Police search for man who tried to grab 10-year-old

Seattle

Seattle police are looking for a man who reportedly tried to grab a 10-year-old girl in South Seattle Thursday morning.

The girl was able to break free, police said. She reported the incident when she arrived at school.

According to police, the girl said she was waiting for the bus near 65th Avenue South and South Ryan Street around 8 a.m. when a man she didn't know approached her from behind and grabbed her.

Police interviewed the girl and made an unsuccessful search for the man or any witnesses. Seattle Police South Precinct officers are pursuing an investigation and have been directed to increase patrols around bus stops and schools.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.

Kingston, Kitsap County

Three whale pods spotted in Sound

The three pods of killer whales that live in Washington's inland waters have made a visit to central Puget Sound.

Observers spotted all three pods — a so-called "super pod" — near Kingston Tuesday morning and in several places off Whidbey Island, according to Howard Garrett of Orca Network, a group that tracks whale sightings.

The whales usually move south to hunt for salmon each fall, after the chinook runs dwindle in the San Juans.

In typical years, "J" pod, one of the three groups, will spend much of the winter in central and south Puget Sound. "K" and "L" pods usually come and go less often. Sometimes they swim out into the Pacific and along the coast, staying until spring.

King County

Panel: Bargain over camera issue

Managers of King County's landfill and transfer stations must bargain with an employee union on the use of surveillance cameras for employee discipline, the state Public Employment Relations Commission has ruled.

Teamsters Local 174 complained in 2004 that the county Solid Waste Division was using cameras at the Cedar Hills Landfill and the Vashon and Enumclaw transfer stations to discipline workers without first bargaining the issue.

The three-member state employment commission ruled Sept. 10 that, although the Teamsters missed a deadline to challenge additional camera use on behalf of the drivers and transfer-station operators it represented, the union filed a timely grievance on behalf of scale-house workers.

The Solid Waste division subsequently told the union it won't use videotape from cameras to discipline any workers until collective bargaining on the issue is completed.

Maple Valley

County, city make peace over land deal

King County and Maple Valley officials have made peace on a controversial land deal, announcing an agreement Thursday to work together on development plans for the 156-acre parcel in the middle of the Southeast King County town.

The county plans to sell the so-called "Donut Hole" property for $51 million to the Kirkland housing developer YarrrowBay Group. That deal, announced last week, came after more than two years of negotiations.

Maple Valley officials had long complained that King County Executive Ron Sims was refusing to give them a say in the plans for the Donut Hole, an island of unincorporated land in the middle of the town.

Both Sims and interim Maple Valley City Manager Christy Todd praised their new agreement in a news release Thursday, saying it should resolve those long-standing concerns.

The land deal must still be reviewed by the Metropolitan King County Council.

Albany, N.Y.

States sue EPA over water-transfer rule

Nine states are suing the Bush administration over what New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says is an illegal administrative ruling that could hurt fisheries and contaminate drinking water.

The states contend the federal government has created a loophole that could allow the transfer of polluted or contaminated water by ship from one water body to another where it would do harm. For example, the officials claim saltwater from the ocean could be dumped in the Great Lakes under the June federal decision.

Suing the EPA are New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Washington, and the Canadian province of Manitoba.

There was no immediate comment from the EPA.

Seattle

School district gets $2.4 million grant

Seattle Public Schools will receive a five-year grant of $2.4 million from the U.S. Department of Education to bring in community groups to help more students at Cleveland and Rainier Beach high schools succeed academically.

The school district is one of 10 organizations to receive the grants, out of about 400 applicants. The goal of the grants is to increase support for students such as remedial education, mentoring and health care.

The two high schools first will come up with a list of priorities. Then, in years two to five of the grant, about $100,000 a year will be given to community groups to address those goals.

Cleveland and Rainier Beach also are part of the school district's Southeast Initiative, which is providing significant support this year to help those schools and Aki Kurose Middle increase enrollment, offer more advanced courses and raise academic achievement.

Bellevue

Saturday debate set for transit measure

A debate over Sound Transit's Proposition 1 will happen at 10 a.m. Saturday in Bellevue City Hall.

State Rep. Fred Jarrett, D-Mercer Island, and John Franklin, of CH2M Hill, will speak for the $17.9 billion measure to add 34 miles of light rail, plus commuter-train and bus increases, with a half-cent sales-tax increase. Speaking against are Dick Paylor of the Eastside Transportation Association, and Ted Lane, a neighborhood advocate for Seattle's Portage Bay area. The event is organized by Neighborhoods for Responsible Transit, which advocates quiet pavement near Lake Washington.

King County

Penalty waived for certain permits

Property owners who cleared their land or built structures without permits in unincorporated King County may now apply for permits — without paying a penalty — under a six-month amnesty.

Owners who apply for "already-built construction" permits usually pay double the standard fee for permit review. The Department of Development and Environmental Services announced Wednesday it will waive the penalty for people who submit complete permit applications between now and April 1 for work done before Oct. 1.

Permits are subject to existing regulations. Unpermitted construction sometimes is not done safely and it can create problems when a property owner tries to sell a home, DDES officials say.

Call 206-296-6600 for information about applying for a construction permit or 206-296-6759 for a clearing and grading permit; or on the Web, go to www.kingcounty.gov/ddes.

Times staff and news services