Bellevue

Sound Transit gives green light

The Sound Transit board on Thursday authorized CEO Joni Earl to begin final design of the East Link light-rail line from Seattle to Mercer Island, Bellevue and Redmond.

The board gave the green light for the nearly $2.8 billion project two days after Earl and Bellevue City Manager Steve Sarkozy signed an agreement pledging that the city and the transit agency would work as partners to reduce costs and pay for a tunnel through downtown Bellevue.

Construction is slated to begin in 2015 and the start of service in 2023. A funding plan approved by the Sound Transit board allows up to $110 million of North King County "subarea" funds to be used for the Eastside project.

Bellevue

Candidates are 59 votes apart

Aaron Laing pulled within 59 votes of John Stokes Thursday, the closest he has come to the leader in their contest for a seat on the Bellevue City Council.

Stokes has received 49.96 percent of votes counted, Laing 49.76 percent and write-ins 0.28 percent, King County Elections reported.

The election is likely to go to an automatic hand recount when results are certified Nov. 29. Laing and Stokes are competing for the seat currently held by Grant Degginger, who didn't run for re-election.

Tampa, Fla.

Silas Potter Jr. to return to Seattle

Silas Potter Jr., who was arrested in Florida last week in connection with the Seattle Public Schools theft case, waived extradition Thursday and will be returned to Seattle.

Potter, the central figure in the school-district financial scandal, was arrested on a warrant during a traffic stop near Tampa last week, a day after he failed to appear in King County Superior Court for arraignment on felony theft charges.

Potter, 60, headed the school district's small-business program from 2006 to 2010 before he moved to Tampa. He is charged with nine counts of first-degree theft in what prosecutors described as a scheme to bilk the district out of $250,000.

In charges filed Oct. 25, prosecutors accused Potter and two other defendants of using a Tacoma nonprofit and a Seattle janitorial company to bill the district for little or no work. Potter pocketed a portion of the payments, prosecutors said.

The two other defendants, David Johnson and Lorrie Sorensen, pleaded not guilty to theft charges during last week's arraignment hearing.

Potter will be arraigned in King County Superior Court when he is returned to Seattle.

Seattle

Big Ferris wheel gets one approval

The city has approved a permit for construction of a big Ferris wheel on the Seattle waterfront, but backers say many more permits will be needed before the attraction will be built.

"This is one step in a lot of steps," said Hal Griffith, president of Pier 57, which proposed the project. "We still have a long ways to go."

The city's Department of Planning and Development on Thursday issued a determination of nonsignificance for the project, saying no land-use impacts are expected with the addition of the wheel to Pier 57.

Griffith, with his sons, Kyle and Troy, want to build a Ferris wheel to draw people to the waterfront during the viaduct construction.

The Ferris wheel, at 175 feet high, would be the second one of its size in the U.S.; the first is in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Monroe

Woman held in church-bell theft

A 34-year-old Snohomish woman was arrested Thursday in connection with the theft of a nearly 100-year-old Monroe church bell that had been broken into pieces for scrap metal.

Monroe police said the woman worked for a recycling business in Woodinville, and had purchased 320 pounds of brass pieces for more than $700 from a female and two males on Oct. 28.

The bell — made in 1913 — was recently stolen from St. Mary of the Valley Catholic Church. It had been cut into smaller pieces and its raised lettering obliterated. Church officials identified the remnants on Wednesday, police said.

The Snohomish woman told police she didn't know the bell had been stolen. She was being booked into Snohomish County Jail for investigation of trafficking stolen property and possession of stolen property, police said.

Anyone with information on the theft is asked to call Monroe police at 360-794-6300.

Times staff and news services