Police seeking fire victim’s car
The Benewah County Sheriff’s Office in St. Maries, Idaho, appealed Monday for helping in finding the missing car of a woman who was killed in a house fire Sunday.
Sheriff Robert Kirts said in a news release that Miriam Waltch’s body was found in her St. Maries-area home, but her car had been taken.
The vehicle was described as a 1988 Hyundai Excel four-door with Idaho license plates 3B18917.
No other information was released.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at (208) 245-2555 or, for callers in Idaho, (800) 222-1914.
Anchorage, Alaska
Tsunami warning mistakenly issued
A false tsunami warning was automatically sent to television and radio stations throughout Alaska on Monday morning, the National Weather Service said. The agency said it was not clear how the mistaken warning got out.
“It went out by mistake. There is no danger of tsunami anywhere,” said K.B Bennekamper, a meteorologist in the agency’s Anchorage forecast office.
The message, which went directly from the weather service to Alaska broadcasters, contained only a tsunami warning header. A real emergency message would have had text outlining which areas of the state were covered, Bennekamper said.
The Weather Service later sent a correction.
It was not immediately clear how the automatic warning was issued, except technicians were working on a computer and showing a new intern how warnings are issued.
Pasco, Wash.
Asparagus group’s checks forged
Checks totaling $63,000 from the Washington Asparagus Commission have been forged and a former bookkeeper is under investigation, the state panel has been told.
The unauthorized check writing was detailed Friday by commission director Alan Schreiber and private accountants at the group’s annual meeting.
No charges have been filed. The only person under investigation is Jennifer “Jenna” Watkins, 26, of Kennewick, Schreiber and Franklin County sheriff’s Detective Jim R. Johnston said.
Watkins, hired in 2003, did not answer telephone calls from the Tri-City Herald following the meeting.