Proposed electronic tolling of I-90 just east of Seattle – to fill a $1.4 billion gap in building the western approach of a new bridge on SR 520 – is getting more complicated. There will now be a full Environmental Impact Statement, not just an Environmental Assessment. Regional pols are also pushing for a “system-wide” study of tolling in greater Seattle which they say should include looking at using vehicle tolling revenues to fund transit. And in the end it could be that instead of relying on I-90 user fees, tolling on a broader swath of SR 520 itself will help pay for the new bridge’s western approach. Read the rest of this entry »

Since early March Olad Hussein Kaynan, 24, a Somalian refugee who lived with his family in the North Highline Unincorporated Area of south King County has been in jail in Seattle charged with three counts of child rape in the first degree. His bail is set at $200,000. It’s been almost five years since he was first charged but state psychiatrists, defense and prosecuting attorneys, and King County judges have kept him in a cycle of custody that has so far not allowed him the opportunity to go to trial and clear his name. Read the rest of this entry »

A fired resource specialist at the King Conservation District in a civil lawsuit filed this week in King County Superior Court is seeking economic and compensatory damages, claiming she was discriminated against in the workplace for being pregnant, and was sexually harassed by female superiors and then railroaded out of her job for speaking up about it and for starting union organizing talks amongst employees even though – she claims – she had nothing but positive performance reviews and pay raises with no disciplinary notices prior to the day she was let go. Read the rest of this entry »

The rate of firearm-related homicides in the U.S. in 2011 was 3.6 per 100,000 persons, the same as in 2010 and otherwise lower than any year from 1993 forward, according to a new report from the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. The previous low in the 18-year study period was 3.8 in 2000. And, according to the BJS report, the rate in 2011 of non-fatal firearm victimizations, or reported acts of violence in which firearms were used, was 1.8 per 1,000 people 12 and older. That was up one-fifth of one percent from the last two years but down five-and-one-half points since 1993. Read the rest of this entry »

A new report from the U.S. Department of Energy shows Washington state has continued through 2010 to remain near the top among all 50 states in fueling its economy with minimal consumption of carbon dioxide emissions. According to the report from the department’s Energy Information Administration, Washington in 2010 ranked sixth lowest nationally for the tenth year in a row in metric tons of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions per million dollars of gross domestic product (GDP). The only states ranking lower in 2010 in proportion of energy-related carbon dioxide emitted to fuel their economies were, in order, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, and Oregon.

The report emphasizes that what is being measured is based on where the energy is used, not where it is produced. But in the states whose economies are most tied to carbon emissions in the report, a lot of the consumption of that greenhouse gas actually occurs in order to produce fossil fuels.

The states using the most energy-related carbon dioxide per million dollars GDP were Wyoming, North Dakota, Alaska, West Virginia and Louisiana. The report notes, “All these are fossil-energy-producing states. The activity of producing energy is itself energy intensive.”

Another important metric in the report is per-capita, or per person, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions per state. There, Washington ranked eighth lowest among all 50 states in 2010, and between sixth and tenth lowest straight through from 2000 to 2009.

Looking at the percentage decrease in per capita energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from 2000 through 2010, only nine states outpaced Washington, which decreased by nearly one-fifth, in percentage terms.

The EIA also analyzed each state for 2010 energy-related carbon dioxide emissions by major sector of usage. In Washington, the commercial sector was responsible for 3.8 percent, electric power production for 13.1 percent of the usage, the residential sector for 5.1 percent, industrial 12.0 and transportation a relatively whopping 42.1 percent.

RELATED:

Study overview page with tables in .pdf and Excel.

Public Data Ferret’s Energy+Environment archive.

Public Data Ferret is a news knowledge base program of the 501c3 public charity, Public Eye Northwest. Ferret In The News. Donate; subscribe (free)/volunteer.

With nine prior convictions from 1986 to 2005 for driving under the influence of alcohol plus felony convictions in Yakima County for two counts of vehicular manslaughter and one for vehicular assault – stemming from a 1991 tragedy when he had a blood alcohol level of .30 – Dwight Lloyd Casady was driving without a legal license along Railroad Avenue at River Street in Snoqualmie, Wash.

According to King County Court documents, police signaled him to stop because his taillights were covered with mud. He was very slow to respond and drove half on the shoulder for some distance.

Field sobriety and blood alcohol tests showed him to be clearly impaired.

Asked to place his right heel to his left toe, he kept falling.

When an officer who had taken him to the station noticed a particular smell he admitted he had urinated himself.

Compounded by a high “offender score” from his past record, Casady, 47, of Harrah, Wash. last Friday May 3 in King County Superior Court was sentenced to five years in prison for his felony DUI conviction based on the January arrest in Snoqualmie.

A charge also filed in connection with the January incident, for driving with a suspended or revoked license, a gross misdemeanor, was ultimately not prosecuted.

In the 1991 tragedy in Yakima County, Casady’s impaired driving resulted in the deaths of two and the “serious maiming” of a third person, court records state.

The related convictions for vehicular homicide and vehicular assault earned him a sentence in October 1991 of 89 months, or almost seven-and-a-half years.

Yet records in the recent case also reveal that by 1997 he was out of jail and convicted in that year for one of his nine DUIs, plus two more in 1998.

His most recent DUI conviction prior to Friday’s felony sentence was in 2005.

His extralegal endeavors also include felony convictions in Snohomish County in 2002 for theft and unlawful imprisonment. Overall, Dwight Lloyd Casady has been named as a defendant 57 times in municipal and superior courts in Washington since 1980, primarily in Yakima and Snohomish counties. In 1999, the Seattle Times reported he was attacked with an axe and underwent surgery as a result, after threatening to kill a man for spilling a beer in a Snohomish County bar.

In response to last week’s felony DUI conviction, Casady’s attorney, Seth D. Conant, immediately filed notice of intent to appeal.

Public Data Ferret is a news knowledge base program of the 501c3 public charity, Public Eye Northwest. Ferret In The News. Donate; subscribe (free)/volunteer.

By rustling up $172 million for a badly needed, contemporary enterprise-wide financial management system Washington state government could reap benefits approaching or perhaps exceeding $228 million in saved effort and improved processes, as awkward computer software workarounds, laborious redundancies and other workaday inefficiencies tied to musty legacy software finally get a proper burial. That’s the conclusion of a new 200-plus page performance audit released Wednesday by Washington State Auditor Troy Kelley. Read the rest of this entry »

When Garrett A. Bakken last July was charged with the felony DUI offense of vehicular assault after veering off Lake Washington Boulevard in Renton, Wash. and slamming into a pedestrian on a pathway, the story garnered coverage from local television and online news outlets and even made the New York Daily News. According to court files, Bakken’s blood alcohol level was nearly two-and-a-half-times the legal limit, and he initially drove away after the impact. At first, the victim’s identity was unknown. Last week on Friday May 3 to no fanfare Bakken, following an earlier plea agreement, was issued by King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Darvas a “standard range” sentence on the charge for a first-time felony offender: six months work release. Starting later this month the Renton man, 28, will go each weekday to work but spend nights and weekends in county custody until nearly Thanksgiving. For the victim, however, life is nowhere near its “standard range” prior to the accident. Read the rest of this entry »