Stories for January 2010

Sunday, January 31

Prep basketball from around the region

Cashmere girls hand Okanogan first loss of season

OKANOGAN — An unfavorable matchup and the law of averages conspired to hand the Okanogan girls basketball team its first loss of the season. The Cashmere Bulldogs may have had a little something to do with the 39-34 defeat, as well.

Wild earn series split by blanking Avalanche 6-0

Wenatchee heads into 20-day break after beating Alaska

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Wild rebounded from their Friday loss to the Alaska Avalanche with a resounding 6-0 victory over the Avs on Saturday in the second game of their two-game series. The game was scoreless after one period, but the Wild scored three goals in each of the next two periods on the way to earning the split and now head into a 20-day layoff on a positive note.

No playoffs for Wildcats

Boys’ loss to Chiawana eliminates EHS from postseason contention

EAST WENATCHEE — The members of the Eastmont boys basketball team entered the season with high hopes. This probably wasn’t what they had in mind.

Panthers move into first-place tie with win over Southridge

WENATCHEE — With 6.1 seconds left and his team leading by seven points, Wenatchee girls basketball coach Ron Stone turned to the Panthers bench and said, “Girls, we’ve got it.” Stone was talking about the victory over Southridge, but he could have just as easily been referring to a league championship, which the team is now in position to win.

Saturday, January 30

Mutual funds

TOP Ten / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Local-interest stocks

As of closing Friday

Hay report

MOSES LAKE (Jan. 29) — Tonnage this week: 4,675; last week: 4,065; last year: 784.

NW cattle report

MOSES LAKE (Jan. 29) — Feeder cattle this week: 11,300; last week: 4,450; last year: 4,100. Compared to last week’s close, feeder cattle steady to 1.00 higher as most interests were willing sellers especially for spring and early summer contracting out of southern Oregon.

New York Stock Exchange

Friday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Friday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Prep basketball scores

Check here throughout the night for scores from NCW basketball games.

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Friday:

State bank one of six shut down by regulators Friday

WASHINGTON (AP) — American Marine Bank of Bainbridge Island was closed Friday evening by state regulators, who cited inadequate capital and severe loan losses. It was one of six banks shut by regulators on Friday, which included a big bank in California, two banks in Georgia and one each in Florida, Minnesota and Washington. That brought to 15 the number of bank failures so far in 2010 atop the 140 shuttered last year in the punishing economic climate.

Federal markets

Apples: YAKIMA VALLEY AND WENATCHEE DISTRICT 2009 SEASON — Demand good. Market about steady. Carton tray pack WAExFcy Red Delicious 72-125s $15-16; Golden Delicious 72-80s $18-20; 88s $18; 100s $16; 113s $15-16; 125s $14-15; Fuji 64s $20-22; 72-88s $22-24; 100s $17-18; 113s $14-16; Granny Smith (includes blush) 72-80s $18-20; 88s $18; 100-113s $14-16; 125s $14-15; Gala 72-88s $26-28; 100s $22-24; 113s $18-20, mostly $20; 125s $18; Braeburn 72-80s $16-18; 88s $15-17; 100-113s $13-15; 125s $12-14.

CBS layoffs won’t spare ‘60 Minutes’

NEW YORK — CBS News, seeking to hold down news-gathering costs as its flagship evening and morning news programs continue to lag in the ratings, is preparing a significant round of layoffs next week, according to people familiar with the situation. The budget tightening is expected to affect every newscast, including “60 Minutes,” the network’s crown jewel.

Toyota’s silence wears thin with public

Toyota executives have been virtually silent amid a recall of millions of their cars because gas pedals can become dangerously stuck. For their customers, oh, what a feeling — fear, frustration, confusion and anger. Since Tuesday, when the Japanese automaker said it would stop making and selling some of its top-selling models, the company has had few answers for dealers and drivers — most notably about when Toyota owners could get their cars fixed and hit the road without worrying.

Apple iPad lifts off to much hype

SAN FRANCISCO — Some Apple fanboys may not be thrilled by the iPad, the ultra-hyped digital tablet CEO Steve Jobs unveiled Wednesday, but their parents might buy one for themselves. As expected, the iPad is a supersized iPod, big enough to see most of a Web page, a full page of an electronic book or the front page of a digital newspaper — without having to squint too much if your eyes aren’t what they used to be.

Solid-state hard drives are faster and costlier

Question: I’d like to change out the hard drive in my laptop to a solid-state drive. What should I learn before I make the decision? My computer is a 1-year-old Apple Macbook Pro. Answer: Traditional hard drives store data on the magnetic surface of small metal platters. The data is read by a sensor on a small arm that moves just above the spinning platters — much like a needle on a turntable.

Program gets rid of unwanted programs and ads — for free

Advertising these days is just about everywhere. Most media, be it print or broadcasting, is advertising driven because it works. When I watch TV, I anticipate when a commercial is about to appear. But I always have the option to watch it, flip the channel or take a break. With newspapers and magazines, it’s pretty much the same. If I see something of interest, I’ll look further. If not, they get ignored. The Internet is ad driven and I’m OK with that too. I understand how advertising makes possible so many of the free services I enjoy online. I’m still not sure if I like seeing ads before I go to see a movie in the theater but they’re getting better at it. Some of the ads are downright entertaining. For the most part, I’ve come to accept advertising within these venues. But what happens when you buy a brand new computer and turn it on for the first time? There sitting on your brand new, pristine desktop are countless advertising icons pitching products and services. Your system tray is full of little icons that represent applications and utilities that immediately go online to see if all of these unsolicited products are up to date. Some ads may auto-start and run like some kind of desktop application pretending to be a helpful program launcher menu but display ad banners while they run. This happens because the company who made your new computer has sold this advertising space on your computer.

Last of tourists airlifted from flooded area

MACHU PICCHU, Peru - The last young backpackers flew away from Machu Picchu as clouds closed in again Friday, leaving Peru to grapple with flood damage that will close its top tourist site for weeks, or even months. Torrential rains caused mudslides and swelled the Urubamba River last week, stripping away long sections of the railway that is the only transportation in and out of the area around the Inca citadel. The road to the ruins at the end of the train line also washed away.

Haitians start their own reconstruction

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - More than two weeks have passed since an earthquake destroyed much of Haiti’s capital and left a vacuum of power over who should rebuild the country and maintain security. A private security guard fatally shot a looter who joined with others in breaking into a damaged appliance store Friday. About a dozen soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division rushed to calm the situation but it was too late.

China suspends military exchanges with U.S.

BEIJING - China suspended military exchanges with the United States and threatened sanctions against American defense companies Saturday, just hours after Washington announced $6.4 billion in planned arms sales to Taiwan. The development has further strained relations between the two powers.

Obama to propose expansion of Pell Grants

WASHINGTON - Obama to propose expansion of Pell Grants President Barack Obama’s budget blueprint would expand the Pell Grant program to nearly $35 billion in aid next year, an increase in the college funding program for low- and moderate-income families of more than 92 percent since he took office.

Bin Laden blasts U.S. for climate change

CAIRO - Osama bin Laden sought to draw a wider public into his fight against the United States in a new message Friday, dropping his usual talk of holy war and focusing instead on an unexpected topic: global warming. The al-Qaida leader blamed the United States and other industrialized nations for climate change and said the only way to prevent disaster was to break the American economy, calling on the world to boycott U.S. goods and stop using the dollar.

Costs may have doomed NYC trial plan

NEW YORK (AP)— A letter and a speech may have doomed plans to bring the Sept. 11 terror trial to New York. The letter written by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Washington earlier this month set a whopping $200-million-a-year price tag to secure the city during the trial — more than double the original estimate. The speech by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly detailed a planned lockdown of lower Manhattan certain to set new standards for gridlock.

Obama, GOP exchange barbs, ideas in rare encounter

BALTIMORE (AP) — In a sharp face-to-face confrontation, President Barack Obama chastised Republican lawmakers Friday for opposing him on taxes, health care and the economic stimulus, while they accused him in turn of brushing off their ideas and driving up the national debt. The president and GOP House members took turns for more than hour at a Republican gathering in Baltimore. The Republicans agreed to let TV cameras inside, resulting in an extended, point-by-point interchange that was almost unprecedented in U.S. politicss.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: Emil H. Miller and Gertrude Schmidt were recently married in Seattle. Miller is the son of Philip Miller of Wenatchee.

Dear Abby: Diner resents getting the bum’s rush

Dear Abby: When my partner and I eat at a restaurant, the server often clears my partner’s plate before I am finished. I am not a slow eater, but I generally finish after she does. When the server removes her plate, I’m left feeling like I have to rush to finish and that our shared time is over.

Bob Dylan to perform at the White House

Bob Dylan will play the White House next month as part of a concert marking the Civil Rights movement. Morgan Freeman and Queen Latifah will host “In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement” on Feb. 10, a show that will be broadcast Feb. 11 on PBS.

Don’t miss

Beyonce is one to watch at Grammy awards They’ll be handing out plenty of glittery hardware on music’s biggest night, but it’s the performances we’ve come to truly anticipate. Among those scheduled to take the Staples Center stage are Beyonce, who leads everyone with 10 nominations, the Black Eyed Peas, Maxwell, Taylor Swift, Green Day, Lady Gaga and Bon Jovi. Another key highlight: A special tribute to Michael Jackson, which includes a 3-D clip of the King of Pop. 8 p.m., Sunday, CBS.

Actress becomes face of new sci-fi show

Science-fiction television has a tradition of creating breakout female characters who combine brains, brawn and beauty. “Star Trek” did it with Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) on “Voyager.” We’ve seen Major Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) on “Stargate SG-1”; Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) on “Dr. Who”; and Number Six (Tricia Helfer) on the updated “Battlestar Galactica.”

Betting on a smart audience

MSNBC hopes ‘Morning Joe’ draws many — and discerning — viewers

PHILADELPHIA — Mika and Joe want to make you late for work. They want their smart repartee and influential guests to so engross you, the intelligent viewer, that you’ll forget what time it is.

UW nips WSU

PULLMAN (AP) — Sami Whitcomb scored a career-high 32 points as Washington beat Washington State 76-70 in overtime Friday night. Mackenzie Argens added 12 points and 11 rebounds as the Huskies (9-10, 4-5 Pac-10) rebounded from losses at home to USC and UCLA.

WVC women’s basketball team loses in overtime at home

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Valley College women’s basketball team came as close as they have all season to getting their first league win Friday night, but still fell 57-53 in overtime to Treasure Valley. WVC (0-6 East Region, 4-13 overall) trailed 23-17 at the first half, but it improved its play on the glass in the second half to send the game to the extra period.

Eric Byrnes agrees to deal with Seattle

SEATTLE — The Mariners added a right-handed bat, agreeing to a one-year contract with outfielder. Byrnes, 33, was let loose two weeks ago by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arizona owed him $11 million from the final season of a $30 million contract, and any team could sign him for the $400,000 minimum, with the Diamondbacks responsible to for the remainder.

Mariners: Griffey ‘ripped’ and ready for camp

SEATTLE — Ken Griffey Jr. is “ripped” and ready to go for spring training. Baseball’s active home run leader had his second arthroscopic knee surgery in 12 months in October, to remove a bone spur. And Seattle Mariners trainer Rick Griffin says Griffey is “better now than he was at any time last year.”

Scoreboard: Community college sports

Community college scores

Scoreboard: Prep sports

Prep sports scores and standings from around NCW

Week in Rec Sports: Brixey rolls 300

EAST WENATCHEE — Scott Brixey has been putting up big bowling numbers for several weeks in the AppleValleyHonday.com League. He had a 280 game two weeks ago and a 275 game the week before that. But last week Brixey was perfect, throwing a 300 game on the way to a 771 series Thursday night. The Odd Bunch team also knows a thing or two about perfection. The Stemilt League leaders have yet to lose a game this season and are sitting at 40-0 through Jan. 22.

With no-shows, it should be the semi-Pro Bowl

MIAMI — “A Pro Bowl Like No Other,” the headline on the NFL release earlier this week proclaimed. Boy, did they get that right. Thanks to the league’s decision to move the game from the week after the Super Bowl to the week before it, no other Pro Bowl ever has had so few of the league’s best players participating in it as Sunday night’s game will. Just 48 of the original 76 offensive and defensive players selected for the game will be suiting up.

NCW Collegians

Austin Bryan makes history at Dominican

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Dominican freshman guard Austin Bryan became the first Penguins player ever to be selected as the Pacific West Conference men’s basketball player of the week. Bryan, who graduated from Wenatchee High School last year as the school’s all-time leading scorer, is the reigning Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year in the Columbia Basin Big Nine’s Columbia Division.

Saints not worried about their inexperience

NEW ORLEANS — Jeremy Shockey was a member of the New York Giants’ squad that upset the previously unbeaten New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. He was injured and watched from the club level with a slew of drinks in front of him, as captured by the television cameras.

Sounders energized

TUKWILA — Sounders FC played with plenty of energy in its first full scrimmage, 11-on-11 action Friday at Starfire Sports Complex. The players’ adrenaline was fueled by the agreement between Major League Soccer and its players union to extend collective-bargaining agreement talks through Feb. 12. The extra time to work out a deal gave the Sounders more practices beyond Friday’s, which could have been their last before the original Sunday deadline and a possible work stoppage.

Activist admits stunt at office might’ve been wrong approach

LOS ANGELES — James O’Keefe, the conservative activist who was arrested Monday with three others for allegedly trying to tamper with the phones at the New Orleans office of a U.S. senator, broke his weeklong silence Friday and conceded he may have made a mistake. “On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation,” O’Keefe said, “particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building.”

Court ruling’s chilling question: Could foreigners tilt U.S. votes?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s decision on campaign finance has jumbled a seemingly simple rule of American politics: Foreigners should play no role in U.S. elections. President Barack Obama and other critics say the court’s decision to let corporations spend their money to directly influence elections opened the floodgates to foreign involvement.

County fairs are on the edge

Forty-six years ago, I was a princess of the Chelan County Fair, and it was thriving. County fairs are a way of life for agricultural communities, celebrating the accomplishments of ordinary people. Today, agriculture continues to support Chelan County and drives a way of life that is the very reason many of us live here. Oh, yes, we are touted as a bedroom community for affluent families from the other side of the mountains; we are a great tourism location year round, with lakes, rivers, trails, ski areas and the addition of agri-tourism, but agriculture still continues to support our county and county fairs are still well attended.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Normal politics: In a story in the Jan. 17 edition of The Wenatchee World on the Massachusetts Senate race, Howard Dean said “Washington is just not in touch” and now the tables have turned. “Republicans are unified against the Democrats the way we were against them when Bush was president.” In another article just below this one (dateline Boston) it says that a poor outcome for Martha Coakley in the special election would make moderate Democrats ever more nervous about backing Obama on other issues, out of concern about their own re-election chances.

A lobe divided will not stand

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama tiptoed Wednesday night along the seam that bifurcates the Democratic Party’s brain. The seam separates that brain’s John Quincy Adams lobe from its Sigmund Freud lobe. The dominant liberal lobe favors Adams’ dictum that politicians should not be “palsied by the will of our constituents.” It exhorts Democrats to smack Americans with what is good for them — health care reform, carbon rationing, etc. — even if the dimwits do not desire it.

Students on board

We don’t know where so many adults came upon the notion that, when it comes to making decisions on their education, students have nothing valuable to offer. They are the ones being educated, after all. It might behoove the supervising adults to occasionally ask them how it’s going, what’s wrong, what’s right, or what they need. The same thoughts apparently occurred to the collective minds of the Eastmont School Board, which last week voted to give two appointed students auxiliary seats on the board. The students, a junior and senior, next year will join the board in advisory roles. They will not vote, of course, not being elected or eligible. They will not attend executive sessions or delve into sensitive personnel matters. But otherwise they will be there, and granted the opportunity to listen, understand and provide input.

They won’t tell you

So, if your bank was in financial straits, if the holder of your deposits suffered such difficulties that state regulators had to step in and essentially take it over, should all this be kept secret from you? There are four bills now pending in the Legislature (HB 2830, SB 6369, HB 2831 and SB 6370) that would spare the public the anxiety of knowing that a bank, savings and loan, credit union or holding company was now subject to the direction of the state Department of Financial Institutions. It would add yet another chapter to the ever-growing list of exemptions from the disclosure requirements of the state’s Public Records Act.

Generosity for the animals

It is inspiring when compassion and generosity come together in an extraordinary way to remind us of the power of the human spirit. It was one of those joyous times last week when we learned that an East Wenatchee widow, who died at age 92 in August, had left $1.1 million to the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society. Helen Zilke made this contribution unannounced, with no fanfare, unknown in her lifetime to the beneficiaries. She felt none of the public adulation or gratitude that rightly comes to people who make such large contributions. She apparently had never even set foot inside the Humane Society shelter, since she could not bear to see the animals who needed homes. She merely had a burning love for animals, and it is now manifest in this generous contribution.

‘Princess and Frog’ pendants recalled for cadmium

Federal consumer safety regulators on Friday announced the recall of “The Princess and The Frog” pendants because of high levels of the toxic metal cadmium, an unprecedented action that reflects concerns of an emerging threat in children’s products. The recall affects two products, about 55,000 items in total, sold exclusively at Walmart stores for $5 each. The action was taken voluntarily by Rhode Island-based jewelry company FAF Inc.

Lorraine Katherine Rose Fancher

It is with a great deal of sadness we announce the passing of Lorraine Katherine Rose Fancher in Wenatchee, WA, USA, on January 19, 2010, in her 82nd year. Mom was born in Vernon, BC on October 2, 1928, to Major Tom and Catherine Leduc.

Bill "Unc" Rotter

Bill "Unc" Rotter, age 85, of Tonasket, died on Monday, January 25, 2010, in East Wenatchee. He was born on August 28, 1924, in Seattle, to parents, Benjamin and Margaret Rotter. Bill grew up in Western Washington and served in the U.S. Army during WWII as a Paratrooper.

Daniel F. Parsons

Daniel F. Parsons passed away January 20, 2010. Born January 25, 1948, in Spokane, WA, Dan is survived by wife, Pauline; sons, Lenny and Danny; daughters, Julie Sullivan and Pamela Buffalo; 11 grandchildren; mother, Myrna of Wenatchee, WA; brothers, Brad and Darryl of Leavenworth, WA; sisters, Corky Sweeney of East Wenatchee, WA and Valerie Priestly of Wenatchee, WA; and many loving aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces.

Mauricio Renteria (Ornelas) Diaz

Mauricio Renteria (Ornelas) Diaz, 81, a longtime Wenatchee resident, passed away peacefully January 26, 2010, at home in Wenatchee, WA. Mauricio was born on September 22, 1928, at Cruzes, Valparaiso, Mexico, the youngest son of seven of the late Tomas Renteria and Suzana Diaz.

News of record

News of record reports for Chelan and Douglas counties

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Friday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 161

Sen. Roach kicked out of Republican caucus

OLYMPIA - State Sen. Pam Roach has been banned from the Senate Republican caucus. The Seattle Times reports that Senate GOP leaders sent the Auburn senator a letter, saying she’s repeatedly mistreated staff and needs anger management counseling.

Historic City Hall building is up for sale

LYNDEN - City Hall is for sale in Lynden. The city’s old City Hall building downtown was built in 1928 and includes two jail cells in the basement. The two-story building has previously housed a library, civil defense operations and a fire station.

Officer charged with child molestation

STEVENSON - The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office says a Bingen-White Salmon police officer has been charged with first-degree child molestation and second-degree incest. Undersheriff David Cox says Joshua Gines of Carson pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday.

Gisela Margaret Sweat

Gisela Margaret Sweat, 88, of Port Orchard, died Monday, Jan. 25, 2010.

Harold G. Stroud

Harold G. Stroud, 76, of Wenatchee, died Friday, Jan. 29, 2010.

Stella Przespolewski

Stella Przespolewski, 86, of Entiat, died Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010.

Juanita Johns

Juanita Johns, 95, of Wenatchee, died Friday, Jan. 29, 2010.

Sunday briefing

SCORE offers business workshops in February SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Business, will be presenting the following one-hour Workshop Lunch Box Specials:

Real estate records

Chelan County Residential sales Nov. 10: 16 Howard Flats Road, Chelan, $285,000 Nov. 17: 514 and 514 1/2 Mission St., $161,000

New Wenatchee hotel could open in late February

WENATCHEE — The new Springhill Suites on Wenatchee Avenue in Wenatchee could open as early as late February, said owner Kent Clausen of KVC Development Co., Wednesday. Clausen said the hotel’s design inspiration was “air,” so they worked to keep the spaces open and light, including the entrance with its light-diffusing canopy.

People & places

Congratulations Sen. Linda Evans Parlette, R-Wenatchee, was honored with an award for meritorious service by the Washington Council of Trout Unlimited. The award was in recognition of her bill establishing the Columbia River Recreational Salmon and Steelhead Pilot Stamp Program. Revenues from this program are used to maintain fisheries on the Columbia River, to offset budget cuts, and ultimately allowed four hatcheries to remain open.

Quincy man arrested after injuring himself with knife

EAST WENATCHEE — A Quincy man was arrested early Saturday morning after police say he cut himself during a fight in a parking lot. East Wenatchee Police Officer Carrie Knouf said police were called to the 7-Eleven at the intersection of 9th Street and Valley Mall Parkway just after 2 a.m. for a reported fight. Knouf said a 30-year-old man pulled out a knife during the fight, which involved a few people, but no one else was hurt.

Roll call

How NCW legislators voted on recent bills (Y-yes, N-no, E-excused, NV-not voting):Prohibiting the use of bisphenol A 2SHB 1180 passed the House by a vote of 95-1, prohibiting the use bisphenol A, which is a chemical used to harden plastics, in any product containing food or beverages intended for use by a child 3 and under. The bill restricts the use of bisphenol A in sports bottles and establishes monetary penalties for violation of the act, which takes effect July 1. The Senate passed SSB 6248, which would also ban the use of bisphenol A, by a vote of 36-9. However the Senate’s bill does not regulate bisphenol A in sports bottles. 2SHB 1180 is now before the Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee for further consideration, and the House will consider SSB 6248.

Washington Apple Education Foundation offers new scholarships

WENATCHEE — The Washington Apple Education Foundation (WAEF) 2010 Universal Scholarship Application is now available at waef.org. The application allows students to apply for awards from more than 70 individual scholarship funds. More than 100 scholarships will be awarded this spring by WAEF to college students raised in tree fruit districts of Washington, potentially representing $400,000 in scholarship aid.

Audit finds East Wenatchee failed to follow proper procedure for funds

EAST WENATCHEE — The city of East Wenatchee did not follow proper procedures for use of real estate excise tax money, according to the state Auditor’s Office. The city used $295,500 of the $396,306 it received from January 2007 to December 2008 to fund annexation payments to Douglas County and purchase property next to City Hall. The state requires real estate excise tax (REET) money be used for capital projects in the city’s comprehensive plan, and these items were not part of the plan.

Sick of secrecy, co-op group plots election strategy

WINTHROP — A group of ratepayers says the Okanogan County Electric Cooperative is too secretive. So now they’re challenging policies that effectively close board meetings to members and prevent the board from talking openly about their decisions. The Members for a Democratic Co-op decided this week to try to replace the co-op’s entire nine-member board of directors through elections. It raised $1,500 and is launching a campaign to run three candidates in the April election every year for the next three years.

Convention schedule

Here’s a look at events taking place in February. Wenatchee Convention Center

Kittitas County fights back against Ecology water moratorium

Kittitas County residents urged state lawmakers Wednesday to require the state Department of Ecology to have scientific proof that new wells are hurting senior water rights and stream flows before they could impose a moratorium on new uses. Kitty Wallace, representing the Kittitas County Association of Realtors, told lawmakers in Olympia that property owners, schools and public safety are suffering because of a moratorium on wells imposed by the state last summer.

Pain still strong 10 years after plane crash

Those who lost loved ones when Alaska Airlines Flight 261 plunged into the Pacific Ocean off California have learned some hard, bitter truths in the 10 years since the crash. They’ve learned that time doesn’t heal all wounds, that some injustices and wrongs can never be righted. They’ve learned that there are human vultures and con artists who prey on grief and tragedy.

Jewelry that’s fit for a queen

WENATCHEE — Washington State Apple Blossom Festival royalty candidates spent six hours Friday afternoon improving their selection-night speeches, learning stage presence and trying on their dresses and jewelry in the Wenatchee High School auditorium. The festival owns jewelry and lends it to candidates who need something a little bit different to complement their dresses.

NCW organizations reach out to help Haitian quake effort

WENATCHEE — Several local schools and organizations are gathering money, blankets, clothing and other needed items for Haiti earthquake vicitms. Here’s a roundup of a few of the events:

In the Methow, Olympic plans scaled to be more fun-sized

WINTHROP — Serious talk a year ago to cash in on the Vancouver Olympics probably won’t translate into a winter windfall for the Methow Valley, but ski organizers here still have big plans to have big fun while the Big Games proceed. In recent weeks, hotshot Olympians here practiced and raced on valley trails, taking full advantage of the area’s prime snow conditions and Olympic-like Nordic venues. A two-week Methow Olympic Festival — featuring races, clinics and TV coverage with live Olympian commentaries — is set to coincide with the Vancouver games. And at least one local ski professional will travel to Vancouver to help an international ski team rack up the points.

Cherry industry reflects on what went wrong with 2009 crop

WENATCHEE — A record-shattering — and largely unprofitable — 2009 cherry crop left many growers with a bitter taste in their mouths for the one-time sweet crop. “Nobody’s comfortable with the situation that happened in 2009,” said Tim Smith, tree fruit specialist for Washington State University Extension.

On the other hand, educators warn, online school is still school

Online school is not for everyone. Locally, about half of the students who join a full-time online school come back to traditional high school, guidance counselors say. Most return even further behind than when they left.

Online option offers more flexibility — which makes it easier to go skiing

WENATCHEE — Sixteen-year-old Josh Sanborn hasn’t heard a class bell, pushed through a high school hallway or shaken a teacher’s hand in seven months. For him and thousands of other students statewide, the school day starts with a power button. Sanborn, who lives in Wenatchee, is enrolled as a full-time student this year at Insight School of Washington, an online high school offered through Quillayute Valley School District in Forks.

Avs make Wild pay for slow start

WENATCHEE — A costly turnover late in the second period put the Wenatchee Wild back in a hole Friday, and they weren’t able to climb out a second time, ultimately falling to the Alaska Avalanche 5-2. The Wild trailed 2-0 after one period, but scored twice in the first 11:34 of the second period to overcome their slow start and get back to even.

Eastmont boys fall to Richland

RICHLAND — The Eastmont Wildcats finally got Darren Spaeth back Friday night, but it may have been too late. Even with their second-leading scorer back in the lineup for the first time in over two weeks, the Wildcats couldn’t maintain an early lead and fell 67-59 to sixth-ranked Richland.

Prep basketball from around the region

Pateros girls now 10-0 in league

MOSES LAKE — The Pateros Nannies kept their perfect record in North Central Washington 1B League action intact with a 38-29 win over Moses Lake Christian Academy Friday night. Pateros (11-6 overall) held a slim 7-6 lead after the first quarter, but expanded the advantage to three by halftime.

Davis overcomes Panther boys in fourth

WENATCHEE — It took three quarters, but the Davis press finally got to the Wenatchee boys basketball team. With turnovers mounting for the Panthers in the fourth quarter, the first-place Pirates took advantage, bolting from a tie at the end of three to a 62-48 victory.

Friday, January 29

Friday’s basketball scores

Check here throughout the night for scores from NCW basketball games.

Our World: A question of balance

As time goes by, I find myself growing increasingly enthusiastic about what can be accomplished with the resources and talents we have here in North Central Washington. There is a great sense of independence and freedom that comes with getting things done when you’re not relying on someone else. Perhaps we should invest less time and energy worrying about the latest machinations between Democrats and Republicans in Olympia or Washington, D.C., because far too little is accomplished by fixating on those dramas.

Review calls for releasing, moving most Guantanamo detainees

MIAMI — A yearlong review of evidence against men who are being held as terrorism suspects at Guantanamo has concluded that most of them should be released or transferred to third countries. The review has angered human rights advocates, however, by concluding that “roughly” 50 of the detainees should be held indefinitely, even though there isn’t enough valid evidence to prosecute them.

Nice truck, but can he gut a moose?

WASHINGTON — Sure, he’s got the jutting jaw and centerfold looks. He’s got the truck. But does Scott Brown kill his own meat? Of late, it seems, Republicans are determined to demonstrate their political virility by displaying not just their hunting trophies, but their fearlessness in carving up a fresh kill for the family table.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Two cheers: Tracy Warner, one big cheer for your defense of the U.S. Supreme Court decision reinstating the First Amendment rights of the corporations muzzled by McCain-Feingold (The Wenatchee World, Jan. 22). Your stirring eloquence in support of this most fundamental of our constitutional endowments was a sharp and timely reminder of the wisdom of preserving the checks and balances provided for in the ideal of three co-equal branches of government. That balance has been lost to political overreaching by Congress and the executive. That balance has not been restored by any means. Constant vigilance, such as you exhibited, is more than ever in need.

