Eyman to start year with new initiative

Olympia

The first initiative campaign of 2009 is already getting started.

Professional activist Tim Eyman plans to unveil his latest ballot initiative Monday.

Eyman says it would limit how much money cities, counties and the state can collect. Anything over the limit would be used to reduce property-tax bills.

He says voter-approved tax increases would be exempt from the proposed inflation-rate cap on general-fund revenue growth. The campaign is aiming for about 300,000 valid petition signatures to get on the ballot.

Eyman's last initiative, which failed in the November election, was focused on state traffic policy, including a plan to open up car-pool lanes during certain hours.

Bismarck, N.D.

Fatal crash caused when bird hit plane

The National Transportation Safety Board says a bird strike caused the 2007 crash of a University of North Dakota airplane that killed two people, including a Normandy Park woman.

Adam Ostapenko, 20, of Duluth, Minn., and instructor Annette Klosterman, 22, of Normandy Park, died when the twin-engine Piper Seminole crashed in a swampy area in central Minnesota on Oct. 23, 2007.

The two were on a routine training flight from St. Paul, Minn., to Grand Forks.

The NTSB's probable-cause report says the airplane hit at least one Canada goose, causing it to become uncontrollable.

NTSB says the night flight contributed to the crash because the pilots could not have seen the bird.

Seattle Times staff and news services

Information in this article, originally published January 3, 2009, was corrected January 3, 2009. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Bismarck is in South Dakota. The city is in North Dakota.