Drivers released after collision
A head-on crash near Plaza, Wash., shortly after 7 a.m. injured two people and slowed traffic on Highway 195 for a couple of hours.
Although their vehicles were totaled, Mindy L. Tussey, 25, and Stanley R. Bertram Jr., 31, both of Spokane, were treated and released at Deaconess Medical Center.
According to the Washington State Patrol, Tussey crossed the center line. Bertram swerved to the left to avoid the collision, but Tussey’s vehicle struck his when she corrected into the proper lane.
Tussey was cited for crossing the center line, police said.
Kellogg
Chairlifts may be fixed by Friday
Two broken chairlifts at Silver Mountain Resort should be up and running by Friday, a ski area official said Wednesday.
Mechanical problems shut down Chairs 2 and 4 last week, which left skiers and snowboarders without access to two-thirds of Silver Mountain’s terrain over the busy Presidents Day weekend. Only a few of the mountain’s Black Diamond runs can be accessed from other runs.
New motor parts were ordered from Doppelmayr Ski-Lift Co., a Canadian firm, but the parts were delayed at the border, said Cathi Jerome, the ski hill’s marketing manager.
“Our maintenance crews have been working around the clock,” she said. “We’re very optimistic that they’ll be running by Friday.”
Olympia
Committee shares spending plans
A House budget panel on Wednesday unveiled spending plans for cleanup of Puget Sound, as well as for courts, parks, economic development, agriculture and state computer projects.
The rollout by the Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government and Audit Review offered the first peek at the majority Democrats’ work so far on a new two-year state budget.
It’s the first year of operations for House subcommittees on general government and education. They are spinoffs from the Appropriations Committee, and their recommendations will be influential as the full panel produces a new budget in mid-March, said veteran Appropriations Chairwoman Helen Sommers, D-Seattle. Before now, the full budget has been written by the committee, in consultation with the policy committee chairmen.
The full House budget is expected to be about $30 billion, roughly the same level proposed by Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire.
CASPER, Wyo.
Search to widen for escaped killer
Investigators planned to expand their search for an escaped killer and his stepson to three more states after an air search in Montana turned up no sign of their vehicles.
Based on tips, authorities believed that Shannon Parazoo, 43, and Alonzo H. Durgin, 28, would remain in a rural area, U.S. Deputy Marshal Rex Fullmer said Wednesday.
Besides Wyoming and Montana, authorities also planned to look for the two in Idaho, Oregon and Washington state.
The men escaped from the Casper Re-Entry Center’s work-release program Feb. 9.
Parazoo was convicted in 1985 of second-degree murder. Durgin was convicted of aggravated robbery and aggravated assault in 1997. Law enforcement officials suspect that Parazoo’s wife, Rose, left with the fugitives and took her two children, 12 and 14.