Obama retools tax credit idea for creating jobs

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is taking another swing at offering tax credits to companies that hire new workers, a plan that drew a cool reception from Congress last month despite the nation’s high unemployment rate. With polls showing that jobs are Americans’ top priority, Obama cited the retooled plan in his State of the Union address, and he is to detail it later today.

Senate permits feds to borrow $1.9 trillion more

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats needed all the 60 votes at their disposal Thursday to muscle through legislation allowing the government to go $1.9 trillion deeper in debt. Democratic leaders were able to prevail on the politically volatile 60-39 vote only because Republican Sen.-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts has yet to be seated. Republicans had insisted on a 60-vote, super-majority threshhold to pass the measure. An earlier test vote succeeded on a 60-40 vote.

Roeder found guilty of killing abortion provider

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man who said he killed prominent Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in order to save the lives of unborn children was convicted today of murder. The jury deliberated for just 37 minutes before finding Scott Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Mo., guilty of premeditated, first-degree murder in the May 31 shooting death.

Parents charged with mistreatment of infant

SEATTLE — A Bellevue couple accused of underfeeding their newborn daughter have been charged with third-degree criminal mistreatment. The couple, 21-year-old Brittainy Labberton and 24-year-old Sam Labberton, are not in custody. They face arraignment Monday.

First Powerball tickets in state can be bought Sunday

OLYMPIA — Washington residents will be able to buy tickets for the multistate lottery game Powerball this weekend, making Washington one of the latest to join the popular game. Ticket sales begin Sunday, and the first drawing will be the following Wednesday.

Obama speech prompts domestic dispute

PROSSER — A Benton County sheriff’s officer says President Obama’s State of the Union address apparently sparked a Prosser domestic dispute that ended with an arrest. Lt. Joe Lusignan says a couple got into a fight over the speech Wednesday night, with the man grabbing his wife by the throat and pushing her down. Lusignan says the woman then kicked her husband in the groin and called for help.

House approves child care unionization

OLYMPIA — Some child care workers in Washington could get collective bargaining rights under a bill passed by the House. The bill passed on a 62-35 vote Wednesday and is now headed to the Senate.

Driver missing after pickup hits train at Stanwood

STANWOOD — Police say a pickup that hit a freight train at a Stanwood crossing had been stolen from a nearby farm — and there’s no indication anyone was inside the truck when the crash occurred. Investigators found the keys in the ignition of the truck’s mangled wreckage, but there was no sign of blood. They’re looking for the driver.

Federal judges pause ruling on state felony inmate voting

OLYMPIA — A federal appeals court has temporarily stayed its decision that would allow Washington felons to vote from prison. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the state’s request for the stay on Thursday, while Washington officials ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take their appeal.

Robert A. Webster

Robert A. Webster, 74, of Cashmere, died Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010.

News of record

News of record reports for Chelan and Douglas counties

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Thursday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 702

State bill seeks to limit shackling pregnant inmates

OLYMPIA (AP) — On the day she gave birth, Kimberly Hays was shackled to a bed with a nurse’s hand over her mouth to muffle her screams of pain, the former inmate told state lawmakers Tuesday. “It’s like an animal giving birth before its masters,” said Hays, describing a scene in which a male guard stood over her and the nurse told her to “shut up” while in labor.

Solo, the trumpeter swan, returns to wildlife refuge

SPOKANE — As he has for possibly more than four decades, the trumpeter swan nicknamed Solo returned Monday to the year’s first big patch of ice-free water at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge. This time, however, he didn’t return alone. Solo was joined by the mate he found last year and three of the four cygnets they produced at the refuge last spring.

Idaho wolf hunters listed on Web site

BOISE — Rick Hobson, a Boise wolf advocate, used a public records request to get the names of hunters who reported wolf kills to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Hobson posted 122 names and bought a classified ad in the Idaho Statesman that directed people to a Web site. He said harassment was not his intent.

Fugitive lawyer Claude Irwin arrested in Los Angeles

SPOKANE — Fugitive Spokane lawyer and developer Claude Irwin was arrested by federal agents Wednesday night when he stepped off a plane from Mexico in Los Angeles. The Spokesman-Review says he’ll be returned to Spokane to face theft charges.

Seattle counts fewer homeless people this year

Despite the recession, the number of homeless people sleeping on the streets of King County is slightly lower than it was at this time last year, according to the county’s annual One Night Count of the homeless not living in shelters. The count, conducted between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. today, found 2,759 people living in vehicles, under freeways, behind Dumpsters, inside doorways, on buses, inside cardboard boxes and in homeless encampments. Last year, volunteers counted 2,826, but the area canvassed was a bit smaller than this year.

The mystery of the ‘Mona Lisa’

Italian scientists think the answers lie buried in Leonardo’s grave

ROME — The legend of Leonardo da Vinci is shrouded in mystery: How did he die? Are the remains buried in a French chateau really those of the Renaissance master? Was the “Mona Lisa” a self-portrait in disguise? A group of Italian scientists believes the key to solving those puzzles lies with the remains — and they say they are seeking permission from French authorities to dig up the body to conduct carbon and DNA testing.

U.S. economy growth a surprise in fourth quarter

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy grew at an accelerated pace in the last quarter of 2009, driven largely by a rebound in manufacturing and better-than-expected gains in consumer spending and commercial investments, according to Commerce Department statistics released today. The nation’s gross domestic product — or total goods and services produced in the United States — expanded at a robust 5.7 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter. That’s more than double the 2.2 percent growth in the third quarter and a dramatic turnaround from the first three months of 2009, when the economy shrank by 6.4 percent.

Genealogists link Obama, senator-elect

BOSTON — It was bad enough that President Barack Obama lost his filibuster-proof margin in the U.S. Senate to a Republican. Now it turns out he also lost it to a relative. Genealogists said today that the Democratic president and the newly elected senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, are 10th cousins.

Officials oppose 9/11 trials in NYC

NEW YORK — Opposition to the government’s plans to hold the Sept. 11 terrorist trial in New York City intensified Thursday, one day after Mayor Michael Bloomberg revealed he had changed his mind and now hoped the trial would be held elsewhere.

Phone caper meant to ‘embarrass’ senator

NEW ORLEANS — Four conservative activists accused of trying to tamper with a senator’s phones were just trying to record embarrassing undercover video of her staff ignoring phone calls from constituents angry that she supported health care reform, one of their attorneys said Thurday.

Bernanke wins second term as Fed chief

WASHINGTON — Embattled Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke won confirmation for a second term Thursday, but only by the closest vote ever for the crucial post and after withering criticism from lawmakers for bailing out Wall Street while other Americans suffered in recession.

Senator says health care bill ‘on life support’

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s health care appeal failed to break the congressional gridlock Thursday. Democrats stared down a political nightmare — getting clobbered for voting last year for ambitious, politically risky bills, yet having nothing to show for it in November.

Safety fears mean no fans at games

CENTRAL, S.C. — Well, at least there won’t be any hecklers.

Three Muslims charged in church bombing

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian prosecutors charged three Muslim men today in the firebombing of a church — the first suspects in a string of assaults on places of worship amid a dispute over whether non-Muslims can refer to God as “Allah.” Arson attacks, vandalism and other incidents at 11 churches, a Sikh temple, three mosques and two Muslim prayer halls in recent weeks have been a blow to decades of multiracial harmony in this Muslim-majority country.

Two Americans detained in Iraq on visa violations

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi security forces have detained two Americans for questioning after they crossed into a northern province from the country’s semiautonomous Kurdish region without visas, authorities said Friday. The two Americans, whose identities were not made public, were detained Sunday in the northern city of Mosul, an Iraqi army official said. He gave no details about why the two were in Iraq.

Medicine running out at Haiti hospitals, clinics

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Doctors and aid workers say treating the tens of thousands of Haitians injured by the earthquake is taxing the country’s devastated hospitals — as well as the efforts of physicians from around the world who are providing emergency care. Basic medical supplies such as antibiotics and painkillers are running dangerously low at some hospitals and clinics in Port-au-Prince, the capital, and in the countryside, alarming doctors who are struggling to keep up with demand.

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Thursday:

New York Stock Exchange

Thursday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Thursday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Local interest stocks

As of closing Thursday

Metals futures

NEW YORK — Spot nonferrous metal prices as of 9 a.m.

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Wall Street

NEW YORK (MCT) — A day-long slide in stocks Thursday, fueled by a swoon in the technology sector following Apple’s unveiling of its new tablet computer, left the market poised for its worst monthly decline since the end of the bear market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 115.70 points, off 1.1 percent, at 10,120.46. With one trading day to go in January, the blue-chip measure has fallen 2.9 percent, on pace for its worst monthly loss since February 2009, shortly before the Dow hit a 12-year low.

Scoreboard: Junior hockey

NAHL

Scoreboard: Prep sports

Prep sports scores from throughout NCW

B.C. bound? Don’t forget your passport

VANCOUVER, B.C. — U.S. citizens may get into Canada with a birth certificate and picture ID. But they’ll need more than that to get back home.

Waterfowl hunting ends Sunday in NCW

WENATCHEE — With the waterfowl hunting season set to close this Sunday, aerial surveys taken by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show that ducks and geese are highly concentrated in select areas of the North Columbia Basin. “North Franklin County, specifically the Eagle Lakes area and Sugar Ranch private clubs, held nearly half of the mallards counted,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist Randy Hill in the latest state Department of Fish and Wildlife Weekender newsletter. “That’s a reflection of some open water, available food nearby, and an apparent lack of hunting the day of the survey. The Winchester Reserve held nearly half of the remaining mallards counted, likely a result of birds concentrated from other areas that were frozen.”

Outboard motors propels collector to act

PHILADELPHIA — Bob Grubb’s father was a machinist who loved boating and fishing. In 1940, he bought one of the first Mercury outboard motors. The next year, he bought another to sell to a friend. By 1946, he had become a Mercury dealer, running the business from the basement of the family home in Spring City, Pa. For many years, he hauled new motors home from a Philadelphia distributor in the back of the family Nash. On the side, he repaired and serviced lawn mowers, and Grubb can remember removing the wheels, as a mere lad of 4 or 5, so the blades could be sharpened. By 13, he was helping his father fix outboards. By nature and nurture, he had an aptitude for things mechanical, a fondness for machinery. In 1976, he took over the enterprise.

WHS to welcome four into Panther Hall

WENATCHEE — Wenatchee High School will induct four more former athletes into the school’s Hall of Fame in ceremonies at halftime of Saturday’s girls basketball game against Southridge.

No. 13 Gonzaga rallies past Santa Clara 71-64

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — All it took was taking a step back, clearing the mind and keeping it simple. It helps when you have a returning first-team all-conference player there to lead the way. Matt Bouldin and Steven Gray each scored 19 points, and No. 13 Gonzaga rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half to beat Santa Clara 71-64 on Thursday night for its ninth straight victory.

No Qwest game for WSU

PULLMAN — Washington State will not play in Seattle in 2010 but will return to Seattle’s Qwest Field next year. Athletic director Jim Sterk announced this week that WSU will play all six of its home games on campus at Martin Stadium this coming season.

Badger Mountain Ski area opens

WATERVILLE — After a year-long hiatus due to low snow, Badger Mountain Ski area is now open. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Daily lift tickets cost $10. Single-person seasons passes cost $60 and family season passes cost $150. The ski area is located 4 miles southwest of Waterville.

Port gets option to buy Morse Steel property

WENATCHEE — The Port of Chelan County conditionally agreed to buy the old Morse Steel property Thursday, edging the riverfront site closer to becoming the envisioned Pybus Public Market. The deal, between the port and property owner Bob Morse of Bellingham, locks in a sale price of $1.32 million for the property, which is at the foot of Orondo Avenue.

Prep sports roundup from around NCW

Wenatchee grapplers blast Kennewick on Senior Night: All eight Panther seniors victorious in tune-up to district tourney

WENATCHEE — It was a Senior Night to remember for the Wenatchee wrestling team. The Panthers throttled Kennewick 60-12 in their final regular season match of the season, and appear to be peaking at just the right time.

Eastmont Junior High vice principal gets state honor

EAST WENATCHEE — Stacia Hardie had no idea what was coming. Hardie, a vice principal at Eastmont Junior High School, thought her role today at an all-school assembly was to introduce motivational speaker Chad Hymus.

Eleven from Washington in Olympics

Leavenworth skier Koos is lone NCW competitor

SEATTLE — Team Washington appears to be set for next month’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., after adding two new members Tuesday afternoon. Spokane’s Will Brandenburg earned a surprise appointment to the U.S. alpine ski team, and Seattle native Holly Brooks was added to the cross-country skiing team when it learned it could expand its women’s roster from four to five.

Methow skiers at Worlds

HINTERZARTEN, Germany — Winthrop cross country skier Sadie Bjornsen finished 13th in the one-kilometer skate sprint final this week in the Under 23 World Championships. Bjornsen, 20, was the second fastest American on the course in Tuesday’s event. Teammate Ida Sargent took fourth place.

Getting traction: Young Nordic skiers in Utah for qualifiers

WENATCHEE — They may be baby-faced. But don’t let that fool you. These Wenatchee Valley Nordic Ski Education Foundation skiers are fast. After strong performances at the Methow Valley SuperTour races on Jan. 17, seven of the young Wenatchee cross country skiers are in Soldier Hollow, Utah, for a Junior Olympics Super Qualifier event today and Saturday.

Ricochet gunshot wound appears accidental

CHELAN — A gunshot that went astray while two men were target shooting sent a Chelan man to the hospital with a bullet wound in the left leg. Randy U. Forbes, 52, was treated for the bullet wound at Lake Chelan Community Hospital late Thursday morning. Officials there reported the gunshot wound to Chelan County sheriff’s deputies, said Jerry Moore, chief of administration for the sheriff’s department.

Pistol may have been used in dispute over money

EAST WENATCHEE — A pistol may have been used to intimidate an East Wenatchee man during a dispute over money Thursday night. The 19-year-old man told Douglas County sheriff’s deputies that another man punched him in the face during the dispute and then pointed a pistol at him, said Don Culp, Douglas County undersheriff. The victim was treated at Central Washington Hospital for facial bruises, then reported the altercation to deputies.

Jean L. Clements

Jean L. Clements, 62, a lifetime resident of the Waterville area, died Wednesday, January 27, 2010. She was born October 16, 1947, at Wenatchee. She was a graduate of Waterville High School. Jean married Bob Clements at East Wenatchee on May 21, 1966.

Opal I. Taylor

Opal I. Taylor, 84, a Wenatchee resident since 1999, passed away Monday, January 25, 2010. Opal was born December 17, 1925, in Omaha, NE. She attended school in Papillion, NE and graduated in 1943. She worked as a nanny for a year and then went to work at Eller's Grocery Store in Papillion.

Chelan hospital picks new CEO

CHELAN — The Lake Chelan Community Hospital board selected interim Chief Executive Officer Kevin Abel to be the hospital’s permanent CEO in a unanimous resolution passed Tuesday. The board will vote on a final resolution at its next regular meeting on Feb. 23.

Record demand for food stamps in NCW

WENATCHEE — Food stamps fed a record number of North Central Washington residents last year — about one in seven people. “As far as I can tell, it’s higher than it’s ever been,” said Timothy Baker, supervisor of the financial unit at the state Department of Social and Health Services office in Wenatchee.

Surveyors set out to number the homeless

WENATCHEE — Artemio Salas held court against the bumper of a long-parked car, grateful for his new hat. The homeless orchard worker and commercial fisherman, troubled by failing eyesight, accepted the knit cap and other sundries from Mariah Terhaar and her team as they assessed the Wenatchee Valley’s unhoused population Thursday night. Salas, 60, is one of about eight men who bunk in their cars south of the Sen. George Sellar Bridge in Wenatchee. He’s been there seven months, working whatever pruning jobs he can find and waiting to see a doctor about his eyes.

City sells surplus land off Elliott Avenue

WENATCHEE — The City Council agreed Thursday to sell a nearly 3,000-square-foot surplus lot at the corner of Second Street and Elliott Avenue to Jonathan Bich for $12,000. Steve King, the city’s public works director for engineering, said the parcel was left over from area road construction and isn’t big enough to develop.

Native plant sale deadline fast approaching

OKANOGAN — The Okanogan Conservation District’s annual spring plant sale deadline is next Friday. A variety of native coniferous and deciduous trees and flowering shrubs is available.

Dear Abby: Cash-strapped parents regret deathbed promise

Dear Abby: My 31-year-old son, “Joey,” who needs a heart transplant, almost died a few weeks ago. The doctors told us he wouldn’t make it through the weekend. I was beside myself. On what we thought was his deathbed, I told Joey I would give him anything he wanted if he pulled through. He wanted a very expensive sports car. Well, my son pulled through, but has other physical challenges. My husband and I are sending him $500 a month until he starts receiving money from Social Security. It’s the best we can do right now. The problem is, Joey keeps hounding me about the sports car. I cannot afford this gift. We have offered to have his current vehicle reconditioned or give him my year-old car with its very low mileage.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: W.W. Ulin and Clara J. Stauffer were recently married. They will make their home in Havillah.

City to host open houses on senior-housing proposal

WENATCHEE — The city will host two open houses Feb. 8 on a proposal by Intercommunity Mercy Housing to build affordable senior apartments at the corner of South Mission and Kittitas streets. The open houses will be from noon to 1 p.m. and 5 to 6 p.m. at Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission St.

City Council renames three to citizen boards

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee City Council on Thursday renamed Jim Richardson to the board that governs the Town Toyota Center events arena. Richardson, who is president of Wenatchee Valley College, will serve a new four-year term on the board, which is officially called the Greater Wenatchee Regional Events Center Public Facilities District Board.

Library to hold after-school program

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Public Library, 310 Douglas St., will host the “Books and Bites” after-school program at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 4. The program is geared toward children in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Meditation master to lead weekend sessions

EAST WENATCHEE — A two-day meditation event with Khentrul Lodrö Thaye Rinpoche will take place at Cascade Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1550 Sunset Highway, next month.

Showing of ‘Facing the Giants’ set for Sunday

EAST WENATCHEE — The First Church of God, 181 1st St. S.E., will show the movie “Facing the Giants” at 6 p.m. Sunday.

Methodists offer 10-week Divorce Recovery course

WENATCHEE — Wenatchee Free Methodist Church, 1601 Fifth St., will offer Divorce Recovery, a 10-week course beginning at 6 p.m. Feb. 7 for people who are divorced or going through a divorce.

A vote for traditional values

Local church adopts declaration of beliefs for today’s Christians

WENATCHEE — A local church has joined with others around the globe in taking a strong, unified stand on the sanctity of life, the significance of traditional marriage and the importance of broad religious liberties. Elders of the First Presbyterian Church last month adopted the Manhattan Declaration, a proclamation of human dignity and Christian conscience endorsed by denominations around the world, said senior pastor Pat McElroy.

‘This is a Hyundai?’ Equus is proud addition to lineup

Remember the 1986 Hyundai Excel? It was the brand’s first car in the United States, an execrable two-door hatchback or four-door sedan powered by an anemic 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine supplied by Mitsubishi that coughed up 68 horsepower. The handsome styling by Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, combined with South Korea’s low wages, allowed for a starting price of $4,995. By comparison, a Honda Civic DX, hobbled by “voluntary” Japanese car import restrictions, started at $6,292.

Prayer requests keep church volunteers busy

FORT WORTH, Texas — Throughout the day, when others are working, eating and sleeping, teams from Calvary Cathedral International church in Fort Worth, Texas, are at prayer. Volunteers pray for the church, nation, its leaders and the world all day, every day in its Power Tower ministry, which started in May 1995.

Can we apply ‘Avatar’ message?

The science-fiction movie “Avatar” borrows themes from many religions. More importantly, it poses a great question of faith.

Parenting Corner: So who’s the bonus dad here?

Q: According to a recent DNA test I’m the proud bio-dad of a 3-year-old from a short-term relationship. At our first family court session the mother asked me to give up my rights. She had started to date a guy, whom she married a year later, who wanted to adopt him. I declined. Then, and now, she states that I need to consider myself the bonus dad. I think it confuses my son. Your take? A: Well, you aren’t his bonus dad and that’s just reality. And while some well-known radio doctors feel you should step aside and let the other guy raise him, we just don’t agree. The child will inevitably find out the truth at some point and know he’s been lied to by the people he trusts most. It’s really no different from not telling a child that he or she is adopted and then discovering the truth. Better to come clean in the beginning, raise the child to know that both dads love him, and all work together to give him a good life.

Shedding new light on family history

Government offers genealogy service

LOS ANGELES — At first glance, the photo-copied documents simply looked like government forms and applications. But when Susanne Mori read more closely, she found the story of her grandfather’s life as he came to America more than 100 years ago and made his way here.

Authors argue the Big Question in free movie

EAST WENATCHEE — Is Christianity good for the world? Two popular authors — an atheist and an evangelical theologian — debate the question in a free presentation of “Collision,” a new feature-length movie in which separate lives and worldviews clash.

Economist to speak about hope in troubled times

EAST WENATCHEE — Tihamiyou Baba-Moussa will present the program “Hope and the Economy” during the 10:30 a.m. Sunday service at Cascade Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1550 Sunset Highway.

Thursday, January 28

A ‘reform’ is wisely struck down

WASHINGTON — Last week’s Supreme Court decision that substantially deregulates political speech has provoked an edifying torrent of hyperbole. Critics’ dismay reveals their conviction: Speech about the elections that determine the government’s composition is not a constitutional right but a mere privilege that exists at the sufferance of government. How regulated did political speech become during the decades when the court was derelict in its duty to actively defend the Constitution? The Federal Election Commission, which administers the law that rations the quantity and regulates the content and timing of political speech, identifies 33 types of political speech and 71 kinds of “speakers.” The underlying statute and FEC regulations cover more than 800 pages, and FEC explanations of its decisions have filled more than 1,200 pages. The First Amendment requires 10 words for a sufficient stipulation: “Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech.”

President’s budget clips NASA’s wings

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon are dead. So are the rockets being designed to take them there — that is, if President Barack Obama gets his way. When the White House releases his budget proposal Monday, there will be no money for the Constellation program that was supposed to return humans to the moon by 2020. The troubled and expensive Ares I rocket that was to replace the space shuttle to ferry humans to space will be gone, along with money for its big brother, the Ares V cargo rocket that was to launch the fuel and supplies needed to take humans back to the moon.

Martian rover likely done roaming

Onset of Red Planet’s winter means shutdown — probably for good

LOS ANGELES — After six highly successful years of exploring the red sands of Mars, NASA’s rover Spirit will rove no more. With its six wheels stuck in powdery sand and two wheels no longer working at all, the resilient little explorer will become a fixed, immobile scientific observatory — if it can survive the harsh temperatures of the upcoming winter.

From swagger to stagger: Florida attorney admits $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Scott Rothstein, the jailed lawyer who just months ago was a swaggering success story, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale federal court to running South Florida’s largest investment scam, totaling $1.2 billion. Dressed in a tan prison jumpsuit and shackled at his ankles and wrists, the disbarred lawyer displayed no emotion as he acknowledged guilt for operating a massive Ponzi scheme that destroyed his law firm, damaged charities and drained the bank accounts of his investors and clients.

J.D. Salinger, author of literature-class classic ‘Catcher in the Rye,’ dies at 91

NEW YORK (AP) — J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose “The Catcher in the Rye” shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91.

Governor broke campaign law, regulators say

OLYMPIA (AP) — Gov. Chris Gregoire violated state law by soliciting money for a congressional candidate during the legislative session, state regulators said Wednesday. But Gregoire’s campaign committee, which sent the fundraising pitch, pointed to obvious ambiguities in the state’s guidelines for political donations and said there was no intent to skirt the law.

Smoothing the road to college

Wouldn’t it make sense if students had an option that enabled them to meet high school graduation requirements and university admission standards at the same time? We think so. To this end, Rep. Dave Quall, chair of the House K-12 education committee, introduced HB 3025 last week in the state Legislature. Chair of the Senate K-12 education committee, Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, is expected to introduce a similar bill this week.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Scary: We are now living in a country which hates its own industry. The liberals have been preaching for years that industry cheats on taxes, pollutes, treats employees poorly, etc., etc., etc. Keep in mind it is industry and small business that are the backbone of this country. It makes it possible for government entities to exist. There are now more government employees than those employed by private manufacturing companies.

Debt now, and debt forever

“Let’s invest in our people without leaving them a mountain of debt.” This has been pointed to as a key financial comment from President Barack Obama in Wednesday’s State of the Union address. Too late.

Republicans say nation can’t afford Dem policies

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation cannot afford the spending Democrats have enacted or the tax increases they propose, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said Wednesday in the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. McDonnell told supporters in Richmond, Va., that Democratic policies are resulting in an unsustainable level of debt. He said Americans want affordable health care, but they don’t want the government to run it.

Obama urges nervous Democrats to fight for his agenda

WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers must soon decide whether President Barack Obama is leading them toward statesmanlike courage or political folly with his take-no-prisoners reassertion of an ambitious social agenda. Obama used his first State of the Union speech Wednesday to push nervous Democrats to forge ahead on health care, despite voters’ worries and opposition from newly strengthened Republicans. Sharpening his focus on the economy, he offered a mixture of tax breaks and other incentives to create new jobs.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Wednesday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 814

News of record

News of record reports for Chelan County

White House to dole out $8 billion for fast trains

WASHINGTON (AP) — High-speed rail projects in California, Florida and Illinois are among the big winners of $8 billion in grants to be announced today by the White House — the start of what some Democrats tout as a national rail-building program that could rival the interstate highways begun in the Eisenhower era. Thirteen rail corridors in 31 states received funds. The White House, which supplied a list of the grants to reporters late Wednesday, billed the program as “high-speed rail,” although most U.S. projects won’t reach the speeds seen in Europe and Asia. California’s trains would be by far the fastest, exceeding the 200 mph achieved by some trains overseas.

Don’t waste your change on ‘Rome’

You’d think by now Hollywood would have romantic comedies down to a cell-phone ap any studio exec could access. Cute couple? Check. Romantic location? Check.

Dave Matthews Band returns to Gorge

GEORGE — Hot on the heels of two Grammy award nominations for its 2009 album, “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King,” the Dave Matthews Band has announced its annual summer tour.

Co-op play rules in ‘Army of Two’ sequel

Battle-hardened Army Rangers turned military contractors Elliot Salem and Tyson Rios are back, and the game built around them is better than ever.

Check it out: On stage

WENATCHEE — The touring musical production, “Cats,” pounces into the Town Toyota Center on April 1.

Post-‘prodigy’

Violin heroine Midori leaves labels behind

Midori refused to be frozen in time. She could have forever been that violin genius who made her attention-getting debut with the New York Philharmonic, at age 11. Or the 14-year-old who wowed America, and Leonard Bernstein, by overpowering two broken violins to carry out her solo with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood in 1986.

Soundbites

“The Sea” Corinne Bailey Rae, $18.98

Check it out: Art

Oregon author Christina Berry signs copies of her debut novel at Encouraging Words.

Check it out: Scene

Wenatchee’s raucous rock ensemble performs a CD release show in Cashmere for its debut record, “Nine Wrekt Songs.”

Check it out: Overtures

LEAVENWORTH — Icicle Creek Music Center’s Board of Directors is seeking a new executive director to help the institution work toward its plans for growth.

Can’t a Chihuahua predict the weather?

If marmots and groundhogs are cousins — stinky fur, beady eyes, rapid chewing, yep, they’re cousins — then those fat-bellied, roly-poly marmots that scavenge kibble from the feral cat colony near TOP Foods in East Wenatchee should be able to predict the weather on Tuesday.

Bookbites

This book should go down big with people who like discussing modern astronomy’s “black holes” that swallow everything nearby, and the Big Bang of more than 13 billion years ago that some experts believe created the universe.

‘Thucydides’ a flawed analysis of flawed history

This is an important book, largely right and largely misguided, by one of the most eminent scholars in the field. Kagan, who is Sterling Professor of Classics and History at Yale University, is a foremost authority on the Peloponnesian wars (431-404 B.C.), that interminable, swampy, wasteful, and tragic attrition-match between Sparta and Athens, which ended in disaster for Athens and the end of its democracy and empire.

DVD+U

“Little Ashes” E1 Entertainment, $26.98

State to get $590 million for high-speed rail

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington and Oregon are in line to receive nearly $600 million for a high-speed rail line from Seattle to Portland, Ore., and other improvements. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the projects will increase the number of Amtrak passenger trains between the Northwest’s two biggest cities, as well as reduce rail congestion and improve on-time reliability. The bulk of the money — $590 million — will go to Washington state for projects related to high-speed rail. Another $8 million will go to Oregon for improvements at the city’s Union Station.

