Court date delayed in shooting rampage

Mount Vernon

The arraignment for Isaac Zamora, charged in the Sept. 2 Skagit County shooting rampage that killed six people, has been postponed until Oct. 23 to bring in a defense lawyer with death-penalty experience, court officials said.

Poulsbo

Boy killed at fitness center is identified

The Poulsbo Elementary School first-grader who died in a fitness-center accident Tuesday was 7-year-old Ethan Smith, the King County Medical Examiner's Office said Thursday.

Ethan died of head injuries after being struck by a weight on an exercise machine his father was using at Armstrong Fitness University and Physical Therapy, fire officials said.

SeaTac

Workshop to offer free mortgage advice

Homeowners facing foreclosure or other mortgage-related problems can access free counseling and loan advice Saturday at a workshop that brings together nonprofit community groups and loan officers from two of the nation's largest servicers of subprime loans.

The event will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at WaMu Cedarbrook Leadership Center, 18525 36th Ave. S. in SeaTac.

Loan officers from Countrywide Financial and Bank of America will join HUD-certified counselors in offering help. To register, call 1-800-368-1455 or email ulmshousing@urbanleague.org.

Walk-ins also are welcome. Those attending should bring their loan documents.

Seattle

Drilling to begin on Hwy. 520 corridor

Workers will begin drilling on Monday to test soil conditions for the design of the new Highway 520 corridor.

Julie Meredith, the state Department of Transportation's Highway 520 corridor program director, said the drilling is a critical engineering step to help advance final design work in preparation for Eastside construction in mid-2010.

Workers will be drilling during the day for two weeks from a barge on the east side of Lake Washington near Medina. The barge will then move to the west side of the lake for four weeks. Next month, drilling is scheduled on land near the Highway 520 and 108th Avenue Northeast interchange.

Workers will be drilling in the corridor through February.

Some overnight lane closures are expected.

Seattle

Man arrested in robbery, assault

A 19-year-old man wanted in connection with a home-invasion robbery and assault in South Seattle more than a month ago was arrested Wednesday in Los Angeles, according to Seattle police.

Anthony R. Dodd was arrested on an SPD felony warrant, police spokesman Jeff Kappel said. He was one of two suspects police said were armed with handguns when they forced their way through the front door of a house in the 2300 block of 24th Avenue South the morning of Sept. 2 and attacked a woman who was sleeping. The woman was hospitalized after being severely beaten, police said.

Federal Way

Man, 19, held in stabbing outside bus

Federal Way police arrested a 19-year-old Thursday in connection with a stabbing two weeks ago at a transit center.

The man, who has no current address, was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of first-degree assault, said Specialty Commander Stan McCall.

Around 5 a.m. on Sept. 30, two men began fighting on the 174 Metro bus on its way out of the transit center at 23rd Avenue South and South 317th Street. The bus driver tried to stop the fight and both men got off the bus.

The suspect then stabbed the victim, 30, police said.

Cameras installed on the bus captured images of the fight and the suspect, McCall said.

King County Metro Transit Police deputies found the man at the same transit center wearing the same clothing and carrying the same backpack as in the video, McCall said. He was carrying a concealed knife.

Seattle

Roosevelt High warns of attacks

Police are searching for a group of males who in the past week either robbed or assaulted at gunpoint at least two Roosevelt High School students going home from school.

School authorities sent out a letter Thursday warning parents of the attacks and offering general safety tips.

None of the incidents occurred on school property, just "near the school," said Seattle police spokesman Jeff Kappel.

According to police reports, last Friday, a girl was robbed as she listened to her iPod and waited with friends at the bus stop on 15th Avenue Northeast near Northeast 65th Street.

A group of seven males approached, and one of them pointed "what appeared to be a pistol at her stomach," the report said. Another then took her iPod, and the group walked into an alley, laughing.

In another reported incident, a boy was hit in the head with a glass bottle, but not robbed, at Northeast 55th Street and Roosevelt Way Northeast.

Seattle

Sims proposes cuts in staffing

King County Executive Ron Sims is proposing to cut his staff and merge some units in the executive office to save more than $800,000 next year.

Sims has offered to cut four executive staff positions and merge some executive-office responsibilities from separate offices into the new Office of Strategic Planning and Performance Management. His proposal also formally dissolves the existing Office of Business Relations and Economic Development.

Sims has forwarded his proposal to the County Council.

Seattle Times staff and news services