King County executive's gallbladder removed

King County Executive Ron Sims is recuperating at home after his gallbladder was removed Sunday.

He is expected to remain home for the rest of the week.

Sims, 58, had missed work on several occasions in recent months, including two days last week, because of undiagnosed abdominal pain, his spokeswoman Carolyn Duncan said Monday. He was admitted to Virginia Mason Medical Center on Saturday afternoon, where tests showed he was suffering from gallstones.

Sims' gallbladder was removed by laparoscopic surgery Sunday, and he was discharged from the hospital Monday. Within an hour of his release, two of his top aides received an e-mail from him about policy issues, Duncan said.

Chief of Staff Kurt Triplett was designated by Sims under the county charter to serve as interim executive. He filled in for Sims at an event last Tuesday while his boss was under anesthesia during a medical test, Duncan said.

Coupeville, Whidbey Island

Female Marine killed in Iraq

A public-affairs officer supporting combat troops in Iraq was killed Dec. 6 when an improvised explosive device blew apart her truck in Ramadi.

Major Megan McClung, 34, whose parents live in Coupeville on Whidbey Island, is the highest-ranking female Marine to die in Iraq. She was assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based in Camp Pendleton, Calif.

McClung grew up in California and graduated from Mission Viejo High School. She was a gymnast and marathon runner at the U.S. Naval Academy. After her graduation in 1995, she joined the Marine Corps and worked as a public-affairs officer.

In 2003, she left active duty to pursue her running and competed in Ironman events and marathons. She spent a year in Iraq as a contractor for a Halliburton subsidiary and returned to active duty in January.

McClung will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery after services Dec. 18 in Quantico, Va.

Projects approved for Magnuson Park

Work on athletic fields and wetlands at Magnuson Park was approved Monday by the City Council.

Among the projects: removing 14 acres of paved area including the central parking lot; building 10 acres of new wetlands; constructing two lighted artificial-turf soccer fields, one lighted artificial-turf rugby field, a lighted softball field and an unlighted baseball field; and making pedestrian improvements at the Northeast 65th Street entrance.

The parks department expects to finish the projects next winter.

The changes will cost $18 million, 80 percent of which will come from the Pro Parks Levy approved six years ago.

Seattle

City OKs complex for Dearborn Street

A $300 million residential and shopping complex on South Dearborn Street to replace the Seattle Goodwill buildings received an initial go-ahead from the City Council on Monday.

Dearborn Street Developers hopes to bring a Lowe's, a Target store and up to 500 apartments and condos to the area near the Little Saigon neighborhood.

The city's comprehensive plan was amended Monday to allow housing in the area, which likely will lead to a zoning change the developers need for the site.

Neighbors want the developers to sign a community-benefits agreement to provide affordable housing, union jobs, a pedestrian-friendly design, retail spaces for locally owned businesses and a Vietnamese cultural center.

Seattle

Gossett to lead County Council

The Metropolitan King County Council on Monday elected Larry Gossett, D-Seattle, chairman for 2007.

His election was no surprise, because it followed the blueprint drafted by majority Democrats last year when they resolved a dispute over Seattle Democrat Larry Phillips' successful bid for an unprecedented third term as chairman. Jane Hague, R-Bellevue, and Julia Patterson, D-SeaTac, will serve as vice chairs.

Reagan Dunn, R-Bellevue, will head both the Transportation Committee and the Regional Transit Committee, potentially important assignments in a year when Sound Transit and the Regional Transportation Investment District are putting together a multibillion-dollar tax package for a public vote.

Phillips will chair the growth-management committee; and Kathy Lambert, R-Redmond, will lead Law, Justice & Human Services. Seattle Democrats Dow Constantine and Bob Ferguson will oversee budget deliberations, with Constantine overseeing the capital budget and Ferguson chairing the operating budget committee and leading overall budget deliberations next fall.

Winds knock out power to 6,000

Strong winds put about 6,000 Snohomish County homes and businesses in the dark Monday evening, but only about 500 were without power by 10 p.m.

The Snohomish County Public Utility District said the remaining outages were scattered throughout the county.

The state Department of Transportation also closed the Hood Canal Bridge on the Olympic Peninsula from 2:50 p.m. until 7 p.m. because of the winds, which gusted there as high as 70 mph.

Renton

Plateau annexation goes to vote Feb. 6

Some residents of the East Renton Plateau will decide Feb. 6 whether to join the city of Renton.

If approved by voters, the annexation would add about 4,900 residents to Renton in an area defined by a pro-annexation citizens group, Preserve Our Plateau. It would leave 3,000 other plateau residents in unincorporated King County.

The potential annexation area lies east of the Renton border in an area roughly bound by 156th Avenue Southeast to the east, Southeast 128th Street to the north and Southeast 138th Street to the south.

County officials have been working with citizens groups and suburban cities to put 221,000 residents of urban unincorporated areas into cities, either through annexations or incorporations. The county has fewer tax resources than cities to provide services.

Flocks must be tested yearly for flu

Operators of the 80 farms in Washington that raise game birds and waterfowl now will be required to test their flocks annually for avian flu.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife passed the rule last week. It requires that the farmers test at least 10 percent of the flocks, but no more than 30 birds, for the virus, which is spread by migratory and domestic birds.

Testing of the flocks had been voluntary. State wildlife agents also have been testing wild birds.

So far, no birds in North America have been found to carry the strain of deadly avian influenza virus called H5N1 that has devastated poultry in Asia and has claimed more than 150 human lives. Most people affected lived close to flocks of chickens or other poultry.

Seattle

Couple charged in theft of savings

A Renton couple has been charged with 26 counts of money laundering and one count of theft for allegedly stealing $322,000 that an 88-year-old woman intended to pay for the care of herself and her disabled daughter.

Police and King County prosecutors say that James and Judith Thompson, distant relatives of Shirley Crawford's, were appointed by Crawford to handle her finances, sell her Bellevue home and provide for Crawford's daughter, who has Down syndrome. Crawford turned to the Thompsons for help as she aged and began to have medical concerns for herself, according to the charging papers.

Instead, according to the papers, between Jan. 15, 2002, and May 6, 2004, the Thompsons drained Crawford's bank accounts into their own and spent her money to pay off their Cadillac, Dodge truck and motor home; to purchase a 45-foot Bayliner boat; and to pay their living expenses and mortgage.

The Thompsons are scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

Times staff and news services