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Severely sunburned at school, Violet and Zoe Michener came home from field day so burned that their mother rushed them to the hospital. It was scorching pain that could have been avoided. Violet and Zoe Michener came home from field day so burned that their mother rushed them to the hospital. The sisters aren't just fair-skinned. Zoe has a form of albinism that makes her particularly sun-sensitive. "Yeah, I was crying about my sunburn," Zoe said. Mother Jesse Michener of Tacoma, Wash. said she regrets not putting sunscreen on them that morning since it was raining. Even so, doctors...

TACOMA, Wash. - The last defendant in a 2001 ecoterror arson at the University of Washington was sentenced Friday in federal court to four years in prison, as recommended by the prosecution. With credit for time served, 36-year-old Briana Waters of Oakland, Calif., will return for 11 months. The first half of the remaining sentence will be served in prison and then a halfway house. Waters will report to federal prison after Labor Day, a special request granted so she can be with her daughter the summer.

Delays to Windows 8 feared as bearded rampage continues Seattle is expected to go into lockdown this weekend, as fears grow that a gang of rogue leprechauns is on the loose and attacking locals. Komonews.com reports that police were called to reports of a street fight [1] last Saturday. When they arrived they saw a number of people run from the scene, before finding a man "covered in blood and holding his head and screaming in pain". When asked what had happened to him, the distressed victim said "It was a bunch of leprechauns." The diminutive Irish expatriates had allegedly become...

Parents could tell something was wrong with the children when they came home from school. They were quiet and withdrawn, embarrassed, and didn’t want to talk about what had happened. When Curtis and Jean Pannkuk began questioning their young daughter, they discovered that her elementary school principal had instructed her that day in how to perform oral and anal sex. The traumatizing instruction was delivered as a part of state approved sex education that was orchestrated, developed, pushed, and policed by Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice Washington, SIECUS, and a host of other agencies. Though parents in the small town of...

A Tacoma homeowner shot a man who had broken into his house in the face on Tuesday, police said. The incident occurred near South 14th Street and Madison Street. The homeowner was on the phone with 911 as the suspect was breaking into the home about 6 p.m. When he entered, the homeowner shot the suspected burglar in the face with a gun loaded with bird shot. The injured man was transported to St. Joseph Hospital in Tacoma. His injuries are life-threatening.

EVERETT— Enrique Sanchez-Leon, who pleaded guilty May to eight counts of child rape, child molestation, and sexual exploitation of a minor, was sentenced Tuesday to 35 years in prison without the possibility of parole. Sanchez-Leon, 39, an illegal immigrant, was arrested in January for expoiting a "multitude of children," ranging from ages 3 to 16 in his Snohomish County apartment. . . According to court documents, Sanchez-Leon would lure his victims with candy and chocolate milk. Over time he groomed their parents, who trusted him and his ex-girlfriend as baby-sitters. . . The eight counts Sanchez-Leon pleaded guilty to include...

As police closed in on a suspect in the shooting of two Spokane County sheriff’s deputies today, the suspect fired repeatedly at pursuing cars, then shot himself in Deer Park at U.S. Highway 395 and Crawford Road. The deputies, described as seasoned law enforcement veterans, are in stable condition at Sacred Heart Medical Center, where one has had surgery for his wounds. “My deputies are OK,” Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said this evening. Police do not believe any other shooters remain at large tonight, and there is no danger to the public, Spokane Police Chief Scott Stephens added in...

TACOMA, Wash. -- Among the jittery seniors waiting to walk out at Tacoma's Lincoln high school's graduation, is a 19 year old who is small in stature but big in achievement. Duc Nguyen moved to the U.S. with his family from Vietnam 4 years ago and didn't speak a word of English. He remembers kids making fun of him and thinking he'd never make it. But tonight he graduates with a 3.97 GPA and as class valedictorian. He insists his gift isn't intellect. He says he's a slow learner. But he makes up for it by working hard. His parents...

Gay marriage dominates the list of “social-issue” ballot measures going to voters this year, with amendments for and against same-sex unions up in four “blue” states: • In Minnesota, voters will be asked to amend their state constitution to say that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. Amendments like this have already passed in 31 states, including North Carolina in May. The Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment was put on the ballot by lawmakers in 2011, a few months after Republicans took over the state Legislature for the first time in 38 years. • In Maine, gay-marriage...

As gun prohibitionists and gun rights activists prepare for Monday’s Town Hall Seattle meeting about urban violence, a story out of Yakima involving a legally-armed citizen who intervened in a shooting just might have some bearing on the upcoming discussion. According to the Yakima Herald-Republic and Seattle Times, a man identified as Andrew Schilperoort did a remarkably courageous thing Thursday afternoon when he interrupted a shooting in the parking lot of a supermarket. Two men were arguing over a cell phone when one pulled a gun and shot the other, just as Schilperoort arrived. The argument and its outcome have...

