Local News

Your guide to the latest news from around the Northwest

Weather: We can say just one thing this morning: 73, maybe 74 degrees coming today! And except for Wednesday and Thursday, temperatures will be in the 60s, and then 70 or thereabouts on Saturday and Sunday. Rain, what rain? OK, drizzle maybe tomorrow and Wednesday, but that could always be wrong, right? The National Weather Service forecast.

Traffic: The map and cams.

The woman who allegedly stabbed her ex-boyfriend and took off with their children has turned herself in to authorities, this morning, according to KING5. Doreen Starrish, 28, is a suspect in the death of Aaron Smith. After allegedly stabbing Smith, Starrish left with the couple’s 7- and 3-year-old daughters, triggering an Amber Alert.

Gas prices: The price of a gallon of gas in the state is where it was a week ago, but at $4.08, it’s 6 cents below the price this time last year, says the AAA. Here are the numbers released today: Bellingham $4.19, Bremerton $4.06, Seattle-Bellevue-Everett $4.10, Tacoma $4.07, Olympia $4.08, Vancouver $4.03, Yakima $4.04, Tri-Cities $4.07, Spokane $3.93.

A trip into space: The winner of the contest to get a suborbital trip into space will be announced Wednesday. The contest, part of the Seattle Center’s 50th-anniversary celebration, pits five finalists (out of 50,000-some folks who entered the competition) in a series of challenges starting today.

Uh, oh… Electricity prices going up in Seattle: There’s a proposal to increase City Light rates by 28 percent over 6 years.

UPDATE: 10:55 a.m. | Jury selection has begun. The voyeurism and child pornography charges Steve Powell is facing as his trial begins Monday in Tacoma are a tangent to the horrific murder-suicide of his son, Josh, and Josh’s two young boys, and to the bizarre disappearance of Josh’s wife, Susan, from their Utah home in 2009. But Susan Powell’s relatives hope the trial nevertheless sheds light on those tragedies. (The Associated Press)

Broadband Internet service from the city of Seattle? Yeah, right. Tech columnist Brier Dudley tells us of the city’s stop and start, er, efforts to bring affordable, community wireless service to the masses. Brier says:

The closest Seattle came was a meager test of public Wi-Fi service along a few blocks in Columbia City, University Way and downtown parks that began in 2005. Last week the city literally pulled the plug, ending its “community wireless service” April 29.

Most-read stories this morning on seattletimes.com:

1. Lakefront residents raise a ruckus over Juanita Bay party boats
2. Nurse in Afghanistan dies during Skype chat with wife
3. Mariners growing three golden arms down on the farm
4. South Africa: Man photographs cheetahs attacking wife
5. Police investigate after death at Churchill Downs