N.Y. bishop to visit troubled St. Mark's

Seattle

An out-of-state bishop has been called in to help resolve significant leadership issues at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, one of the city's most prominent churches.

The cathedral has been in turmoil since last spring, when two priests and an administrator were laid off because of a budget shortfall.

Some parishioners became angry when they found out about a raise for the Very Rev. Robert Taylor, dean of the cathedral. Pay equity among all the cathedral employees also became an issue. Last month, the cathedral's vice dean and chief operating officer — who came on board in February — resigned.

Bishop Gregory Rickel, head of the Episcopal Church in Western Washington, has asked Bishop Herbert Donovan, who lives in New York, to work with the cathedral.

Portland

Feds recommend killing sea lions

NOAA Fisheries Service on Thursday recommended killing about 30 sea lions a year at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, where the marine animals feast on threatened salmon migrating upriver to spawn.

By many estimates, the sea lions devour about 4 percent of the spring chinook run. Commercial and sport fishermen and Columbia River tribes with treaty fishing rights have urged action for years.

The dam has "fish ladders" to allow fish to continue swimming upstream past the dams to spawning grounds. Sea lions are attracted by the large number of fish that gather there each spring to await passage.

The recommendation in the report was short of what Oregon, Washington and Idaho requested in 2006.

Sea lions are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act but are not considered threatened. An amendment to the 1972 law allows states to get permission to kill sea lions or seals that have "a significant negative impact" on at-risk salmon and steelhead. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries can grant the states' requests under some conditions.

NOAA plans to take public testimony on four alternatives through Feb. 19 and make a decision in March.

Olympia

AT&T overcharged for calls by inmates

AT&T has been fined more than $300,000 for overcharging families of prison inmates for collect phone calls from two Eastern Washington state prisons, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission announced Thursday.

The phone company also will have to issue $67,295 in refunds to the families of the prisoners at Airway Heights Corrections Center in Spokane and the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.

The commission identified 29,971 violations in phone-rate charges during a four-month period in 2005 at the two prisons.

One individual had 400 separate collect calls that were overcharged by $2,110, and 22 others were overcharged $500 each, according to commission spokeswoman Marilyn Meehan.

The majority of the overcharges ranged from 30 cents to $1, Meehan said.

AT&T officials did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Seattle

Rape suspect faces new assault charge

A man accused of raping a woman in Myrtle Edwards Park on Seattle's waterfront last summer is now charged in a different attack a few days earlier.

Prosecutors say Angel Galvan-Hernandez, a 26-year-old transient, brutally raped a woman under the Alaskan Way Viaduct after sharing crack cocaine with her on Aug. 6 and striking her in the head with a rock. Five days later, they say, he attacked another woman, who had been out for an evening stroll at Myrtle Edwards Park. He was arrested when a passer-by interrupted and detained him until police arrived, as the victim ran for help in her bra and a pair of socks.

He was charged last summer in the Myrtle Edwards attack, but it wasn't until investigators said they obtained a DNA match that Galvan-Hernandez was charged with the earlier assault. He pleaded not guilty Thursday to the second count of first-degree rape and was ordered held in lieu of $750,000 bail.

Bellingham

15-day sentence in puppy shooting

A woman who pleaded guilty to shooting a neighbor's puppy has been sentenced in Bellingham to 15 days of home detention.

Evelyn Wade, 74, of Lake Samish, pleaded guilty to animal cruelty.

She apologized to the owners of the 6-month-old golden retriever named Bandit that she shot Sept. 14 when it wandered onto her property and knocked over a birdhouse. Wade says she acted on impulse and regrets what she did. The dog was paralyzed and euthanized.

Wade also was ordered Thursday to pay the veterinary bills. She can no longer possess firearms.

Seattle Times staff and news services