Rail moratorium may be lifted today

A federally mandated 48-hour moratorium on passenger train service between Seattle and Everett could be lifted at 2:30 p.m. today — 48 hours after a Wednesday landslide covered one set of rail tracks with mud and debris just north of Seattle's Golden Gardens Park, said Sound Transit spokesman Lee Somerstein.

"It's constantly under review ... it's a very fluid situation," he said, noting that with all the rain on Thursday and more expected today, there's a chance a saturated hillside could give way somewhere along Sounder's route.

For Saturday's Seahawks game, Sound Transit plans to provide service "one way or another," Somerstein said. "The only question is whether it'll be buses or trains."

If the moratorium is lifted today, Amtrak service between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., also will be restored.

Seattle

Renton man held

for alleged threats

A 39-year-old Renton man has been charged with three felony counts related to his alleged repeated attempts to use the mail to threaten President Bush.

A U.S. magistrate judge Thursday ordered Steven Leroy Baldwin held pending a detention hearing next week on charges that he used the mail last year to send three separate threatening packages. One allegedly was marked as containing a "biological weapon," the second a "letter bomb," and the third a message that read in part, "brace for impact." If convicted on each count, Baldwin faces up to 20 years in prison.

According to an affidavit by Secret Service special agent Erik Rasmussen, Baldwin persisted in sending such packages to the president even after federal agents warned him to quit doing so. The affidavit states that a package Baldwin allegedly mailed to the president from Renton in December caused "the entire White House Mail Facility" to shut down for about two hours, until authorities were able to determine that the contents did not contain an explosive device.

Bill would make

bestiality a crime

State lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would make bestiality a felony.

The measure was introduced nearly six months after a Seattle man died after having sex with a horse at an Enumclaw-area farm.

The bill criminalizes sex with an animal, videotaping bestiality and allowing or helping others to participate. The crimes would become low-level felonies with a maximum punishment of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Because bestiality isn't illegal in Washington, King County prosecutors could only go after the surviving man who participated in the July 2 Enumclaw bestiality incident — and videotaped the other man having sex with a horse — for criminal trespassing. James Tait helped run a business where people could have sex with animals, according to the King County Sheriff's Office. Tait was given a one-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to the charge.

Man charged with

attempted murder

A 48-year-old Seattle man was charged Thursday with attempted first-degree murder for allegedly shooting a Renton police officer.

Wilford Armstead is being held in lieu of $1 million bail for causing the injuries that have left Officer Larry Strauss in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center. Police say Strauss, 49, a 20-year veteran of the force, was shot in the neck Sunday evening as he approached four people getting into a van at a strip-mall parking lot near Renton Municipal Airport.

Armstead has nearly 20 prior felony convictions, according to King County prosecutors. In addition to attempted murder, he has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm.

80-year-old woman

killed by motorist

An 80-year-old Redmond woman died Thursday after she was struck by a car. The woman, whose identity was not released, was crossing at 164th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 85th Street, when a car turning right onto 164th Avenue Northeast struck her shortly after noon, Redmond police reported.

The 24-year-old driver stopped to help, but the pedestrian later died at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center.

Recall signatures'

collection proper

Signatures that led to the recall of former Mayor James West were properly collected, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The court rejected an appeal by Spokane lawyer and former City Councilman Steve Eugster, who argued recall proponent Shannon Sullivan began collecting petition signatures before the high court published written opinions on West's unsuccessful challenge to the recall.

In an extraordinary summer session on Aug. 24, the justices issued an order saying the recall could go forward. Sullivan began collecting signatures the next day.

Eugster argued that Sullivan should have waited to begin collecting signatures until Oct. 26, the day the court issued written opinions giving the basis for its order allowing the recall to go forward.

The court disagreed, saying it was proper to begin collecting signatures once it affirmed a lower court's decision at its August hearing.

West was recalled from office in a Dec. 6 special election after Sullivan gathered more than 17,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

Low-income homes

to receive energy aid

Low-income families facing high energy bills will get some relief under a bill signed Thursday by Gov. Christine Gregoire.

The bipartisan measure frees $7.6 million in emergency aid during a year of soaring energy costs. The House and Senate passed the bill with unanimous support Wednesday.

The state will be able to support about 14,000 low-income homes with the money, providing each household with an average check of $350 for heating. Remaining money would be used for weatherization, such as insulation.

The money comes from a fine paid by Qwest Communications to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission in April.