RENO -- As part of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) National Sage-Grouse Planning Strategy, the BLM and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) are holding interactive social and economic public workshops. ... Interested partners will be guided on how to contribute social and economic information in the development of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement to amend Land Use Plans throughout the Greater Sage-grouse’s range in Nevada and Northeast California. They will also provide an opportunity for individuals to provide information regarding the use of public lands resources, how public lands influence their quality of life and how the BLM and U.S....

A disturbing story is making its way out of a small community in Washington State, where residents are outraged over a school lesson that was delivered to fifth-grade children. During a sex education class led by the Onalaska Elementary School principal, graphic descriptions of oral and anal sex were purportedly delivered. According to Fox News’ Todd Starnes, the 11-year-old students were being given a lesson on HIV-AIDS. However, the lesson took a bizarre turn when a student reportedly asked about other forms of sexual activity. At that point, the principal then delved into subjects many would deem too advanced for...

The following 8th-grade exit exam materials for Washington state in 1910....

A Newman Lake homeowner did nothing wrong when he shot his girlfriend’s ex to death after the irate man showed up at his house with loaded guns last month, according to prosecutors. Spokane County prosecutors said Tuesday that no criminal charges will be filed against Doug Snarski, 55, for the homicide of Sean Parsons on May 13. Parsons, 43, was armed with a shotgun, handgun and an ammunition-stocked belt when he entered Snarski’s home early that morning and said he planned to kill everyone. Snarski called 911 and left the phone on as the confrontation with Parsons ensued. Dispatchers heard...

ONALASKA, Wash. - You can tell Onalaska is old fashioned just by looking. "We're in the country, we're small town, we like it that way,” said parent Kadra Gilliland. But something at the elementary school last week has folks in this quiet town making noise. "What gives this woman the right to come down here and go above our authority, is the way I look at it,” said parent Curt Pannkuk. "I was one pissed off cowboy," said parent James Gilliland. These parents are upset about a sex education class for the fifth graders last week. "She learned oral sex...

Seven US conservation groups on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, accusing the government of failing to regulate the use of toxic lead bullets in hunting. Lead bullets have been shown to fragment upon impact, leaving bits behind in carcasses that other animals scavenge. The practice can cause lead poisoning in species such as the endangered California condor, eagles, swans and more. A petition by 100 environmental groups to the EPA in March, asking for the agency to regulate the components of ammunition used in hunting under the Toxic Substances Control Act, was refused amid strong opposition...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has requested a retainer on the man arrested in the July 2011 fatal hit and run of a bicyclist in Seattle. Erlin Garcia Reyes, 28, of Normandy Park, was arrested for felony hit and run on Wednesday. ICE officials have confirmed to 97.3 KIRO-FM that Garcia-Reyes is in the country illegally. Police believe Reyes was the driver of an SUV that fatally struck and killed 44-year-old Michael Wang on July 28, 2011. The SUV hit Wang as the driver made a left turn on Dexter Ave. North in South Lake Union. The suspect fled the scene....

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. — County prosecutors’ criminal case against the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club’s executive officer inched closer to going before a jury ... and then was delayed until October. At a Monday hearing before Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Anna Laurie, prosecutors were successful in curbing Marcus Carter from being able to mention the county’s lawsuit with the gun club, and from making certain arguments using the Second Amendment and other rhetoric that might steer a jury away from following Washington law. Carter, for his part, pushed back against the case itself, and while his attempts to dismiss...

Federal officials on Tuesday launched a controversial program in the District that targets illegal immigration, but not without a fight from some city officials who argue the effort undermines trust between police and local immigrant communities. The program, known as Secure Communities, requires that arrestee fingerprints collected by local governments be shared with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement so the federal government can identify illegal immigrants and potentially move to detain or deport them. All other localities in the metropolitan area have been participating. But the D.C. Council on Tuesday quickly voted to limit the program’s reach, saying it could...

A federal department ruled last week that the Forest Service violated a Spanish-speaking woman’s civil rights by calling the Border Patrol to help translate during a routine stop, saying it was “humiliating” to Hispanics and an illicit backdoor way to capture more illegal immigrants. The ruling by the Agriculture Department’s assistant secretary for civil rights could change policies nationwide as law enforcement agencies grapple with how far they can go in trying to help the Border Patrol while not running afoul of racial profiling standards. Assistant Secretary Joe Leonard Jr. said calling the Border Patrol automatically “escalates” encounters between Hispanics...