Local News

By Rachel Lerman / Skagit Valley Herald MOUNT VERNON— Skagit County will pay $215,000 and has agreed to monitoring in a resolution agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services due to a 2011 exposure of county Public Health Department receipts containing protected health information. The county discovered in September 2011 that receipts from the…

Get out your waders: The rain continues around the Northwest, and minor flooding is expected on several rivers today. The National Weather Service forecast calls for continued rain through Friday, but then we might see some clear skies. The Legion of Boom stopped more than the Denver offense: Home…

Less talk, more action:  In a teaching experiment that began six years ago, frustrated Bellevue School District government teachers teamed with University of Washington researchers to revamp the advanced placement program. Instead of lectures, they put role plays and simulations at the center of the curriculum. It seems to be working. Russ…

Cano can? It may have been just the first spring training game for the Mariners, but Robinson Cano already is making a difference. In his first  major-league baseball game as part of an organization other than the Yankees, Cano hit a line-drive single on his first pitch in the Mariners’ 7-1 Cactus…

Here’s one for the little guy: A drywall contractor in Issaquah has agreed to pay $550,000 to settle a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit alleging it shortchanged nearly 400 workers on overtime wages over a 3½-year period. The Mariners are big Seahawks fans. Can that winning Super Bowl energy give a boost to…

Russell Hixson, The Skagit Valley Herald MOUNT VERNON — A 17-year-old boy from Concrete is to be tried as an adult for three counts of first-degree child rape. Tyler Jene Gray was arraigned Thursday in Skagit County Superior Court and entered a not guilty plea. He reserved arguments for release. He is being held on $500,000 bail. The…

The Associated Press BELLINGHAM — A fungal infection from moldy grain has been killing dozens of trumpeter swans wintering on Wiser Lake in Whatcom County. Wildlife biologist Martha Jordan of Washington Swan Stewards tells The Bellingham Herald that 149 of the big, white birds were found dead in the county as of Jan. 27. That compares with…

The Associated Press OREGON CITY, Ore. — The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office says a man suspected of fatally shooting a county road weighmaster remains at large Friday. A dispatcher says officers continue to look for 41-year-old Dirck Morgan White, of Edgefield, Wash. He was wanted on an arrest warrant from Pierce County, Wash., for a weapons violation. The…

Get your mittens, it’s still cold today: Snow is causing school delays and closures in the South Sound area, but Portland and southeast Washington really got hit. Check your school at schoolreport.org. Cold temperatures shattered records in Seattle this week, but the weather is expected to gradually warm up…

Snow showers in the South Sound area have caused several districts to close or have delays. Snow also has been reported on the ground in Bellingham and south toward Lynnwood. Go to schoolreport.org for a list of closures. Forecasters say this week’s frigid temperatures in Washington should moderate slowly through the weekend and return to a…