Officer, 41, hurt when car crashes

A 41-year-old Seattle police officer was seriously hurt in Rainier Valley early Friday when he apparently lost control of his cruiser and crashed into utility poles.

The South Precinct patrol officer, whose identity wasn't released, was heading north in the 5400 block of Rainier Avenue South at about 2:30 a.m. to assist a SWAT team at a home-invasion robbery when the crash occurred, according to police.

The officer, who has been with the department for 7 ½ years, has several broken bones but is expected to make a full recovery, police said.

Police arrested a robbery suspect.

The 19-year-old man was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of robbery, burglary and car theft.

Bellingham

Cessna crash reported by FAA

A small plane crashed near Bellingham on Friday night, the Federal Aviation Administration reported.

The condition of the pilot, the only person on board, and specific location of the crash weren't immediately available.

The Cessna 180 crashed about 9:20 p.m., and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, the FAA said.

The plane is registered to Western Alaska Sport Fishing and is based out of Aleknagik, Alaska, according to FAA records.

Seattle

Human smugglers are sentenced

Three people involved in smuggling women into the United States and then forcing them into prostitution were sentenced to prison Friday, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

A judge in U.S. District Court in Seattle sentenced Yong Jun Kang, 36, of Seattle, to 24 months in prison, and Kesheng Zhu, 38, and his wife, Rujing Jiang, 36, both of Seattle, to 33 months and 24 months in prison, respectively.

Kang was accused of conspiring to transport Asian women into the U.S. in shipping containers, according to a news release.

Once they arrived they were forced into prostitution across the country.

Zhu and Jiang were accused of running a Seattle escort service that was a front for prostitution.

Everett

Woman killed in accident ID'd

A woman killed Thursday night in Everett when a stolen car crashed has been identified as Harmony Thornton, 27, of Lake Stevens.

Thornton was a passenger in a stolen Honda, said Snohomish County sheriff's spokeswoman Rebecca Hover.

The crash happened just minutes after a sheriff's deputy recognized the stolen car and turned on his emergency lights, Hover said.

The car raced away and crashed into another car shortly before 7 p.m., she said.

The driver of the stolen car, a 19-year-old Everett man, was treated at a local hospital.

Thornton was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she died.

Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to call sheriff's Detective Doug Gold at 425-388-7183.

Edmonds

Admissions halted at nursing home

The state has halted admissions at Aldercrest Health and Rehabilitation Center in Edmonds for numerous violations in standards of care.

The most serious deficiency found at the nursing home by the Department of Social and Health Services was a pattern of failing to have enough nursing staff to provide care and treatment.

State records report the result was pain and discomfort for residents, including worsening pressure sores, long waits for toileting, lack of showers, and not receiving help to eat and drink.

The 124-bed facility, at 21400 72nd Ave. W., is operated by Extendicare Homes and has until Tuesday to appeal the stop placement action.

The nursing home's administrator was unavailable for comment late Friday afternoon.

Lynnwood

9 youths arrested in anti-graffiti fight

Lynnwood police have been cracking down on an epidemic of graffiti "tagging" throughout the city and announced Friday that they have arrested nine youths since mid-December.

Police have documented hundreds of tagging incidents, which together have caused an estimated $100,000 worth of damage, Officer T.J. Brooks said. Damage to the Lynnwood Shopping Center alone totals $6,500, he said.

The youths, who range in age from 10 to 16, are members of two tagging crews responsible for a portion of the city's graffiti, Brooks said.

The boys live in various South Snohomish County communities, he said, and their tagging activities were not limited to Lynnwood.

Most of the youths have been released to their parents, he said.

Kirkland

Work to begin on transit center

A groundbreaking for the Totem Lake Transit Center in Kirkland will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at 12039 N.E. 128th St. near Evergreen Hospital Medical Center.

The new transit center will be adjacent to a new medical office building and includes sheltered passenger waiting areas and bus layover space.

As part of the project, improvements will be made to the intersection of 120th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 128th Avenue.

The project is a private/public partnership between the city of Kirkland, Evergreen and Sound Transit.

Camp Murray

Soldiers due home from Afghan duty

About 17 soldiers of the Washington Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 205th Regiment, are scheduled to return home today from a one-year tour of duty in Afghanistan.

The 205th Regiment is headquartered at Camp Murray.

The Battalion Headquarters and many individual soldiers from the 205th Regiment spent the last year serving in Afghanistan.

Seattle

Woman sentenced over drug tunnel

A Spokane-area woman who owned a Whatcom County home under which a tunnel was dug for smuggling drugs in and out of Canada was sentenced Friday to six months in prison.

A U.S. District Court judge also gave Kusum Patel, 52, three years of supervised release for structuring a financial transaction to evade reporting requirements. Patel, a Canadian citizen, pleaded guilty in October.

Authorities monitored the tunnel, leading nearly 100 yards from an abandoned house in Lynden to a greenhouse just beyond the U.S.-Canadian border, for several months before shutting it down in July 2005.

Olympia

Senate passes ballot reform

Voters who fail to check a party box on their primary election ballots could still have their votes counted under a measure passed unanimously Friday by the state Senate.

The bill now heads to the House, which is considering its own measure.

Nearly 100,000 votes were invalidated in the state's partisan races in September's primary because voters failed to indicate whether they wanted to vote as Democrats or Republicans, as required by law.

Some counties have separate Democratic, Republican and unaffiliated ballots for voters to choose from.

But others use consolidated ballots that include candidates from both major parties.

On those consolidated ballots, if voters failed to pick a party, their votes in nonpartisan races and on bond measures were counted, but their votes in partisan races were not.

Under the bill, voters who failed to mark a party would have their votes counted in partisan races, provided they voted a straight party ticket.

Portland

Oregon's last vet from WWI dies

Howard V. Ramsey, Oregon's last living World War I veteran, died in his sleep Thursday at age 108.

Mr. Ramsey, an Army corporal in France, was a truck driver who ferried officers, carried water to troops on the front lines and returned the bodies of soldiers killed in battle.

He resided in an assisted-living center in Portland.

As of a year ago, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimated there were fewer than 50 veterans of the war still alive in the United States.

Other estimates are much lower.

Seattle Times staff and news services