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The Chronicle - Centralia
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Nonprofit to sue after Gov. Jay Inslee loosens rules for Washington's largest wind farm
Tri-Cities CARES plans to file a lawsuit challenging Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's decision to approve the Horse Heaven wind farm with fewer restrictions than originally recommended. The wind farm, which would be the largest in the state, would stretch along 24 miles of the Horse Heaven Hills just south of the Tri-Cities, from Finley to Benton City. The nonprofit group, Tri-Cities Community Action for Responsible Environmental Stewardship, launched a fundraising drive this week that helped it gauge interest in bringing the issue before the Washington Supreme Court. The donations and pledges it received were "sufficient, invigorating and encouraging enough" to convince the group to proceed, said Paul Krupin, Tri-Cities CARES board member. "We are very happy the community is so supportive," Krupin said. Although Tri-Cities CARES has not released how much money it was able to raise for a lawsuit, Krupin said it is enough to get the lawsuit started. The group has estimated that a lawsuit could cost upwards of about $200,000, or a little more than what it previously raised and spent so far fighting the Horse Heaven Clean Energy Center proposed by Scout Clean Energy. It is continuing to raise money and also is talking to Benton County and the Yakama Nation, which also have standing to sue.
Inslee rejected tighter restrictions Any lawsuits must be filed by Dec. 2 in Thurston County Superior Court before being heard by the higher court. If successful, a lawsuit could halt or limit the size of the proposed wind farm, which also would include solar panels and battery storage. Krupin said the lawsuit means one to two years of hard work ahead for Tri-Cities CARES volunteers, who have hired Seattle attorney Richard Aramburu. Inslee approved a revised recommendation to allow the Horse Heaven wind farm on Oct. 18 and the clock on filing a lawsuit started when Inslee's decision was announced Nov. 1. Inslee signed a site certification agreement for the project, which Canadian company Scout Clean Energy also must sign for the project to move forward. As of Thursday there was no word that Scout had signed the agreement. The Washington state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) spent three years studying the project, proposed for up to 222 turbines about 500 feet tall before recommending to the governor that the project be approved with about half the number of proposed turbines. Inslee sent that recommendation back to the council, saying the council needed to prioritize the need for clean energy and make a less restrictive recommendation for his approval of the project. The council relented and its final recommendation, which Inslee approved, would reduce the proposed number of turbines by about 23%, unless Scout Clean Energy could find space for them elsewhere on the project. The initial recommendation to Inslee provided mitigation measures for endangered ferruginous hawks, Yakama Nation traditional cultural properties, the impacts of turbines on fighting wildfires and the visual impacts of the turbines to the greater Tri-Cities area. But the revised recommendation approved by Inslee no longer directly addresses the visual impacts of wind turbines along the southern skyline of the Tri-Cities and reduces other mitigation measures.
Horse Heaven Hills view EFSEC officials say mitigation measures required for other reasons, including limited restrictions for tribal traditional cultural properties, would help reduce the visual impacts. While unions have supported the project as an important source of construction jobs close to home for their workers in the Tri-Cities area, opposition has come from residents who object to what they call the "industrialization" of the southern skyline in a community that prides itself on the colorful sunsets of its desert vistas. Tri-Cities CARES has estimated that between the Horse Heaven wind farm as originally proposed and the nearby smaller Nine Canyon wind farm, just over 100,000 resident of Benton County would live within six miles of a turbine. That's five times more than the estimated 20,000 people who live within six miles of a wind farm across the rest of the state. The new recommendation also limited restrictions on wind turbine placement to protect tribal cultural resources to only the area within one mile of Webber Canyon. Also under the relaxed mitigation measures for endangered ferruginous hawks, the area in which turbines could not be allowed was reduced from a 2-mile zone to a 0.6-mile zone around nests that at one time had been used by the hawks. However, turbines may only be sited within the 0.6- to 2-mile radius of nests if a new technical advisory committee decides the nesting site or foraging habitat there is no longer viable. Tri-Cities CARES sees multiple possibilities for challenging the decision, including the visual impacts of the project, the lack of testimony allowed about firefighting restrictions and the lack of testimony allowed about the need for the project, which Inslee later said should be a priority in the recommendation. ___ (c)2024 Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Wash.) Visit Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Wash.) at www.tri-cityherald.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. |
