3.8 quake felt in Portland area
A magnitude 3.8 earthquake early Thursday north of Vancouver was widely felt in the Portland area.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake occurred at 1:39 a.m. near the town of La Center, about 12 miles north of Vancouver. That is more than 30 miles southwest of Mount St. Helens, where many minor quakes have been occurring lately because of the volcano’s dome-building eruption.
The U.S.G.S. said it had reports from more than 300 people in Oregon who felt the quake in Portland and its suburbs.
There were no reports of damage or injury.
The University of Washington seismograph network recorded a magnitude 2.1 quake in the same area at 3:25 a.m.
Seattle
Second retiree dies from fire
A second person has died of injuries from a fire at an independent-living retirement complex.
Ione Henry, 88, died Wednesday at Harborview Medical Center, where she was taken after the fire at Four Freedoms Home in the city’s north end. Another resident of the seven-story complex, David Erickson, 67, was pronounced dead Sunday shortly after firefighters doused the flames.
Henry was a longtime resident and Erickson had moved into the 310-unit low-income housing complex recently, Four Freedoms administrator Virginia Merceri said.
The Red Cross is providing shelter to 22 residents displaced by the blaze, spokeswoman Katherine Boury said.
Investigators determined that the fire started when food was left unattended on a stove in a sixth-floor unit, and damage was estimated at $800,000.
Olympia
Washington to give Capitol tree
The Evergreen State will supply the official Christmas tree for the U.S. Capitol this winter, officials said Thursday.
The tree will be cut from the Olympic National Forest in early November and shipped to Washington, D.C. The chosen tree’s location will remain secret until it is harvested.
“Washington is home to some of the nation’s most spectacular forests and I am proud of the opportunity to share our state’s natural beauty with the rest of the country,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said.
Washington state schoolchildren will supply more than 3,000 handmade ornaments for the tree, and students may win a contest to attend the tree-lighting ceremony in the nation’s capital.
More oyster harvests closed
A bacterial outbreak has prompted state health officials to close more oyster growing areas.
Oyster harvest is now closed in all recreational beaches and commercial growing areas of Hood Canal, Samish Bay, Oakland Bay, Mystery Bay, Skookum Inlet, Totten Inlet and Eld Inlet.
Washington state has 86 reported cases of vibriosis related to eating raw oysters – the highest number of cases in the state since 1997.
The illness is caused by a bacteria, typically found in saltwater, that proliferates in hot weather.
In healthy adults, the bacteria can cause diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, headache, fever and chills. The illness can be fatal to those with chronic liver disease or compromised immune systems, but deaths are rare.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration advised against eating raw Washington oysters earlier this week because of the outbreak. Last week, the state recalled all oysters in the shell harvested after July 13 from closed areas in Hood Canal and south Puget Sound.
Packaged oysters were not affected by the recall, and cooked oysters are not at danger for carrying the bacteria.
Missoula
Pastures OK’d for brucellosis study
The state wildlife agency has approval to lease two pastures in the upper Yellowstone Valley and use them in researching and quarantining wild bison that roam into Montana from Yellowstone National Park.
The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission on Thursday authorized the $50,000-a-year lease with the Slip ‘n Slide Ranch.
The land will be used in researching whether bison that test negative for the disease brucellosis remain negative during a span of years.
Persistent negative status could help clear the way for bison from the park area to be placed in herds outside the region, the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said. Relocation would be a tool in managing bison that leave the park.
The current management plan involves hazing some back into Yellowstone, capturing others and in some cases sending them to slaughter. Montana also has a bison hunting season in the winter.
The wandering bison concern some Montana livestock producers, who worry the animals could transmit brucellosis to cattle. The disease can cause cattle to abort.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks staff members said the research is likely to run for four to six years. Use of the pastures will require some fencing.
The research is a joint project of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Federal money will be used for the $50,000 lease payments.