Byline: Seattle Times staff and news services
Skagit County
Cyclist killed in highway crash
A 52-year-old man operating a homemade motorized bicycle died on Highway 9 in Skagit County after colliding with a Jeep on Saturday afternoon.
The State Patrol reported Joseph Duncan, of Auburn, was heading south at 3:41 p.m. on the highway near the Skagit River Bridge when he crossed in front of a northbound vehicle driven by a 41-year-old Mount Vernon man.
Duncan died at the scene.
Olympia
Officer shoots drunken driver
An Olympia police officer fatally shot a suspected drunken driver after the man ran from an accident and allegedly threatened the officer.
KOMO-TV reports officers arrived on the scene of a Friday night accident soon after it happened and began tracking the driver.
They caught up with him quickly. Police say the man then threatened an officer. The officer -- a 25-year veteran of the force -- shot the man in the head.
Police have not said if the man was armed or how exactly he threatened the officer. The officer has been placed on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated, which is standard procedure.
Lewis County
Boy, 8, drowns in Chehalis River
An 8-year-old boy drowned in the Chehalis River on Friday, according to the Lewis County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies responded to the 100 block of Ceres Hill Road at 4:36 p.m. after the boy's mother reported him missing from their residence, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff's Office personnel trained in swift-water rescue found the boy an hour later about a quarter of a mile downriver on a gravel bar in the middle of the river.
The boy was not conscious at the time, according to the Sheriff's Office. CPR was initiated and continued while the boy was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital.
He was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m., according to the Sheriff's Office. His name was not released.
It was the second apparent drowning in the Chehalis River in a matter of weeks.
The body of 24-year-old Daniel Kuhn, of Olympia, was found April 19 in the Chehalis after he went missing five days earlier.
Tacoma
City adds new fireboat to fleet
Tacoma added a new fireboat to its fleet last week. The boat is faster, more agile and more economical to operate than the aging boat it joins in Tacoma.
But The News Tribune reports the $675,000, 30-foot Destiny does have one thing in common with its fleet mate: both were built outside the United States. The Destiny was built in Canada, and the Commencement was built 30 years ago in England.
The Port of Tacoma and the city of Tacoma bypassed two lower bidders who would have constructed the new fireboat in Western Washington.
At least one of those local boat builders, Northwind Marine of Seattle, questioned why taxpayer money was used for work in Canada when the boat could have been built less expensively locally.
Hoquiam
Shorebird Festival this weekend
Bird watchers were expected to flock to Hoquiam this weekend for the 17th annual Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival.
They'll get to see hundreds of thousands of birds that stop at Bowerman Basin on their annual migrations -- sandpipers, dowitchers, wrens and plovers.
The Daily World reports (is.gd/iZfiVT) the festival features birding tours, lectures and workshops.
Spokane
Mediation set for suit against police
A federal judge has set a mediation session to settle the $14.5 million civil lawsuit filed against nine Spokane police officers by the mother and estate of Otto Zehm, a mentally disabled man who was beaten to death in 2006.
U.S. District Court Judge Lonny Suko has ordered the Zehm family attorneys, plus lawyers for Spokane and the city's insurance carrier, to meet May 14 and 15.
Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr., who was convicted late last year of using excessive force in the case and lying to investigators, was named in the lawsuit, along with eight other members of the department.
Zehm, 36, was wrongly suspected of stealing money from a convenience-store ATM when he was beaten by police in 2006.
Olympia
70 people died under Dignity law
At least 70 people died in Washington last year after requesting and taking a lethal prescription through the state's Death with Dignity law, the Department of Health reported.
The department said 103 people requested and received lethal doses of medication in 2011. Of those people, 94 are known to have died, state officials said, including the 70 who died after taking the medication. The 103 prescriptions were written by 80 different physicians and dispensed by 46 different pharmacists.
Those who died were between the ages of 41 and 101, and most had cancer, according to the health department.
Washington was the second state after Oregon to adopt a death-with-dignity law.
Naches, Yakima County
Motorized trails shut until June 15
All motorized trails in the Naches Ranger District of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest will be closed until June 15 because of heavy snow and wet conditions, District Ranger Irene Davidson said.
Depending on weather and drying conditions, trails in different areas of the district could open sooner or may have to remain closed longer.
The decision applies to all district trails with any type of motorized designation. If the trail is closed, it is closed to all users.
Davidson said the district wants to minimize trail and resource damage and reduce annual maintenance needs stemming from use during the wet season.
Times staff and news services
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