In brief: West Side sizzles with record heat
SEATTLE – It may not qualify as a heat wave, but Tuesday was toasty in much of Western Washington.
Seattle’s high of 94 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport set a record for July 1, besting the mark of 89, set last year.
Elsewhere in Western Washington, other record highs for July 1 included Olympia at 94 degrees, Quillayute at 91, Hoquiam at 89 and Bellingham with 84 degrees.
In Oregon, Portland had its hottest day so far this year with 99 degrees.
In Spokane, the thermometer only got to 88.
Idaho begins prison takeover
BOISE – The state takeover of a privately managed prison in Boise officially began Tuesday.
Idaho corrections staff have been preparing for months to take over the 2,080-bed prison – the state’s largest – since Gov. Butch Otter announced earlier this year he would not renew the $29 million-a-year contract with Corrections Corporations of America.
Since the state entered into a contract with CCA, the prison has been wracked by accusations of violence, gang activity and understaffing. The company operates the fifth-largest corrections system in the country, housing nearly 80,000 inmates at more than 60 facilities.
Shooting suspect’s bail $10 million
VANCOUVER, Wash. – The man accused of shooting a Vancouver motorcycle officer seven times made his first court appearance Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court and was ordered held on $10 million bail while he awaits charges.
James Todd Sapp, 47, is held for investigation of attempted murder, robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm in Monday’s shooting of Officer Dustin Goudschall.
Sapp has been identified by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office as a white supremacist member of the Aryan Brotherhood with a violent criminal history, the Columbian reported.
The 32-year-old officer was in stable condition Tuesday in a hospital, police said.
Court records said Goudschall identified Sapp as the shooter.
Goudschall’s ballistic vest apparently saved his life, court records said.
Feds cut ties with horse contractor
RENO, Nev. – Wild horse advocates dropped a lawsuit Tuesday challenging roundups at a wildlife refuge on the Nevada-California line after federal officials severed ties with a contractor accused by critics of allowing some mustangs to be sold for slaughter.
The Fish and Wildlife Service notified J&S Associates of Mississippi on June 23 that its contract had been terminated and the firm would not be receiving the $11,633 it was to be paid at future roundups.
The move came after Bonnie Kohleriter and Laura Leigh of the Nevada-based group Wild Horse Education claimed in the federal lawsuit that the service couldn’t account for the majority of the 140 horses that J&S rounded up last fall from Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge.