SEATTLE – With the Northwest poised to become the country’s leading coal-export region, fights are emerging on several fronts. On the table are proposals to capitalize on Asia’s thirst for cheap energy by building a half-dozen terminals in Washington and Oregon that would export coal from the Rockies.
SEATTLE – It’s not unusual for an archaeologist to get stuck in the past, but Carl Gustafson may be the only one consumed by events on the Olympic Peninsula in 1977. That summer, while sifting through earth in Sequim, the young Gustafson uncovered something extraordinary – a mastodon bone with a shaft jammed in it. This appeared to be a weapon that had been thrust into the beast’s ribs, a sign that humans had been around far earlier than anyone suspected.
EAST SAND ISLAND, Wash. – It’s been a dozen years since the federal government moved thousands of black-capped squawking seabirds here to reduce their diet of endangered fish. Things haven’t exactly gone as planned.
SEATTLE – The decline in recent decades of the mountain snows that feed the West’s major rivers is virtually unprecedented for most of the past millennium, according to new research published Thursday. By measuring tree-ring growth from forests with trees more than 800 years old, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Washington are showing that snowpack reductions in the late 20th century have been unlike any other period dating back to at least the year 1200.
SEATTLE – For a decade, marine biologists have been trying to unravel the subtle ways sonar may harm whales and dolphins, which hunt and travel using echolocation. But experts peeling back the role of sound in the marine world are making surprising observations.
It’s been just 2 ½ years since Canis lupus took up residence in the rolling hills above Eastern Washington’s Methow Valley. But the gray wolf’s return to Washington after a 70-year absence has not exactly gone as most expected. At this point, it’s not even clear if the state’s first pack, the Methow’s Lookout Pack, still exists.
RICHLAND – It sounds like a sci-fi thriller: Dangerous gases build up in a giant drum of nuclear waste. It explodes and spews contamination, threatening workers or the public. Or it cripples a facility that cost taxpayers $12.2 billion. It could happen at Hanford’s nuclear waste disposal plant if radioactive material isn’t kept stirred.
We ate stewed clams and clam chowders and all manner of oysters: creamed oysters on toast, oysters in a chafing dish, broiled oysters on toast, oyster soups, oyster omelets and a rice-and-tomato-based concoction dubbed “a substantial oyster dish.” When a National Marine Fisheries Service biologist perused a 1906 Seattle cookbook, most of the seafood recipes involved shellfish.
SEATTLE – Moss in parts of the Hoh Rain Forest, usually damp and springy, now crackles underfoot. Boggy areas near the coast that typically hold 3 to 4 inches of water are kicking up dust.
SEATTLE – The authorities popped him near the docks in Port Angeles. On a March afternoon in 1994, a sleek fishing boat – not-so-subtly named the Abalone Made – came ashore after puttering around Freshwater Bay. The waiting cops nabbed the captain and seized his contraband: 188 specimens of a rare Puget Sound mollusk, the pinto abalone, a strange, fist-sized snail stuffed in algae-encrusted shells.
1. Drink specials change frequently during "Jerry Springer Happy Hour" at the One Bridge North tavern. The tavern's "wheel of specials" is spun every time a fight starts on the TV talk show.
2. Cameron Svenson, left, and Dan Knauss, center, and Evan Sprague react to an episode titled "I Slept With Your Lover" during the "Jerry Springer Happy Hour" at the One Bridge North tavern. Photo by Jason Clark/The Spokesman-Review
It could be months or a year before residents learn exactly what this year's legislative action on transportation means for Eastern Washington.
State lawmakers hit the road home from Olympia this week, after passing a Republican plan that raises $2.4 billion for roads and bridges without raising taxes.
The low-level buzz, usually constant in the Washington Senate, abruptly stopped as Sen. Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, shouted her disgust.
It was the last day of the 1998 session and a bill she'd pushed for months had been stripped of funding.
Brown dubbed the result "empty" and "pitiful." As a Democrat in the GOP-controlled capitol, it was a moment she had feared all year.
A bicycle safety bill named for a Spokane teenager was sent to the governor in the last hour of the 1998 legislative session Thursday.
Passage of the Cooper Jones Act ended what one House member called the most convoluted, back-and-forth battle he'd seen in five years.
Late last year, state Republican leaders gathered with flip charts in the living room of House Speaker Clyde Ballard's condominium.
Over a weekend, they set humble goals for 1998: Don't raise taxes, patch some potholes, help kids read.
A bicycle safety bill named for a Spokane teenager was suddenly in jeopardy Monday even though it already passed both houses.
The reason: Rep. Duane Sommers, R-Spokane, an original sponsor of the Cooper Jones Act, wants to alter a section that angered the insurance industry.
Remembering Cooper
Martha, left, David and Carter Jones sit with Eddie, the dog who faithfully sleeps on Cooper Jones' empty bed every night. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review
Technicalities and the governor's signature are now all that stand in the way of Washington State University operating a full branch campus in Spokane.
With little debate, the House voted overwhelmingly Thursday night to transfer responsibility for higher education in the Lilac City from a panel of college officials to WSU.
A House transportation plan marketed as a windfall for Eastern Washington doesn't include $18 million state engineers recommended for a north-south freeway through Spokane.
But the plan, put together by Rep. Karen Schmidt, R-Bainbridge Island, does include an extra $47 million to buy new Puget Sound ferries and do associated ferry terminal work.
Rep. Mark Sterk added $2 million to a supplemental budget request Tuesday that could help clear the way for large-scale development to resume near the Spokane Valley Mall.
The money would remove one of the biggest stumbling blocks to the delayed construction of the $23.4 million Evergreen Road interchange over Interstate 90 and could pave the way for Spokane County to start purchasing rights of way.
While hardly signaling an end to protracted negotiations over how to pay for the interchange, the $2 million is expected to help bring builders and landowners back to the bargaining table.
Spokane's health district appears to be losing a battle to get state money to vaccinate jail inmates against hepatitis A - in part because state health workers are lobbying against it.
Officials from the state Department of Health say there's no guarantee that giving inmates shots will stem the hepatitis A epidemic, and they contend the $150,000 cost is too high to justify an experiment.
(From For the Record, March 3, 1998):
Rank incorrect: State Rep. Mark Sterk, R-Spokane, is a sergeant for the Spokane Police Department. His rank was incorrectly reported in a Saturday article about his work in the Legislature.
Rep. Mark Sterk, R-Spokane, listens to testimony in the House Education Committee on Thursday in Olympia. Photo by Associated Press
1. Sen. Jim West, center, confers with Sens. Bob Morton of Orient and Ray Schow of Federal Way on the Senate floor. Photo by Louie Balukoff/Special to The Spokesman-Review
2. State Sen. Jim West briefs reporters in Olympia on the Senate Republicans' supplemental budget last week. Photo by Louie Balukoff/Special to The Spokesman-Review
The Senate voted Tuesday to let Washington State University control higher education in Spokane, following a bitter debate that left two senators red-faced.
Approved on a largely partisan vote, the bill would force embattled Eastern Washington University to seek approval from a citizens panel before continuing degree programs in Spokane.