Girls league leaders

CBBN Columbia Division

AP boys poll

CLASS 4A

World's Best 2010 results

You clicked, you typed, you voted. And by doing that — going above and beyond — you made World’s Best a success. Go! Magazine received 350-plus votes this year, about 120 more than last year. In the two restaurant categories, you voters demonstrated a serious commitment to food diversity. Thai, Mexican, Italian and Southern restaurants earned top spots, and scores of other restaurants were named favorites.

Iran hangs two for allegedly aiming to topple state

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran today executed two men accused of involvement in an armed anti-government group, as the public prosecutor announced that new death sentences have been issued against opposition activists involved in protests over June’s disputed presidential election. The announcements marked an escalation by the courts enforcing the clerical leadership’s heavy, monthslong crackdown aimed at crushing the opposition challenge. The prosecutor also said a new group of protesters and others would soon be brought to trial.

French team makes ‘miracle’ rescue in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A French search team that wouldn’t go home pulled off another “miracle” rescue in Port-au-Prince, lifting a 16-year-old girl alive from beneath this landscape of rubble. Above ground, hundreds of thousands of other survivors hoped for a breakthrough of another kind — the delivery of badly needed food aid. Key players in the Haiti earthquake relief effort, in what may have been a pivotal meeting, decided to better coordinate by dividing up the city among themselves for handing out food.

America’s favorite dog is no surprise

RALEIGH, N.C. — For the 19th year in a row, the Labrador retriever is America’s most popular purebred dog. The American Kennel Club today announced the results of their registration analysis. While the Lab retains its solid hold on the top, the German shepherd sneaked up to snatch the No. 2 spot from the Yorkshire terrier. The rest of the list, in order, are: golden retriever, beagle, boxer, dachshund, poodle, shih tzu.

Conference agrees on Afghan exit timetable

LONDON — World leaders meeting in London today agreed on a timetable for the handover of security duties in Afghan provinces starting in late 2010 or early 2011. In their final communique, the leaders also pledged funds for a plan aimed at persuading Taliban fighters to renounce violence — but offered no specific figures.

Toyota adds more models to recall

LOS ANGELES — Toyota Motor Corp.’s sudden-acceleration troubles mounted Wednesday, with the automaker adding 1.1 million more vehicles to an already massive recall even as it came under increasing fire for its handling of the problem. The new attention was triggered by Toyota’s decision to halt sales and production of eight models, including its popular Corolla and Camry sedans, until it could figure out how to stop their gas pedals from getting stuck and causing runaway acceleration.

Stranded tourists rescued in Peru

LIMA, Peru — Helicopters ferried almost 600 more tourists from the Machu Picchu area after rains slackened Wednesday, leaving up to 1,600 travelers still stranded by mudslides blocking the only land route from the Inca citadel. Authorities said airlifts would continue throughout the week because more tourists had shown up at the evacuation site on foot after completing treks along the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, the 15th century Incan fortress that 8,000 feet above sea level. Rain-fueled mudslides on Sunday cut the train line that is the only transport link to the remote region atop an Andean mountain ridge.

Dinosaur shows first evidence of color

WASHINGTON — Scientists have for the first time confirmed color in a dinosaur. Don’t think purple Barney, but reddish-orange Conan O’Brien. The first solid proof of pigmentation has been spotted in the fossilized tail feathers of a smallish meat-eating dinosaur found in China and named Sinosauropteryx. The creature seems to have russet colored rings, according to a paper published online Wednesday in the journal Nature. That 125 million-year-old tail has the same internal cellular coloring agents as the hair of a red-haired person, said study author Mike Benton, a professor of paleontology at the University of Bristol in England. The same finding provides what some experts say is more conclusive evidence that some dinosaurs had feathers, further linking them to birds.

Girls basketball standings

CBBN Cascade Division

AP girls poll

CLASS 4A

Boys basketball standings

CBBN Cascade Division

Boys league leaders

CBBN Columbia Division

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Metals futures

NEW YORK — Spot nonferrous metal prices as of 9 a.m.

Wall Street

NEW YORK (MCT) — Financial stocks led a late rebound in the broader market Wednesday, helped by the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates near zero and a turnaround in American International Group following a House hearing looking back at the insurer’s bailout. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was in the red for most of the session but ended with a 42-point gain, up 0.4 percent, at 10,236.16. Its strongest component was Boeing, up 7.3 percent after the aircraft and defense company swung to a fourth-quarter profit that was bigger than analysts had projected.

New York Stock Exchange

Wednesday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Local interest stocks

As of closing Wednesday

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Wednesday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

Venom to open first indoor football season at home

Yakima Valley Warriors come to town March 20 for league opener

WENATCHEE — At long last, the Wenatchee Valley Venom are ready for some football. After several delays, the expansion indoor football franchise has announced its first-ever regular season schedule.

Red turf for EWU

CHENEY — Taking a cue from Boise State’s famous blue turf, the Eastern Washington football program is planning to install red turf on its field. Former Eastern Washington football star and Tennessee Titan Michael Roos has pledged $500,000 toward the project.

Chelan football coach honored

CHELAN — Chelan football coach Darren Talley has been chosen head coach of the year for District 6 by the Washington State Football Coaches Association. Talley, who led the Goats to two playoff wins, including a first-round upset of defending state champion Cashmere, received the honor at a Jan. 22 awards dinner.

On and off the pitch

WHS’s Blanksma enjoys Olympic program appearance, as more major college scholarship offers arrive her way

WENATCHEE — Never underestimate being an alternate. Korynn Blanksma tried out for Washington state’s Olympic Development Program soccer team six times before being chosen as an alternate this season, her final year of eligibility.

Wild prepare for Avalanche

WENATCHEE — Last weekend, the Wenatchee Wild did the Alaska Avalanche a big favor, sweeping the second-place Fairbanks Ice Dogs and allowing third-place Alaska to gain ground in the NAHL’s West Division standings. This weekend, it will be the Ice Dogs hoping the Wild can help them out, as the Avalanche come to Town Toyota Center for a two-game set. It’s the last regular-season visit of the year for Alaska, which trails Fairbanks by six points in the race for second place in the division.

U.S. Ski Team adds two more but not Valaas

Not clear if more skiers will head to Olympics

WENATCHEE — The U.S. cross country skiing continent to the 2010 Olympics grew to 10 members on Tuesday, but Wenatchee’s Laura Valaas was not one of the two skiers added to the team. Eight skiers, including Leavenworth’s Torin Koos, were initially named to the team 10 days ago, and at that time more skiers were expected to be added through a complex process called reallocation.

AP releases latest state poll rankings

Chelan boys basketball team rises to No.

CHELAN — At least for this week, the Chelan boys basketball team is No. 1. The Goats rose to the top spot in the Class 1A state poll rankings released Wednesday by the Associated Press.

Keeping Sounders FC together key to long-term success

RENTON — Sounders FC achieved unexpected success its first season with a group of players that had never played together. The players say the first year brought everyone closer together, a belief shared by the front office. To the point that the team fans saw on the pitch last season is almost the same outfit in training camp for Year Two.

Activist touted ‘project’ before phone tampering case

NEW ORLEANS — Four days before James O’Keefe was charged in a plot to tamper with the office phones of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, the conservative activist promised his audience at a luncheon they would be hearing about a project he was working on in New Orleans. O’Keefe wouldn’t elaborate on the nature of his plans, according to people who heard his speech at the luncheon held by the conservative Pelican Institute Jan. 21 in New Orleans.

In the hunt: Lacking big stars, Cascade’s hoopsters find success with team play and hard work

LEAVENWORTH — Neither team has a superstar like Chelan’s Joe Harris. They don’t have a prolific scoring duo, like Brewster does with Stockton Taylor and Eli Driessen.

WSU coach to take on former Washington team

PULLMAN — Washington State basketball coach Ken Bone used to be an assistant at Washington, but he won’t feel any conflicted loyalties when the two rivals meet for the first time this season on Saturday. Bone said his goal is to beat his former boss, Washington coach Lorenzo Romar, and he expects Romar will feel the same when the teams play in Seattle.

German import leads Zags’ rise

SPOKANE — The experts who assumed No. 13 Gonzaga was in for a rebuilding year did not count on freshman Elias Harris. The little-known recruit from Germany is a big reason Gonzaga (16-3) has powered its way into the Top 25. Harris has averaged a double-double the past eight games, and just 19 games into his college career is showing up on mock draft boards as a first-round pick.

Snowboarder donating money to Haiti relief

ASPEN, Colo. — The more Hannah Teter struts her stuff on a snowboard, the more cash prizes she receives, the more she helps earthquake victims in Haiti rebuild their lives. All of Teter’s winnings are donated to charity, and now the 2006 Olympic halfpipe gold medalist wants to raise funds for Airline Ambassadors, a humanitarian relief group giving aid to Haiti, where a Jan. 12 temblor killed 150,000 people and left thousands homeless.

Vancouver putting on its best face for Winter Olympics

VANCOUVER, B.C. — For the last decade, Luben Banchev has sold hot dogs from a small cart outside the Vancouver Art Museum. Three years ago the city unveiled a massive digital clock nearby that since has been counting down the days, minutes and seconds until the Opening Ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. As he has watched the time wind down, Banchev has grown more excited for the event that will showcase this city to the world.

Activist Dolores Huerta cancels trip to Wenatchee

WENATCHEE — Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers labor union and advocate for the working poor and women’s rights, has canceled her visit to Wenatchee. Huerta, 78, was scheduled to speak here Feb. 3 to encourage the region’s residents to participate in the 2010 census. She canceled after a death in the family, according to census official Gladys Romero. Huerta will try to reschedule.

Grant PUD approves route for new high-voltage line

EPHRATA — The Grant County PUD has chosen the lowest-cost route for a new 33-mile, 230-kilovolt transmission line between substations in Douglas and Grant counties. Contract crews will build the line in 2013 over nine months.

Kids missing second flu shot, officials worry

WENATCHEE — Many children who got the initial swine flu vaccination have not come back for the second dose, prompting health officials to warn parents that those children are not fully immunized. All children under 10 need the second dose for full immunity to the H1N1 flu, health officials say.

City isn’t yielding to county yet in hillside development dispute

WENATCHEE — The city of Wenatchee will again appeal an effort by Chelan County to allow denser development on mountainous land just outside city limits to the south. The City Council agreed Jan. 14 to appeal two revisions that Chelan County commissioners again approved to the county’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan.

Suspect in Omak drive-by arrested

AURORA, Colo. — A Wenatchee man who is one of four suspects in a drive-by shooting in Omak last summer was arrested in Aurora, Colo., on Wednesday. Christian Cebreros-Godina, 21, was charged in Okanogan County Superior Court in September with conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit a drive-by shooting. Police say that last Aug. 8, he was a passenger in a vehicle with three other suspects when it pulled up beside a van and one of the occupants shot Juan Santana Contreras in the forehead. Cebreros-Godina is not the suspected shooter.

Brandished bat leads to conviction

WATERVILLE — A Waterville School District board member pleaded guilty Monday to disorderly conduct for brandishing a baseball bat at a dispute between two Waterville neighbors, and was sentenced to 240 hours of community service. Cody A. Preugschat, who also uses the last name Salazar, 21, of Waterville, was originally charged with fourth-degree assault in Douglas County Superior Court. A tow-truck driver who had been hired by one of the neighbors involved in the dispute said he felt threatened when Preugschat had the bat.

Benefactor wills $1.1 million for new Humane Society shelter

WENATCHEE — Helen Zilke never set foot in the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society Shelter. But she may have everything to do with the building of a new shelter for the homeless animals she loved. Zilke, who died last August at age 92, left the Humane Society a gift of more than $1.1 million to help build a new no-kill shelter and continue the organization’s work caring and feeding homeless animals.

Eleven local school districts will pilot online test this spring

OLYMPIA — The state gave the green light to 11 North Central Washington school districts to try the first online state tests in May. Statewide, about 25 percent of schools will pilot the online version of Measurements of Student Progress, the test that will replace WASL, this year. The rest will take paper-and-pencil tests.

Man will spend time in prison for burglary, vandalism

WENATCHEE — A third man is going to prison for breaking into two homes in Chelan last year and causing extensive damage by leaving water faucets running. Jose Luis Villanueva, 21, of Chelan, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Chelan County Superior Court to two counts each of first-degree burglary, first-degree theft and first-degree malicious mischief. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and $1,250 in fines and fees.

Stehekin River, Holden Mine are topics at meeting

WENATCHEE — U.S. Forest Service officials will update members of an advisory committee about the Stehekin River Corridor plan and the Holden Mine cleanup at a meeting on Wednesday. It is open to the public.

Omak schools to save 15 percent on energy costs

OMAK — The Omak School District plans to save about $28,000 a year — or 15 percent of what it now spends on energy — through an efficiency program designed to pay for itself. The Omak School Board on Tuesday agreed to issue $370,000 in bonds for the energy-savings program, and will use the money it would have spent on electricity to pay it off, said Superintendent Art Himmler.

Donations for parks coming in at a trickle

OLYMPIA — A plan to keep state parks open through a $5 voluntary donation with annual renewal of vehicle licenses is not as popular as hoped. It has generated an average of $1.1 million a month instead of the $1.2 million projected, officials say.

Man gets jail time for cyber threats

WENATCHEE — A Wenatchee man was ordered to spend 30 days in jail and banned from using some Internet services for making threats to kill an Idaho state trooper on a social networking Web site. Jeramie Palmer, 29, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Chelan County Superior Court to cyberstalking, which is using electronic communication to threaten to injure or kill someone.

Donations sought for high school baseball field

QUINCY — Quincy residents plan to start work on a new Quincy High School baseball field this summer. Project directors Brenda Garrison and Steve Omlin updated the Quincy School Board on the Field of Dreams project at the board’s Tuesday meeting.

Former landfill fills up on wet days

A swampy, water-filled, low area of Riverfront Park near Fifth Street in Wenatchee used to be a landfill, and it’s not uncommon to have standing water in the area, due to a clay cap that was placed over the landfill, said Chelan County PUD spokesman Kimberlee Craig. PUD crews occasionally add soil to the area to bring it up to grade as the trash in the landfill beneath settles.

Kennewick business provides child care for kids who are ill

TRI-CITIES — What do you do if your child is ill and you can’t miss work? To provide an answer, Jean Kimerling opened Chicken Soup + Nursing in Kennewick. It’s a unique business where working parents can drop off sick children to receive all-day care from qualified nurses.

Grant County deputy kills dog that attacked K-9

MOSES LAKE — A Grant County sheriff’s deputy says he shot and killed a dog to protect his police dog from attack. Undersheriff John Turley told The Columbia Basin Herald that Deputy Beau Lamens was using his K-9, named Maddox, to search for drugs Sunday in a car that had been pulled over in Moses Lake.

Public meeting Monday about superintendent search

LEAVENWORTH — The search for a new Cascade superintendent begins next week. The Cascade School Board hired Gene Sharratt of Northwest Leadership Associates to lead the search for Rob Clark’s replacement. Clark announced plans earlier this month to leave after his contract expires June 30.

Donald E. ‘Don’ Thoren

Donald E. “Don” Thoren, 86, of Coulee Dam, died Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010, in Spokane.

Charles Rose

Charles Rose, 87, of Ardenvoir, died Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010.

Donald E. Thoren

Don was born on October 17, 1923, in Seattle, WA and died peacefully in his sleep on January 23, 2010, in Spokane, WA. Don was raised on the family ranch in the Del Rio area, between Bridgeport and Grand Coulee, WA. He graduated from high school in Coulee City.

Lillard M. Noland

Lillard M. Noland, 86, a longtime resident of Leavenworth and Peshastin, died Tuesday, January 26, 2010, at her home in Peshastin, with her family by her side. Lillard was born on June 5, 1923, to George Newton and Martha Ellen (Barnes) Rayfield at Big Greenbrier, Sevier County, TN, where she was raised and educated.

Mauricio Ornelas Diaz

Mauricio Ornelas Diaz, 81, of Wenatchee, died Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010.

Jean L. Clements

Jean L. Clements, 62, of Waterville, died Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010.

Never too young to help

Never too little to give

WENATCHEE — A group of Abraham Lincoln Elementary School fourth-graders are learning the value of a few pennies, a goat and a flock of chickens. Items of little value and consequence, perhaps, to most middle-class Americans. But they can be pieces of a life-changing gift for families in impoverished — and earthquake devastated — countries, the group of 9- and 10-year-olds found out this winter.

Needles and pins: These donors deserve a medal

MINNEAPOLIS — Settled into a king-size recliner, warm beneath a thick blanket, watching “Julie and Julia” on the monitor before him, Ralph Douglass hardly looks as if he’s saving the life of a premature baby. Yet Douglass has particular proteins in his blood that are especially useful in helping preemies survive, and so he comes to a blood donation site every two weeks to donate platelets. Before the week is out, his platelets will go into a tiny baby — or a person getting chemo, a teenager with leukemia, a burn victim, or someone who’s bleeding to death. And all he had to do was listen to Meryl Streep warble, “Bon appetit!”

Acting workshop gives autistic kids a place to shine

Any drama buff will tell you acting is therapy. It brings about a temporary escape from reality that can be as much fun as it is therapeutic, especially for kids with special needs.

Peace of My Mind: This earth is a work in progress, and help is always needed

This planet we call Earth is quite obviously a work in progress. The recent earthquake in Haiti is tragic proof of that. I’m no geologist, but as we hurtle through space and circle around our sun, you can almost hear this small chunk of rock upon which we’re perched creak and groan. The thin crust where we walk shifts constantly. The winds blow topsoil hither and yon. The mighty ocean tides constantly eat away at beaches. Glaciers and ice flows melt and recede.

Bubble Wrap: A pop culture classic celebrates its 50th

There is enough Bubble Wrap brand packing material produced each year to stretch from the Earth to the moon. And, the largest item ever to be packed in the cushioning plastic was called Gourdzilla, an 815-pound pumpkin that was wrapped and dropped and survived the ordeal. These statistics, found at bubblewrapfun.com, were provided for Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day on Jan. 25. The first commemoration of the plastic packing material was in 2001, started by a radio station in Bloomington, Ind. The station featured a popping relay, Pop-a-Mole and sculpture and fashion design competition.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: Installation of officers of the Wenatchee Order of Eagles will be held tomorrow night. They are Charley Becker, worthy president; W.A. Grimshaw, worthy vice president; L.W. Bloom, worthy chaplain; D.W. Evans, worthy secretary; R.C. Osborn Jr., worthy treasurer; W.J . Hughes, inside guard; and Roy Johnson, outside guard.

Dear Abby: Woman asks how to help longtime friend

Dear Abby: I have a friend, “Sally,” whom I have known since the third grade. We are like sisters. Sally has been depressed for at least 15 years. She sees a therapist, a psychiatrist and is on medication.

Federal moneymen come under fire over 2008 AIG bailout

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, his predecessor Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke denied Wednesday any wrongdoing in secretive decisions surrounding the September 2008 bailout of failing insurance giant American International Group. Geithner, right hand raised in a swearing-in ceremony, appeared before a hostile House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to answer questions about the decision to settle at face value $62 billion in exotic bets made by Wall Street investment firms such as Goldman Sachs and foreign banks without negotiating a discount for taxpayers.

Household chemicals linked to low fertility

LOS ANGELES — Flame-retardant chemicals found in many household consumer products may reduce fertility in women, researchers reported Tuesday. Their study joins several other papers published in the last two years suggesting that the chemicals, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, affect human health. PBDEs have been used as flame retardants for four decades and are found in foam furniture, electronics, fabrics, carpets and plastics. The chemicals are being phased out nationwide, and some PBDEs have been banned in California. But they are still found in products made before 2004. Californians may have higher exposures compared with residents of other states because of the state’s strict flammability laws, according to the study authors.

Florida woman fights ruling that kept her in hospital

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Samantha Burton wanted to leave the hospital. Her doctor strongly disagreed, enough to go to court to keep her there. She smoked cigarettes during the first six months of her pregnancy and was admitted on a false alarm of premature labor. Her doctor argued she was risking a miscarriage if she didn’t quit smoking immediately and stay on bed rest in the hospital, and a judge agreed.

Wednesday, January 27

Police looking for missing person

OMAK — An Omak man who told his wife he was going to a building supply store and never came home is now listed as a missing person. Kelly E. Small, 47, left his home in Omak at about 10 a.m. Jan. 19, apparently headed for an Oroville store. When he wasn’t home by 1 p.m., his wife, Marla, began looking for him, said Omak police Detective Jeff Koplin. She called police that night when she was unable to locate him.

The state could give up booze

I think it’s stupid for the state to be in the (liquor) business. They’re not very good at it. — Jim Sinegal, president and CEO of Costco, to The Seattle Times in 1999. For many people, that’s precisely the point.

Tonight’s State of the Union keys on jobs

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will devote most of his first State of the Union address tonight to fixing an economy that has sapped the nation’s spirits and eroded his standing, with calls for tax cuts for small businesses and more restraint from a government that keeps piling up debt. Obama will start on the economy and spend about two-thirds of his prime-time speech on that topic, the one most on the minds of Americans. His goal is to show a dissatisfied nation in plainspoken and specific terms that he understands their frustration and their struggles, and that his vast agenda is in touch with what they need.

Come, America, let us recombobulate

There they all were on the Sunday-morning chatfests, droning on about the anger of the American people as shown by the election in Massachusetts of a pickup truck to the U.S. Senate — ever ready, as pundits are, to take one good story and extrude it into a national trend portentous with meaning. One could draw other conclusions from that election — the importance of actually campaigning, for one, and not vacationing in the Caribbean — but OK, maybe anger was a factor. Nobody looks on the marathon health-care debate as a noble chapter in political science. No legislator is going to have a hospital named for him in honor of his heroic work. (Maybe a parking ramp.) Meanwhile, one-sixth of our population is without health insurance, and Republicans have decided that defeating Mr. Obama is more important than the welfare of 50 million Americans: Let them die and decrease the surplus population and be quick about it. That’s the long and the short of it. And now they have won a Senate seat in a Democratic stronghold and feel revived and are smelling the bacon and looking forward to November.

Say thanks, big boys

If people were perfect, you wouldn’t need so many laws. So many rules, and regulations. This just in: People aren’t perfect!

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

A cartoon has it wrong: Shortly after the terrible Haitian earthquake there was a “cartoon” on the Opinion page (Jan. 17) that depicted the rubble of the quake as an “Act of God,” and the hand reaching out to a survivors hand as “An Act of Man.” I question the artist’s intent. Was he saying God is bad and does evil things? Was he saying God is nature and all natural happenings are the indicators that there is a God? Or was the artist really trying to say that there is no God and man is the ultimate goodness of the world?

Everett Symphony cancels remainder of season

EVERETT — The Everett Symphony says it is canceling the rest of its season after a concert this Friday and is moving out of its administrative offices and rehearsal hall. The action announced Tuesday comes after nine years of operating losses for the 71-year-old symphony.

Teacher who sent feces home with student retiring

YAKIMA — A kindergarten teacher who sent a 5-year-old student home with a bag of feces tucked in his backpack is retiring at the end of the school year. Teacher Sue Graham is currently on an unpaid leave of absence. She has worked for the West Valley School District for 31 years.

Student had loaded .44 handgun in backpack

YAKIMA — After a school resource officer broke up a fight between gang members at Davis High School in Yakima, the officer searched a student’s backpack Tuesday and found a loaded .44-caliber revolver. Police say the gun had been stolen in King County.

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Tuesday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

New York Stock Exchange

Tuesday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Wall Street

NEW YORK (MCT) — A late swoon erased a day-long stock rally Tuesday, highlighting investors’ lingering jitters about the several big economic announcements due over the next few days. Strong earnings and consumer-confidence data kept major averages in positive territory through most of the session. But those gains fell apart in the last hour or so as sellers cashed out rather than risk sticking around for any nasty surprises.

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Metals

NEW YORK — Spot nonferrous metal prices Wednesday.

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Local interest stocks

As of closing Tuesday

Bode Miller makes his fourth U.S. Olympic team

Star skier to train at the Ridge next month with other Olympians

VANCOUVER, B.C. — Hardly a surprise, Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller lead a list of U.S. skiers earning spots for the Vancouver Games. The announcement of the team was delayed until Tuesday to see if any extra spots opened up.

Ljungberg says he’s returning to Sounders

SEATTLE — Seattle Sounders FC, as it turns out, won’t be without All-Star midfielder Freddie Ljungberg for very long. Seattle’s designated player and field general will join the team in time for practice Monday, according to Ljungberg, his agent and Sounders FC general manager Adrian Hanauer.

Washington pounds Seattle University

SEATTLE — Whatever insider knowledge former Washington assistant Cameron Dollar, the first-year Seattle University coach, had on the Huskies, it was useless Tuesday night. Any extra motivation Redhawks star Charles Garcia, the one-time UW signee who was denied admission, might have had, it too was of no consequence.

Panther bowler earns berth

WHS’ season ends with 2nd-place finish

KENNEWICK — The Wenatchee bowling team wrapped up its season Tuesday, but one bowler is moving on to compete for one more day. With just one state tournament berth available, the Panthers finished second to Kennewick at Tuesday’s district tournament.

Prep B leagues basketball roundup

Manson boys beat Entiat in thriller

MANSON — The Manson boys basketball team came out on top in a wild 50-49 home win over Entiat on Tuesday that lifts the Trojans past the Tigers into first place in the NCW 2B League. Entiat threw away a backdoor cut pass with five seconds to go in the game, but still got a last shot after stealing the ensuing inbounds pass.

Caribou Trail League rivalry games

Cashmere captures a pair of wins on the road against upper valley foe Cascade

LEAVENWORTH — The Cashmere boys and girls basketball teams each used a potent one-two punch to score impressive road wins Tuesday against archrival Cascade. The Bulldog girls needed overtime to squeeze past Cascade 70-62, while the Cashmere boys cruised to a 78-57 upset win over the Kodiaks, ranked No. 8 in the state by the Associated Press in last week’s Class 1A poll.

UW softball team ranked No. 1

SEATTLE — The defending national champion Washington softball team will begin the season as the nation’s No. 1 team. The Huskies announced Tuesday they were entering a season top ranked for the first time in Washington’s 18-year history.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Tuesday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 081

Opal Ileene Taylor

Opal Ileene Taylor, 84, of East Wenatchee, died Monday, Jan. 25, 2010.

Kenneth Lee Roe

Kenneth Lee Roe, 54, of Brewster, died Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010.

Marjorie E. Pedersen

Marjorie E. Pedersen, 87, of East Wenatchee, died Monday, Jan. 25, 2010.

Lillard M. Noland

Lillard M. Noland, 86, of Peshastin, died Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010, at her home.

Wounded man arrested in robbery attempt

CENTRALIA — Police say a wounded man at Harborview Medical Center is under arrest for investigation in Monday’s attempted robbery of a Centralia credit union.

Northwest Public Radio changes hands

PULLMAN — Northwest Public Radio, the statewide network owned by Washington State University, will become part of WSU’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication.

Yakima River levee near Union Gap to be removed

YAKIMA — More fish. Less flooding. That’s the goal of a project this summer to breach a Yakima River levee near Union Gap.

Oregon voters raise taxes on the wealthy, businesses

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon voters on Tuesday approved tax increases on businesses and the wealthy, allowing legislators to avert budget cuts they said would have affected schools and services for the poor and elderly.

Regional Papa John’s stores close unexpectedly, including Wenatchee

SPOKANE — A regional franchisee of the pizza chain boasting “better ingredients, better pizza” has locked the doors on 12 locations. Papa John’s restaurants in Wenatchee, Coeur d’Alene, Spokane and other Eastern Washington communities closed Monday night. The stores closed without warning to customers, but employees had been notified prior to the shutdown.

Doris Lee McCulley

Doris Lee McCulley, 73, of Monroe, WA, died on January 20, 2010, after a courageous battle with leukemia. She was born on August 18, 1936, in Leavenworth, WA and was raised in Okanogan, WA. She married her high school sweetheart, Dale, on her 18th birthday.

Marjorie E. Pedersen

Marjorie Eldora Petersen, 87, passed away January 25, 2010, at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee, WA. Marjorie was born on October 28, 1922, in Malden, WA. She spent her early years in Malden, Wenatchee and Waterville, WA.

Alberta J. Garrecht

Alberta J. Garrecht, 93, a 43 year resident of Leavenworth, passed away at her home on January, 19, 2010. Alberta was born in Cheyenne, WY on January 6, 1917, to Gustava and Josepha (Pantz) Gayda. At the age of nine, the family moved to Spokane, WA and in 1935, she graduated from John Rogers High School.

Marili (Huffman) Libke Benjamin

Marili (Huffman) Libke Benjamin passed away peacefully in her sleep at her Columbia Heights home in Wenatchee on January 22, 2010. Marili was born on February 23, 1922, in Boville, ID to Frank and Mildred Huffman. She was the oldest of their three daughters.

