In brief: Alarm system failure leads to death of 100K hens
A lawsuit filed by an Oregon egg producer said an alarm system failed during an electrical malfunction that halted ventilation at a brooder building in Washington state, suffocating about 100,000 hens.
The suit in federal court seeks $500,000 from the installer of the controller.
The Capital Press agricultural publication reported the producer is Willamette Egg Farms of Canby.
The suit names Spectrum Communications of Moses Lake, which didn’t have a comment immediately.
The suit says a circuit breaker tripped on May 10, 2013, halting ventilation fans in the brooder building at the egg producer’s Moses Lake facility.
It said a controller installed by Spectrum failed to signal an alarm for more than three hours, and the chickens died in abnormally high heat.
USS Ranger will be towed, scrapped
BREMERTON – Naval Sea Systems Command said the mothballed aircraft carrier USS Ranger will be towed out of the Puget Sound today on its way to be scrapped in Texas.
The USS Constellation completed the same journey in January to International Shipbreaking at Brownsville, Texas.
It will take five months to complete a 16,000-mile trip around South America.
The Ranger won’t fit through the Panama Canal.
The Ranger was commissioned in 1957 and was active during the Vietnam War and also deployed in support of Operation Desert Storm, the first Persian Gulf War. The carrier was decommissioned in 1993 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
The Kitsap Sun reported the Ranger’s departure will leave two carriers in the Bremerton mothball fleet, the USS Independence and the USS Kitty Hawk.
Ferry Tacoma ready for sea tests
SEATTLE – Washington State Ferries says the ferry Tacoma is ready to begin sea tests after crews repaired its electrical system.
The Tacoma has been out of service for seven months while its damaged propulsion switchboard system was rebuilt. The ferry built in 1997 lost power July 29 while traveling from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. Ferry system spokeswoman Susan Harris-Huether said a design flaw prevented a protective circuit-breaker device from working properly. That resulted in significant damage to the electrical switchboard components – and ultimately led to the power failure.
Starting today, the ferry system said people may see the Tacoma in Elliott Bay as crews conduct three weeks of sea trials.
When testing is complete, the ferry will have its annual Coast Guard safety inspection before returning to the Seattle/Bainbridge Island route in April.
Oops! First-graders miss school bus
VANCOUVER, Wash. – An entire class of first-graders at a Vancouver elementary school missed their bus because their teacher lost track of time.
One mother, Melanie Smart, told KATU her heart stopped Monday when her son didn’t get off the bus, then she was notified to pick him up at Salmon Creek Elementary School. She said she had to get a cab.
The school said it was an honest mistake and it does not plan to discipline the teacher for the error.
Find bathrooms and you’ll be flush
SEATTLE – It’s a job that might make you flush: Find easily accessible restrooms for Seattle-area bus drivers and get paid nearly $100,000 a year.
Bus service provider King County Metro Transit is looking to hire a “comfort station coordinator,” which comes with an annual salary as high as $97,000, depending on experience.
Metro Transit spokesman Jeff Switzer told KOMO television station in Seattle that the agency has a legal obligation to find access to bathrooms for the 2,600 drivers who keep the community moving.
The state Department of Labor and Industries cited Metro Transit last November after an audit found its drivers had not been provided unrestricted access to restrooms and some even wore diapers.