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Woodland Park Zoo goose dead of suspected bird flu
A red-breasted goose at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle died earlier this week from a suspected case of bird flu, the zoo announced Thursday after receiving a preliminary test result. Pending confirmatory testing, this would mark Woodland Park Zoo's first case of bird flu, a viral infection carried by wild birds such as waterfowl. Bird flu is primarily spread through respiratory secretions and bird-to-bird contact, according to the zoo. The flu could pose some threat to mammals, but the risk to humans is low, the zoo said. Visitors have not been exposed to or in contact with the red-breasted geese, the zoo said. The rare and threatened species lives at the zoo in an off-exhibit, nonpublic pool. The zoo said it had already enacted precautions in response to recent bird flu cases across Washington. Washington health officials are investigating the first human cases in the state after four agricultural workers tested presumptively positive for bird flu in October. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have confirmed 11 human cases in the state. But the zoo is now also limiting access to its birds strictly to their caregivers and has canceled all volunteer activities, private tours, penguin feeding experiences, public programming with ambassador birds and planned moves of birds to or from the facility. The zoo is also closing all open-air, walk-through aviaries, including the Savanna Aviary, Temperate Wetlands, and Conservation Aviary. The Tropical Rainforest aviary will remain open, the zoo said. The zoo took similar precautions in 2022 when the state saw cases of bird flu. The zoo said it is coordinating its response with federal, state and local public health and agriculture agencies. Before this week's suspected case, the zoo said it had already drained pools in open-topped bird exhibits to decrease the presence of wild waterfowl, moved free-roaming peacocks inside, and increased staff protective measures with masks, gloves, and shoe and foot baths around birds. Other red-breasted geese that shared space with the affected goose will be moved to a quarantine area for up to 120 days to be monitored, the zoo said. The risk of bird flu to the broader public is currently low, according to the CDC, but health officials warn that people regularly exposed to birds, cattle and wild animals face a higher risk. More information about bird flu and its presence in Washington state is available at st.news/birdflu2024. ___ (c)2024 The Seattle Times Visit The Seattle Times at www.seattletimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. |
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Advance Auto Parts plan to shrink number of stores in U.S. includes Western Washington
Advance Auto Parts appears to be shrinking its footprint in the Puget Sound region, following a Thursday announcement of hundreds of store closures nationwide. A state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification released Friday morning stated that General Parts Distribution LLC had filed a permanent closure affecting 100 employees involving locations including Tacoma, Seattle, Lakewood, Auburn, Bellevue, Burien, Federal Way, Kent and Puyallup. The LLC shares the same address and email as the main corporate site for the auto parts chain, according to state corporate filings. A store location list on the company's website shows a total of 21 Washington stores in operation, including additional cities not listed in Friday's announcement. Two of three area stores contacted in the cities listed on the state WARN form confirmed with The News Tribune they would be closing, with no specific date disclosed. No official closure list has been made public. The WARN form said the "expected beginning date of separations" would be Feb. 26, 2025. A local store employee at one of the affected sites who did not want to be identified told The News Tribune employees were told Thursday. "It's happening everywhere," she added, "Washington, Oregon, California ..." A corporate spokeswoman for the chain referred The News Tribune to the company's statement Thursday, where it announced it would be shuttering "523 Advance corporate stores, exiting 204 independent locations, and closing four distribution centers." At the same time, the chain also cited an "acceleration in pace of new store openings." It noted that the overhaul was "a strategic plan to improve business performance with a focus on core retail improvements." CNN reported Thursday that the company had been pursuing a turnaround plan for the past year. In August, it announced the sale of Worldpac, an automotive parts wholesaler, for $1.5 billion. Advance operates 4,781 stores mostly within the United States, with other locations in Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. ___ (c)2024 The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) Visit The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) at www.TheNewsTribune.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. |
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Eastern Washington man sentenced to 28 years for killing his girlfriend's toddler son
