Woman was taking dog out when she was ‘charged by an adult female black bear’ and sustained non-life threatening injuries
A woman in Washington state survived a bear attack on Saturday after she punched the animal in the nose, an official said.
The woman, who has not been named, was taking her dog out in the town of Leavenworth, in the middle of the state, when she was “charged by an adult female black bear”, the Washington department of fish and wildlife said.
Continue reading...Victim was able to alert contacts via smartwatch after attack by estranged husband, then escape from early grave to seek help
A woman in Washington state managed to escape after allegedly being bound, stabbed and buried alive by her estranged husband.
Thurston county police officers were dispatched to a home around 1am local time on Monday, where they found a distressed woman hiding behind a shed screaming, “My husband is trying to kill me,” reported NBC News, citing a court document.
Continue reading...Blazes in California, Washington and Oregon cause widespread damage as plumes travel across states and into Canada
California firefighters are battling large blazes across the state as the west’s fire season heats up, covering swaths of Oregon, Washington, California and Canada in heavy smoke that has also traveled across the US.
Rain from tropical storm Kay brought relief to firefighters in southern California after a punishing heatwave gripped much of the state for more than a week and sent some crews to the hospital.
Continue reading...Public will have chance to weigh in on details of plan, with transportation accounting for 40% of state greenhouse gas emissions
Washington state will follow California and prohibit the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035, Jay Inslee, the state governor, said.
California regulators on Thursday moved forward with a landmark plan to phase out the sale of gas cars over the next 13 years in the US’s largest auto market.
Continue reading...Dan Newhouse, one of 10 members of Congress to vote for impeachment, set to beat Trump-backed Loren Culp in Washington state
Dan Newhouse, one of the few Republican House members to vote in January in favor of the impeachment of Donald Trump, is poised to move forward to the general election in Washington state, according to a projection by the Associated Press.
Newhouse was one of 10 Republicans who voted in January to have Trump impeached, even ahead of explosive revelations about the former president’s support and endorsement of the January 6 riots just a year prior.
Continue reading...Fourteen structures burnt in Lind, in east of state, as forecasters in California warn ‘sleeping giant’ McKinney fire could grow further
A small town in Washington state was evacuated due to a fast-moving fire that burned a half-dozen homes, as crews in California made progress against the state’s deadliest and largest wildfire of the year.
In Washington, the Adams county sheriff’s office warned residents of Lind on Thursday afternoon to flee due to the encroaching flames.
Continue reading...Officials urge residents to take precautions as forecasts point to temperatures far above historic averages
A searing heatwave is expected to bring dangerously high temperatures to US Pacific north-west – a region known for its mild, temperate summers.
As Oregon, Washington, parts of northern California and British Columbia brace for a week of temperatures well above historic averages, officials are warning residents in the region – many of whom lack air conditioning and are unaccustomed to heat – to take precautions.
Continue reading...Police say initial investigation suggests dispute outside of large gathering that led to gunfire, possibly by more than one suspect
One person was confirmed dead and five others were treated for gunshot wounds after multiple shots were fired in the Seattle suburb of Renton, Washington, police said.
The Renton police department tweeted that officers were called before 1am Saturday and found multiple victims, five of whom were treated for injuries. Police confirmed one fatality in the shooting.
Continue reading...Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch argued that football coach Joseph Kennedy had a right to publicly pray after games because he was not requiring others to participate in the practice.
“Joseph Kennedy lost his job as a high school football coach because he knelt at midfield after games to offer a quiet prayer of thanks,” Gorsuch wrote.
Continue reading...Assistant police chief Derek Kammerzell from Washington pinned Nazi insignia on his office door and made jokes about Holocaust
A senior police officer from Kent, Washington, will receive $1.5m in order to resign in a settlement with the city after an investigation into antisemitic behavior, including pinning Nazi insignia on his office door.
Assistant police chief Derek Kammerzell was initially suspended after multiple complaints surfaced in September 2020 from other officers for behavior indicative of sympathetic behavior towards Nazis, such as displaying Nazi imagery above his name placard on his office door and making jokes about the Holocaust.
Continue reading...Scientists find the size of the ‘outer wedge’ of a faultline can magnify a rupture’s impact, worrying news for a fault running from Vancouver Island to northern California
Scientists have long predicted a giant 9.0-magnitude earthquake that reverberates out from the Pacific north-west’s Cascadia fault and quickly triggers colossal waves barreling to shore.
