Tacoma

Memorial today

for park ranger

A public memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Pacific Lutheran University to celebrate the life of Mount Rainier National Park Ranger Margaret Anderson.

She was shot to death on New Year's Day while working at the park. The gunman was found dead the next day. Anderson was married to another Mount Rainier ranger and leaves two young children.

Family and friends held a candlelight service in her memory Sunday evening in Eatonville.

The park reopened to the public Saturday for the first time since the shooting.

Seattle

County Council

cuts back its raise

Members of the Metropolitan King County Council voted unanimously Monday to trim their annual pay increases from 3 percent to 90 percent of the local inflation rate or 3 percent — whichever is less.

Council members' salaries this year are $135,525. The vast majority of county employees will get pay raises this year of 1.6 percent, 90 percent of the inflation rate.

The council's action was intended to match employees' concessions. There was no debate on the measure Monday.

The state constitution prohibits elected officials from altering their own pay during their current terms.

Because council members' four-year terms are staggered, McDermott's plan would affect five members in 2014 and the other four in 2016.

Olympia

New justice joins

state's high court

Steven Gonzalez has been sworn in as the newest member of the Washington state Supreme Court.

Gonzalez was appointed in November by Gov. Chris Gregoire to replace Justice Gerry Alexander, who retired.

Gonzalez will face an election in November.

He joins the high court from the King County Superior Court.

Pierce County

Highway 167 crash

kills two drivers

Two drivers were killed Monday night in a head-on crash on Highway 167- River Road near 30th Avenue East between Tacoma and Puyallup, according to the State Patrol.

The Washington State Patrol identified the driver of the SUV as 28-year-old Jerry Neal of Bonney Lake. The patrol says the vehicle was southbound when it crossed the center line and hit the northbound car head-on.

The driver of the car was identified as 30-year-old Gregory Stevens of Puyallup.

Lynnwood

Police looking

for owner of ashes

Lynnwood police are seeking the public's help in finding the owner of a box that contains what appear to be human ashes.

The red box was found Sunday between two vending machines by a guest at a motel in the 4100 block of 196th Street Southwest.

The box included a photo of a preschool-age boy.

Anyone with information should call Lynnwood police at 425-670-5612.

Seattle

College student

dies in Barcelona

The dean of Dartmouth College says a student from Seattle has died studying abroad in Spain.

Charlotte Johnson said in a statement to The Dartmouth newspaper (bit.ly/yPDFfH) he was Crispin Scott, a member of the class of 2013. Police said he was found dead in a Barcelona apartment on Saturday. The cause of his death is unknown.

Hoquiam

Whiff of gas

leads to rescue

A friend of a Hoquiam family may have saved five lives Sunday night by discovering they had carbon-monoxide poisoning.

The Hoquiam Fire Department told KBKW Radio that the family was running a gas-powered generator in the basement.

The visiting friend smelled gas fumes and called 911. All five family members were taken to a hospital for treatment; one was transferred to a hospital in Seattle.

Using gas-fueled equipment indoors produces carbon monoxide, a poisonous odorless gas that cannot be seen or smelled and that can kill a person in minutes.

Symptoms of carbon-monoxide poisoning include headache, dizziness, fatigue, weakness, confusion and nausea. If poisoning is suspected, the person should be moved to fresh air immediately.

Seattle

Man flees scene

after fatal shooting

Police were searching for a man suspected of fatally shooting another man in the chest on Monday at Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and South Walden Street.

The suspect fled after the shooting, which occurred at about 5:06 p.m.

Everett

Homeowner kills

man breaking in

A homeowner fatally shot a man who reportedly was breaking into the house just before noon Monday, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff's Bureau Chief Kevin Prentiss said the homeowner "surprised" the suspect inside the home. Detectives did not expect to release additional information until Tuesday, Prentiss said.

Times staff and news services

Information in this article, originally published Jan. 9, 2012, was corrected Jan. 10, 2012. A previous version of the item on the head-on crash of vehicles near Tacoma incorrectly said the accident occurred in King County and at an incorrect intersection. The crash occurred in Pierce County, east of Tacoma, on Highway 167, also known as River Road, near where 30th Avenue East connects with the highway.