Thomas C. Colwell

Thomas C. Colwell, formerly of East Wenatchee, died at his home in Osceola, IA on January 22, 2010, after a 25 year battle with prostate cancer. He was 82. Tom was born January 22, 1928, to Edward and Edna (Kelly) Colwell in Aurora, IL.

Men accused of phone plot had ties to conservative groups

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The four men accused of trying to tamper with Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office phones share a common experience as young ideologues writing for conservative publications. Federal authorities said two of the men posed as telephone workers wearing hard hats, tool belts and fluorescent vests when they walked into the senator’s office inside a federal building in New Orleans on Monday. The other two were accused of helping to organize the plan.

Small survivors one of Haiti’s biggest problems

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The smallest survivors of Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake are growing into one of the biggest problems in its aftermath. Many of the thousands of children scattered among Port-au-Prince’s makeshift camps of homeless have nobody to care for them, aid workers say, leaving them without protection against disease, child predators and other risks.

Mount Washington loses windy claim

CONCORD, N.H. — First the Old Man, now the Big Wind. New Hampshire’s Mount Washington has lost its distinction as the site of the fastest wind gust ever recorded on Earth, officials at the Mount Washington Observatory said Tuesday. The concession came three days after the World Meteorological Organization posted a snippet on its Web site saying a panel of experts reviewing extreme weather and climate data turned up a 253 mph gust on Australia’s Barrow Island during Cyclone Olivia in 1996.

U.S. to back Taliban reintegration

LONDON — The United States said today that it will support a plan to reintegrate Taliban fighters set to be announced by Afghan President Hamid Karzai at an international conference in London. U.S. special representative Richard Holbrooke said Karzai will outline the plan Thursday to convince low-level and midlevel Taliban fighters who don’t back al-Qaida to give up their fight against U.S. and NATO forces.

Koreas exchange fire near disputed border

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired artillery rounds toward its disputed sea border with South Korea today, prompting a barrage of warning shots from the South’s military and raising tensions on the divided peninsula. No casualties or damage were reported, and analysts said the volley — which the North announced was part of a military drill — was likely a move by Pyongyang to highlight the need for a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War.

Sri Lankan challenger rejects election results

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa won a resounding re-election victory today, beating back a challenge from his former army chief, who rejected the official results and said he feared arrest as troops surrounded his hotel. The capital was tense even as people hit the streets in celebration, setting off fireworks, waving Sri Lankan flags and holding up posters of a smiling Rajapaksa.

Al-Qaida group claims hotel blasts

BAGHDAD — An al-Qaida front group in Iraq claimed today it carried out the deadly bombings against Baghdad hotels earlier this week, boasting its suicide car bombers were able to breach extensive Iraqi security. The same group, the Islamic State of Iraq, has claimed responsibility for three previous waves of coordinated bombings in Baghdad going back to August. The attacks have hit government offices or high-profile sites in the Iraqi capital.

Sunny days are here again

You should catch some glimpses of sunshine today, according to the National Weather Service. The high temperature will be 40 today and Thursday, and low temperatures will be in the low 30s.

U.S. sales halt deals blow to Toyota

NEW YORK — Toyota’s suspension of U.S. sales on an unprecedented scale to fix faulty gas pedals deals a blow to the automaker’s reputation for quality and endangers its fledgling earnings recovery. Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. announced late Tuesday it would halt sales of some of its top-selling models to fix gas pedals that could stick and cause unintended acceleration. Last week, Toyota issued a recall for the same eight models affecting 2.3 million vehicles.

Orchard worker sentenced to 15 years for murder

WATERVILLE — A former orchard worker pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder in the stabbing death of a co-worker in 2007, and was sentenced to nearly 15.5 years in prison. The first-degree murder trial of Eliseo Aguirre Fuentes, 30, was slated to begin today at Douglas County Superior Court, but he pleaded guilty to the amended charge.

Eastmont loses appeal in Valdez-Zontek case

SPOKANE — Three state appeals court judges denied Eastmont School District’s challenge of a discrimination lawsuit it lost two years ago. Patricia Valdez-Zontek, Eastmont’s former special programs director, sued the district in 2003 claiming she was forced to resign by school administrators who unfairly targeted her and spread a false rumor that she was having an affair with former Superintendent Joel Thaut.

E. Wenatchee council is sold on sprint boats

EAST WENATCHEE — The East Wenatchee City Council agreed Tuesday to move forward with sprint-boat racing in East Wenatchee after hearing strong support by local citizens and agencies. Representatives from the Wenatchee Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau, Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce and Wenatchee Valley Sports Council spoke during the meeting in support of the proposed sprint-boat races. Dawn Collings, the city’s events board director, also presented the council with letters of support she has received from community members.

Home sales down, but hopes high

WENATCHEE — Continued slow recovery in the area’s housing market has many real estate business folks happy to close the door on 2009 and not look back. With year-end sales down 14 percent from 2008, many agents and their clients are facing the new year with hopes of modest interest rates, homebuyer incentives and expanded inventories.

School bond taxes lowered by $1.5 million

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee School District refinanced its 2002 remodeling bond at a lower interest rate Tuesday, which will save taxpayers more than $1.5 million over the next 12 years. For a home worth $250,000 the savings is about $13 a year, or about $150 total until the bond is paid off in 2021, said Annette Sommer, vice president at Seattle Securities Northwest, the school district’s bond underwriter.

Ecology tells Chelan County commissioners they must adopt stormwater rules

WENATCHEE — Chelan County commissioners will adopt new rules next month for controlling stormwater runoff at construction sites. But they aren’t happy about it.

Winthrop’s volunteerism backfires

Community-built ice rink should’ve been put out for bids

WINTHROP — Construction of Winthrop’s new ice skating rink — built almost entirely by volunteers — violated state bidding laws, according to a state audit released on Monday. City officials and others involved in the project say the finding flies in the face of volunteerism and the small-town, can-do effort it took to erect the National Hockey League-sized rink and adjacent building, now a popular wintertime draw for both locals and visitors.

United Way accepting applications for FEMA money

WENATCHEE — United Way of Chelan and Douglas Counties has about $70,000 in federal funds to give to agencies that supply emergency food and shelter in the area. About 10 agencies a year receive the money, including food banks, church organizations and the Salvation Army.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: Randall S. Pratt sold a five-acre tract of Chelan Butte orchards to the Rev. F.J. VanHorn, pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church in Seattle.

Camp Fire seeks nominees for annual volunteer award

WENATCHEE — The Camp Fire USA North Central Washington Council is searching for a recipient for its annual Trail Blazer Award, to be given at the annual Wo-He-Lo Luncheon March 3.

Pet of the Week: Sable needs a family

Sable is a loving and sensitive 9-month-old great Pyrenees and Anatolian shepherd mix, say officials at the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society. She weighs between 65 and 70 pounds and is in foster care.

Entiat student serves as page in Olympia

McKenzie Selden, an Entiat High School junior, recently served as a page in the state Senate page program. She was sponsored by state Sen. Linda Evans Parlette, R-Wenatchee.

Annual oyster stew and chili feed Saturday

WATERVILLE — Residents are invited to warm up during the annual Waterville Oyster Stew and Chili Feed from 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday in the Waterville High School multipurpose room.

Dear Abby: Daughter despairs over relationship with mother

Dear Abby: I am a 16-year-old girl and I fight with my mother almost daily. It makes me sad and upset, and I don’t know what to do. The last fight we had was over something so dumb I don’t even know why I dragged it out for so long. I said hurtful and cruel things I didn’t mean. No child should ever treat a parent like I treat my mom. I take her love and kindness for granted, and never tell her how much I really do appreciate her. What I said to her in anger made her cry.

College life

Eastern Washington University: CHENEY — Courtney Miller of East Wenatchee was recently awarded a $2,000 presidential scholarship for the 2009-10 academic year. Miller, a 2009 Eastmont High School graduate, is the daughter of April Stegeman of Wenatchee and Scott Miller of Whitefish, Mont.

Historical Society to offer four more free sessions

OKANOGAN — The Okanogan County Historical Society has four more free sessions of the PowerPoint slideshow series titled “The West Was Not for Wimps.”

American Legion to host free steak dinner

TWISP — The American Legion Post 120 has planned a free steak dinner Feb. 6 at the Methow Valley Post 143 Hall, 626 Bridge St.

Scholastic chess tournament set for Feb. 6 in Ephrata

NCW — The Waypoint Foundation will host its fourth annual scholastic chess tournament at 7:45 a.m. Feb. 6 at Parkway School, 1011 Parkway Blvd. in Ephrata.

Serving the nation

Air Force Airman Mathew Goodman recently graduated from basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Goodman, a 2003 Wenatchee High School graduate, is the son of David and Jocelyn Goodman of Wenatchee.

Reader scrapbook

Clairese Snyder tried her 2-year-old legs at skiing this winter. Grandma Jonnie K. Smith joined Clairese on the slopes of Mission Ridge Ski and Board Resort and snapped photos as she went. “Dad and mom, having been ski racers themselves, are coaching her along,” Smith reported. Clairese lives in Quincy with her parents, Shad and Jennifer Snyder.

Milestones: Births

Central Washington Hospital, Wenatchee: Corey and Lindsey Vickery, East Wenatchee: Daughter, Chloe Lynn, Jan. 4.

Klein — 40th

Jim and Shirley Klein of East Wenatchee will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary during a family gathering Jan. 31. The event is being planned by their daughter, Heidi Klein of Othello, and their son and daughter-in-law, Ryan and Lindee Klein of Moses Lake.

Beem, Bayne

Stacey Bayne and Michael Beem exchanged wedding vows Nov. 21 at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Cashmere. Deacon Bill Dronen of Cashmere officiated the ceremony.

MacDonald, Fry

Kelly MacDonald and Avery Fry, both of Spokane, have announced their engagement. She is the daughter of John and Cathy MacDonald of Wenatchee and the late Sonja MacDonald. His parents are Mario and Connie Fry of Wenatchee.

Wise, Knecht

Katherine Rollins Wise and John Scott Knecht, both of Los Angeles, have announced their engagement. She is the daughter of Beth and Jerry Wise of Huntsville, Ala. His parents are Ben and Jane Knecht of Wenatchee.

Milestones: Marriage licenses

Jared Calvin White, 27, and Hannah Marie Tizio, 20, both of Tampa, Fla. Jonathan Michael Vollmer, 34, and Stephanie Naomi Juhl, 34, both of Chelan Falls

Trend in bridal gowns is to follow your heart, not your wallet

NEW YORK (AP) — Many brides positively know what their wedding gown will look like long before they meet their groom, and they’re not going to let a little thing — OK, actually a huge thing — known as the economy dash their dream dress. They are seeking out gowns with smaller price-tags, according to industry experts, but their expectations haven’t shrunk accordingly.

Bridal magazines are feeling the squeeze

Soon after her husband-to-be popped the question, Carolyn Zimatore found herself with time on her hands in an airport. She was drawn to the rack of thick, glossy magazines depicting wedding fashions, floral arrangements and advice for the big day ahead. However, Zimatore, who was wed in June, found that while they were “fun to look at,” she got most of her wedding information at online sites, message boards and by attending other people’s nuptials.

Tuesday, January 26

Former employee accepts PUD offer to settle suit

WENATCHEE — A fired Chelan County PUD journeyman electrician who sued the utility for discrimination accepted the PUD’s offer Tuesday to settle the lawsuit for $135,000 — a fraction of his original claim. The former employee, Corey Redick, accepted the settlement on the opening day of a scheduled five-day trial to decide his claim in Chelan County Superior Court. Judge Lesley Allan presided.

Tuesday’s basketball scores

Check here throughout the night for local prep basketball scores.

So, what is candy, anyway?

Sweet. Tax it. Let’s tax Necco Wafers and Baby Ruths, Mike & Ikes and Butterfingers, Dots, Doublemint gum and Raisinets. This is a plan. The Legislature is considering a bill to place the sales tax on “candy.” This would raise money specifically for public health and local health districts, which have been decimated by budget cuts recently. It would also eliminate what many see as a curious tax loophole — Washington does not levy its sales tax on food, but since when is an Almond Joy food?

Near Haiti, you dread the night

JIMANÍ, Dominican Republic — I spent three nights at the border in Jimaní at a hospital/orphanage with about seven hours of sleep, helping different-sized medical groups transition to attempt medical relief. During the days we could function, but during the nights 95 percent of the doctors would be forced by their administrators to leave, and all that was left were a few doctors, a few nurses, two support staff, and hundreds of suffering patients who have lost everything. The days were full of hope, but the nights were a struggle for survival. I watched as desperate men and women waited days for their child to receive attention. I watched patients with spinal fractures die, because there was no place that could treat them. One of my staff watched a small orphan boy with an amputated arm disappear into the chaos of patients. I changed dressings of infected legs that would later be amputated. I watched groups of experienced doctors completely overwhelmed by the immense suffering searching for someone, anyone, to tell them what to do. I would lay awake at night listening to the screams of patients as they were moved in and out of surgery. I feared the night.

We want Obama to fight, and to win

WASHINGTON — It’s ironic that President Obama could never be convincing as populist in chief. He had a modest upbringing — his family was on food stamps for a time — and he needed scholarships and loans to pay for his fancy education. He is no stranger to the struggles of everyday Americans. By contrast, George W. Bush was born to Old Money and raised amid great wealth, privilege and power. Yet Bush was able to project an Everyman folksiness that made people forget his patrician heritage. Obama just doesn’t give off that guy-next-door vibe. Even if he were to roll up his sleeves, loosen his tie and start talkin’ like his predecessor, droppin’ his final g’s left and right, nobody would buy the act.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Let is fly: Fly your flag, Gloria (The Safety Valve, Jan. 15). If it is not lighted tonight we will discover it by “dawn’s early light” or perhaps be moved to somber thought at the “twilight’s last gleaming.” More than many of us will be proud of your family’s selfless dedication to the nation for which it stands.

Profits aren’t always in the cards

Tribal casinos record revenue slides in 2009, newspaper reports

SEATTLE (AP) — Tribal casinos in Washington state are no longer a sure bet, with revenues at some casinos dropping as much as 30 percent in 2009, The Seattle Times reported Sunday. The Nooksack tribe is in court with its lender. The Snoqualmie tribe is struggling to make payments on its gleaming new casino east of Seattle. And the Skokomish tribe simply closed its casino last fall rather than lose cash.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Monday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 193

News of record

News of record reports for Chelan and Douglas counties

Foster O. Brown

Foster O. Brown, 88, of Wenatchee, died Friday, Jan. 22, 2010.

Gregoire presses Congress to act on health care

OLYMPIA (AP)— The uncertain future of federal health care reform has wrinkled Washington state’s hopes of landing a $1 billion bailout to fix its budget deficit this year, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Monday. That change could bring stronger momentum for tax hikes and budget cuts at the Legislature, now a quarter of the way through its scheduled eight-week session.

What weather will bullfrog predict?

‘Snohomish Slew’ to headline annual GroundFrog Day

EVERETT — For a bullfrog, Snohomish Slew is living large. Children hand feed him about 10 earthworms a week, as if he were royalty being served peeled grapes.

Ten-year sentence for gang killing in Sultan

EVERETT — A 16-year-old gang member has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in beating and stabbing another teen to death in Sultan. Jaime Santana pleaded guilty in November to second-degree murder and was sentenced Monday in Everett.

World Social Forum cheers capitalism’s woes

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil — Leftists are pouring into town to rail against freewheeling capitalism during the World Social Forum, gleefully cheering the humbling of bankers and business titans by the global economic meltdown. At the opening of the five-day event, some 25,000 activists paraded exuberantly through Porto Alegre on Monday, serenaded by the pounding of drums and salsa blared from sound trucks as they waved communist flags and shouted slogans against corporate greed.

Britain’s recession is over — barely

LONDON — Britain’s worst recession since World War II is officially over — but only just. Gross domestic product rose a feeble 0.1 percent in the final quarter of 2009, the Office for National Statistics reported today.

Sri Lanka war victors vie in presidential poll

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankans crowded polling stations today in a hard-fought election to decide whether the incumbent president or his former army chief should lead the nation’s recovery from a brutal civil war both men helped win. However, enthusiasm for the poll in minority Tamil areas most affected by the fighting remained light, and early morning explosions in the northern city of Jaffna were expected to further suppress voting.

Book says pope practiced self-mortification

VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II whipped himself with a belt and slept on the floor as acts of penitence and to bring him closer to Christian perfection, according to a new book by the Polish prelate spearheading his sainthood case. The book “Why He’s a Saint” also reported for the first time that John Paul forgave his would-be assassin in the ambulance on the way to the hospital moments after he was shot on May 13, 1981, in St. Peter’s Square.

Hopes dim for survivors after plane crash

BEIRUT — Crews from several countries are helping in the search effort after Monday’s plane crash off the coast of Lebanon. All 90 aboard were feared dead in Ethiopian Airlines crash, which happened during a night of lightning and thunderstorms.

Car bomb hits Baghdad police crime lab, 21 killed

BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide car bomber struck a police crime lab in central Baghdad today, killing at least 21 people and injuring dozens a day after suicide attacks hit several hotels favored by Western journalists, officials said.

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Monday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

Metals

NEW YORK — Spot nonferrous metal prices Tuesday.

Local interest stocks

As of closing Monday

Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — Major stock indexes rose Monday as momentum shifted in favor of the reappointment of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The prospect that he might not be confirmed in the Senate for another term rattled markets last week. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 24 points after losing 552 points over the previous three days. The Dow skidded from Wednesday to Friday of last week as President Barack Obama stepped up his campaign to tighten oversight of banks and on worries about Bernanke’s tenure.

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Monday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

New York Stock Exchange

Monday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices

Seahawks’ Carroll gets down to work at Senior Bowl

MOBILE, Ala. — Pete Carroll’s sunglasses were perched atop his head. Reading glasses hung from his neck. They were his tools of the trade for a day spent eyeballing football prospects, watching everything from weigh-ins to workouts on a day that started when the coach grabbed one Krispy Kreme doughnut, two napkins and set off to find Seattle’s future.

Seattle U. takes aim at its rival – UW

SEATTLE — Seattle University guard Taylor Olson has been a member of the Redhawks since 2006, when the move to Division-I basketball was something not even the players really grasped. “We knew they were talking about it and it was a little recruiting tool they could use,” he said. “That’s about it.”

Skyline’s Heaps on Parade team

SEATTLE — Skyline High School quarterback Jake Heaps, who is already enrolled at Brigham Young, has been named to the Parade All-America Football Team. The team, including 58 players from 24 states, appeared in the Sunday issue of the magazine.

Big crowds for figure skating in Spokane

SPOKANE — Organizers of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships say the 10-day event drew a record 158,170 fans to the Spokane Arena. The Spokesman-Review reports that broke the record set when the championships were held three years ago in Spokane.

Sounders kick off second season in Seattle

Labor dispute keeps star player in Europe

TUKWILA — As a defender, James Riley usually isn’t this popular to have a convoy of reporters and television cameras crowding around him. But the player union representative for the Seattle Sounders FC is quite popular recently.

Valley duathlon may keep going

RSVP pulled plug Friday

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Valley Duathlon bit the dust last week — at least momentarily. The Retired Senior Volunteer Program, the duathlon organizer, withdrew its support on Friday, said Eric Granstom, marketing director at the Wenatchee Valley Sports Council.

WVC chooses Van Lith as soccer coach

AD: Women’s coach is passionate, energetic

WENATCHEE — Wenatchee Valley College has taken a step towards rebuilding its women’s soccer program by naming Lori Van Lith as head coach. The 33-year-old Van Lith was an assistant under head coach Kevin Reister for the 2009 season. Reister resigned in November to concentrate on his day job after leading the Knights to an 3-11-2 record in his only season at WVC.

A kid no more

Quincy’s Manny Ybarra has been wrestling his entire life. His dedication has elevated him to a No. 1 state ranking.

Greg Martinez likes to tell a story about how when he wrestled for Quincy High School in the late 1990s, then-Jacks coach Manuel Ybarra made the team run after practice for not paying attention to the basics. “He said, ‘I have a 5-year old at home who can throw a half (Nelson) whenever he wants. Why can’t you?’ It’s funny how life works out.”

U.S. Ski Team pushes back announcement of squad for Olympics

The U.S. Ski Team pushed back the announcement of its Vancouver Olympics roster until next Tuesday to see if any extra spots become available. The team’s international results dictate how many skiers it can bring to the Olympics in each event. Some nations may not use their full quota, making additional spots available. The Americans currently have 18 spots to divide among the men’s and women’s squads.

Forest Service offering snowshoeing classes

Children race through the snow, kicking up clouds of snow and playing on their snowshoes. Guides leading walkers along trails, teaching safety and winter ecology, while advanced snowshoers muscle their way through the backcountry. Earlier this month, the U.S. Forest Service began offering snowshoe classes and guided trips at Stevens Pass and Snoqualmie Pass. The classes continue through March.

Reader scrapbook: One of those blue sky days

Susan Kidd of Entiat skis in the Chelan Mountains above Crum Canyon and the Entiat Valley last February. The elevation at this backcountry spot is about 3,000 feet. Tyee Mountain is in the distance.

Trail of the week: Antilon Lake-Oss Peak

Mountain peaks dominate north of Lake Chelan

Access: The Antilon Lake Sno-Park, located on the north shore of Lake Chelan Trail system, includes more than 100 miles of snowmobile trails. From the city of Chelan, take Highway 150 and drive towards Manson. Turn right onto Wapato Lake Road and travel approximately two miles. Turn right onto Upper Joe Creek Road to Grade Creek Road No. 8200 and follow the Sno-Park signs to the end of the plowed road to access this 75-space Sno-Park. Fees: A state Sno-Park parking pass is required. Day passes are $21 and season passes are $41.

Police respond to report of attempted suicide

Sgt. John Kruse of the Wenatchee Police Department said a 24-year-old man attempted to hang himself outside of a house in the 400 block of Chelan Avenue. The man was taken to the hospital and his condition was unknown at the time of publication.

Golf courses in Chelan County become ski playgrounds in winter

In today’s economic climate, everyone has to find different ways of doing business. Athletic enterprises are no different. Businesses like Lake Wenatchee’s Kahler Glen Golf & Ski Resort have become multi-purpose facilities, completely switching formats with the seasons in an effort to produce revenue year-round.

Count puts number on homeless

WENATCHEE — The number of people living on the street or sleeping on couches at the homes of family or friends is expected to be higher for this year’s national Point in Time homeless count Thursday. The question is, will they all be counted? The survey affects how much government funding homeless shelters get.

Slushy morning makes for doggy fun

Cici gets a face full of wet snow as she makes a grab at one of many shovel-sized globs her owner, Marc Bush, throws her way as he uncovers his driveway Monday afternoon. Bush, who lives at 2832 Easy St., near Monitor, says Cici, 5, always chases snow from either his shovel or his snowblower.

Investigation into baby’s death stalled

QUINCY — An investigation into the death of a 13-month-old Quincy boy on Sept. 1 has stalled, said Detective Paul Snyder with the Quincy Police Department. “There is just no information on how the injury occurred,” Snyder said Wednesday.

Manson schools offer parent training

MANSON — Manson schools are inviting parents and other residents to dine and go online Thursday. Three levels of classes will be held at Manson Elementary this week:

WVC enrollment up 11 percent for winter quarter

WENATCHEE — Enrollment is on the rise again this quarter at Wenatchee Valley College. About 326 more full-time students are taking classes at the Omak and Wenatchee campuses this winter quarter, up from 2,605 a year ago. That’s an 11 percent increase, according to a news release Friday. The quarter began Jan. 6.

Manson School Board agrees to purchase property

MANSON — The Manson School Board on Monday voted to buy property next to the district’s secondary school and across the street from its elementary school for a new administrative office. Superintendent Matt Charlton said the district expects to close the $239,000 deal later this week through Cashmere Valley Bank, with a 4.7 percent interest rate.

Free seminar for first-time homebuyers Saturday

WENATCHEE — First-time homebuyers can get free information this week. The Washington State Housing Finance Commission is sponsoring a free first-time homebuyer seminar from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Housing Authority Community Building, 1120 Ninth St. in Wenatchee.

Robert Allen "Bob" Brandenburg

Entiat and longtime Washington resident, Robert Brandenburg, died January 16, 2010, in Wenatchee, WA, after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. Robert "Bob" was born in Guthrie, OK in 1937, and shortly thereafter moved with his family to Glasgow, MT.

Donald Harry "Don" Briggs

Donald H. "Don" Briggs, 79, passed away on January 20, 2010, at his home in Bridgeport, after a long and courageous battle with Merkel Cell Carcinoma. Born on April 22, 1930, in Snoqualmie, WA to Edward H. and Pearl V. Briggs, Don lived the majority of his life in Central Washington.

Hazel Jean Stull

Hazel Jean Stull passed away with family at her side on January 16, 2010, after battling with cancer for nearly one year. Hazel was known to all by her middle name, Jean. She was born on October 1, 1935, in Wenatchee, WA to John and Irene Denton and was one of six children.

Firing of officers who Tasered parade driver upheld

GLENROCK, Wyo. —Officials in the small Wyoming town of Glenrock have upheld the firing of two police officers who chased and Tasered a 76-year-old man driving a tractor in a parade. The Glenrock Town Council voted Monday night to uphold last year’s terminations of Officer Michael Kavenius and Sgt. Paul Brown.

Eastmont will let students sit in on board — but they can’t vote

EAST WENATCHEE — Students will have a say next year on the Eastmont School Board After months of debate, board members unanimously adopted a new policy on Monday that would give two appointed students a voice but not a vote on the school board.

U.S. approves Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger

Giving its blessing to a deal that could transform the music industry, the Department of Justice on Monday approved the controversial merger of the nation’s dominant ticket seller and the world’s largest concert promoter — but only after extracting major concessions to address concerns that Ticketmaster and Live Nation would have a stranglehold over ticket sales. The merger, which was the first major review for Obama administration antitrust regulators, will create a new music industry Goliath with hands in every pocket of the music business. The newly formed Live Nation Entertainment would have the ability to book concerts, sell tickets and merchandise as well as manage artists all under one roof.

Consumers feeling better about economy

CHICAGO (AP) — Americans’ confidence in the economy improved modestly in January for the third straight month, as they begin to feel slightly better about business conditions and the job picture, according to a survey released today. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index increased to 55.9 — the highest in more than a year but still relatively gloomy. That compares with 53.6 in December.

Dad’s death puts Kerrigan in spotlight again

WOBURN, Mass. — Nancy Kerrigan’s family, which struggled with the attention brought on after an attack at a skating competition nearly derailed her Olympic dreams, has again been thrust into the spotlight with the death of her father after what authorities said was a violent struggle with his troubled son. At his arraignment on Monday, the son, Mark Kerrigan, pleaded not guilty to assaulting 70-year-old Daniel Kerrigan at the family’s home, where he had been living with his parents. Daniel Kerrigan’s wife, Brenda Kerrigan, said her husband died of a heart attack and there was nothing suspicious about the death.

Pernell Roberts, Bonanza’s Adam Cartwright, dead at 81

LOS ANGELES — Pernell Roberts, a versatile actor best remembered for his portrayal of the handsome, eldest Cartwright son on the classic television western “Bonanza” and later as the lead character in the medical drama “Trapper John, M.D.,” died at his Malibu home Sunday. He was 81. His death after a two-year battle with cancer was confirmed by his wife, Eleanor Criswell.

Fort Hood suspect’s attorney wants all-civilian panel

FORT WORTH, Texas — An attorney for the Army psychiatrist accused of going on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood said Monday he wants his client’s mental evaluation delayed citing a potential conflict of interest with the exam panel.

Fears about impact of health care overhaul on the rise

WASHINGTON — Fears about President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul increased significantly in December, according to a new poll released as the legislation’s future hangs in doubt. The monthly poll out Monday from the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation measured consumers’ views of how a remake would affect their own finances and access to care, among other things.

East Wenatchee woman donates tiny baby clothes for a big cause

EAST WENATCHEE — It all started with a few cute outfits that 5-month-old Ledgen Lara had outgrown. Then came the earthquake in Haiti. Ledgen’s mom, Kara Lara of East Wenatchee, had originally planned to sell the close to 50 tiny shirts and pants on Craigslist, but when she saw television accounts of the devastation in Haiti earlier this month, she thought the clothes might have a better use.

Tonasket hospital audit finds continuing losses

TONASKET — For the past five years, North Valley Hospital has depended on the Okanogan County treasurer to meet daily operating costs, and now the hospital owes the county more than $3.2 million. The hospital district has paid its bills with registered warrants — short-term interest-bearing loans used to cover cash shortfalls — since 2005.

Short-lived snow allowed for a little play time

After taking a small bite from the carrot nose, Trevor Goodwin, 2, puts the finishing touches on a snowman he names “Snowball” at the home of his grandparents, Gordy and Sally Goodwin, in Malaga Monday afternoon.