Terrence Chip Ogle insisted Wednesday that he didn't kill his girlfriend's toddler son in 2020. "I didn't commit this crime. I'm not going to give up, I'm not going to break down," Ogle said at his sentencing hearing in Yakima County Superior Court. "I'm going to keep on going, keep pushing. I'm not going to give up." But Judge Kevin Naught sentenced Ogle to 28 years for killing Alexander "Alec" Lynch in 2020, a sentence that was 10 years above the high end of the state sentencing guideline of 10 to 18 years. But it was less than the 40 years prosecutors sought given the heinous nature of the crime. Naught said an exceptional sentence was warranted based on the facts of the case and how Alec's killing affected his family. "Mr. Ogle, you had that position of trust and you used that position of trust to commit this murder upon a 15-month-old," Naught said. "And this murder had a destructive and foreseeable impact." A jury found Ogle guilty of second-degree murder in Alec's death, agreeing that he delivered a blow to Alec's head strong enough to crack his skull and cause massive brain bleeding while he babysat the child. Ogle told police when they responded early April 27, 2000, to the West Valley apartment he shared with Alec's mother that Alec had fallen from a living room ottoman while drinking a bottle of milk and hit his head on the floor. Alec was taken first to what is now MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital and then flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where his mother made the decision to take him off life support and physicians determined he was an abuse victim. Dr. Carole Jenny, who is on Harborview's child abuse team, told jurors that Alec's injuries had "devastated" the child, who would not have been able to take a bottle or move as Ogle described. Marie Kotler, Alec's mother, had left Alec with Ogle while she went to pick up her other children, as Alec, who was recovering from croup, was sleeping. Prosecutors said Ogle likely assaulted Alec at that time and gave Kotler the impression that her son was sleeping when she got home. At the sentencing hearing, specially appointed Deputy Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Brooke Wright asked Naught to impose a 40-year sentence, more than the standard range. Wright, an assistant Yakima city attorney who was appointed to handle the case, described Alec's killing as an "aggravated" second-degree murder due to his vulnerability and the fact that Ogle was entrusted with caring for and protecting him. Wright said Ogle betrayed that trust and put Kotler through unimaginable anguish in the process. "This child was dying, and (Ogle) never told (Alec's) mother," Wright said. "He allowed the scene to play out where she was trying to save her child, and that was not going to be possible." Kotler told Naught that the past four years had been the hardest she's ever had because of Ogle. She's plagued by nightmares reliving that night, as well as all the self-doubt about what she could have done differently to protect her son. "Would Alec be here today if only I would have taken Alec with me, or if I was only told the truth of what had happened, would Alec have had a fighting chance?" Kotler asked. She said Alec's death has also affected his older siblings, who are now protective of their new baby brother. Kotler said Alec, had he lived, would have started kindergarten this fall and she said she's left mourning the loss of that milestone, as well as wondering what he would have sounded like when he became more verbal and what his favorite color would have been. Kotler and her mother, Jennifer Adams, also worry that if Ogle's prison sentence were too short, he might come after them or the children. Adams, in a statement read in court, said she now wishes she had told Kotler to bring Alec with her when she came to pick up the kids and come to her birthday dinner. "Just standing there and watching my daughter hold her lifeless son and begging for him to stay is something that I cannot ever forget or get used to," Adams' wrote in her statement. "We had to leave the hospital with empty arms and broken hearts, watching my daughter have to find the words and strength to tell Alec's siblings that he was never coming home, and not being able to help take away any of that pain broke me into a million pieces." Kotler said she is also left wondering if her son felt the warmth of her body when she laid next to him in the hospital bed, or if he thought he had been abandoned. Charles Dold, Ogle's attorney, said as a parent he could empathize with the pain Kotler is going through. But he said that pain was not extraordinary, nor was the killing so unusual that it warranted sending Ogle to prison for more than a standard-range sentence. "There is nothing described here to suggest an exceptional sentence. There was nothing particularly vulnerable about Alec," Dold said. He also said that the chance of Ogle retaliating against Alec's family was unlikely as nothing in the almost five years since Alec's death has suggested Ogle would do that, plus there would likely be a no-contact order issued and he would be under supervision of the state Department of Corrections when he gets out. Dold suggested that prosecutors were seeking the exceptional sentence because Ogle took his case to trial rather than accepting a plea deal, a situation commonly called a "trial tax." Ogle, Dold reminded Naught, was fully cooperative with police, even driving down immediately from Chelan County to Yakima to talk to detectives. Dold, a public