Fried critter may be Kirkland power outage culprit

Kirkland

About 1,600 Puget Sound Energy customers lost power Tuesday morning after a "little critter" climbed into an electrical substation at 683 Seventh Ave. N. and short-circuited the system, utility officials said.

"It was most likely a squirrel getting up in the equipment. When they crawl over [the wires], their hind legs stand on one part and their forelegs on another, and they can hit a switch gear," said Dennis Smedsrud, spokesman for Puget Sound Energy.

"It's usually the end of that squirrel," he said. Some parts of the substation can carry up to 115,000 volts of electricity, he said.

The outage happened after 10 a.m. Tuesday, with power restored by 11:40 a.m., Smedsrud said.

Issaquah

Kaluzny to seek City Council seat

Kate Kaluzny announced Tuesday that she will run for City Council, Position 7 this fall.

Kaluzny, a retired civil-rights and family-law attorney, has lived in the Issaquah area since 1989, but moved to the city in 2006.

Nancy Davidson was elected to Position 7, but she submitted her resignation last June to spend more time with her family. The City Council considered nearly a dozen candidates for the spot and chose Joe Forkner, a former councilman, to fill the remainder of the term.

Redmond

Festivities to mark new trail segment

The city of Redmond will celebrate National Trails Day on June 9 with the opening of a new segment of trail at Bear Creek Park, 17246 Redmond Way NE, behind Bear Creek Village Shopping Center.

The quarter-mile segment of trail, which cost $700,000 to develop, is part of 3.8 miles of the Bear and Evans Creek Trail and Greenway. The connected open-space system links Farrel McWhirter Park, Johnson Park and downtown Redmond.

Made from permeable asphalt, the new trail segment was funded in part by a transportation grant and a grant from the Washington Wildlife Recreation Coalition.

The Saturday event begins at 10 a.m. Refreshments will be served, and Mayor Rosemarie Ives will lead a walk of the new segment. For more information, contact 425-556-2311 or ssato@redmond.gov.

Times Eastside bureau