Washington news

• A very hungry caterpillar may help slow plastic pollution, researchers say

  29-04-2017 23:33
  
  Scientists discovered that the wax worm is able to break down the chemical bonds in polyethylene, a widely produced plastic used in packaging, bags and other everyday materials.
  
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• Hiker finds body on trail in Columbia River Gorge

  29-04-2017 20:30
  
  The man was in his 50s and died of natural causes within 24 hours before he was found Friday, deputies said.
  
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• Biologist: Orca attacks on gray whales up in California bay

  29-04-2017 19:54
  
  MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) — Killer whales are on an unprecedented killing spree in California’s Monterey Bay, attacking and feeding on gray whale calves, a marine biologist said. Since April 20, orcas have killed four gray whale calves in eight days, Nancy Black said Friday. Black, who co-owns Monterey Bay Whale Watch, says a family of […]
  
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• Thousands brave weather to protest Trump climate policies

  29-04-2017 19:28
  
  SEATTLE (AP) — Thousands of people across the U.S. marched in rain, snow and sweltering heat Saturday to demand action on climate change — mass protests that coincided with President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office and took aim at his agenda for rolling back environmental protections. At the marquee event, the Peoples Climate March […]
  
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• Marchers use Trump’s 100th day to protest climate policies

  29-04-2017 19:28
  
  SEATTLE (AP) — Thousands of people across the U.S. marched Saturday on President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office to demand action on climate change. At the marquee event, the Peoples Climate March in Washington, D.C., tens of thousands of demonstrators made their way down Pennsylvania Avenue in sweltering heat on their way to encircle […]
  
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• Turkey purges 4,000 civil servants, bans TV dating programs

  29-04-2017 19:21
  
  ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey passed two new decrees Saturday — one that expelled more than 4,000 civil servants and another that banned television dating programs. The country’s Official Gazette published the decrees Saturday evening. The first named thousands of civil servants to be dismissed, including nearly 500 academics and more than 1,000 Turkish military personnel. […]
  
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• Everett rape suspect’s phone privileges yanked after calls to victim

  29-04-2017 18:59
  
  The suspect is charged with first-degree rape and burglary following an October attack on an Everett woman when she returned home from work.
  
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• Invasive green crabs found off Olympic Peninsula

  29-04-2017 18:43
  
  Officials are worried the European green crabs could damage commercial shellfish beds in Puget Sound.
  
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• Whatcom County farmer accused of starving more than 20 cattle, pigs

  29-04-2017 18:20
  
  The owner of Snook Brook Farms in Ferndale is facing five counts of animal cruelty.
  
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• Police arrest man accused of watching Mason County women while they sleep

  29-04-2017 17:13
  
  Police say they found underwear that belonged to the victims when they arrested the suspect Thursday at his Tacoma-area home.
  
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• Seattle income-tax idea is worth talking about

  29-04-2017 17:00
  
  A city income tax would face legal challenges and open the economy to risk. But it might push wider tax reform where it’s needed most, at the state level.
  
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• Property-tax bills in King County are among the nation’s highest — and growing fast

  29-04-2017 17:00
  
  The average property-tax bill across King County has jumped 35 percent in the last four years, due to quickly climbing property values and newly approved tax hikes. For the buyer of a typical house in Seattle today, property taxes add $400 a month onto a $2,600 mortgage payment.
  
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• Greenhouse gases, cancer risk tied to proposed Longview coal terminal, report says

  29-04-2017 16:30
  
  An environmental-impact statement for Millennium Bulk Terminals was released to the public April 28.
  
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• Remember when May Day was, ahem, fun? Readers share stories of bygone times

  29-04-2017 16:00
  
  From a couple whose son was born May 1, 2013, at Swedish First Hill as protesters smashed windows a short distance away, to a woman who remembers May Day as a day to bring flowers to a neighbors, these area people are skipping this year’s demonstrations.
  
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• Mayor Ed Murray’s lawyers want accuser questioned first in sex-abuse lawsuit

  29-04-2017 16:00
  
  Lawyers defending Mayor Ed Murray against a sex-abuse lawsuit say Murray should not be questioned on his birthday. They also say the accuser, not Murray, should face questions first.
  
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• Mayor Ed Murray’s lawyers want accuser questioned first in alleged sex-abuse lawsuit

  29-04-2017 16:00
  
  Lawyers defending Mayor Ed Murray against an alleged sex-abuse lawsuit say Murray should not be questioned on his birthday. They also say the accuser, not Murray, should face questions first.
  
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• Campaign-finance case against the Freedom Foundation is sent to AG’s office

  29-04-2017 16:00
  
  The state’s campaign finance watchdog wants the Attorney General’s Office to review allegations over the Freedom Foundation’s role in last year’s Olympia income-tax ballot measure.
  
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• Spike in mentally ill LA jail inmates leads to new policies

  29-04-2017 15:59
  
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Perhaps the largest group of mentally ill inmates in the U.S. resides in Los Angeles in one of the world’s largest jail complexes. Over the past seven years, the jail’s population has spiked almost 50 percent — with nearly every inmate having both mental illness and substance abuse problems — and […]
  
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• LA jail adapts amid meth-fueled rise in mentally ill inmates

  29-04-2017 15:59
  
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Perhaps the largest group of mentally ill inmates in the U.S. resides in Los Angeles in one of the world’s largest jail complexes. Over the past seven years, the jail’s population has spiked almost 50 percent — with nearly every inmate having both mental illness and substance abuse problems — and […]
  
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• Kent School District halts international field trips over border concerns

  29-04-2017 15:00
  
  Worried about stricter enforcement at the U.S. border, the Kent School Board has canceled all international field trips for the foreseeable future.
  
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• Former Idaho inmate reflects on life in — and after — prison

  29-04-2017 09:01
  
  Two decades ago, Chris Tapp was convicted of the 1996 rape and murder of 18-year-old Angie Dodge. He spent years filing appeals and petitions, arguing he falsely confessed under police coercion. In March, he reached a deal with prosecutors to secure his freedom.
  
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• Skagit Valley Tulip Festival extended for a week

  29-04-2017 05:01
  
  There’s a silver lining to our chilly, rainy spring weather: Tulips are still in bloom at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
  
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• National refugee debate gets a small-town stage in Montana

  29-04-2017 04:14
  
  David LeBleu thought images of dead Syrian children on TV would finally change minds in the mountain town of Whitefish. But in conservative Flathead County, he was making little headway. Here’s his story.
  
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• Reichert asks Trump to reject oil drilling off the Pacific Coast

  29-04-2017 03:54
  
  Rep. Dave Reichert is concerned that a new executive order from President Donald Trump could open areas of the Pacific Ocean up to new offshore oil drilling.
  
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• Tax the rich? Seattle income tax lets the richest off the hook

  29-04-2017 03:46
  
  Seattle starts a debate about taxing the rich on Monday. But the proposal as currently envisioned doesn’t tax who, or what, you’re probably thinking of when someone says “Seattle” and “rich.”
  
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• Powerful quake rouses people from sleep in south Philippines

  29-04-2017 01:13
  
  MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 struck off a southern Philippine province Saturday and prompted a local tsunami warning, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Renato Solidum of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the pre-dawn quake was centered at sea off Sarangani […]
  
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• Amanda Knox determined to understand forces that put her in Italian prison

  29-04-2017 00:39
  
  Knox, now a 29-year-old journalist, said at a luncheon of the Palm Beach County Bar Association this week that her 2015 acquittal in the murder of her roommate left her not so much angry as determined to understand and communicate about the forces that kept her behind bars.
  
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