Curley is leaving TV to focus on auction

Seattle

KING-TV announced Tuesday that the longtime host of its newsmagazine show, John Curley, is leaving the station in April.

Curley became one of Seattle's most recognizable television faces after he started hosting "Evening Magazine" in 1995. An article on the station's Web site said he is leaving to devote his time to his auctioneering business. After he stops hosting the show in April, he will return occasionally for special projects, the article said.

Everett

Longtime reporter, councilwoman dies

Longtime Everett radio reporter and former Snohomish County Councilwoman Shirley Bartholomew died Sunday at the age of 84.

Bartholomew worked for KRKO radio from 1943 to 1980. She was known for working all hours on breaking news and won Associated Press awards for her work.

Bartholomew became part of the first Snohomish County Council in 1980 and served through 1989. She was appointed to the Marysville City Council in 1994 and served through 2000.

City Councilwoman Donna Wright said Bartholomew would ask questions like a reporter to help the council in making decisions.

Snohomish County

Health District cuts 36 positions

Snohomish County's health board voted Tuesday to cut 36 positions at the Snohomish Health District early next year, affecting about 14 percent of the staff and nearly a dozen local public-health-agency programs. The board expects the reductions to save the district $1 million.

"A growing and more diverse population, years of level funding in the face of increasing costs of doing business, and the current economic crisis created the perfect budget storm," said Dr. Gary Goldbaum, health officer and director of Snohomish Health District.

He said the board had limited options to increase revenues, "and no choice but to cut services."

The consequences of the cuts, he predicted, are likely to impact the district beyond next year.

Expected to stop at the end of this year are programs for: the First Steps/Nurse Family Partnership Clearinghouse, parent/child health, Healthy Communities, injury prevention, water-system support and West Nile virus. Also expected to lose staff are tuberculosis control, vaccine preventable diseases, child-care health, oral health, and tobacco-prevention and -control programs.

The board also approved fee increases for clinical services, effective in January, and environmental-health fees increased last Saturday.

Snoqualmie

Casino opening may cause gridlock

The King County Sheriff's Office is warning drivers and North Bend area residents of potential gridlock when the new Snoqualmie Casino opens at 10 p.m. Thursday.

As many as 30,000 people are expected to descend on the new casino clogging Interstate 90 near exits 25 and 27 and surface streets in Snoqualmie and North Bend, according to a Sheriff's Office news release.

Heavy traffic will continue into the weekend, as singer Jessica Simpson headlines Friday night's events.

Seattle

Garbage collection on Veterans Day

Garbage, yard waste and recycling collections in Seattle will be on normal schedule for the Veterans Day observance Tuesday. Seattle Public Utilities customers should place containers out by 7 a.m. Customers can report missed collections after 6 p.m. by calling 206-684-3000.

Everett

Woman who starved horses sentenced

A Monroe woman who starved five horses to death was sentenced to a year in jail for animal cruelty.

Jean Marie Elledge, 57, pleaded guilty last month and was sentenced Monday in Snohomish County Superior Court.

She had been paid to board horses in Monroe and Carnation and dead and starving animals were found earlier this year at both locations.

Elledge was ordered to serve her Snohomish sentence after completing a nine-month animal-cruelty sentence in King County for starving horses at Carnation.

King County Animal Control officers went to Elledge's Carnation farm in February and found four dead horses, one emaciated foal and nine other emaciated horses without food or drinkable water.

Animal-control agents said they found no food for the animals at the Carnation property.

Snohomish County authorities also found an additional five horses that had died of starvation at property Elledge owns near Monroe, prompting additional animal-cruelty charges.

Times staff and news services