Mexico they’re known as dorado. When caught off Hawaii, they’re mahi-mahi.

Off of Oregon? It’s known as, well, weird.

John Boyer, of Salem, was at the helm of the Myrtle Bee on Thursday about 45 miles out of Depoe Bay, slow trolling for albacore tuna en route to his home berth in Newport after fishing the Oregon Tuna Classic tournament Friday and Saturday out of Garibaldi.

Something slapped the blue Eat Me Lures cedar plug on the rod of Boyer’s daughter, Cindy.

“We were like ‘fish on’ and reeling up all of the reels,” she said, “and I go ‘Dad, that fish just jumped.’ ”

Tuna almost never come out of the water.

“And he was like, ‘What?’ And then it jumped again,” Cindy said.

From fishing off of Baja, she knew just was it was: a tropical species known there as a dorado.

Boyer managed to gaff it and get it on board, about a 14-pounder.

It was a stunner for him.

“Never,” he said about a dorado being caught that close to shore. “I’ve heard of a couple being caught farther off, but this is a first for me.”

“A couple people said, ‘What’s that?’ ” Cindy said with a laugh, then added about the photos, “People don’t even believe me. They’re like ‘Oh, you Photoshopped that.’ ”

Hard to barbecue a photo, though.

Which is what the Boyers did on Friday night.

Seattle police shoot at car prowler

SEATTLE – Seattle police say they shot at a known car prowler in a parking lot near Seattle Center and the Bumbershoot music festival on Monday afternoon. No one was hurt, but officers arrested the man nearby.

<p>Seattlepi.com reports shots hit the man’s vehicle but not him.