Chelan PUD switches to LocalTel for phone service

WENATCHEE — The Chelan County PUD became among the biggest customers of landline phone service Monday of East Wenatchee-based telecommunications company LocalTel. Commissioners Monday approved a three-year contract with LocalTel at an approximate monthly rate of $4,475, including long-distance calling. The contract is extendable for up to four additional years for a maximum, seven-year total price of $420,000.

Trail supporters shaking the dust off

EAST WENATCHEE — Washington State Parks and local trail supporters are moving forward again with plans to build a new trail north of East Wenatchee. The project — an extension of the Apple Capital Recreational Loop Trail — has been mired in legal challenges for years. But a recent court ruling has proponents dusting off the construction plans and restarting fundraising efforts for the $2 million to $4 million project.

Trial date set in Riverside Drive land suit

WENATCHEE — A 12-person jury has been set to decide a dispute between the city of Wenatchee and five property owners whose lands were taken by the city to build the new Riverside Drive. The seven-day trial has been set to begin Nov. 2 in Chelan County Superior Court before Judge T.W. Small.

On the low-fat menu: Turkey sausage dinner, with tweaks

When my daughter was a toddler I created an edible masterpiece — a throw-it-together-I’m-exhausted-from-work pasta dish featuring refrigerator staples: cubes of ham, frozen peas and crumbles of feta cheese. The dish pleased her picky little palate and was officially dubbed Bella Pasta, a nod to her nickname and her love of any noodle. So when the recipe for Penne With Smoked Turkey Sausage crossed my desk, I was eager for her to taste it and give me her verdict.

In praise of walnuts’ value

I’m a pecan lover, I admit. But a recent foray into the nut section of my local supermarket changed my mind, at least for this year. Pecan prices have gone up. A 10-ounce bag of chopped pecans was $7.35. I passed them by and reached instead for a similar bag of walnuts. Those cookies will taste just as good with walnuts, I thought. The walnuts were $5.15. Sneaking a handful of the walnuts at home, I appreciated their sweet earthy flavor. It’s also good to know that nuts are good for us. They have a dose of omega-3 fatty acids plus vitamin E and other antioxidants, according to the University of California Agriculture Issues Center. Most are grown in California and are the English walnut variety that originated in the Middle East. (Not to be confused with black walnuts, native to America, which have a stronger flavor and very tough shell.)

Study: Calories listed in restaurants, on frozen food may be off

Dieters can’t believe everything they read: The food at many popular chain restaurants and in the freezer section of the supermarket may contain a lot more calories than advertised. A study of 10 chain restaurants, including Wendy’s and Ruby Tuesday, found that the number of calories in 29 meals or other menu items was an average of 18 percent higher than listed.

Not your ordinary lunch box

Best eco-conscious containers take their inspiration from world cuisines

Bid that boring brown bag adieu. Think bento boxes. Originally sold to Japanese commuters in train stations, these small metal and lacquer containers are divided into compartments. Think tiffins. The British introduced office workers in India to the tiffin, an interlocking series of round stainless steel containers that hook together vertically, for lunch on the go.

Dear Abby: Teen travails turn into fond memories

Dear Abby: I had to respond to “Blushing in San Francisco,” the 11-year-old girl who’s embarrassed because her mother sings and dances in the mall. I was that mother a few years ago. My daughter and I shopped in trendy stores where the music was really loud, and when she saw me bob my head and move to the music, she would shake her head “no.”

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: William L. Sanders and Frank D. Miller purchased the 20-acre Fannie T. Wheeler tract for $28,000.

All fibers may not be created equal

If your diet lacks fiber, it’s your own fault. High levels of the cholesterol-lowering, regularity-inducing substance can now be found in many breads, pastas, cereals — even yogurts, cakes and juices. Some foods, such as whole wheat bread, are naturally high in fiber. A growing number of products, however, proudly proclaim their high-fiber content, such as Arnold’s Double Fiber Bread and Yoplait’s Fiber One yogurt, getting some or all of their fiber from so-called isolated or functional fibers — ingredients with names like inulin, maltodextrin and polydextrose — that manufacturers intentionally add to foods to boost total fiber content.

Monday, January 25

Ethiopian plane crashes off Lebanon

BEIRUT — An Ethiopian Airlines plane carrying 90 people crashed into the Mediterranean Sea in flames early today just minutes after takeoff from Beirut, authorities said.

Urgent need for tent cities for Haitian refugees

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The collapse of much of Haiti’s capital has a large part of the nation struggling just to find a place to sleep.

Bin Laden takes credit for airline bombing plot

BEIRUT — Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day attempt to blow up an American civilian jet in an audiotape broadcast Sunday on Arab television.

Thousands of vets could get benefits upgrade

WASHINGTON — The military has agreed to expedite a review of the records of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans discharged with post-traumatic stress disorder to determine whether they were improperly denied benefits.

Prosecutors build abortion slaying case

WICHITA, Kan. — Prosecutors are expected to present evidence today that a Missouri man meticulously planned the murder of one of the nation’s few late-term abortion providers by stalking the doctor and gunning him down inside a Kansas church.

Obama called for jury duty

WASHINGTON — If Cook County, Ill., had had its druthers, President Barack Obama would have shown up today for jury duty.

The real miracle, four years ago

The miracle in Massachusetts was made possible through a bigger miracle four years ago. That’s when the commonwealth became the first and so far only state to guarantee near-universal coverage. The Republican winner of the Senate seat long held by Ted Kennedy, Scott Brown, voted for the legislation as a state senator. In vowing to be the key 41st vote against the Democrats’ health care reforms, Brown carefully added that Massachusetts voters should not worry about their own health care security: They already have it through the state program. Thus, Massachusetts was the worst state in which to test the wider public’s feelings about national health care reform. Polls showed people in Massachusetts, as elsewhere, unhappy with the legislation in Washington. But those numbers include many who thought the reforms too weak or were simply disgusted by the legislative sausage-making. And whether these proposals were better than nothing is a meaningless question to people who already have something.

A curious carpetbagger

I like Harold Ford. The former congressman and senatorial candidate from Tennessee is bright, articulate and attractive. But that doesn’t mean he should be the senator from New York. There is a woman holding that job now, and she deserves to keep it. Ford has no business challenging her in the primary. If he does so and loses, as seems entirely possible, he will be dead in politics.

You’re No. 1: Alaska village up first in census

NOORVIK, Alaska — The U.S. Census Bureau is launching its 2010 count of the nation’s residents in a remote Alaska village. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves is flying to Noorvik in northwest Alaska today to count the first household in the Inupiat Eskimo community of 650. Groves and other arriving officials are scheduled to be taken to the village school by sled dog teams driven by schoolchildren.

News of record

News of record report for Douglas County

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Here are the daily winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game:

Chicago at-risk youths part of new mentor program

CHICAGO — Devon Douglas steers his Chevy Impala down an East Baltimore street, passing blocks of rotted row houses and broken sidewalks where young men ply their drug trade in broad daylight with the brazen efficiency of a military operation. He’s searching for Kevin Evans, a tough 18-year-old juvenile assigned to his watch. Evans, who’s been in and out of jail since age 11, has an appointment with his probation officer, and Douglas means to take him there. But Evans could be anywhere: among the men selling drugs, in lock-up for another crime or asleep at his grandmother’s.

Suicide bombers strike Baghdad just after Saddam’s cousin is hanged

BAGHDAD (AP) — Suicide bombers struck near three hotels popular with Western journalists and businessmen today just as Iraq announced the execution of Saddam Hussein’s notorious cousin known as “Chemical Ali.” At least 36 people were killed and more than 80 injured, security officials said. The blasts — coming in a span of about 15 minutes in downtown Baghdad — came shortly before state television announced that Ali Hassan al-Majid had been hanged.

Obama wants breaks for middle class

WASHINGTON — Previewing key elements of his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama is announcing today a series of initiatives aimed at calming some of the economic fears of struggling middle-class families. The proposals to be unveiled by Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House, and which the president will push in his Wednesday night speech, include a doubling of the child care tax credit for families earning under $85,000; an increase in federal funding for child care programs of $1.6 billion; capping student loan payments to 10 percent of income above “a basic living allowance;” expanding tax credits to match retirement savings; and increasing aid for families taking care of elderly relatives. The plan would also require all employers to provide the option of a workplace-based retirement savings plan.

Fire falls to California

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Fire FC lost 15-6 to defending Professional Arena Soccer League champion California Cougars Saturday at the Wenatchee Valley Sports- plex. Andy Garcia had a pair of scores in the second quarter, and Garret Brown had one in the first.

Rachel Flatt edges Mirai Nagasu for skating title

SPOKANE — Youth was served as the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships wrapped up at the Spokane Arena on Saturday night. That’s youth — if 18 is old.

Gonzaga beats Loyola, stays perfect in WCC

UW, WSU fall to California schools

SPOKANE, Wash. — Elias Harris is quickly growing comfortable with the college game. Gonzaga’s sensational newcomer scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the No. 15 Bulldogs beat Loyola Marymount 85-69 on Saturday night.

Saints prevail in OT; to meet Colts in Super Bowl

Garrett Hartley kicks deciding 40-yard field goal

NEW ORLEANS — They sure ain’t the Aints anymore. The New Orleans Saints are heading to their first Super Bowl after battering Brett Favre and beating the Minnesota Vikings 31-28 in overtime Sunday on unheralded Garrett Hartley’s 40-yard field goal.

Wa-Hi honors O’Flaherty

WALLA WALLA — With a standing-room-only crowd on hand, one-time Big Nine Conference baseball Pitcher of the Year, 2003 Walla Walla graduate and current Atlanta Braves reliever Eric O’Flaherty received the Big Blue Booster Professional Athlete Alumni Award. In his brief remarks, O’Flaherty said he was honored to accept the award and be recognized among the great athletes that have worn the Blue Devil colors.

Wild pound Fairbanks

Ice Dogs leave town on five-game skid

WENATCHEE — If the Fairbanks Ice Dogs weren’t reeling when they got to Wenatchee, they are now. After losing three straight at home to Kenai River last weekend, the Ice Dogs started a seven-game road trip with a pair of deflating losses to Wenatchee, including a 5-1 setback Saturday night.

Poor second half dooms Wenatchee Valley men

WALLA WALLA — The Wenatchee Valley College men’s basketball team couldn’t hang on to a two-point halftime lead and lost 69-52 to the Walla Walla Community College Warriors Saturday night. The Knights fell to 0-5 in Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges East Region play and 4-11 overall with the loss.

Short-handed Panthers hold off Kennewick boys

WHS girls hand Ron Stone 100th win

KENNEWICK — The Wenatchee boys basketball team lost a player but picked up a 44-34 road victory over Kennewick on Saturday night. Charlie Siderius went down with a concussion late in the first quarter, but Jared Jaeger more than picked up the slack, scoring a game-hight 20 points to lead the Panthers to victory.

Prep basketball from around the region

Manson boys upset Soap Lake; three teams now tied atop NCW 2B League

MANSON — The Manson boys basketball team rallied from a seven-point deficit in the final four minutes to beat Soap Lake on Saturday and set up a huge showdown with Entiat on Tuesday night. “After Soap Lake beat Entiat (Friday night), this was a great win for us,” Manson coach Jeremy Crollard said. “We’re 5-1, they’re 5-1 and Entiat is 5-1.”

Teen taken to hospital after suicide threat

WENATCHEE — RiverCom dispatchers used a Chelan County PUD camera on the Pipeline Pedestrian Bridge to locate a 17-year-old Wenatchee boy who told his girlfriend he planned to jump off the bridge Saturday afternoon, authorities said. The girl called 911 at about 2:45 p.m. to report that her boyfriend threatened to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, said Wenatchee Police Sgt. Cherie Smith. She did not know whether the girl knew which bridge.

Footprints lead to 31 cars, and a prowler

EAST WENATCHEE — An East Wenatchee man’s footprints in the fresh snow gave away his actions early this morning. East Wenatchee Police were called to the 100 block of 17th Street at about 1:46 a.m., where a resident reported seeing a male in the yard. The resident followed the man’s tracks to a carport before calling police, said assistant police chief Dan Reierson.

PUD lawsuits may stem from ‘divisive’ style of former manager

WENATCHEE — Corey Redick v. Chelan County PUD is the fourth and final in a string of lawsuits filed by former employees against the utility between late 2006 and early 2008. Dennis Bolz, president of the utility’s five-member board of commissioners, says the suits are symptomatic of a previous atmosphere of “divisiveness” at the utility, before current General Manager Rich Riazzi took charge.

Two Okanogan residents injured in crash

BREWSTER — Two Okanogan residents were in stable condition at the Okanogan Douglas Hospital in Brewster this morning after their pickup slid off Highway 97 near Brewster and rolled on Sunday, according to the Washington State Patrol. Marvin L. Hild, 71, was driving north at 9:09 p.m. when he lost control on the snowy road 1.3 miles south of Brewster, the State Patrol reported. The 2004 pickup rolled into the ditch, an agency memo said.

New bikes {and surprises} all around

Team-building event shows community spirit

LEAVENWORTH — If the Northwest’s community festivals seem a little more super-charged with enthusiasm this year, it may have something to do with 14 kids, 14 new bikes and a region-wide exercise in team building. “C’mon, c’mon” Linda Haglund coaxed as she twisted a black hex nut onto the axle of a lime-green, motocross-style bicycle.

More warm weather to follow snow

WENATCHEE — After two weeks of unseasonably warm temperatures, North Central Washington got a blast of snowy weather on Sunday. Anywhere from a half-inch of snow in Wenatchee to 8 inches on Stevens Pass piled up across the region, the National Weather Service reported.

Talking It Over: Eagles Lodge still jumping with activity

Fraternal organizations have had a long history around here, among the most active being the Eagles Lodge, which at one time had 3,500 members when it was located on Mission Street, next door to the Liberty Theater. If memory serves me well, they had a national head of the lodge in Judge Lawrence Leahy at one time.

Chili cook-off offers up spicy competition

LEAVENWORTH — The usual scent of pine needles in the fresh air at the Leavenworth Ski Hill was overtaken by the scent of chili — 15 kinds of chili — Saturday. KOHO Radio’s Pros vs. Joes Cooking Local Chili Cook-Off was a spicy success with more competitors than expected, said radio host and organizer Isaac Kaplan-Woolner.

At Vancouver film premiere, the extras are the stars

VANCOUVER — The red carpet had been rolled out for the nationwide opening of “Extraordinary Measures” — starring Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell — and white lights were glaring to help the paparazzi get the most provocative shots as the actors paraded in between the velvet ropes. A crowd of glittering, glamorous people was waiting in the lobby, chatting softly with bright smiles of anticipation.

Gates Foundation’s new Seattle home halfway finished

SEATTLE — In designing the futuristic headquarters of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the lead architect says, the wife of the Microsoft co-founder wanted it to be a bold reflection of the organization’s mission to improve the lives of the poor around the world and inspire visitors to give back to their communities. The foundation is planning to welcome passers-by to step into an interactive museum featuring the Gates’ vision and the organizations and projects the foundation supports. The center will be similar to the efforts of other nonprofits to feature their work, such as Mercy Corps’ Hunger Action Center in Portland, Ore., and Heifer International’s Global Village in Little Rock, Ark.

Bright colors add life to formerly dreary Seattle housing sites

Kenny Taylor stopped in his tracks after entering his home Saturday morning. “Wow, what a change,” said Taylor, 53, gesturing to the commotion in the lobby of the “supportive housing” facility at the Union Hotel on Third Avenue in downtown Seattle. “This is too cool.”

Tracking how Douglas County makes a decision

WATERVILLE — How Douglas County commissioners appointed Douglas Poole to the Town Toyota Center’s governing board raises questions about the commissioners’ decision-making process. The commissioners interviewed four other applicants for the board seat Jan. 13. After all the candidates left, the commission asked Eric Granstrom — who previously held the position to be filled — to list pros and possible cons of each candidate, which he did.

Douglas County OKs Granstrom replacement on arena board

WATERVILLE — Douglas Poole of East Wenatchee will take over the Town Toyota Center governing board’s seat vacated in December by Eric Granstrom. Granstrom had said he was resigning to avoid conflicts of interest with his salaried job as marketing director of the Wenatchee Valley Sports Council.

The Worm: In Oregon, feral cats live high on the sandbar

Kitty condos: Every time The Wenatchee World has written about the feral cat colony near TOP Food & Drug and Fred Meyer in East Wenatchee, the comments range from kind and compassionate, to, well, neither kind nor compassionate. But The Worm wanted to share a photo submitted by a friend, who wishes to remain anonymous. He snapped a shot of this pampered feral cat community living the good life in ocean-view condos in Gold Beach, Ore.

Vendors, workshops on home show agenda

WENATCHEE — More than 100 vendors are expected for the seventh annual home show sponsored by the North Central Home Builders Association. The three-day show begins Feb. 5 at the Town Toyota Center, 1300 Walla Walla Ave.

Big decorating solutions for big-screen TVs

For many families, the big-screen TV has become the contemporary fireplace — the focal point of the room and the spot where the family gathers. The challenge is to get it installed to ensure the best viewing without wrecking your home decor. Ahead of the Super Bowl, the Olympics and Hollywood awards viewing season, here are some tips.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: Mr. and Mrs. H.M. Roys are moving today to their ranch near Entiat. They had lived for several years on the Blair place west of town.

Dear Abby: Final wishes come with threat of haunting

Dear Abby: My mother is a spry, 75-year-old woman who has expressed an unusual request. She has told us “kids” that when she is called by the angels, she wants to be dressed in an aqua nightgown or PJs, and to be lying on her side. She says she will be sleeping for a long time, and she wants to make sure she’s comfortable. She also says if we don’t carry out her wishes, she will come back and haunt us. I have attended many wakes, but I can honestly say I have never seen anything like this done before. What do you think?

More home improvement trends for 2010

Most homeowners are unlikely to be building, remodeling or decorating with abandon in 2010, given the slow recovery from the recession. But if you do plan to update your home or garden, here are some trends to keep in mind. Home decor. The sleek, sophisticated but comfortable style known as “soft contemporary” will be a key look for the new year, said Kris Kolar, vice president of interior design at Robb & Stucky Interiors.

Community garden workshop set for Tuesday

LEAVENWORTH — The Barn Beach Reserve and the Life2 committee will host a community garden workshop at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the barn, 335 Division St. The event will include information about community gardens and how to help organize and operate these type of gardens.

Sunday, January 24

Gary Norman Sullivan

Gary was born and grew up in Toledo, OH. He graduated from Macomber Vocational High School in 1957, with a degree in Aeronautics. After serving in the United States Air Force, Gary gained employment with Boeing in the Seattle, WA area, where, with a few exceptions, he would spend his career as a tooling engineer.

Saturday, January 23

Wenatchee, Eastmont swimmers notch state times in victories

EHS’ Dillon Schriver, WHS’ Reid Fryhover meet cuts against Walla Walla

WALLA WALLA — Eastmont’s Dillon Schriver hit state qualifying times in a pair of events at Walla Walla, including a qualifying time in the 50-freestyle, where he swam side-by-side with Wenatchee’s Reid Fryhover, who also hit the state cut.

Eastmont’s offense falters at home against fifth-ranked Blue Devils

EAST WENATCHEE — The Columbia Basin Big Nine Cascade Division has Eastmont’s playoff hopes in its clutches, and it won’t take much to crush them for good.

Returning women soldiers dealing with scars of war

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — When retired Army Staff Sgt. June Moss returned from Iraq, she had to explain to her children why she couldn’t hug them. Any embrace longer than two seconds made her skin feel like it was on fire. “When I got back, my kids were really clingy,” Moss says. “They wanted affection. But, what do you say to a child?”

Hay report

MOSES LAKE (Jan. 22) — Tonnage this week: 4,065; last week: 5,658; last year: 4,925. Compared to last week, Good and Premium Alfalfa traded steady. Fair Alfalfa sold mostly firm. Export Alfalfa traded steady to firm. All classes of retail hay traded fully steady. Buyer demand good for Premium and Supreme hay which is in light supply, moderate for all other classes that are in moderate supply. The weather throughout the Basin has been sunny and mild throughout the day and receiving precipitation almost daily.

Federal markets

Apples: YAKIMA VALLEY AND WENATCHEE DISTRICT WASHINGTON 2009 SEASON — Demand good. Market about steady. Carton tray pack WAExFcy Red Delicious 72-125s $15-16; Golden Delicious 72-80s $18-20; 88s $18; 100s $16; 113s $15-16; 125s $14-15; Fuji 64s $20-22; 72-88s $22-24; 100s $17-18; 113s $14-16; Granny Smith (includes blush) 72-80s $18-20; 88s $18; 100-113s $14-16; 125s $14-15; Gala 72s $26-28; 80-88s $24-26; 100s $20-22; 113s $18-20; 125s $18; Braeburn 72-80s $16-18; 88s $15-17; 100-113s $13-15; 125s $12-14.

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Friday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

New York Stock Exchange

Friday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices

Local-interest stocks

As of closing Friday

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Friday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service. US 1 Soft White Wheat mostly $4.75, ranging $4.60-4.85

NW cattle report

MOSES LAKE (Jan. 22) — Feeder cattle this week: 4,450; last week: 5,100; last year: 3,500. Compared to last week’s close, feeder cattle steady to 2.00 higher as most interest’s are pursuing inventory. Trade moderate with good demand. The feeder supply included 84 percent steers and 16 percent heifers. Near 100 percent of the run weighed over 600 lbs. Prices are FOB weighing point with a 1-4 percent shrink or equivalent and with a 5-10 cent slide on calves and a 3-6 cent slide on yearlings. Delivered prices include freight, commissions and other expenses.

Civil Rights Museum in Memphis getting a face-lift

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The sign on the public bus from Montgomery, Ala., invites you to take a seat near the statue of Rosa Parks. But no sooner do you sit on the hard, bench-like seat than a voice barks out orders in a distinctly Southern accent, intensifying with each message:

Nexus One brings in more complaints than sales

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The hype that preceded the launch of Google’s Nexus One seems to have fizzled. The gadget that was hailed before it debuted as Google’s long-awaited answer to Apple’s uber-popular iPhone has seen disappointing sales. Google sold just 20,000 Nexus Ones worldwide in the first week after it launched, according to Flurry, a company that collects data on the sales and use of smart phone applications. In contrast, Flurry estimates that consumers bought 1.6 million of the iPhone 3GS in the first week after that phone debuted in June.

How to save a Word file as a PDF

Question: I’ve got a newsletter that I’d like to start distributing electronically. I’ve been printing it out and mailing it, but I want to just e-mail a PDF. What’s the easiest way to make a PDF of my Microsoft Word documents? Answer: Since you don’t say if you’re on a Macintosh or Windows computer, I’ll cover both.

Google’s YouTube goes pay-per-view with Sundance Festival films

The world’s most popular free video Web site is getting into the pay-per-view business. Google Inc.’s YouTube announced Wednesday that it will make movies from the 2009 and 2010 Sundance film festivals available for online rental. It’s the first time that YouTube, which historically has offered its video free, will charge users.

E-mugging takes place of real mugging

On Jan. 13, I received an urgent phone call from a Facebook friend asking if I was OK and if I really needed money. While logged into Facebook, she had received an instant message from someone posing as me. She was told that I had been mugged and robbed in the United Kingdom and was asked to wire money to me because my purse had been stolen. Any questions or objections my friend raised were answered by the impostor. I told my friend that none of this was true, then logged on to my Facebook account. There I saw live instant-message conversations going on between the impostor and several of my friends, urging them to send money. Two more friends then called to see if it was really me asking for help.

Your money: Bone up on bonds

Bonds offer an attractive investment option for adding diversity to a portfolio. They also come in a variety of forms, from corporate and municipal to government. How much of an investor’s portfolio should be weighted in bonds? And, what kind of bonds should an investor consider? A number of Web sites that specialize on bonds might provide the answer.

NKorea honors effort to save pictures

SEOUL, South Korea - Seamen who bravely go down with their ship can attain glory in any nation, but in North Korea, hero status also comes to seafarers who die while trying to preserve images of the Dear Leader. On Friday, North Korea offered posthumous awards to crew members who reportedly drowned while attempting to save portraits of leader Kim Jong Il and his late father, Kim Il Sung, as a cargo ship sank off the Chinese coast in November.

UK raises terror threat level to ‘severe’

LONDON - Britain raised its terror threat alert to the second-highest level Friday, one of several recent moves the country has made to increase vigilance against international terrorists after a Christmas Day bombing attempt on a Europe-U.S. flight. The threat level was raised from “substantial” — where it had stood since July to indicate a strong possibility of a terrorist attack — to “severe,” meaning such an attack is considered highly likely.

Rescuers reach stranded Russian ship

MOSCOW - A rescue ship reached a Russian cargo vessel stranded in icy waters off eastern Russia with 31 crew members aboard and prepared to escort it to safety, officials said Saturday. The Smolninsky refrigerated ship was battered by heavy winds Friday and listed dangerously to its port side in the Sea of Okhotsk, which separates Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula from the mainland, according to a search and rescue center on nearby Sakhalin Island.

Bomb targeting Afghan official kills 4 troops

KABUL - A provincial governor escaped an assassination attempt while traveling to inspect a school southwest of Kabul, but four Afghan soldiers in his convoy were killed in the bombing, a spokesman said Saturday. Halim Fidai, the governor of Wardak province, was on his way to the school after meeting with elders Friday in the Jagatu district when the roadside bomb exploded.

Haiti government calls off search and rescue

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti —Haiti’s government has declared the search and rescue phase for survivors of the earthquake over, the United Nations announced Saturday, saying there is little hope of finding more people alive 11 days after much of the capital was reduced to rubble.The statement from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs comes a day after an Israeli team reported pulling a man out of the debris of a two-story home and relatives said an elderly woman had been rescued. Spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said the Friday afternoon decision does not mean rescue teams still searching for survivors would be stopped from carrying out whatever work they felt necessary.

Dear Abby: Chatty churchgoers disrupt services

Dear Abby: Last Sunday, I attended a church service, and the woman and her adult daughter seated behind me would not shut their mouths. All I could hear was the two of them catching up on the week’s gossip. The 5-year-old granddaughter also talked the whole time. I scooted as far over in the pew as possible to avoid hearing the conversation.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: The Wenatchee Development Co., lead by Arthur Gunn, is platting three new additions to the city of Wenatchee. The additions takes in 15 acres east of the railroad tracks to the river, three blocks along the track south of the city, and about three blocks near the Columbia River Bridge.

Walking a fine line

Medical correspondents face delicate balance in Haiti

NEW YORK — Some of the most dramatic television images beamed from Haiti’s quake-ravaged communities have shown harried doctors frantically tending the wounded with rudimentary tools. “To say it’s primitive is an understatement,” CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton said Saturday on “The Early Show.” “This is analogous to Civil War medicine.”

Don’t miss

Short, Tomlin play against type in legal thriller “DAMAGES” — Season 3 of intense legal thriller “Damages” offers shades of the Bernie Madoff debacle. Tough-as-nails attorney Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) is appointed by the U.S. government to recover billions of dollars lost to the largest investment fraud in Wall Street history. The new case pits Patty against a powerful family determined to protect its interests — and secrets — at all costs. Joining the show are comedy veterans Martin Short and Lily Tomlin, who play against type in a story that is sure to have plenty of wild twists and turns. 10 p.m. Monday, FX.

How about these folks as Simon Cowell replacements?

Who should replace Simon Cowell on “American Idol”? With the brutally honest Brit set to leave the show next season and start “The X Factor,” we propose these possible candidates for the judging hot seat.

Saturday’s basketball scores

Check here throughout the night for scores from NCW basketball games.

Davis-White score a hit

SPOKANE — There’s no arguing with Meryl Davis and Charlie White’s lead. No questioning the authenticity of their Bollywood-style dance, either. Davis and White won the original dance Friday night, extending their lead and moving one step closer to an upset victory over Olympic silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Davis and White are 1.62 points ahead going into Saturday’s free dance, a margin that is difficult to make up in dance.

Pressure is on U.S. women’s figure skaters

SPOKANE — It looks and sounds simple: Top two skaters make the Olympic team. If results from the short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships hold true through Saturday night’s free skate, that would mean Mirai Nagasu and Sasha Cohen would be Vancouver-bound. But it’s actually a bit more complex.

Collegians: Austin Bryan keeps rolling at Dominican

SAN RAFAEL Calif. — Dominican University freshman Austin Bryan continues to impress in his first collegiate season, scoring 17.3 points per game for the Penguins. That total ranks the former Wenatchee High star third in the Pacific West Conference.

