Stepgrandmother convicted of abuse

A Pierce County woman accused in a highly publicized case of child abuse was convicted Friday of three counts of assaulting her stepgrandson.

Authorities said the woman, Loni Venegas, beat the boy with sticks, choked him and scalded him. Another time she beat the bottoms of his feet till he could barely walk. His grandfather, Remil Venegas, was accused of repeatedly punching him in the stomach.

The boy's birth mother was killed and he lived with the Venegas family in Puyallup.

Child Protective Services failed to follow up on a number of complaints. When it finally intervened, its "safety plan" was to have the boy, then 12, live in a travel trailer outside the house. When the Pierce County Sheriff's Department found out, it blasted the agency.

Department of Social and Health Services Secretary Robin Arnold Williams instituted several new policies as a result of the case, including improving the exchange of information between police and CPS. The case is also used as a training tool for new social workers.

Loni Venegas faces 10 to 15 years in prison when she is sentenced Friday. Remil Venegas faces trial beginning June 19.

The boy is under state supervision, but he's living with paternal relatives.

Seattle

Council turns off bottled-water sales

The Metropolitan King County Council has approved a measure to limit the purchase of single-serving bottled water by county agencies and offices.

Councilman Dow Constantine said Monday that producing a single one-liter plastic water bottle itself consumes three liters of water and producing the 31 million bottles of water Americans purchase annually requires 17 million gallons of oil.

He says Seattle's cities and water districts provide some of the best drinking water in the country.

The measure directs County Executive Ron Sims to implement the restriction in the county's purchasing policy. Single servings of bottled water would still be OK where there are no reasonable alternatives — and purchases of water for water coolers are not affected.

Seattle

False gun report locks down school

A Southeast Seattle middle school was on modified lockdown Monday morning while police investigated a report of a student bringing a gun to school.

Police were sent to Washington Middle School, 2101 S. Jackson St., shortly after 10 a.m. for the weapons report, said police Sgt. Sean Whitcomb. The 14-year-old boy was questioned in the principal's office and then released to his sister, police said.

Police did not find a gun.

A school-district spokesman said the school was on "shelter in place" status while police investigated, meaning that classes continued but students were not allowed to leave the campus.

Yakima

N-contractor to buy emergency devices

A radioactive and hazardous waste spill at the Hanford nuclear reservation last summer has resulted in another fine for the contractor hired to clean out underground waste tanks.

Under a settlement agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, contractor CH2M Hill Hanford Group will pay a penalty of nearly $7,000 and spend $24,000 on new equipment for local emergency responders.

The latest agreement brings the total amount paid by CH2M Hill to more than $680,000 as a result of the spill. The federal Energy Department reduced the company's fee by $500,000.

The spill occurred July 27, when workers at the south-central Washington site were pumping waste from an underground tank.

Seattle

Regent pledges $4M for UW law institute

Stan Barer, chairman of the UW Board of Regents, has pledged $4 million to the UW School of Law to create the Barer Institute for Law and Global Human Services.

The aim of the institute is to set up a legal framework that would improve health care and education in some of the world's poorest countries.

Barer, who graduated from the UW with a bachelor's degree and a law degree, is an owner of Saltchuk Resources, a marine-transportation company. He was a federal prosecutor in the 1960s and later served as administrative assistant to Sen. Warren Magnuson.

More than $70 million has been raised for the law school during an eight-year UW fundraising campaign.

Tacoma

Man in stolen car strikes police officer

Police on Monday arrested the driver of a stolen car who hit an officer in Tacoma.

Officers fired at the man and he was reportedly bleeding from the neck when he was taken into custody after a chase. His condition wasn't available Monday evening.

Capt. Mike Miller says the incident began about 11 a.m. when officers were checking the stolen car in a parking lot.

One of the officers was walking toward the vehicle when the driver accelerated, striking the officer. Miller says the officer was taken to a hospital.

Other officers fired at the fleeing car and chased it until a patrol car crashed into it.

Officers tracked the man with the help of a Pierce County sheriff's dog. He was arrested and taken away in an ambulance.

Government Camp, Ore.

Lost hiker spends night on Mt. Hood

Clackamas County authorities say a Coast Guard helicopter picked up a missing hiker Monday morning to ensure he was physically OK after spending the night on Mount Hood.

On Sunday afternoon, the 33-year-old Portland man began hiking the Hunchback Mountain Trail on Mount Hood. He contacted the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Sunday evening on his cellular phone saying he was lost and in need of assistance.

He was found before 5 a.m. Monday. The lost hiker was equipped with a cellular telephone but had little water and no flashlight and was wearing only a T-shirt, shorts and hiking boots.

Seattle Times staff and news services