In brief: War contractor found negligent

PORTLAND – A jury on Friday ordered an American military contractor to pay $85 million after finding it guilty of negligence for illnesses suffered by a dozen Oregon soldiers who guarded an oilfield water plant during the Iraq war.

After a three-week trial, the jury deliberated for just two days before reaching a decision against the contractor, Kellogg Brown and Root.

The suit was the first concerning soldiers’ exposure to a toxin at a water plant in southern Iraq. The soldiers said they suffer from respiratory ailments after their exposure to sodium dichromate, and they fear that a carcinogen the toxin contains, hexavalent chromium, could cause cancer later in life.

Each soldier received $850,000 in noneconomic damages and $6.25 million in punitive damages.

Octopus hunters report threats

SEATTLE – Some Seattle scuba divers are upset at two divers who pulled a giant Pacific octopus out of a popular dive spot within sight of the downtown skyline.

Bob Bailey and Scott Lundy said they saw the men wrestle the live octopus out of the water Wednesday and throw it writhing in the back of their pickup truck.

It was legal to hunt the octopus. But divers say Cove Two at West Seattle should be a protected sanctuary because of the number of divers who frequently visit known octopus sites in Elliott Bay.

One of the men who captured the octopus, 20-year-old Dylan Mayer, told KOMO he has received dozens of threatening phone calls and hate-filled emails. In retrospect, he says he probably could have gone at a different time and to a different area. However, he said, “I eat it for meat. It’s no different than fishing. It’s just a different animal.”

Girlfriend pushed into traffic, hit

SEATTLE – Washington State Patrol detectives have arrested a Seattle man accused of pushing his girlfriend into traffic, where she was hit by a vehicle and seriously injured.

Fred Colvin was arrested Friday for investigation of first-degree assault, the WSP said.

Trooper Julie Judson said a man and his 44-year-old girlfriend were walking Monday evening along the shoulder of Martin Luther King Jr. Way in the south Seattle area. Witnesses reported there was an argument and the man pushed the woman into the roadway.

The injured woman was taken to Harborview Medical Center.

Judson said detectives received several tips that led to the arrest.