In brief: Couple shot, wounded while getting into vehicle
WALLA WALLA – A shooting at Sixth Avenue and Moore Street early Saturday resulted in a young couple being sent to the hospital with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, according to police.
The shooting happened just after 12 a.m. Saturday. Details were still unclear as the investigation continued.
Walla Walla police reported the shooting targeted a young man and woman as they entered their vehicle.
In an attempt to escape, one of the victims backed the vehicle across the street and struck a building on the northwest corner of the intersection.
The area was closed for several hours as officers investigated.
No suspects have been identified, and no arrests have been made.
Officials say old switch caused Coho ferry to crash
PORT ANGELES, Wash. – Canadian authorities say a faulty switch caused a 341-foot ferry to crash into an empty dock in Victoria, B.C., earlier this month.
The communications safety system failure between the bridge and the engine room caused the MV Coho – which was bound for Port Angeles – to splinter a government-owned, former floatplane dock that was empty, the Peninsula Daily News reported.
The Canadian Transportation Safety Board’s marine investigation unit determined Friday that the crash was caused by an old, faulty switch in the telegraph system. The broken switch was replaced in Port Angeles.
The collision still is being investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard, which is required to participate because the vessel is registered in the U.S.
The Coho has worked the Port Angeles-Victoria route for 53 years.
College to get FedEx plane, shipper’s 76th donated 727
EVERETT – Students learning airplane mechanics at Everett Community College will soon have a Boeing 727 to practice on.
The Everett Herald reported that FedEx is donating a plane to the college. The freighter is due to arrive Thursday at the school’s Aviation Maintenance Technician School at Paine Field. The handoff ceremony will be attended by FedEx officials and Gov. Jay Inslee.
This is the 76th 727 FedEx has donated during the past few years to aviation schools, community airports and fire departments for training purposes. The cargo company retired its last 727 from the fleet earlier this summer. It’s replacing the 727s with Boeing 757 freighters.
Snowmobile makers seek judge’s OK to join appeal
BOISE – An organization representing snowmobile manufacturers is asking a federal judge to let it bring an appeal of rules governing the use of snowmobiles in national forests.
The International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association filed the motion to intervene in Boise’s U.S. District Court on Thursday in a lawsuit brought by the Idaho-based Winter Wildlands Alliance against the U.S. Forest Service.
The Winter Wildlands Alliance won the lawsuit earlier this year when U.S. District Judge Ronald Bush agreed with the group’s contention that the Forest Service was wrongly excluding snowmobiles from a requirement that forests must create travel management rules for motorized vehicles in national forests. Now the snowmobile group hopes to appeal that finding to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but first it must get permission to join the lawsuit.