Driver arrested after search of car reveals nearly $6,500 in cash

Issaquah

About $6,500 in cash believed to have originated with drug deals was seized and a driver was arrested after a stop near Issaquah, the State Patrol said.

The incident occurred earlier this week when a trooper clocked a black Honda going 70 mph in a 60-mph zone on Interstate 90 near Issaquah, reported Trooper Jeff Merrill, Patrol public-information officer.

The driver, when asked for a driver's license, produced an identification card from Mexico, police said. A search of the car turned up a wallet containing $3,300, along with another Mexican ID card bearing a photo of the driver but with a different name and birth date, police said. An additional $3,200 also was found, they said.

Police said the driver told them he didn't know where the money came from; a narcotics-sniffing dog detected the odor of drugs on the money.

The driver later provided another false name and birth date and told the trooper he had obtained the phony ID cards in Yakima, police said.

Kenmore

City to buy land for new City Hall

Kenmore is moving closer to having a new City Hall.

City business now is conducted from a former bank building in a shopping-center parking lot, but the city expects to have new quarters by 2009.

The new City Hall is to be on a 1.62-acre site at 18120 68th Ave. N.E., now surplus property owned by the Northshore Utility District.

At a Monday meeting, the City Council approved buying the property for $3.1 million, with the city and district working over the next 90 days to complete negotiations and then close the sale 30 days later.

The site is next to the proposed location of a redevelopment project known as Kenmore Village.

Coming steps will include selecting an architect to design the City Hall.

Bellevue

Visiting scholar to discuss Oman

This year's international scholar-in-residence at Bellevue Community College will speak about the Middle East country of Oman tonight.

Fahad al-Balushi will talk about his home country at 12:30 p.m. in room 130, C Building, on the BCC campus, 3000 Landerholm Circle S.E. The lecture is free.

Al-Balushi is teaching Arabic culture and language at BCC this school year, paid for by the Fulbright Program.

Seattle Times Eastside bureau