But what if these predictions were missing an important piece of information – one that, in certain scenarios, could tell an even more extreme story?
Continue reading...A program in Washington state is intended to trigger an effective search and raise awareness of the problem
Four years ago, Debra Lekanoff was busy traveling across the nation in her role as governmental affairs director for the Swinomish Tribe when her daughter came to her, worried.
The 14-year-old had just learned some of the troubling details of the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and was concerned that her mother, who is Alaska Native and tended to travel alone, might one day not make it home.
Continue reading...Northern California faces flash flood risk and threat of mudslides, especially in fire-charred areas
A huge Pacific storm is poised to unleash conditions known as an “atmospheric river”, with torrential rains and strong winds putting about 10 million people at risk of flash floods in parts of northern California this weekend.
The incoming tempest has raised fears of mudslides, especially in areas charred during record-setting wildfires this summer.
Continue reading...Caldor fire explodes in size as Pacific Gas & Electric begins shutting off power to 51,000 customers
Critically dangerous fire weather was forecast across northern California from Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday evening, threatening to intensify several large blazes and increasing the risk of new ones, as a small rural town in the Sierra Nevada was ravaged by a fire that grew with devastating speed.
The Caldor fire, which erupted over the weekend, exploded in size on Tuesday and ran through the town of Grizzly Flats, destroying many buildings and forcing residents to leave. Two were injured. Officials estimated that the blaze had blown through 30,000 acres – up from 6,500 acres reported by the California department of forestry and fire protection (Cal Fire) earlier that day.
Continue reading...Asian giant hornet spotted about two miles from where first US nest was found last year
Washington state has confirmed its second “murder hornet” sighting of 2021 – the first glimpse of a live one, officials reported.
A statement released by the Washington state department of agriculture (WSDA) confirms the first report of a live Asian giant hornet in the state this year.
Continue reading...Pacific north-west prepares for triple-digit temperatures just weeks after heat resulted in hundreds of deaths in region
The Oregon governor declared a state of emergency on Tuesday as the region prepared for triple-digit temperatures mere weeks after a deadly heatwave clobbered the Pacific north-west.
Kate Brown said: “Oregon is facing yet another extreme heatwave, and it is critical that every level of government has the resources they need to help keep Oregonians safe and healthy.”
Continue reading...Teachers, who worked in Monroe, Washington, said they suffered brain damage from exposure to PCBs in fluorescent lighting
Three schoolteachers in Washington state who sued the chemical company Monsanto over exposure to materials in fluorescent lights have been awarded $185m.
The law firm that represented the teachers, Friedman Rubin, said a jury returned the verdict on Tuesday in King county superior court. The teachers, who worked at the Sky Valley education center in Monroe, Washington, said they suffered brain damage from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in the fluorescent lighting at the school.
Continue reading...People coming to the aid of the Wet’suwet’en nation to stop a pipeline are using direct action that is prompting terror charges
The night of 28 November, Samantha Brooks, 24, hunched over the railway tracks near Bellingham, Washington, about 32km (20 miles) south of the Canada-US border and installed a “shunt,” according to trial documents obtained by the Guardian.
Related: Dakota access pipeline: court strikes down permits in victory for Standing Rock Sioux
Continue reading...A conservation group recorded the video in the Columbia River on a day when water temperatures breached 70F
Salmon in the Columbia River were nearly boiled to death when water temperatures rose during the Pacific north-west’s record-shattering heatwave, according to a conservation group that has documented the disturbing sight.
In a video released on Tuesday by the non-profit organization Columbia Riverkeeper, a group of sockeye salmon swimming in a tributary of the river can be seen covered in angry red lesions and white fungus, the results of stress and exposure to extreme temperatures.
Continue reading...Thousands have been forced to evacuate from Alaska to Wyoming amid soaring temperatures and a drought
Nearly 60 wildfires were burning across 10 states in the parched American west on Tuesday, with the largest, in Oregon, consuming an area nearly twice the size of Portland.
The fires have torched homes and forced thousands to evacuate from Alaska to Wyoming, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Arizona, Idaho and Montana accounted for more than half of the large active fires.
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