Week in rec sports

Wenatchee gymnasts first at Flip Festival

SPOKANE — The Wenatchee S.P.O.R.T. gymnastics teams competed in the Flip Festival in Spokane on Jan. 9-10. The Recreational Optional Team took first place in both the novice and advanced divisions. First-place individual finishers for Wenatchee were Julia Williams (Level 8, vault and all-around), Amy Mugg (Level 8, vault, bars, floor and all-around), Abby Reed (Novice Children’s Division, all-around), Hannah Adamos (Novice Junior Division, all-around) and Valerie Casteneda (Advanced Junior Division, all-around).

Rainier Beach edges Franklin in OT

SEATTLE — Rainier Beach guard Robert Harris hit two free throws with 8 seconds left in the second overtime against Franklin, and the Vikings held on for a 71-70 win Friday night. After his team finished off the victory over its Metro League rival, Rainier Beach head coach Mike Bethea wiped his brow and said, “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky.”

Wildcats’ Billy Tuthill captures 11-dive meet

MOSES LAKE — Eastmont’s Billy Tuthill finished with a combined score of 360.56 to win a Columbia Basin Big Nine dive meet Friday. Tuthill just edged out second-place Braxton Ford of Moses Lake, who had a score of 358.45.

CWU coach Nicholson to be inducted into state Hall of Fame

YAKIMA — Dean Nicholson went swimming Thursday, in the rain. “It’s pouring outside,” he said in a telephone conversation from his home in Concord, Calif., which is east of Oakland. “But I like to swim to keep the heart pumpin’. And the pool’s warm, so that helps.”

Chuckles as M’s introduce ace Cliff Lee

SEATTLE — Cliff Lee was in Seattle for a couple hours Friday before he had to field questions about his plans. Months away from his first pitch for the Mariners, everyone wanted to know what the ace left-hander would do when his contract ends this fall. The 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner was ready.

Watch for overachieving understudies in NFL games

Who’s going to make it to the Super Bowl? Keep an eye on the over/unders. That’s the overachieving understudies, and each of the four teams in Sunday’s conference championship games has at least two of them.

Downer of a hoops season in the Pac-10

LOS ANGELES — Pacific 10 Conference officials may find a whole new meaning to the phrase “one and done.” One team in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and done by the time the first round is in the books. It may sound like real March madness, but the unthinkable sits on the horizon as the conference’s basketball reputation sinks quickly in the West this season.

Mission Ridge skiers heading to world championships

Wales, Granstrom make U.S. team, to race at Mont-Blanc in France

WENATCHEE — Two Mission Ridge Ski Team racers have been chosen for the Alpine World Junior Championships in the Mont-Blanc region of France from Jan. 30-Feb. 6. Brooke Wales, 19, and Colby Granstrom, 19, are among 13 skiers who were picked this week for the U.S. team. The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association selected the roster based on results in NorAm Cup races this season.

At a glance: Wales and Granstrom

WENATCHEE — A closer look at the two Mission Ridge Ski Team members chosen for the World Junior Championships in France from Jan. 30- Feb. 6:Brooke Wales Age: 19

Sounders’ Ljungberg to return?

SEATTLE — Sounders FC designated player Freddie Ljungberg says a return to Major League Soccer will depend on negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement in the league. Ljungberg said on his Web site Friday that he has not made a final decision on where he’ll play this spring. The Sounders open training camp in suburban Seattle next Monday.

Balloon boy mom contradicts husband

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - A newly released video shows the mother of the 6-year-old boy purported to be in a runaway balloon finally acknowledging to authorities it was all a hoax — contrary to her husband’s repeated public denials just before reporting to jail. The video interviews obtained by the Fort Collins Coloradoan Friday show Mayumi Heene telling sheriff’s officials that the Oct. 15 event was a hoax that she and her husband orchestrated to land a reality TV show.

Arizonans dry out as Californians head home

LOS ANGELES - As hundreds of Californians prepare to return to evacuated homes, Arizona residents are digging or drying out from the storms that flooded desert areas and buried mountain towns under feet of snow. The biggest weather system to hit Arizona in nearly two decades flooded small towns, caused a train derailment and closed major interstates. Snow collapsed roofs in the northern part of the state. Meanwhile, searchers looked for a 6-year-old boy swept away late Thursday in a flood.

Trial begins in slaying of Kansas abortion provider

WICHITA, Kan. - On the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, prosecutors who charged a man with killing one of the nation’s few late-term abortion providers managed to get through the first day of testimony without mentioning the word abortion in front of jurors. They presented a murder case focused instead on emotional eyewitness testimony, recordings of frantic 911 calls and photos of Dr. George Tiller’s body lying in a pool of blood in his church foyer.

Airport screener disciplined over prank

DETROIT — A University of Michigan student boarding a plane in Philadelphia to return to Detroit Metro Airport from winter break got a big fright in the form of a prank by an airport security screener. Rebecca Solomon, 22, a U-M psychology student from Wynnewood, Pa., said she was going through security at Philadelphia International Airport on Jan. 5 — less than two weeks after the failed bombing attempt Dec. 25 on Flight 253 from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit — when a screener stopped her, wouldn’t let her take her bags and pulled a baggie of white powder from her computer case.

Democrats mum on how they’ll push health overhaul

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders insist they will push ahead with efforts to overhaul health care. They just aren’t explaining how. Obama acknowledges running into a “bit of a buzz saw” of opposition. A top Democrat suggests Congress slow down on health care, a sign of eroding political will in the wake of Republican upset in the Massachusetts Senate race Tuesday.

Partisanship rules Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (AP) — It comes down to this at the Supreme Court: If you’ve got Justice Anthony Kennedy on your side, you can pretty much do what you want. Without him, you’re the author of an angry dissent. Thursday’s decision to strike down restrictions on corporate campaign spending more than 60 years old was the third time in nine days that the court divided 5-4, with liberals on one side and conservatives on the other. The other cases involved an appeal from a death row inmate in Georgia and the prospect of broadcasting a gay marriage trial in California.

Especially now, yes for schools

If passage of school levies ever was a necessity, it is now. Local school districts have been under increasing pressure for years, since it is a rule of thumb in Washington that financial demands on education grow faster than the Legislature’s willingness to fund them. Consequently, maintenance and operations levies that once funded additions now fund essentials. And so it is, more and more, year after year.

Alcoa will build

It was not unexpected, but still encouraging. Alcoa is planning to spend $20 million to refit, repair and re-equip the power grid that feeds its Wenatchee Works, it was announced last week. The project will be complete by the middle of 2012, and will set the stage for a third potline, and presumably hiring the workers to staff it.

Hope for biomass

Washington’s forests are choked with undergrowth and brush. Overcrowded stands are prone to disease and suffer with insufficient moisture. Insects destroy them. They fuel unstoppable firestorms. Clearing and thinning forests is essential for their health and to avoid this devastation, but it is neither easy nor cheap. If more of the wood fiber produced by thinning and clearing could be put to some beneficial use, it would solve many environmental and economic problems. If this wood — call it biomass now — could be used to produce energy, so much the better.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

No fire bonds: I talked to several people about the Wenatchee fire station bond, and the first thing they all said was they would vote no because it was too close to a school. The second thing was putting all the people out of their homes and looking for a place to live. The third was putting more taxes on people — things are already bad now.

Obama should take comfort

WASHINGTON — Churchill’s wife said that his being turned out of office by British voters in July 1945 — the war in the Pacific still raged, and he had just returned from the Potsdam conference — might be a blessing in disguise. He replied: It is very well disguised. Barack Obama might not see the silver lining on the loss of the 60th Democratic Senate vote, but it has several dimensions. Consider four of them.

White House fights for Bernanke support in Senate

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke encountered new Senate opposition Friday for another four-year term as the White House worked aggressively to keep his support from eroding further. President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner were on the phone throughout the day to key senators to shore up votes, said two senior administration officials,.

U.S. Marines end role in Iraq; Biden in Baghdad

RAMADI, Iraq — The U.S. Marine Corps wrapped up nearly seven years in Iraq on Saturday, handing over duties to the Army and signaling the beginning of an accelerated withdrawal of American troops as the U.S. turns its focus away from the waning Iraqi war to a growing one in Afghanistan. In Baghdad, meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden held talks with Iraqi leaders amid rising tensions over plans to ban election candidates because of suspected links to Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Douglas Herbert "Doug" Rutherford

Douglas "Doug" Rutherford passed away on January 15, 2010. He was born on December 30, 1918, as the youngest of three children to George and Christina Rutherford in Morton Municipality, Manitoba, Canada. From 1942 to 1945, he served in World War II for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Glen Adrian Matthew Marchand

Glen Adrian Matthew Marchand, 59, of Oroville, WA, died on January 20, 2010, at home in Oroville. He was born on September 21, 1950, in Penticton, BC, to parents, George and Sophie Marchand. Glenny was a great gift to all; providing a constant supply of love and laughter to those around him.

Darrel Glen Worley

Darrel fought a courageous battle against cancer over the last few years. He has gone now to his Heavenly Father on January 18, 2010. Darrel Glen Worley was born to Darrel Byron Worley and Letha Mae Snyder Worley on March 17, 1953, at St. Anthony's Hospital in Wenatchee. Darrel lived in Monitor since the day he came home as a newborn.

William G. Joplin

William G. Joplin, 59, of Gold Bar, WA, died January 11, 2010, in Everett. He was born February 4, 1950, in Seattle, WA, to Earl and Mazie Joplin. He graduated from Meadowdale High School in Edmonds in 1968. He worked for 45 years as a business owner in paving and excavation.

Susan D. (Tradewell) Hall

Susan D. (Tradewell) Hall, 63, was born on June 16, 1946, in Grand Forks, ND, to Charles and Jean Tradewell and lost her battle with cancer on January 9, 2010. The family moved to the Wenatchee area in 1950.

Marjorie E. Budnick

Marge passed away December 21, 2009, at Harborview Medical Center, with her family by her bedside. Though she had recently experienced health issues, her passing was sudden. Marge was born in Wenatchee to Ethyl (McDonough) and Charles Morse.

Genevieve Coler

Genevieve went to join her husband in Heaven on January 18, 2010. She was born March 2, 1924, in Castor, Alberta, Canada and married Jack Coler on June 25, 1943, in Arizona. During WWII, they were remarried in seven different states, in which they were stationed.

Warmer climate melts rules for dam operators

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — As the climate gets warmer, the old rules for when to let water out of Columbia Basin dams and when to hold it back won’t work. So researchers from the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have developed computer models that simulate new operations schedules for flood control dams in Washington, Idaho, Montana and Canada based on a climate change scenario.

Marili Libke Benjamin

Marili Libke Benjamin, 87, of Wenatchee, died Friday, Jan. 22, 2010, in Wenatchee.

News of record

News of record reports for Chelan County

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Friday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 211

Taco Del Mar bankrupt, but stores will stay open

Taco Del Mar Franchising, a Seattle-based chain of Mexican fast-food restaurants, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday, saying it owes creditors between $1 million and $10 million. The restructuring does not involve franchisee-owned Taco Del Mar stores, only the Seattle franchising company. Taco Del Mar said its stores will continue to operate.

Man says he was texting in crash that killed teacher

PORTLAND, Ore. - A Vancouver man pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the hit-and-run death of his former teacher. Antonio Cellestine was sentenced Friday to five years in prison as part of a plea agreement. The 18-year-old said he was texting when he crashed into Gordon Patterson, a popular teacher at Hudson’s Bay High School.

Bill proposes abolishing Washington death penalty

OLYMPIA - Lawmakers are considering a bill that would abolish Washington state’s death penalty, though its own sponsors acknowledge it’s a long shot. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard public testimony on the measure Friday. Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, is sponsoring the bill and told the committee that the death penalty is ineffective, expensive, unequal and inhumane.

Mistrial in case of former King County deputy

SEATTLE - A King County Superior Court judge has declared a mistrial in the case of a former sheriff’s deputy who was videotaped beating a 15-year-old girl in a jail cell, after jurors said they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. The 12-member jury had been deliberating since Wednesday afternoon, but were stuck with 11 members wanting to convict and one voting for acquittal.

Soldier guilty of involuntary manslaughter in drug death

FORT LEWIS - A 20-year-old Fort Lewis soldier has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of his 16-year-old girlfriend in his barracks. A military judge ruled Friday that Pvt. Timothy Bennitt was guilty of “aiding and abetting” Leah King’s wrongful use of the painkiller oxymorphone and anxiety pill Xanax.

Democrats reel after brutal week

WASHINGTON — A one-two punch of bad news suddenly has Democrats facing an election year with campaign finance rules that favor Republicans and a Senate that can block Democratic initiatives. Democrats already were bracing for House and Senate losses in November, which typically happens to a president’s party after his first two years in office. But a stunning GOP Senate victory in Massachusetts, and a dramatic Supreme Court ruling on political advertising, have made the horizon look even darker for the party that scored big wins in 2006 and 2008.

Wenatchee Wild fan can’t stay away, despite injury

WENATCHEE — Jayden Pace broke his foot when he jumped from the top bunk bed at his grandmother’s house Friday. But that didn’t stop him from making it to the Wenatchee Wild game later that night. Jayden came straight from the emergency room to the game, said his mother, Jackie Pace. He is such a die-hard fan that he still wanted to go watch the Wild.

Kennewick irrigation chief makes new comments rule, then changes it

KENNEWICK — Weary of being asked questions from the public that he can’t answer, the president of the Kennewick Irrigation District board announced Tuesday that he was changing the rules for public comment at meetings. John Jaksch said anyone who wants to criticize the water agency by asking tough questions has to take their concerns to a KID staff member before they will be allowed to speak at a public board meeting.

People & places

At the podium Dr. Ken Ullrich, an audiologist with the Eye & Ear Clinic of Wenatchee, gave a presentation to the Wenatchee Sunrise Kiwanis on the effects of age on hearing, redesigning the English spoken language and how to get the most use out of a hearing aid.

Sunday briefing

AARP Tax-Aide providing free tax preparation Free tax assistance and preparation for those with low and middle incomes is available through AARP Tax-Aide from Feb. 1 to April 15.

Business briefs

Chamber holds membership drive: The Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce will be holding a membership drive on Jan. 26-27, and is offering additional benefits valued at $500 to those who join during the drive.

Tuesday workshop will focus on community gardens

LEAVENWORTH — Barn Beach Reserve will host a workshop on building community gardens at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, and solicit interest in two such gardens planned for Leavenworth. Participants will learn about the community gardens and how to help organize and operate one. Barn Beach Reserve is at 347 Division St. For more information, call 548-0181 or visit barnbeachreserve.org.

Entiat School Board approves curriculum, swears in board members

ENTIAT — The Entiat School Board met Wednesday and swore in three returning board members who ran unopposed during the 2009 election. Those board members are Victor Porrovecchio, Alberto Quezada and Randy Whitehall. The board also approved the Family Life and Sexual Health (FLASH) curriculum during the meeting. The curriculum is used widely across the state as approved sexual-education curriculum.

Wild end losing streak, make statement in front of 4,107 fans

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Wild shrugged off a three-game losing streak and reasserted themselves as the top team in the West Division with a resounding 6-2 win over league rival Fairbanks on Friday.

Roll call

How NCW legislators voted on recent bills (Y-yes, N-no, E-excused, NV-not voting): 2010 supplemental changes to the operating budget EHB 2921 reduces state spending in the 2009-10 operating budget by about $45 million over the next year. The savings are made by reducing support to various state agencies and programs that receive funding through the operating budget. The bill passed the House by a vote of 77-19 and will now be before the Senate for further consideration.

Quincy and George discuss police cooperation

QUINCY — The cities of George and Quincy have begun preliminary discussions about having the Quincy Police Department provide part-time police service to George. Quincy Police Chief Richard Ackerman told the Quincy City Council during its meeting on Tuesday that he and Mayor Jim Hemberry were approached by George Mayor Elliot Kooy about the possibility of having a Quincy police officer patrol George on a regular basis.

Federal regulators will test in Yakima County to trace pollution sources

TOPPENISH — Federal clean-water regulators will begin next week seeking permission from a number of well owners in Yakima County to test their water for contamination with the aim of identifying the sources of the problem and ultimately fixing it. “We know there’s a problem. We’re beyond that,” Mike Cox, risk assessment supervisor at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Seattle office, told a group of about 50 stakeholders at an information session held at the offices of the Yakama Nation.

Puttin’ on a happy face

WENATCHEE — “You Can’t Take It With You,” a comedy by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, runs through next weekend with performances Saturday and next Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each show is at 7:30 p.m. The play is directed by Cynthia Brown.

Prosser man charged with killing Grandview woman in I-82 crash

PROSSER — The defense attorney for a Prosser man charged in a November fatal crash asked a judge Thursday to toss out a newly filed charge involving a passenger. Edward Eusebio Castilleja, 49, is accused of killing a 20-year-old Grandview woman as he drove the wrong way on Interstate 82 near Grandview.

Real estate records

Douglas County Residential sales

Yakima County to talk with unions over $1.5 million deficit

YAKIMA — Invites go out next week to Yakima County’s unions with an RSVP for ideas on how the county can overcome a looming $1.5 million budget deficit. The bargaining unit representing the largest number of county employees in the courthouse is expected to take commissioners up on their offer.

More than 20 years after Alar scare, chemicals still coat most fruits

YAKIMA — More than two decades after parents dumped apples from children’s lunch boxes because of concerns about a chemical applied to the fruit, most researchers agree the crop is safer although most of it still carries pesticide residue. Growers saw prices plunge after a 1989 television report led to widespread fears apples were coated in a cancer-causing chemical called Alar, used to enhance crunch and color.

New apple variety bred for Central Washington

WENATCHEE — There’s a new player in the apple market, and it’s just right for Central Washington. The new apple, WA 2, just released by Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center, is 15 years in the making. It is the first apple to come out of the Wenatchee research team’s efforts which began in 1994. The development of the new apple is “very fast” according to Tree Fruit researcher Kate Evans. More apples are on the way, with one to two expected to be released annually.

Woman's statements to authorities, phone and bank records are in, judge says

OKANOGAN — A judge ruled Friday that statements to police by Lacey K. Hirst-Pavek outlining her involvement in Michelle Kitterman’s death last March were made voluntarily, and should not be suppressed at her murder trail. Visiting Judge John E. Bridges also denied Hirst-Pavek’s request to suppress other evidence, including phone records and bank transactions.

Inviting weather is giving Wenatchee some spring fever

WENATCHEE — Biking. Paddling. Running. Unseasonably warm weather and a lack of snow has some recreationists already moving on to spring sports. The daily high and low temperatures in North Central Washington have been five to 10 degrees warmer than normal every day for the last two weeks, said Jeremy Wolf, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

MRST competes in Junior Olympic qualifiers

MOUNT SPOKANE — Olympic qualifying competition is in full swing throughout the U.S., and that includes those younger athletes trying to qualify for the Junior Olympic competition coming up in mid-March.

Eastmont boys hold off West Valley 50-45

YAKIMA — A good start can mean all the difference. On Friday night, it did for the Eastmont Wildcats. The Wildcats built a 14-point lead in the first quarter, allowing them to absorb a rough third frame and beat West Valley 50-45.

Big win for WHS girls

Panther boys also beat ML in hoops

MOSES LAKE — Wenatchee girls basketball coach Ron Stone urged Dani Hallberg to put the Panthers on her back in one of the biggest games in the program’s recent history. The senior and school career scoring leader answered the call.

Prep basketball from around the region

Wapato ends No. 2-ranked Ephrata’s undefeated mark

WAPATO — Brandon Evenson says all the time that in a league as tough as the Central Washington Athletic Conference, one subpar game can submarine any team, no matter how talented.

Friday, January 22

Friday’s basketball scores

Check here throughout the night for scores from NCW basketball games.

The puck (hopefully) stops here

Everything you need to know before you step between the pipes

WENATCHEE — So, you want to be a goalie. The first thing to do is get you dressed. Go ahead and strap on the leg pads and chest protector and the rest of that big pile of equipment. Yes, it is heavy — on average, a full set of goalie gear weighs just under 50 pounds when it’s dry, which it rarely is — but you’ll be glad to have it once the pucks start flying at you at 80 or 90 miles per hour.

Local interest stocks

As of closing Thursday

Rains subside, evacuees heading home

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. — Storms that have battered Southern California were easing Friday after a week of wild weather that flooded streets, spawned at least a few tornados, and left a trail of damage, but the possibility of huge mudflows was still a concern. Hundreds of evacuees forced from homes in foothill communities were expected to learn today whether it was safe for them to return home. Officials have said the risk of mudslides can last up to 72 hours after the rains stop.

Country’s first gigolo starts work in Nevada

BEATTY, Nev. — A brothel in a Nevada desert town has hired the state’s first male prostitute, a muscular college dropout who abandoned a brief stint as a porn actor in Los Angeles to become the only legal gigolo in the United States. The Shady Lady Ranch successfully won state and county approval to clear the way for the “prostidude,” as Nevada’s newest sex worker is already being called. After a slow first week on the job, his first appointments are scheduled for this weekend.

Opee, an ‘extreme’ dog

Mike Schelin rides a motocross bike with his dog Opee, a 8-years-old blue merle Australian shepherd in Perris, Calif., last week. Opee, 8, is “an extreme dog,” said Schelin, 41, explaining that the dog rides in front of him on their dirt bike in motocross races. Opee is not attached to the bike in any way, but wears a helmet, protective goggles, and motocross jersey.

Jet diverts to Philly over passenger’s prayer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Jewish teenager trying to pray on a New York-to-Kentucky flight caused a scare Thursday when he pulled out a set of small boxes containing holy scrolls, leading the captain to divert the flight to Philadelphia, where the commuter plane was greeted by police, bomb-sniffing dogs and federal agents. The 17-year-old on US Airways Express Flight 3079 was using tefillin, a set of small boxes containing biblical passages that are attached to leather straps, Philadelphia police Lt. Frank Vanore said.

Officials call for cameras, recorders in train cabs

WASHINGTON — Federal safety officials called for railroads to install cameras and voice recorders in every locomotive cab in the nation as they publicly warned Thursday that cellphone texting by engineers and conductors was a growing and lethal danger. The call came as members of the National Transportation Safety Board publicly concluded their investigation into the deadly collision of a commuter train and a freight train in Los Angeles in 2008 — a crash they blamed on a commuter-train engineer who passed a stop signal as he sent a message from his phone.

Haiti relocating homeless, thousands flee capital

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitians are fleeing their quake-ravaged capital by the hundreds of thousands, aid officials said today, as their government promised to help nearly a half-million more move from squalid camps on curbsides and vacant lots into safer, cleaner tent cities. Aid officials said some 200,000 people have crammed into buses, nearly swamped ferries and set out even on foot to escape the ruined capital. For those who stay, foreign engineers have started leveling land on the fringes of the city for tent cities, supposedly temporary, that are meant to house 400,000 people.

Afghanistan bans chemical used to make bombs

KABUL — Afghanistan today banned the use of a fertilizer chemical also used to make bombs, giving farmers and other holders a month to turn in their supplies. President Hamid Karzai’s office issued a decree banning the use, production, storage, purchase or sale of ammonium nitrate.

Bobbies scolded for riot-shield sled rides

LONDON — Some British bobbies have been reprimanded after they used their riot shields as makeshift sleds during the country’s recent cold snap. A passer-by filmed the bobbies goofing around on a snowy hill in Oxford and posted the clip on YouTube. It shows a policeman barreling downhill while another shouts, “Whatever happens, keep smiling!”

Pakistan planning no new Taliban offensive

ISLAMABAD — Obama administration efforts to pacify Afghanistan suffered a major setback Thursday with the announcement in Pakistan that Pakistan’s military plans no new assault this year on Taliban sanctuaries near the Afghan border. U.S. strategy in Afghanistan depends on shutting off Taliban havens in Pakistan, especially in the North Waziristan area, where leaders of the Haqqani network, which is considered the most dangerous insurgent group in Afghanistan, shelter.

120 al-Qaida suspects detained in Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish police launched a nationwide crackdown on suspected militants linked to the al-Qaida terror network toiday, rounding up 120 people in simultaneous pre-dawn raids, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. Yeni Safak newspaper this week reported that Turkish police had recently seized video recordings of alleged Turkish al-Qaida militants in Taliban camps in Afghanistan, as well as alleged plans for attacks on Turkish soldiers in Kabul and on police in Turkey.

China: Clinton speech harms ties with U.S.

BEIJING — China rejected today a call by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for the lifting of restrictions on the Internet in the communist country, denouncing her criticism as false and damaging to bilateral ties. A state-run newspaper labeled the appeal from Washington as “information imperialism.”

India issues terrorism alert over hijack plot

NEW DELHI — Airline passengers across India went through extra security screenings today and sky marshals were placed on flights as the government put its airports on high alert amid reports that al-Qaida-linked militants planned to hijack a plane. A hijacking, especially one launched by Pakistan-based militants, would send tensions soaring between the two nuclear-armed rivals and be a huge distraction for U.S. efforts to crush the Taliban and al-Qaida along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

New York Stock Exchange

Thursday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Thursday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Thursday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama’s plan to change the way big banks make their money plunged the stock market back into the fear and uncertainty that marked the financial crisis. Obama said Thursday he would ask Congress for limits on how big banks can become and to end some of the risky trades financial companies use to supercharge their earnings. Investors sent stocks tumbling as they worried the plan would destabilize Wall Street’s 10-month rally.

Metals

NEW YORK — Spot nonferrous metal prices Friday.

Free speech finally wins out

Its supporters have always reveled in its lack of ambiguity. “Congress shall make no law ... abridging freedom of speech.” That is the First Amendment to the Constitution. There are no maybes, buts or excepts. “Shall make no law” is as clear as it can be. For some, this is an unfortunate lack of loopholes. A political candidate, for instance, lives with limits on how much people can contribute to advance his cause.

In Iran, oppression and corruption work together

The last week was quiet in Iran, comparatively speaking. The government announced it would try 16 people for their roles in last month’s street protests and charge them with “warring against God,” which carries the death penalty. The head of the Iranian police force warned opponents of the regime that the authorities were now monitoring all e-mails and text messages. Government goons defaced the grave of a student protester who was shot dead by police last year, pockmarking her gravestone with bullet holes. A parliamentary panel accused Tehran’s prosecutor of beating three imprisoned protesters to death.

Scott Brown’s body politic

WASHINGTON — There will be much harrumphing and punditry in the next few days about the meaning of Scott Brown’s victory and his phenomenal campaign for Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat. How, in the final days of an election all but certain to go to the Democrats, did Brown, a mere state senator, manage to raise millions and rattle the machinery of his blue-hearted state?

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Great event: Way to go, Town Toyota Center! The arenacross event was a huge success — local folks being able to have some fun, show off their talents, and GREAT family entertainment. Thank you! This only adds to all the wonderful stuff to do in this valley! Arenacross in one rink, hockey in the other! Could it be any better?

Donald George Reichert

Donald George Reichert, 64, of Tucson, Ariz., died Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010.

Alberta J. Garrecht

Alberta J. Garrecht, 93, of Leavenworth, died Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Thursday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 573

News of record

News of record reports for Chelan and Douglas counties

Tropical whale found on Puget Sound beach

OLYMPIA — A biologist says a dead whale that washed ashore on a south Puget Sound beach this week is a tropical whale thousands of miles from its normal range. Biologist John Calambokidis of Cascadia Research said the whale found on Harstine Island is a Bryde’s whale.

New BPA transmission line in Southeast Washington

TRI-CITIES — The Bonneville Power Administration plans a new transmission line between two substations in southeast Washington to help carry locally generated energy, including wind power, to the grid. The 40-mile, 500-kilovolt line would connect the existing Lower Monumental Substation south of Kahlotus in Walla Walla County to a planned Central Ferry Substation in Garfield County.

Italian prosecutor of Knox convicted in unrelated case

ROME — A lawyer says the Perugia magistrate who prosecuted U.S. student Amanda Knox for murder has been convicted in an unrelated case of abusing his office. A Florence court convicted Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini and an Italian police investigator today of abusing their positions during an investigation into the serial murders of young couples in Tuscany from 1968 to 1985.

Four boys, one 11, charged in gas station robbery

BELLEVUE — Four boys, including one just 11 years old, have been charged with first-degree robbery in a Bellevue gas station holdup. A police spokeswoman, Carla Iafrate, says the 11-year-old distracted the clerk while his 15-year-old brother got behind the clerk and held a realistic-looking pellet gun to his neck. They got away with about $200 Sunday night. Bellevue police allege the other two boys, also 15, waited across the street and acted as lookouts.

Soldier pleads guilty to drug charges

FORT LEWIS — As a court-martial began Tuesday at Fort Lewis for a soldier blamed in the drug overdose death of a 16-year-old girl, the young man pleaded guilty to drug charges but not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. The charges against Pvt. Timothy E. Bennitt stem from the Feb. 15, 2009, death of Leah King. She died in Bennitt’s Fort Lewis barracks room after she and a friend overdosed on a combination of drugs. The friend recovered. Bennitt was 19 at the time.

