14 tons of Chinese fireworks confiscated

Nearly 28,000 pounds of fireworks were confiscated at the Port of Tacoma yesterday.

Of the 830 cartons of Chinese fireworks, 130 cartons are believed to violate federal laws for consumer use, said Anjela Foster, a spokeswoman for the State Fire Marshal's Office. The state Consumer Product Safety Commission will be testing the fireworks for explosiveness levels, Foster said.

The person importing the fireworks also lacked a proper state license. Foster would only say the fireworks were headed to an Indian reservation.

Seattle

Man, 66, charged in girlfriend's slaying

Prosecutors have filed a first-degree-murder charge against a man they think beat his lover to death and then survived a jump from a 10-story building.

Police and prosecutors said Tinh Trinh Lam, 66, left a bloody fingerprint in the apartment of his longtime girlfriend, Nguyet Minh Nguyen, 53, whose body was found April 23 in her Chinatown International District apartment.

An autopsy revealed Nguyen had been strangled and bludgeoned, according to charging papers filed yesterday in King County Superior Court.

Police said Lam appeared nervous when interviewed the day after Nguyen's body was found and gave contradictory statements regarding his last contact with her. When police went to his 14th Avenue East apartment to re-interview him the following day, court documents say, they learned Lam had jumped from his 10-story building the previous day.

Lam landed on the building's awning and was seriously injured, but he now is expected to recover. Prosecutors are asking that Lam, who is scheduled to be arraigned May 23, be held in lieu of $750,000 bail.

Seattle

Health alliance gets first executive director

Margaret Stanley, a former administrator of public and private health-care systems, has been appointed the first executive director of the Puget Sound Health Alliance.

The alliance has signed up 45 member organizations with the goal of improving the quality of health care and reducing medical costs in King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Members include purchasers and providers of health-care services.

In her 30-year career in health care, Stanley has been administrator of the Washington State Health Care Authority, health-benefits administrator of the California Public Employees' Retirement System and executive director of RegenceCare at Regence BlueShield.

The alliance was formed last year based on recommendations of King County Executive Ron Sims' Health Advisory Task Force.

Seattle

Soil tests on Hwy. 99, Lake Washington

Starting today through June, state crews will be drilling in Lake Washington and along Highway 99 to take soil tests for replacing both the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge and the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Highway 520 crews will drill from a barge alongside the bridge, beginning on the north side and moving east to west.

Viaduct crews start work Thursday and will bore from 50 to 100 feet into the ground along Highway 99 north of the Battery Street Tunnel, between Valley and Harrison streets. For information: www.wsdot.wa.gov.

Puyallup

Man choked in fight over '67 Camaro dies

A man has died after being choked in a fight with two other men, including the owner of a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro who accused him of trying to steal the vintage car, authorities said.

Edward Zanassi, 27, of Graham, died Sunday at Good Samaritan Hospital, where he had been on life support since shortly after the fight early Wednesday, Pierce County sheriff's deputies said.

The 24-year-old car owner told deputies he was awakened by noises, saw Zanassi trying to steal the vehicle and fought with him, Detective Jerry Bates said.

The owner's roommate joined the struggle; Zanassi bit the owner's fingers, and the roommate forced Zanassi to let go by choking him, Bates said. Zanassi then collapsed and never regained consciousness before he died.

Neither the owner nor the roommate was arrested, and Bates said prosecutors were reviewing the case to determine whether to file charges.

Maple Valley

Tacoma man killed in head-on crash

A 59-year-old Tacoma man was killed in a head-on collision just north of Maple Valley on Sunday.

At 5:15 p.m., Eivind Berg and his wife, Cheryl Berg, 54, were driving west on Highway 18 in a red minivan.

Mark Quimby, 24, of Rochester in Thurston County, was driving east on Highway 18, near the junction with Highway 169, when he apparently lost control of his vehicle, crossed the center line and slammed into the driver's side of the minivan, according to the State Patrol.

A spokeswoman said it was raining heavily at the time of the crash.

Eivind Berg died at the scene, and his wife was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center, where she was in satisfactory condition yesterday, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Quimby was taken to Auburn Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and released. The collision is under investigation.

Times staff and news services