Woman dies in house fire

A woman died in a house fire near Black Diamond on Friday, a fire district spokesman said.

Firefighters were initially searching for a 1-year-old child in the home, but the child was found safe elsewhere, said Tim Perciful, a spokesman for Mountain View Fire and Rescue, King County Fire District 44.

Firefighters from across South King County were called to the home in the 39000 block of 258th Avenue Southeast around 3 p.m., Perciful said.

Friday Harbor

Killer whales return with baby orca

Whale researchers say a pod of killer whales has returned from the ocean to Puget Sound waters with a baby orca.

The Center for Whale Research at Friday Harbor reports members of the K and L pods were sighted Tuesday at the south end of San Juan Island. Researchers also saw the new calf.

The whales were last seen in February in the Strait of Juan de Fuca near Sekiu and in January off Monterey, Calif.

The new calf would make 88 whales in the "southern resident" population of orcas that summers in Puget Sound.

Seattle

Ballard Locks to be closed Tuesday

The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard will be closed Tuesday while divers install equipment to protect salmon from getting sucked into the Locks' equipment.

Dozens of salmon, including chinook protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, have been found dead and injured inside the system that takes saltwater that gets onto the freshwater side of the Locks and pipes it back to Puget Sound.

Workers plan to install a screen to keep the fish from winding up in the saltwater system, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced. Both locks are scheduled to close at 7 a.m. and reopen at 7 p.m.

Seattle

New York City pitch lands police recruits

More than a month after Seattle police launched a hiring campaign in New York City, the department is evaluating 41 potential candidates from the Big Apple.

Seattle police say they were overwhelmed with candidates after leasing a billboard, posting fliers at bus stops across Manhattan and taking out an ad in the New York Post. The department had 750 applicants, including 163 of New York's finest, sign up to take an April 19 exam at New York University. But only 250 people showed up for the test.

Police have selected 41 recruits, 14 current New York City police officers, from that 250, said Officer Monique Avery. Seattle police are performing background checks on the 41 candidates.

Seattle Times staff and news services