Doc’s marijuana OK doesn’t preclude police action

SEATTLE — A doctor’s permission to use medical marijuana doesn’t preclude police from arresting a patient or searching his home, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The court upheld the conviction of Jason Fry, a Stevens County man arrested with 2 pounds of marijuana in 2004. Justices said sheriff’s officers who smelled marijuana smoke at his home had probable cause to believe a crime was committed — even after Fry presented them with an authorization from his doctor.

National Park Service says no to including B Reactor in park

Congress to make final decision

RICHLAND — Speaker after speaker at public hearings Thursday in Richland had the same message for the National Park Service: Make Hanford’s historic B Reactor part of a new Manhattan Project Historical Park. It’s an option the National Park Service considered, but concluded was not feasible by the time it released a draft study that looked at options for the future of B Reactor and other Manhattan Project sites at Los Alamos, N.M., and Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Tri-Cities park could become home to interpretive center

RICHLAND — The west end of Columbia Park could become home to the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center, a 61,000-square-foot cultural and regional museum. The possibility was discussed Thursday by community stakeholders who are evaluating how to best use 146 acres of the park’s riverfront from Edison Street to the Bateman Island area.

Analysis: GOP stands to cash in on ruling

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s decision to wipe out most campaign spending limits, coming on top of the Massachusetts Senate upset, was a potentially major blow to Democrats and a boost for Republicans in the November congressional elections. The Massachusetts vote, which ended the Democrats’ filibuster-proof 60-vote majority in the Senate, has already sent shock waves through business-oriented interest groups and lobbyists, forcing some to reconsider their willingness to cooperate with President Barack Obama on such contentious issues as health care and the environment.

Eastmont girl hit by car is back at school

Father urges city to consider more crosswalks on Grant Road

EAST WENATCHEE — A month-and-a-half after an Eastmont Junior High School ninth-grader was hit by a car in East Wenatchee, she plans to attend her first full day of school Monday. No one predicted she would recover this quickly.

Senior-housing proposal splits city’s advisory group

WENATCHEE — The city’s Affordable Housing Task Force is divided over the proposal of a Seattle-based charity to build a senior housing complex on what is now a downtown, city-owned parking lot. Monica Libbey, the Wenatchee’s housing and community planner, told the City Council on Thursday that five members of the 11-member task force favor the proposal — with conditions. Another four oppose the proposal. Two were absent for the vote.

State isn’t backing off runoff rules

WENATCHEE — Chelan County must meet deadlines for developing new stormwater runoff rules or face state penalties, the state Department of Ecology told county officials in a Wednesday letter. Ecology sent the letter to several employees and officials in Chelan and Douglas counties and the cities of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee stating that a recent decision by the Chelan County Planning Commission runs counter to the “fine job” the four entities are trying to do collectively to control pollution from stormwater runoff.

Contractor will stop putting Scripture on rifle sights

WASHINGTON — A Michigan defense contractor will voluntarily stop stamping references to Bible verses on combat rifle sights made for the U.S. military, a major buyer of the company’s gear.

Link surveys also can be accessed on home page

WENATCHEE — It’s a quick click to online surveys about a proposed new fare system and route changes for Link Transit.

Digest: Sasha Cohen brings down house

Sasha Cohen can still put on a show like nobody else. And bring the house down.

Cougars mount rally, beat USC

Washington State coach Ken Bone wasn’t overly concerned after sharpshooter Nikola Koprivica had a quiet first half. The Serbian came to life, scoring all 13 of his points in the second half as Washington State rallied to beat Southern Cal 67-60 on Thursday night in Los Angeles.

If the rain holds off, expect better angling

The fishing has been slow to nonexistent in many waters, especially the rivers. If we don’t get too much rain this week, the rivers should be in good shape. Rivers

Trout fishing remains hot at Roosevelt

Frogs are croaking, ducks are pairing up, and — any day now — someone is going to reel in the first spring chinook salmon of the new year from the lower Columbia River. Although the run usually doesn’t begin in earnest until mid-March, the first “springer” of the year is a clear sign of popular fishing seasons to come. “The sport fishing Web sites are already buzzing with anticipation,” said Joe Hymer, a fish biologist at the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Some anglers are already scrambling to find bait.”

Prep basketball roundup

Ephrata girls upset Ellensburg

EPHRATA — The Ephrata girls basketball team opened the second half of its league season with a stunning 49-47 upset of Ellensburg on Thursday night. The Bulldogs had beaten the Tigers by 14 when the teams met earlier in the year in Ellensburg, but this time around the Tigers were able to build a 10-point halftime lead and hold on to knock off the Bulldogs, who came into the night second in the CWAC standings with just one league loss.

Hernandez wants to build positive legacy with Mariners

Feels at home in Seattle, foresees playoff team

SEATTLE — Felix Hernandez insists that home really is where he has his heart. Hernandez spoke on Thursday about his young family back in Venezuela, how his son and daughter helped him mature as a father and a man. Then he talked at length about his summer family — a Mariners organization that plucked him out of Venezuela as a 16-year-old and nurtured him as a pitcher until his near-Cy Young Award season in 2009, which led to a payday beyond his wildest dreams.

Students buy in to ‘Market Day’

EAST WENATCHEE — In the last desperate minutes of “Market Day,” 10-year-old Jacob Crouch priced his brownies to move. “Two for 25 cents!” the Kenroy Elementary student called out to the crowded classroom. Shoppers bustled by, their pockets full of quarters, to the next row of cookie displays, smoothie drinks and homemade bobbles.

Powerhouse wrestling: Moses Lake topples Wenatchee

Panther comeback attempt from 19 down falls short versus Chiefs

MOSES LAKE — The 17th-ranked Wenatchee wrestling team was game, but in the end No. 8 Moses Lake just had too much firepower. The Panthers lost the first five matches of the anticipated Columbia Basin Big Nine dual between the two powerhouses on Thursday, but picked up some late pins to make a run at the Chiefs before falling 37-24 before a raucous crowd.

Accident sends driver to Wenatchee hospital

EPHRATA — An Ephrata woman was in serious condition this morning at Central Washington Hospital after a one-car accident late Thursday morning. Alice F. Rayoum, 60, was injured when the car she was driving went out of control on the highway, according to a Washington State Patrol report. About a mile east of Ephrata the car rolled once and came to rest on its wheels in the eastbound lane of the highway. The report did not list her injuries.

Wenatchee man hurt in one-car crash

GOLDENDALE — A Wenatchee man suffered a broken right leg in a one-vehicle accident Thursday. Richard E. Gormley, 66, was injured when the pickup he was driving ran into a rock wall about three miles north of Goldendale about 9:45 p.m., according to a Washington State Patrol report. The accident happened on Highway 97.

Dancing, party music — then bullets

WENATCHEE — Nick knew a split second before the gun went off that the barrel was pointed in his direction. The Wenatchee man, in his early 20s, said he had no time to react.

Wheeled warmth

Payton Kelly, 3, left, rides in a stroller with friend Emmersyn Risdon, 3, while Payton’s sister Natalie, 1, rides in another stroller. The three were out on a walk Wednesday with their mothers, Karlye Risdon and Erin Kelly, both of East Wenatchee.

Getting down to business

Face-to-face networking still works in a high-tech world

WENATCHEE — Not a gizmo. Not a guru. Not a growth stock. No way. This year’s hottest trend in business for the Wenatchee Valley is optimism, organizers of an annual trade show said Thursday.

Ten more H1N1 flu shot clinics added

EAST WENATCHEE — The Chelan-Douglas Health District scheduled 10 more H1N1 clinics, Saturday through Feb. 16, to give folks another chance to vaccinate against swine flu. Here are the locations and dates: Wenatchee Valley Mall, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday

Urn found in National Guard Humvee

MOSES LAKE — The ashes of a war veteran were found in the back of a Humvee at the National Guard Armory in Moses Lake. Sgt. Justin Morris was cleaning out the recruiting vehicle this week when he found a velvet, maroon bag with a box inside from the Hennessey-Smith Funeral Home in Spokane.

Check it out: On stage

The Mission Creek Players have cast their next dinner theater production. Kathy Smithson directs “True West,” a play by Sam Shepard about a screenwriter (Pete Mathews) who is upstaged by his hack brother (Dan Malmin).

Dear Abby: Daughter of murdered man rejoices in miracle

Dear Abby; I wrote you in October and received your personal reply. I’m the girl whose dad was murdered, and I was looking for a support group. You referred me to the National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children, which provides mutual support to persons who have survived the violent death of someone close (pomc.org). I have a little “upper” for you. We all know about the letters you have printed about Pennies from Heaven, but I don’t know if there ever has been one like this.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: Members of the Women of Woodcraft recently elected new officers for the coming year. They are Caroline Elfers, guardian neighbor; Ellen Eikelberner, clerk; Catherine Olinger, advisor; Mabel Simmons, banker; Catherine Duffy, magician; Esther Bartlett, attendant; Agnes Scott, inner sentinel; and Sarah Matzke, outer sentinel.

Tough mamas: They exercise hard to fuel busy lives

CASHMERE — Does your happy place include sweat, strain, sheer exhaustion and, yep, one more set of reps? For a group of moms grunting toward high-level fitness, “happy” is relative in a 12-minute workout that pushes them far beyond housework, grocery shopping and school commutes. It’s an exercise routine, they said, that gives them the stamina and energy to be better mothers, wives and businesswomen.

Mitsubishi’s Lancer sprouts some sporty new offshoots

The Mitsubuishi Lancer has long been the company’s alternative to the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla, and this current version — on the market since 2007 — matches up well with the two market segment leaders. Mitsubishi has done a good job of giving customers good reasons to choose the Lancer over the competition.

After earthquake, a spiritual debate brews

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The recent earthquake may have devastated lives and buildings in Haiti, but it has also shaken hearts and minds. “The kids can’t comprehend — why would an all-knowing, all-powerful, loving God let this happen?” the Rev. Linus Nangwele said last Friday after leading Mass at St. Anthony Catholic School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “They feel he should have known, could have prevented it. Why would he let the people suffer?

Census: More women taking on the role of sole breadwinner

The number of women taking on the role of the sole breadwinner in the family has risen, according to data released Jan. 15 by the U.S. Census Bureau. The trend has been accelerated by the recession, but what’s unclear is whether the shift will continue, said Kristin Smith, a family demographer at the University of New Hampshire. “Whether this trend is short-lived or is lasting will depend on how the economy comes out of the recession,” she said.

Parenting Corner: Unemployed dad has his work cut out for him

Q: Two months ago I was laid off from my factory job after six years there. It was a sudden decision by the owners to cut costs, so all of us who got the axe had no time beforehand to look for another job. Now that I’m at home more while job searching, how can I keep my wife and kids from thinking I’m a loser and dumping the housework on me? A: Being unemployed is definitely no picnic. Besides putting a dent in the family budget, losing a steady income can take a toll on your self-esteem, too.

Is CrossFit for you?

CrossFit, a high-level training program developed a decade ago, focuses on cardio endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, speed, coordination, balance and other physical skills. It was originally aimed at professionals, such as firefighters or police, requiring maximum fitness levels for peak job performance. Over the years, the program has been adapted to everyday folks looking for intense workouts that keep them active and energized. The brief, high-intensity sessions (12 minutes or less, depending on a person’s fitness level) mix a variety of exercises using a person’s own body weight for resistance. Pushups, pullups, situps, burpees, air squats and lunges are just a few at the core of the routines, which change daily. The methods also include sport activities such as running, biking, hiking and skiing.

TV and radio host to speak Jan. 29

PESHASTIN — Katie Souza, an international speaker, radio and television host and author, will speak at 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at Leavenworth Christian Fellowship, 7591 Highway 97.

St. Joseph’s School to host annual auction Feb. 6

WENATCHEE — St. Joseph’s School will hold its 30th annual Have-A-Heart Auction Feb. 6.

Thursday, January 21

Galileo meets the future in historical sci-fi novel

With his high-bandwidth imagination and mad research skills, Kim Stanley Robinson mastered the terraforming of the Red Planet in his Mars trilogy, and the re-creation of world history without Christianity and European hegemony in “The Years of Rice and Salt.”

Check it out: Art

Victor R. Phillips signs copies of his motivational collection at Hastings on Saturday.

‘Extraordinary’ can’t quite measure up

In “Extraordinary Measures,” Harrison Ford is chair-kicking angry. Pig-biting angry. Angrier than a one-man production of “Twelve Angry Men.” He plays Dr. Robert Stonehill, a medical researcher with a potential cure for a fatal genetic disorder and a compulsion to lock horns with anyone he considers his intellectual inferior, which is everyone.

DVD+U

“The Invention of Lying” Warner Home Video, DVD $28.98, Blu-ray $35.99

Midori concert at Sleeping Lady sells out

The Feb. 4 evening concert by violin maestra Midori at Sleeping Lady Chapel Theater, with pianist Charles Abramovic, has sold all available seats. A free pre-concert talk by Midori, at 4:30 p.m., is still open for reservations by calling 548-6347.

Gameplay

“Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2” Tecmo; PlayStation 3; $59.99; rated M

Check it out: On film

Leavenworth “Lords of Nature: Life in a Land of Great Predators” 7 p.m. Friday; Barn Beach Reserve, 347 Division St.; free, donations accepted 548-0181, 548-7584

Stylish and campy ‘Bayonetta’ misses a lot of marks

Bayonetta is the most flamboyant video-game heroine in a long, long time. Leggy, bespectacled and clad in a skintight black catsuit, she struts across the screen like a model stalking the runway. That model, however, is more campy than sexy, more RuPaul than Gisele.

Check it out: Overtures

Ephrata High School junior Daniel Carter performs an evening of classical music on the guitar.

Check it out: Scene

Northwest singer-songwriter Camille Bloom returns from her latest European tour to play a show at Mela.

Rock ’n’ reel

Gaelic Storm unites the musical threads

Gaelic Storm has proved far more buoyant than the boat where we met them. The Celtic-fusion outfit was first heard by most Americans as the happy-go-lucky steerage band in James Cameron’s “Titanic” (1997), spinning out the jigs that helped unite Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) with Rose (Kate Winslet) among the poor immigrants in the hold of the doomed ocean liner.

Soundbites

“My Dinosaur Life” Motion City Soundtrack, $9.98

Bookbites

“Hidden Empire” by Orson Scott Card; Tom Doherty Associates Book; $24.99

States battle deficits with payroll cuts

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In Rhode Island, they’re delaying pay raises. In Nevada, state college teachers took a 4.6 percent pay cut. New Jersey state workers are taking 10 furlough days this year — although they’ll get back seven days of paid leave later. Across the country, state government leaders are cutting employee compensation and eliminating jobs to spackle over parts of their respective budget holes.

Democrats begin discussing smaller health overhaul bill

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies are conceding for the first time that they may have to accept a less ambitious health overhaul bill than the massive one they’ve struggled for a year to assemble. Shorn by Massachusetts voters of their pivotal 60th Senate vote and much of their political momentum, the White House and congressional leaders are considering a more modest version of Obama’s top legislative priority. It could focus on curbing insurance company practices like denying coverage to sick people and on helping low-earning people and small businesses afford coverage, officials said.

More evacuations ordered as new storm hits Calif.

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. — A third powerful Pacific storm pounded California with heavy rain and snow Wednesday, forcing evacuations of hundreds of homes below wildfire-scarred mountains, shutting a major interstate, knocking out power to thousands and unleashing lightning strikes on two airliners. Fierce winds howled as forecasters warned of rainfall rates as high as 1.5 inches an hour on soil already saturated from two days of wild weather that caused street flooding in coastal cities, spawned a tornado and toppled trees, killing two people.

The need in Haiti is unimaginable

When in Haiti over the past years, I’ve often wondered how anything can possibly get worse in that poor country, but then it did. It is devastation on those already devastated and of such an incomprehensible magnitude that it is mind boggling. Death, trauma and suffering have been inflicted on so many and the needs are great. Our hospital in Haiti is responding to those needs.

Democrats suffer the curse of opportunity

We are on the precipice of an achievement that’s eluded congresses and presidents for generations. — President Barack Obama, Dec. 15, on health care legislation.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Despicable choice: Mr. Warner, your choice of the cartoon of Haiti on Jan. 17 is despicable. Of all the choices that were available on CagleCartoons.com, you chose one that appears to blame God for Haiti’s distress and praises the American government for their salvation.

How do they ‘create’ jobs?

I wish government could create jobs at will. A vote, a law, the stroke of a pen, and there you have it — tens of thousands of people returned to gainful employment. If that is not the way it actually works, sometimes that’s what they want us to think. If only it could. It’s the big political topic lately, at least this week. It’s timely when times are very tough. The unemployment rate in Washington hit 9.5 percent in December, the state Department of Employment Security announced Wednesday. That’s worse than the dot-com bust of 2000-01, and very nearly as bad as the dim winters of 1982-84, except this year more jobs were lost, faster — Washington business cut 106,200 from payrolls in 2009, or 3.6 percent of the work force, on top of tens of thousands of jobs lost at the tail end of 2008. More dismal statistics are rarely seen.

State will finally get full radar coverage

New system should help track storms off Pacific

WASHINGTON — A new state-of-the-art radar system on the Washington coast will make it easier for meteorologists to track heavy weather coming off the Pacific Ocean, as some scientists say the intensity of winter storms and waves pounding the Northwest shore is increasing. Until now, the Washington state coastline has been the only coastal area in the continental United States with no weather radar coverage.

Hurricane Ridge road closed for six weeks for repairs

PORT ANGELES — Olympic National Park officials say the road to Hurricane Ridge will remain closed for an estimated six weeks after a large landslide came down on Monday. Engineers and park officials have inspected a washout just north of the Heart O’ the Hills campground where 100 feet of road crumbled away.

Boeing to cut jobs in Washington this year

SEATTLE — Boeing expects employment to decline this year in its commercial airplane division, mostly in the Puget Sound area. Spokesman Tim Healy told The Seattle Times there’s no target, but the decline may be about half the 4,300 commercial airplane jobs that were cut last year.

State House committee rejects marijuana bills

OLYMPIA (AP) — Efforts to reform Washington state’s marijuana laws were voted down by a House committee Wednesday. The Public Safety Committee rejected a measure to legalize marijuana for those 21 and older, and another that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot for adults.

Democrats are listening, Murray assures

WASHINGTON — The election of a Republican senator in Massachusetts shows that voters are worried about jobs and the economy, but is not cause for alarm among Democrats, Sen. Patty Murray said Wednesday. Murray, who is seeking a fourth term this fall, said the message from Massachusetts “should not be taken lightly,” but added that it reinforces what she has long been saying about the need to increase job training and boost the economy.

New York Stock Exchange

Wednesday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Wednesday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

Local interest stocks

As of closing Wednesday

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Wall Street

NEW YORK (MCT) — Fears of a possible rise in borrowing costs globally sent the U.S. stock market to its worst decline since mid-December on Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average trimmed its losses late in the day but still ended with a 122.28-point decline, the biggest drop since Dec. 17. The blue-chip measure tumbled 1.1 percent from its 15-month closing high set in the previous session to end at 10,603.15.

Metals

NEW YORK — Spot nonferrous metal prices Thursday.

She’s baaaaack! Sasha Cohen doesn’t look rusty in return

SPOKANE — Sasha Cohen brought the buzz back to U.S. skating. Looked pretty darned good doing it, too.

Harris, Bouldin set to play for Gonzaga

SPOKANE — Gonzaga freshman forward Elias Harris said his back is sore, but he anticipates playing tonight against Pepperdine in a battle of teams with 3-0 West Coast Conference records. Harris took a hard fall late in Saturday’s win over San Diego, landing on his right hip and lower back. He went to the bench for 2 minutes before returning and scoring two field goals as Gonzaga wrapped up a 68-50 win.

Washington hoping road isn’t cause of its woes

SEATTLE — After losing back-to-back road games by 17 points each, the University of Washington returned home and won back-to-back games by a combined 48 points. Did the Huskies solve their problems?

CBC Hawks sweep WVC

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Valley College women’s basketball team held a 12-point lead over visiting Columbia Basin at Smith Gymnasium on Wednesday night, but allowed the Hawks back in the game in the second half before losing 58-50. “We took disciplined shots and worked our tails off on defense in the first half, but we had a few lapses in the second half and sent them to the line too many times,” Knights coach Rachel Goetz said.

Mirror images: Undefeated Ephrata Tigers a lot like school’s 2008 state basketball champs

EPHRATA — The comparisons between Ephrata High School’s 2008 Class 2A state championship-winning boys basketball team and this year’s second-ranked squad are obvious and inevitable. This year’s Tiger team is every bit as deep and hard-working as the group that defeated Burlington-Edison to win Ephrata’s first state championship since 1993.

Saints hope to ride Bush, Sharper to victory against Vikings

LOS ANGELES — What the New Orleans Saints need to do to defeat the Minnesota Vikings in Sunday’s NFC championship game:Help on the edges For the most part the Saints did a good job of protecting Drew Brees this season, and he gets rid of the ball quickly, which always helps.

Jets are feeding off coach Ryan’s attitude as AFC title game looms

INDIANAPOLIS — Rex Ryan knows how to motivate a locker room. The New York Jets’ coach is one of the game’s sharpest defensive minds. But his knowledge of NFL playoff scenarios? Uh, not so good. “We’re obviously out of the playoffs, and that’s unfortunate,” Ryan told reporters after a 10-7 loss to Atlanta on Dec. 20 dropped the Jets’ record to 7-7.

Felix to sign with Mariners this afternoon

SEATTLE — The announcement this afternoon of a megadeal for Felix Hernandez should still leave the Mariners with nearly $10 million to spend on payroll for this coming season if they wish to equal last year’s total. Seattle spent just over $98 million on payroll in 2009, and the coming five-year, $78-million contract for Hernandez should still leave his team around $88 million in commitments for 2010. Hernandez arrived in Seattle just before 6 p.m. on Wednesday, is to take a physical this morning and then should sign his deal in time for a news conference later in the day.

Pete Carroll adding coaches to his Seattle staff

RENTON — Pete Carroll’s coaching staff with the Seattle Seahawks is coming together with a heavy mix of NFL experience and few ties with Carroll’s last coaching job at Southern California. Carroll said Wednesday that most of his staff is in place with just a few positions still to be filled. Carroll had previously announced that renowned offensive line coach Alex Gibbs would be joining the Seahawks after spending last season with Houston.

New Hawks GM sketchy about rebuilding plans

RENTON — Seattle’s new general manager John Schneider doesn’t just look young. He’s a 38-year-old executive who has been part of assembling a Packers team that is consistently among the youngest in the league.

M’s sign reliever

SEATTLE — Reliever Brandon League and the Mariners agreed Wednesday night to a $1,087,500 one-year contract that avoids arbitration. League is the third Mariners reliever to sign a one-year contract and avoid arbitration this week, after Mark Lowe ($1.15 million) and closer David Aardsma ($2.75 million).

Wild riding losing streak as Ice Dogs come to town

Wenatchee still has comfortable lead in the NAHL’s West

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Wild kick off their longest — and last — home-stand of the season Friday when the division rival Fairbanks Ice Dogs visit Town Toyota Center. The Wild and Ice Dogs occupy the top two spots in the West Division standings, but both enter the two-game series on three-game losing streaks.

He built the courses that golfers love

Jack Frei, designer of Desert Canyon and other courses, dies

EAST WENATCHEE — The general manager of the Orondo golf course built by Jack Frei remembers the architect as a savior of golf in the Pacific Northwest. “People come here because this is a great golf course, and because he was a great designer,” Coron Polley, who oversees Desert Canyon Golf Resort, said of Frei, who died Friday at 65 after an 18-month battle with cancer.

Chelan beatdown

Goats cruise to wins over Cascade Kodiaks in key CTL matchups

CHELAN — As far as road trips go, this one was less than memorable for the Cascade boys and girls basketball teams. The Kodiak girls arrived in Chelan with a shot at grabbing sole possession of second place in the Caribou Trail League. But the Goats, ranked No. 7 in the latest AP Class 1A poll, led by as many as 20 points in the second half on the way to a 53-37 win.

Link surveying riders on fare, route plans

WENATCHEE — The Link Transit board is asking the public to weigh in on proposed fare and route changes through online surveys. Nick Covey, finance manager for Link, said the current fare system is challenging for riders, as well as drivers.

Insurance chief paints grim picture

OLYMPIA — State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler says the health-care system is broken, and without reforms, people in Washington will continue to see the cost of insurance go up, and more people who can’t afford it. Kreidler spoke to The Wenatchee World on Tuesday morning — before Massachusetts voters elected Republican Scott Brown to replace the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, which has raised questions about whether a national health care reform bill will now be enacted.

Pumping East, Midwest wind power will take some huffing and puffing

LOS ANGELES — Major upgrades to the transmission infrastructure and a sizable chunk of cash from private investors and the government are necessary for the Midwest and East Coast to move to 20 percent wind power by 2024, according to a new study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The federal lab, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, released its Eastern Wind Integration and Transmission Study after more than two years of analyzing the economic, operational and technical implications of different scenarios. The research focused on shifting 20 percent of the electrical load from the Eastern Interconnection, one of the country’s two major power grids, using land-based wind from the Midwest, offshore wind from the East and a variety of other combinations.

Asia’s ozone pollution fouling Western skies, study finds

LOS ANGELES — Ozone from Asia is wafting across the Pacific on springtime winds and boosting the amount of the smog-producing chemical found in the skies above the Western United States, researchers said in a study released Wednesday. The new study, published in the journal Nature, probes a phenomenon that has puzzled scientists in the past decade: Ground-level ozone has dropped in cities thanks to tighter pollution controls; but it has risen in rural areas in the Western U.S., where there is little industry or automobile traffic.

Driver suffers head, chest injuries in accident

TONASKET — A 62-year-old Wauconda man was in serious condition at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane this morning after a one-vehicle accident Wednesday night. Robert E. Pardue sustained a head cut and chest bruising in the accident at about 10:30 p.m. on Frosty Road about a mile east of Tonasket, according to a Washington State Patrol report. A pickup driven by Pardue ran off the roadway, over an embankment and came to rest in a creek, the report stated.

China: Google case won’t affect ties with U.S.

BEIJING — Google’s threat to pull out of China over concerns about censorship and security should not affect ties with the United States, a top Chinese official said today, seeking to contain the government’s dispute with the Internet giant. The comment from Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei came just hours before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was scheduled to deliver a speech in Washington on Internet freedom.

U.S. to tighten Afghan raid rules

KABUL — The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan plans to tighten the rules on night raids, The Associated Press has learned, in a new step to curb public anger over perceived violations against civilians. Such raids have emerged as the No. 1 complaint among Afghans after Gen. Stanley McChrystal curbed the use of airstrikes and other weaponry last year.

Nervous driver offers up stolen pistol

WENATCHEE — Police with guns drawn blocked off the entrance to the 7-Eleven store for about 15 minutes late Wednesday morning while they arrested two people in the parking lot. The incident at 925 S. Mission St. began about 11:45 a.m. when Officer Brian Miller, on routine patrol, walked up to a car in the parking lot after seeing a known gang member get inside as a passenger, said Sgt. Cherie Smith, spokeswoman for the Wenatchee Police Department.

7 bodies found in south Mexico

ACAPULCO, Mexico — Mexican authorities found seven corpses in two abandoned cars along with written messages referring to drug cartels, state police said Wednesday. The bullet-riddled bodies of three men were inside a car left beside the highway between Acapulco and Zihuatanejo on Wednesday morning, police in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero said.

Haiti’s mass graves swell; doctors fear more death

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Workers are carving out mass graves on a hillside north of Haiti’s capital, using earth-movers to bury 10,000 earthquake victims in a single day while relief workers warn that people are still dying of their injuries. Medical clinics have 12-day patient backlogs, untreated injuries are festering and makeshift camps housing thousands of survivors could foster disease, experts said.

Should’ve gone to med school ...

WENATCHEE — Those late-night TV ads were right. Training for a job in the medical field would have been a smart career move in 2009, particularly in Chelan and Douglas counties. Employment in health services and education continued to grow locally during the past year, bright spots in an otherwise flat job market that, nonetheless, seems to be improving as the new decade begins.

Virginai rampage victims include suspect’s relatives

APPOMATTOX, Va. — The victims of a gunman’s violent rampage in central Virginia included the suspect’s sister and brother-in-law, as well as two other adults, three teenagers and a 4-year-old boy, according to authorities who charged the alleged shooter with first-degree murder on Wednesday. Christopher Bryan Speight, a 39-year-old security guard, surrendered to police at daybreak after leading investigators on an 18-hour manhunt following the slayings at a house in rural central Virginia where deputies found a mortally wounded man and seven bodies.

Court rolls back campaign spending limits

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled today that corporations may spend as freely as they like to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on business efforts to influence federal campaigns. By a 5-4 vote, the court overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said companies can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to produce and run their own campaign ads. The decision, which almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns, threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states.

