Woman shot at transit center identified

A woman who was shot to death at the Federal Way transit center Friday night has been identified by the King County Medical Examiner's Office as Dar Rel Miller.

Miller, 38, of White Center, was shot outside the transit center in the presence of commuters, according to Federal Way police. Authorities believe Miller and the gunman knew each other and were in a dispute over money.

Federal Way police are still looking for the gunman.

Police are asking anyone with information about the 7 p.m. shooting to call 911.

Neah Bay

Makah whaling case postponed; no judge

A trial date was supposed to be set this week for five Makah Indians accused of illegally killing a gray whale last year, but the tribal court had to postpone the hearing because there's no judge to conduct it.

Jean Vitalis, the tribe's former chief judge, was expected to hear the case but left the bench after her contract was not renewed.

The new top jurist, former Associate Judge Emma Doulik, recused herself, citing "strong emotions" about the case.

The tribe asked the Quinault Tribe's chief judge to hear the case, but she declined, citing health reasons.

The whalers are charged with violating the tribe's Gray Whale Management Plan, breaking state and federal laws and reckless endangerment for firing a high-powered rifle at the whale.

They also face charges in federal court. That trial is scheduled to start March 18 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.

Janesville, Wis.

Bellevue suspect faces murder trial

A man who had been sought for nearly 19 years in a 1988 Wisconsin slaying has been ordered to stand trial.

Ezequiel Lopez-Zavala, 42, faces a first-degree-murder charge for allegedly stabbing to death 22-year-old David J. Landwehr on Sept. 19, 1988.

He was arrested in late October in Bellevue, where he had been living under an assumed name. Lopez-Zavala was stopped for a minor traffic violation but eventually was arrested.

After his fingerprints were run through the FBI database, it was discovered he was wanted on a murder charge in Beloit, Wis. He was returned to Rock County last month.

An arraignment was set for Feb. 1.

Olympia

Fraud trial to start for former mayor

Douglas Merino, a former Westport mayor, State Patrol trooper and state Department of Labor and Industries investigator, was scheduled to go on trial today in an alleged insurance-fraud scheme.

Merino, 51, is accused of conspiring to report a classic $60,000 1949 Chevy "Woodie" stolen; the car, according to an insurance investigator, did not exist.

One of Merino's alleged co-conspirators, Jim Varner, a former state trooper, was found dead Feb. 1, 2006, one day after he had been told an insurance company was investigating him in connection with the alleged fraud.

Varner was found dead from a gunshot wound in a car at Highway 12 and a Forest Service road in remote Lewis County.

The Lewis County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death as a homicide.

Tacoma

New Narrows Bridge will be under budget

The final price tag for the new Narrows Bridge is going to come in under budget by about $114 million.

But lower tolls won't soon follow.

In 2002, the state estimated the cost of the new span to be $849 million. But as state Department of Transportation (DOT) officials begin the final stages of the project, they expect the final cost to be around $735 million.

The biggest reason costs are lower than expected: The state didn't run into as many emergencies as officials planned for when creating the 2002 budget. The DOT also staged its borrowing to pay for construction when money was needed, Brown said.

Transportation officials were authorized by the Legislature to borrow up to $800 million for the project but will have borrowed only $691 million when the project is completed.

Despite the lower costs, transportation officials have no plans to alter the tolls for crossing the span or the implementation of toll increases. The basic toll is scheduled to rise from $3 to $4 in the middle of 2009. It will increase to $5 in mid-2012 and to $6 in mid-2015.

Meanwhile, the entire project is nearing completion. Landon said he expects the concrete barrier on the old bridge to be removed by the end of the month, which will open the old bridge to four lanes of traffic, the same as the four lanes on the new bridge.

"That's the next big milestone," he said. "And that would constitute substantial completion."

Olympia

Math standards to be posted online

The latest draft of the state's new math standards for kindergartners through 12th-graders goes online today on the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction's Web site, http://www.k12.wa.us/.

The new standards could influence textbooks and the Washington Assessment of Student Learning standardized tests.

The revised Washington State Mathematics Standards, developed with the University of Texas Charles A. Dana Center, incorporate feedback from about 1,000 educators, parents and others gathered during a monthlong public-comment period.

The standards create three or four core areas students should master at each grade level, such as addition and subtraction, fractions and geometry concepts, said George Bright, who is helping coordinate the standards-revision project for Terry Bergeson, state schools superintendent.

Current standards require teachers to touch on nine math concepts in a year, and students don't learn any concepts especially well, Bright said.

The new standards are designed so students can "get more deeply into a few ideas to understand each concept more thoroughly," he said.

The revisions mainly incorporate editing, clarification and more specific examples at each grade level, he said.

Seattle Times staff and news services