defender, apologized to Ogle and the court, pointing out that he was carrying 155 cases, and the effect that had on the support he could provide Ogle. "I don't apologize to the state because they're the people charging these cases," Dold said. Ogle was more direct, insisting that he was innocent. He told Naught that he called for help and was performing CPR on Alec, and that his one mistake was not testifying on his own behalf. He also denied trying to frame Kotler by doing an internet search on her phone about head injuries, telling Naught that he never told detectives about the web search. "Anybody that knows me knows this is BS," Ogle said. He said an article in the Yakima Herald-Republic suggested to him that his trial was not fair, particularly when a juror said that there were initially three jurors who were not convinced that Ogle was guilty but eventually voted to convict him. Ogle said he plans to use his time in prison to take classes and other programs that will help him when he is released. Naught acknowledged Ogle's feelings but said that Alec's killing was not a routine homicide, and that a stiffer sentence was justified. Naught, who presided over Ogle's trial, said one piece of evidence stuck with him — a social media video of a smiling Alec taking unsteady steps in the living room as he was learning to walk. "I could see the life he had in front of him, and I was left with the same question as everybody else: Why?" Naught said. "Why was a life so precious cut short?" There's nothing that can fill the hole left in Alec's family's lives, Naught said, and he could only imagine how Kotler and the others could make it through any given day. While considering potential mitigating factors such as Ogle's cooperation with police, his attempts at CPR on Alec, the fact that Ogle's family struggled with addiction and Ogle's commitment to his religious faith, he also weighed the aggravating factors, including the trauma to both Alec's family and the police and paramedics who tried to save Alec's life. "This was not an ordinary murder," Naught said.. ___ (c)2024 Yakima Herald-Republic (Yakima, Wash.) Visit Yakima Herald-Republic (Yakima, Wash.) at www.yakima-herald.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. |
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Hikers rescued Friday from trail near Multnomah Falls
Search and rescue volunteers rescued two hikers Friday night after they became stranded on the Larch Mountain trail two miles from Multnomah Falls. Emergency dispatchers received a text from the hikers around 6 p.m. reporting that they and their dog were stranded in the dark on the trail. Dispatchers were able to get the hikers GPS coordinates though the text-to-911 messaging service, and 23 volunteers searchers divided into teams and hiked into the area. The volunteers located the hikers about 9:45 p.m. and guided them down the trial to safety. Neither the hikers nor the dog were injured, but they reported that a section of the trail was damaged by a landslide. Chris Liedle, a spokesperson for the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, said in a news release that the text-to-911 service is a lifeline for those who can’t make a call for safety reasons or because they don’t have strong enough cell service, and that the hikers did the right thing by staying put, as it made them easier for rescuers to find. He also cautioned hikers at this time of year, especially those venturing into the Eagle Creek burn scar, that rain increases the likelihood of landslides, making trails dangerous to navigate. ©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. |
Columbian Newspaper
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Alaska political leaders hope to see Trump undo restrictions on oil drilling
JUNEAU, Alaska — President-elect Donald Trump promised repeatedly during his campaign to expand oil drilling in the U.S., which is good news for political leaders in Alaska, where oil is the economic lifeblood and many felt the Biden administration has obstructed efforts to boost the state’s diminished production. |
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During meeting with Biden, China’s Xi cautions U.S. to ‘make the wise choice’ to keep relations stable
LIMA, Peru — Chinese leader Xi Jinping met for the last time with U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday but was already looking ahead to President-elect Donald Trump and his “America first” policies, saying Beijing “is ready to work with a new U.S. administration.” |
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Pope Francis calls for investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute ‘genocide’
ROME — Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released Sunday from an upcoming book ahead of the pontiff’s jubilee year. |
NYT Politics
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Biden Allows Ukraine to Strike Russia With Long-Range U.S. Missiles
With two months left in office, the president for the first time authorized the Ukrainian military to use the system known as ATACMS to help defend its forces in the Kursk region of Russia.
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Gaetz Report Drama Brings a House Republican Feud Full Circle
A vendetta over the congressional ethics investigation into Matt Gaetz helped sink the last speaker. The new speaker has moved to quash it.
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