Local News

The Associated Press OLYMPIA — The state gambling board has approved a plan to allow more slot-like machines at tribal casinos. The Olympian newspaper reports the agreement approved Friday would let tribes collectively to have 2,700 more machines immediately and then let market conditions influence if they eventually have thousands more. The new compact is between the state…

Updated, 8:55 p.m.: The Associated Press Several mudslides Saturday on BNSF railroad tracks have shut down Amtrak passenger-train service between Seattle and Everett and Ridgefield and Vancouver until Monday, according to BNSF. Another slide had covered the tracks north of Seattle on Friday. Amtrak officials said the tracks are used by Amtrak Cascades and Empire Builder trains. Freight trains will run,…

By JoNel Aleccia A second case of measles in Washington state has been linked to a Disneyland outbreak that has sickened at least 47 people in the U.S. and Mexico since mid-December. An unvaccinated teen boy in Grays Harbor was confirmed to be infected with measles, state health officials said Tuesday. He’s the brother of an unvaccinated…

Seattle police officers cut apart tubing connecting protesters on Aurora Avenue North. (Lindsey Wasson / The Seattle Times)  Update, 6:42 p.m.: The Seattle Police Department says it arrested 19 people in a protest Monday against police brutality that shut down Aurora Avenue North in the South Lake Union neighborhood and sent one officer to the hospital. Police say…

The Associated Press A man suspected of being the “Alabama Band Bandit” faces felony charges of robbing five banks in July in Lynnwood, Bellingham and Shoreline. Federal prosecutors Friday also charged Michael Ryan Hardesty with possessing a stolen firearm. Hardesty had recently been released from federal prison after being sentenced to 7 1/2 years in 2008…

EVERETT — A group of businesses and property owners is proposing a short-line rail loop to move Cedar Grove compost off Everett’s Smith Island to markets outside western Washington. A plan submitted to the city calls for a 61-acre railroad terminal with a 1.8 mile-long loop track connected to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe mainline. The Daily…

Sound Transit signed a $1.33 billion low-interest loan agreement Friday with the U.S. Department of Transportation to help the local agency reverse some cuts after the recession. The loan, at a rate of 2.4 percent, 2.38 will go toward building light rail to Bellevue by 2023. It wouldn’t be fully repaid until 2058. Because of…

The Associated Press Health officials are warning people to watch out for toxic algae recently found along some shorelines on Lake Washington. They say the algae could be dangerous for humans and animals. The blue-green scum could make people and animals sick and be fatal to dogs if they ingest large quantities of the water. Public health officials…

The Associated Press FORKS, Clallam County — The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network says a small earthquake hit off the Washington coast Saturday morning. The 3.1 magnitude quake was centered about 19 miles offshore west of Forks. The Washington state Emergency Management agency says no damage has been reported or is expected.

The Associated Press A fire official on Bainbridge Island said a woman walking with her two grandchildren in a condo parking lot Friday suffered life-threatening injuries when she was hit by a car backing out of a carport. KING-TV reported that Assistant Fire Chief Luke Carpenter said the driver didn’t see the woman or the children. He…