In brief: Climber missing in Rainier avalanche

SEATTLE – An avalanche on Mount Rainier sent a mass of snow cascading down a slope early Saturday, and at least one climber remained missing more than 12 hours later.

A search was under way on Mount Rainier for the missing climber and a skier reported in the area who may also have been missing, said Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Patti Wold.

Several climbing teams were overtaken by the slab avalanche early Saturday that occurred at the 12,500-foot level when a large plate of snow broke away from the mountain.

The avalanche was several thousand feet wide and ran about 1,200 feet down the Ingraham Direct Route.

A helicopter from the U.S. Army Reserve out of Fort Lewis airlifted two injured climbers and six rescuers from the upper mountain Saturday afternoon. Wold said those two climbers were flown to an area hospital and were in stable condition with lacerations and other injuries. A third climber caught in the avalanche was able to walk down the mountain.

Man arrested over lawnmower flap

TWIN FALLS, Idaho – A south-central Idaho man who police say tried to repossess a lawnmower from a Twin Falls couple faces felony charges of attempted grand theft and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he tried to take the wrong mower.

Police arrested 37-year-old Erik R. Jonsson, of Twin Falls, on Wednesday. Police say Jonsson’s plan was to have two men tell a woman using the mower they had hit her pickup.

Instead of going to look at the damage the woman went into a house to tell her husband, and police say Jonsson hopped on the lawnmower.

But Jonsson told police he stopped when he saw the mower had the wrong serial number, and was then confronted by the woman’s husband.

Jonsson told police he feared for his life and pulled out his gun.

Jonsson says he hired the two men because he expected trouble at the residence, but the two men didn’t do their job.