Grange vote petition wins spot on ballot
The Grange is the farm-based fraternal group that sponsored Washington state's popular blanket primary 70 years ago. The courts threw out that system, which allows crossover voting, and Gov. Gary Locke used his veto pen to create a Montana-style system that requires voters to restrict themselves to one party's primary. That system will be used for the first time Sept. 14.
The Grange is sponsoring Initiative 872, which allows the top two vote-getters for each office to advance to the November election, regardless of party.
Bellevue
Police seek help after kidnapping
Bellevue police are hoping someone can help them identify a man who briefly abducted a woman from a Bellevue Square parking garage July 15.
The man, armed with a knife, forced his way into the woman's car in the mall's west parking garage, said Bellevue police spokesman Michael Chiu. At a stoplight, the woman turned off her car's ignition, started screaming for help, and the man fled, he said.
Detectives found a witness who saw and overheard a man talking at a bar inside a mall restaurant before the abduction of the woman, Chiu said.
The man, now considered a person of interest, is a white male who was possibly born in July 1959, Chiu said. He is believed to be the owner of an Eastside landscaping business, according to a witness. He is described as 6 feet tall, 200 pounds with brownish hair and noticeably crooked teeth.
Anyone with information should call Bellevue police at 425-452-6917 or 911 after business hours.
Seattle
Light rail to Sea-Tac gets $14 million boost
The plan to extend Sound Transit's light-rail system to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport got a $14 million boost yesterday when the Puget Sound Regional Council voted to recommend $50 million for Sound Transit projects.
Of the money, the largest grant, $16 million, will go to the Federal Way transit hub. Another $8.6 million will go into the Lakewood-Tacoma Sounder commuter rail.
The money for the airport link still leaves it almost $200 million short of funds to build the connection.
Darrington
Driver dies after stolen motorcycle crashes
A 26-year-old South Everett man who was riding a stolen motorcycle was killed Wednesday when he crashed into a telephone pole.
Snohomish County sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said detectives aren't sure whether the man had stolen the motorcycle or had borrowed it from someone who had. She said that the man attempted to flee from deputies when he crashed in the 31600 block of Swede Heaven Road.
He was not wearing a helmet.
The man's name has not been released.
Kent
$1 million bail set in fatal stabbing
Bail has been set at $1 million for a homeless man accused of stabbing another transient with the shaft of a golf club Tuesday.
The stabbing victim — identified yesterday by the King County medical examiner as James Grant Phillips, 44 — died at the scene.
Carl Alan Gentis, 41, was being held for investigation of second-degree murder. King County prosecutors expect to file charges today, spokesman Dan Satterberg said.
The fight was witnessed by Kent firefighters. Police quickly made an arrest.
Seattle
Memorial service planned for Saucier
A memorial service for Seattle Police Officers Guild President Ken Saucier is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Seattle's Calvary Christian Assembly of God, 6801 Roosevelt Way N.E. The service is open to the public.
Anyone wishing to contribute to a memorial fund to benefit Saucier's family can make donations at any Wells Fargo bank branch or at the Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union.
Saucier, 40, died Wednesday morning in a car accident in northern Idaho.
Seattle Times staff, news services