Intelligence chief criticizes handling of accused plane bomber

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a tacit admission that the U.S. squandered a chance to gain valuable information after the failed Christmas Day airline bombing, the nation’s intelligence director testified Wednesday that authorities had been too quick to read the suspect his Miranda rights and grant him access to an attorney. Dennis C. Blair said that a newly created team of elite interrogators should have been called in to question Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and that top officials in Washington should have been consulted.

White House gate-crashers take Fifth at hearing

LOS ANGELES — Tareq and Michaele Salahi, who got through White House security to attend a state dinner, on Wednesday invoked their Constitutional rights against self-incrimination and refused to testify before Congress. The Salahis refused to answer questions from lawmakers on the House Committee on Homeland Security, probing how the couple got past the Secret Service to attend a state dinner on Nov. 24 for the prime minister of India. The couple was able to shake hands and pose for photos with top officials including President Barack Obama.

Robert Parker, crime novelist, dead at 77

BOSTON — Robert B. Parker, the blunt and beloved crime novelist who helped revive and modernize the hard-boiled genre and branded a tough guy of his own through his “Spenser” series, has died. He was 77. The cause of death was unclear. An ambulance was sent to Parker’s home in Cambridge on Monday morning after reports of a sudden death, said Alexa Manocchio, spokeswoman for the Cambridge police department.

Edwards admits he fathered videographer’s child

RALEIGH, N.C. — Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has finally come forward to admit that he is the father of a child born to a videographer he hired before his second White House bid. “It was wrong for me to ever deny she was my daughter,” he said today. Edwards released a statement to The Associated Press after long denying that he’d fathered a child during an affair with Rielle Hunter. The admission comes shortly before a book on the scandal is due out from a former campaign aide who was expected to describe how Edwards worked to hide his paternity.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Wednesday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 035

Mouk Phasavath

Mouk Phasavath passed away peacefully on January 17, 2010, at Central Washington Hospital, surrounded by her family and friends. Mouk was born in Savannakhet, Laos on February 15, 1937, to the late Soune and Chaing Phothisan.

Carl Elmo Hill

Carl Elmo Hill, 81, a longtime resident of East Wenatchee, passed away peacefully following a brief illness. He was born September 21, 1928, in Melbourne, AR, to Walter and Stella (McDonald) Hill. He was the seventh of nine children.

Donald G. "Don" Wickenhagen

Donald G. "Don" Wickenhagen, 75, a longtime Wenatchee Valley resident, passed away on January 8, 2010, at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee. He was born on August 15, 1934, in Dade County, MO to the late James and Abba (Lawson) Wickenhagen.

Robert L. Garrison

Robert L. Garrison, 87, passed away December 26, 2009, at his home in Boise, ID. Robert was born in Walker, MO to William and Della Garrison. The family moved to Peshastin in 1929, where he attended school, graduating in 1941.

Fred Henry Davis

Fred Henry Davis' journey through life started in Warroad, MN on January 20, 1921. At the ripe old age of eight, he was working a man's job to help support his family and to the day he died, he swore he would never milk another cow.

News of record

News of record reports for Chelan and Douglas counties

Chili sauce lands German teens in hospital

BERLIN — Officials in Germany say eight teenagers were hospitalized after a test of courage in which they drank chili sauce more than 200 times hotter than normal.

Bones may be 10th-century English princess

LONDON — She was a beautiful English princess who married one of Europe’s most powerful monarchs and dazzled subjects with her charity and charm. Now an international team of scientists say they think they’ve found the body of Princess Eadgyth — a 10th-century noblewoman.

City buys a bus, looks at water line replacement

QUINCY — The Quincy City Council approved the purchase of a new 18-passenger tour bus at its meeting Tuesday. The new $60,000 bus replaces an aging bus that is used for summer geological tours and the city’s Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day tours of farms and industry. “People love our geological tours but they didn’t like the breakdowns,” said Quincy Mayor Jim Hemberry. The city may also look at using the bus for shuttle service to concerts at The Gorge amphitheater, he said.

James William Wyatt Sr.

James William Wyatt Sr., 82, of East Wenatchee, died Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010.

Darryl Jane ‘Dee’ VanVelkinburgh

Darryl Jane “Dee” VanVelkinburgh, 71, of Ephrata, died Friday, Jan. 15, 2010.

Erma Sperline

Erma Sperline, 93, of Montana City, Mont., died Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010.

Donald G. Marshall

Donald G. Marshall, 79, of East Wenatchee, died Monday, Jan. 18, 2010.

Some Tri-City residents not sure about water park

Orlando man’s proposal could hinder efforts for a public Pasco pool facility

PASCO — Tri-Citians are giving mixed reviews to a Florida man’s proposed 27-acre water park in Pasco. Jim Hale of Orlando wants to build Bahama Bay Water Park on Sandifur Parkway in west Pasco.

Shooting suspect gets $250,000 bail

PASCO — A husband who caught his wife at another man’s house became so enraged that he pulled out a gun and fired at the other man, authorities said. A struggle apparently caused Saul Guzman-Liera to miss his intended target and accidentally shoot his wife, Isabel Pena, in the abdomen, according to documents filed in Franklin County Superior Court.

Zillah woman unhurt in Haiti quake helps survivors

ZILLAH — A Zillah woman who was teaching in Haiti at the time of the earthquake is safe and volunteering with a Canadian Red Cross team to perform first aid with some of her friends. Michele Deardorff, 25, had been teaching third-graders at a private school in Pétion-Ville, a small, wealthy community just southeast of Port-au-Prince. The 2002 Zillah High School graduate has been in Haiti since August.

Creative control

PAC director Sara Cornell readies for departure

Meeting with her governing board earlier this month, Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee Executive Director Sara Cornell realized something: The conversation had changed.

National Geographic showcases Cascades

WASHINGTON — The National Geographic Society features the Cascade mountains of Washington and Oregon in its latest Geotourism MapGuide(http://thecentralcascades.com/). The MapGuide showcases authentic and sustainable ways to experience the landscape, culture and recreational treasures.

College applicants face intensifying competition

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — College applicants are facing one of the toughest years ever to gain admission to the nation’s public colleges and universities as schools grapple with deep budget cuts and record numbers of applications. As cash-poor state governments slash budgets, colleges are capping or cutting enrollment despite a surge in applications from high school seniors, community college students and unemployed workers returning to school.

In most remembrances, loved ones dance around death

Death is hard to find in death notices. This is the time of year — January and February — when death rates are generally highest, according to the National Vital Statistics System.

Students’ refusal to state race on forms frustrates officials

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — About half of the 37 students in teacher Jeanne Kirchofer’s Laguna Creek High School classroom, who span nearly every combination of race and ethnicity, have joined the growing number of California students who decline to state a race on official forms and tests. “We shouldn’t be judged by our race,” said senior Jessica Mae Belcher, 17, whose roots are African and Cherokee. She prefers “none of the above” because “we’re all different, but we’re all the same, too.”

Experts see an increase in skin-tone bias

CHICAGO — Tamara Field is no longer shocked when people make offensive remarks about her light African-American skin tone. But sometimes, she said, the comments cause her to pause. Once, Field said, she had to explain to a white supervisor at work why she was having lunch with the company’s minority recruiter, a common practice at jobs with few minority employees.

Asperger teen churns out tales of derring-do

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Nik Geier’s index fingers flew across the keyboard of his Hewlett-Packard netbook on a recent Thursday morning. In a matter of minutes, he’d added another page to his second novel — a richly plotted fantasy involving knights, derring-do and sophisticated characterization. He’s been writing on his latest project for only a week; the story pours from him easily and continuously. So far, he’s written more than 5,000 words.

Toppenish’s Lady Liberty primed to glow again

Toppenish man labors to return theater to its former grandeur

TOPPENISH — Roman columns, regal opera boxes, domed ceiling, lush velvet curtain, golden-tinged chandeliers, original Moorish sconces — it’s a jewel really. Then mix in the Mercy family, Howard Hughes, Lillian Gish and a hometown guy with a sentimental streak, and it fleshes out the storied history of a landmark Toppenish building, the Liberty Theatre.

Big-train enthusiast tracks a monster

LOS ANGELES — To most people, videotaping a passing 3½-mile freight train would be about as appealing as ... well, waiting for a 3½-mile freight train to get out of the way. But to Joe Perry, an information network engineer for a downtown Los Angeles bank and a railroading enthusiast since childhood, the arrival of perhaps the biggest train ever in California two weekends ago was an opportunity not to be missed.

Get Out! Head to library for peaceful reprieve

It’s an overcast day — rainy and cold — and the Wenatchee Public Library is full of people, buzzing in its quiet way. Soft leather chairs invite visitors to stay longer and observe others, read magazines and page through nearby art books.

Yakima woman pays it forward to help vet’s family

YAKIMA — Jackie Seaton knows what it’s like to receive help in a time of need. More than a year ago, a bleeding brain aneurysm and a tumor kept the 50-year-old mother of two teenage daughters from work.

Peace of My Mind: Staying hopeful — even in soggy times

It’s a gray, soggy, dreary Wednesday morning as I sit at the keyboard writing my next week’s column. I’ve turned on most of the light fixtures in our house, made a cup of steaming hot tea, and am sitting here wishing spring will come early this year. There was just a massive earthquake in Haiti, more trouble in Afghanistan and greed has already resurfaced on Wall Street. So how in the world can I maintain a constantly positive attitude, complete with a smile on my face? It’s simply not possible these days for even the most positive people in our midst.

A safe place to spread your wings

WENATCHEE — “New Beginnings” reads a sign next to the door. The door swings open and closed with great frequency each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It leads to a room in the old church shared by Catholic Family and Child Services. Outside, cars stream by on busy Mission Street. Things are busy inside too, but friendlier. The mobile home-shaped room bustles with animated conversation, people coming and going, and a sharing of hugs, handshakes, salutations and goodbyes.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: The Thornhill-Mooney Co. has secured a year’s lease on the old planing mill property south of the Wenatchee Produce Co. and work has begun on transforming it into a public garage.

Making toast takes more crust than you might’ve realized

If you eat bread, chances are that you have a toaster. Nearly every household has one — it is a device with amazing market penetration. Have you ever wondered how your toaster works? And before answering that question, have you ever wondered why human beings like toast? What makes toasted bread so popular?

Dear Abby: Men find plenty to love in big women

Dear Abby: “Happy Being Me in Massachusetts” is a large girl whose mother told her “heavy women are not desirable.” Well, I was a size 18/20 and weighed more than 200 pounds when I met my husband while out with mutual friends. He’s good-looking, smart, witty, affectionate and passionate.

Wednesday, January 20

Excavator topples after hitting trestle

WENATCHEE — The Washington State Patrol is investigating how a state Department of Transportation excavator on the back of a trailer struck a train trestle Wednesday morning. Kevin Hallowell, 60, of Waterville, was driving east on Highway 2 at mile marker 107 around 8 a.m. when the excavator hit the trestle and fell off the trailer. It blocked the left lane of traffic for an hour and 15 minutes, according to a news release from the State Patrol.

Massachusetts vote could shipwreck health overhaul

WASHINGTON (AP) — A stinging loss Tuesday in Massachusetts has cost President Barack Obama and the Democrats their 60-vote Senate majority, sending health care overhaul to the emergency room in fragile condition. The president’s top domestic initiative is not dead by any means, and leaders vowed to push ahead as if the damage could be repaired.

Legislature starts early on how to cut costs

OLYMPIA (AP) — Washington’s Legislature got a head start on its cost-cutting chores Tuesday, discussing bills that would close state offices once a month, extend a wage freeze for nonunion workers and trim about 175 full-time government jobs. The measures are part of the Legislature’s plan for a quick response to the state’s budget deficit, pegged at about $2.6 billion through June 2011. Lawmakers hope to pass the bills soon and send them to Gov. Chris Gregoire for final approval.

Hey, tea partiers: Wake up and smell the coffee

The tea partiers are enjoying their day in the sun, but coffee is the beverage preferred by most Americans, and we don’t have time to gang up and holler and wave our arms — we prefer to sit quietly with coffee in hand and read a reliable newspaper and try to figure out what’s going on in the world. Great heaps of dead bodies are moved by front-loaders and dumped, uncounted, unidentified, into open pits in a stricken country while people feast and walk treadmills on enormous cruise ships sailing a hundred miles off the coast en route to the Bahamas and Jamaica. That’s the real world, not the paranoid hallucinations of the right. The problem for Democrats right now is that nobody can explain health-care reform in plain English, 50 words or less. It’s all too murky. The price of constructing this intricate web of compromises for the benefit of Republican senators (who then decided to quit the game and sit on their thumbs) is a bill with strange hair and ill-fitting clothes that you hesitate to bring home to Mother. Like all murky stuff, it is liable to strike people as dangerous or unreliable. And demagogues thrive in dim light.

Waiting, waiting for help

Blackness. Utter, unfathomable blackness, although your eyes — you’re almost sure of this — are still open. If you can feel yourself blink, you tell yourself, they must be open. You need to keep them open, you tell yourself, although your eyes can see nothing. Close them, close your eyes even once, and they will never open again. So you stare into nothingness. And you wait.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

One-sided view: I have to take exception to The World’s recent one-sided article about the Okanogan County Electric Co-op’s rate restructuring (Jan. 13).

This is the goal: Make them stop

I don’t like people from the government taking my picture, especially without my permission or knowledge. Especially when it’s the police. You just have to be suspicious of their motives, and this being a free country you should be able to go about your business without the government watching and waiting for you to commit some offense. So, why do I want Wenatchee to install red-light cameras?

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Tuesday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 409

Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market rebounded Tuesday as traders placed bets that the outcome of an election in Massachusetts would make it harder for President Barack Obama to make changes to health care. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 116 points to a 15-month high after falling 101 on Friday. Broader indexes also rose and demand for the safety of government debt waned.

Metals

NEW YORK — Spot nonferrous metal prices Wednesday.

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Tuesday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

Local interest stocks

As of closing Tuesday

New York Stock Exchange

Tuesday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Seahawks name Green Bay executive as new GM

SEATTLE — The Seattle Seahawks hired Green Bay Packers executive John Schneider as their new general manager to work “shoulder to shoulder” with powerful new coach Pete Carroll in a revamped team leadership. The Seahawks confirmed the hiring of the 38-year-old Schneider, a 17-year veteran of NFL personnel work, Tuesday afternoon. ESPN first reported the deal.

WHS bowlers close out regular season

YAKIMA — The Wenatchee girls bowling team closed out the regular season with a 1,930-1,520 win over Davis Tuesday. Mandy Menzell bowled a team-high 212 game, while Savanna Lindenmuth added a 211 game.

Prep basketall from around the region

Cashmere boys rally to knock off Brewster 66-61

BREWSTER — The Cashmere boys basketball team pulled ahead with a big third quarter, then held off a late Brewster charge to win 66-61 in Caribou Trail League action on Tuesday night. Trailing 34-30 at halftime, the Bulldogs scored 18 in the third period to take a two-point lead into the final eight minutes.

Ex-Gonzaga coach dies

SPOKANE — Dan Fitzgerald, the coach who built Gonzaga into a national basketball power but resigned before the school began its current run of NCAA tournaments, has died at the age of 67. Fitzgerald collapsed Tuesday evening in a restaurant in the suburb of Airway Heights. He was pronounced dead at Deaconness Medical Center in Spokane, according to a nursing supervisor at the hospital.

Mariners set to sign ace Hernandez to longterm deal

Contract said to be worth $78 million over five years

SEATTLE — Felix Hernandez is just one physical away from becoming the wealthiest pitcher in the history of the Mariners franchise. Only Ichiro’s contract, signed a little over two years ago, commands a higher annual and total salary package than the five-year deal Hernandez is on the verge of completing, worth a reported $78 million. Hernandez’s main agent, Venezuelan-based Wil Polidor, confirmed Tuesday that Hernandez’s contract is for five years. The pitcher initially had asked for six while the team countered with four.

Koos makes third Winter Olympics

Valaas left off eight-skier U.S. Nordic team

WENATCHEE — Torin Koos is in for sure. And Laura Valaas is out — at least for now. Koos, the Leavenworth cross country skier who has two Winter Olympics under his belt, was named Tuesday to the eight-person U.S. Nordic Ski Team for next month’s Vancouver Olympics. But Valaas, the Wenatchee skier hoping to make her first Olympics, was left off.

Arena still sweeping up mess

WENATCHEE — Crank up the Zamboni Before Friday’s hockey game, Town Toyota Center’s main rink will need some quick polishing after the dirt’s removed and the holes patched from last weekend’s indoor motocross event. In the wake of two nights of motorcycle jumping and racing, dirt-free ice on the center’s main playing area was still not available for skating this morning. That was two days later than center officials had hoped.

County balks at runoff rules — too spendy

WENATCHEE — Chelan County is rejecting some state-mandated stormwater runoff requirements because of a lack of money. The county is required to adopt new rules for controlling runoff from construction sites by Feb. 16.

Darrel Glen Worley

Darrel Glen Worley, 56, of Monitor, died Monday, Jan. 18, 2010, in Cashmere.

Clifford D. Vandever

Clifford D. Vandever, 57, of Tonasket, died Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010.

Clinton J. Taylor

Clinton J. Taylor, 55, of Twisp, died Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010.

Genevieve H. Coler

Genevieve H. Coler, 85, of East Wenatchee, died Monday, Jan. 18, 2010.

Richard G. Champion

Richard G. Champion, 88, of Conconully, died Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010.

Representative seeks accountibility for state universities’ spending

OLYMPIA — Inspired by one woman’s ire over university salaries, Rep. Larry Haler is hoping to pass a law holding state-funded universities more accountable for how they spend taxpayer dollars. The Richland Republican has been talking with Laurel Piippo of Richland for more than a year about the money paid to Washington State University’s top executives in the wake of a controversy over the assignment of ex-provost Steven Hoch to the Tri-Cities branch campus.

Monitor man arrested after items from four burglaries recovered

MONITOR — A Monitor man was arrested Tuesday after detectives searched a storage shed and a section of the house where he lives and recovered items taken in four recent burglaries. Chelan County sheriff’s deputies received a warrant to search a storage shed in the 1100 block of Maple Street and a bedroom in a home in the 3700 block of McKee Lane in Monitor, where the 34-year-old man lives with his parents, said chief of administration Jerry Moore.

WVC instructor has to wait for ruling — testimony runs long, forces delay

WENATCHEE — Three days wasn’t long enough for a hearing on an unfair labor complaint filed by a science professor against Wenatchee Valley College. Witness testimony took most of the three-day hearing at WVC last week, said WVC President Jim Richardson. Attorneys ran out of time for rebuttal and closing arguments, he said.

Talking it Over: State’s women’s heritage list records the pleasing sound of breaking glass

Secretary of State Sam Reed’s Heritage Center has put out a list of our state’s women who were the first elected officials statewide. The list of 14 includes Wenatchee’s Belle Reeves, who spent 10 years as secretary of state from 1938 to 1948, when she died in office. The Heritage Center release noted that these were trail-blazing women, who have “broken the glass ceiling of elected politics” in our state.

Volunteer Benton fire officer accused of sex abuse

HANFORD — A volunteer fire captain is in jail without bail after being accused of sexually abusing several young girls. Bob Trainor, 46, has been in the Benton County jail since his arrest Thursday by Benton County sheriff’s detectives on suspicion of three counts of first-degree child rape.

State lets Lake Chelan ferry service stand

CHELAN — The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission says a ferry service on Lake Chelan is adequate, and should remain regulated by the state and operated by Lake Chelan Boat Co. The boat company — which runs Lady of the Lake ferries from Chelan to Fields Point, Lucerne and Stehekin — has held an exclusive right to provide the service since 1929. By law, the right cannot be revoked as long as the company provides “reasonable and adequate” service and complies with laws and regulations.

Bernanke asks GAO to review Fed’s AIG bailout

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, apparently seeking to mollify critics as he awaits Senate confirmation on his reappointment, said Tuesday that he welcomed a government audit of the central bank’s role in the intensely unpopular bailout of American International Group Inc. In a letter to the head of the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, Bernanke offered to “make available to the GAO all records and personnel necessary to conduct this review.”

Congress to look into bomb plot on Detroit-bound jet

WASHINGTON — Congress begins investigating the alleged bombing attempt aboard a Detroit-bound airliner in earnest today , with counterterrorism experts saying the focus should be on whether security measures are enough to detect and disrupt future attacks. “This guy should have been caught,” said Amos Guiora , a law professor at the University of Utah and an expert on international security issues. “Was he checking to see how incompetent we are?”

Gunmaker criticized for biblical references on military rifles

DETROIT — Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. It’s a popular American saying based on a song that refers to how religious belief and military service often go together. But some are upset that a company based in Wixom, Mich. — Trijicon — is placing its religious beliefs on hundreds of thousands of gun sights on rifles used by the U.S. military.

California storm whips up a tornado, four waterspouts

LOS ANGELES — A powerful storm that hit the Southern California coast Tuesday afternoon caused at least one tornado, four waterspouts and winds of up to 90 mph, according to the National Weather Service. “We have everything going today,” said weather service spokesman Bill Hoffer.

Haitians flee in fear as big aftershock hits

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The most powerful aftershock yet struck Haiti today, shaking more rubble from damaged buildings and sending screaming people running into the streets eight days after the country’s capital was devastated by an apocalyptic quake. The extent of additional damage or injuries caused by the magnitude-6.1 temblor was not immediately clear, and Prime Minister Jean-Max said the government was sending a plane and an overland team to check on the situation in Petit-Goave, the center of this morning’s aftershock.

Henry "Hank" Rittierodt

Henry "Hank" Rittierodt died December 29, 2009, in Spokane, WA at the age of 90. His loving daughter, Becky, was at his side. Hank was born in State Center, IA, on September 21, 1919, to Henry and Alvina Rittierodt.

Our Beloved Garry S. Williams

Our Beloved Garry S. Williams January 19, 2008 The Mountain of a Man ~ The path a man walks is invisible to himself and the world around him. Only after the footsteps have ceased, can we see where they have been.

Betty May (Lavender) Munch

Betty May was born May 9, 1925, in Seattle, WA to John and May Lavender and passed January 17, 2010. She lived in Selleck and the Black Diamond, WA area during her younger years, later moving to Wenatchee in 1937, where she met her husband-to-be in Wenatchee High School, Ted Munch.

Jim Rosenberger

The Rosenberger family invites Jim's friends to a Celebration of his Life on Sunday, January 24, 2010, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Rock Island Tavern. Please contact Pat with any questions at 509-387-6056.

Marilyn L. Cotter Thompson

Marilyn L. Cotter Thompson, 76, an eight year resident of East Wenatchee and formerly of Chelan, died Sunday, January 17, 2010, following a courageous battle with cancer. She was born June 15, 1933, at Chelan, the daughter of Milton and Olive (Watson) Brownfield.

John Carl Brattain

John Carl Brattain, 66, died Saturday, January 2, 2010, in Olympia, WA. He was born April 27, 1943, to John and Dorothy (Paxton) Brattain in Longview, WA. He was raised in Tonasket, where he also graduated from high school.

Jack D. Frei

Jack D. Frei died at the age of 65 on Friday, January 15, 2010, in his home, peacefully surrounded by his immediate family. He had been battling cancer for the past 18 months.

Douglas B. "Doug" Cockrum

Douglas B. "Doug" Cockrum, 57, a longtime Monitor resident and lifelong Wenatchee area resident, passed away on Friday, January 15, 2010, at Central Washington Hospital, following a courageous battle with cancer.

Police arrest eight over church attack

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian police today announced the arrest of eight Muslim men who allegedly attacked a Christian church with a firebomb — the first suspects in a spate of assaults on churches after a court ruled that non-Muslims could use the word “Allah” to refer to God.

S. Korean chief: Hit North first if threatened

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s defense chief called today for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea if there is a clear indication the country is preparing a nuclear attack.

Corruption robs Afghans of $2.5 billion

KABUL — Endemic corruption in Afghanistan amounts to a virtual tax on poverty-stricken Afghans, robbing them of the equivalent of a quarter of the war-wracked nation’s annual gross domestic product, a new U.N. report states.

Temple dedicated to cat goddess found

CAIRO — Archaeologists have unearthed a 2,000-year-old temple that may have been dedicated to the ancient Egyptian cat goddess, Bastet, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said Tuesday. The ruins of the Ptolemaic-era temple were discovered by Egyptian archaeologists in the heart of the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C.

Three boys arrested following Bridgeport burglary

BRIDGEPORT — Three 14-year-old boys from Bridgeport were arrested Tuesday after Douglas County sheriff’s deputies say they matched their muddy footprints outside a home where computer equipment had been stolen. Undersheriff Don Culp said a homeowner called the sheriff’s office at about 6 p.m. to report that the back door to his residence in the 300 block of Ninth Street had been forced open.

Flooding undermines state highway near Okanogan

OKANOGAN — State road crews will repair several sections of Highway 20 damaged by flooding west of Okanogan today and again Thursday if work is not completed today. The shoulder washouts occurred between mileposts 225 and 228, a few miles west of Okanogan next to areas burned by this summer’s Oden Road Fire.

Janice Lynn Herron

Janice Lynn Herron, 64, of Wenatchee, died Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010.

Carl Elmo Hill

Carl Elmo Hill, 81, of East Wenatchee, died Monday, Jan. 18, 2010.

Robert A. ‘Bob’ Brandenburg

Robert A. “Bob” Brandenburg, 72, of Entiat, died Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010, at Highline Care Center in East Wenatchee.

Car catches fire Tuesday afternoon

WENATCHEE — Firefighters were called to the scene of a car fire Tuesday afternoon. According to owner Kathy Brown, she had just arrived home after picking up kids at Foothills Middle School in Wenatchee.

Yakima council to reconsider regulating bikini coffee stands as adult businesses

YAKIMA — A sharply divided Yakima City Council narrowly agreed Tuesday to take a closer look at applying the city’s new adult business ordinance to bikini coffee stands. In a 4-3 vote, the council directed the city’s lawyers to draft proposed regulations modeled on laws in Everett and Snohomish County that have been hailed as the toughest attempt yet to rein in the state’s burgeoning so-called sexpresso stands.

Library launches ‘celebrity storytime’

WENATCHEE — Tuesday night was the North Central Regional Library’s first-ever “celebrity storytime.” Local celebrities will read every third Tuesday.

Autopsy shows no trauma in woman’s death

WENATCHEE — An autopsy on a Wenatchee woman whose body was found in a vacant lot Friday afternoon showed no evidence of foul play or trauma. Chelan County Coroner Wayne Harris said a determination on the cause of death is pending until toxicology tests come back. That process usually takes several weeks.

Course to explore shrub-steppe landscape

The Methow Conservancy will offer its annual Methow Conservation Course beginning Feb. 1. “The Secrets of the Shrub-Steppe,” a series of six seminars, will explore this type of low rainfall natural grassland from the geological history to the unseen influences on mysterious plant and animal relationships.

Local botanists to speak at museum Thursday

WENATCHEE — Julie Sanderson, Bureau of Land Management botanist, and Terry Lillybridge, Chelan County Weed Board botanist, will be the guest speakers at the next meeting of the Wenatchee chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society.

Humane Society auction, dinner set for Jan. 30

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Valley Humane Society’s “Auction for the Animals” will be held Jan. 30 at the Wenatchee Convention Center.

Manson Apple Blossom pageant set for Jan. 30

Seven seniors from Manson High School will compete for the title of Manson Apple Blossom Festival queen Jan. 30. The selection pageant begins at 7 p.m. at the Manson High School gym, 1000 Totem Pole Road.

Betz, Fletcher

Erica Fletcher and Patrick Betz exchanged wedding vows May 29 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Wenatchee before the Rev. Thomas Kuykendall. She is the daughter of Mitch and Cheryl Fletcher of Wenatchee. His parents are Randy and Norine Betz of Leavenworth.

Johnson, Garber

Christina Johnson of Wenatchee and Andy Garber of Steamboat Springs, Colo., have announced their engagement. She is the daughter of Doug and Cathy Johnson of Wenatchee. His parents are Susan and Kenneth Solomon and Robert and Mary Garber, all of Steamboat Springs.

Dalinkus, Angelo

Kristina Angelo and Christopher Dalinkus exchanged wedding vows Oct. 24 in a beach wedding in La Jolla, Calif. The groom’s uncle, Bob Yeck of Phoenix, officiated the ceremony.

Bullis, Worrell

Jill Bullis of East Wenatchee and Cole Worrell of Leavenworth have announced their engagement. She is the daughter of Greg and Ceci Wood of East Wenatchee. His parents are Joe and Gail Richards of Leavenworth.

Coffman, Hull

Hanna Hull and Matt Coffman exchanged wedding vows Aug. 1 at the Pateros home of Mike and Diane Hull, parents of the bride. Ken Christian of Pateros officiated the ceremony.

Milestones: Marriage licenses

Francisco De Jesus Guerrero, 44, and Zoila Alverdin, 45, both of Entiat

Wahl, Gutzwiler

Kimberly Wahl of Portland, Ore., and Josh Gutzwiler of Vancouver have announced their engagement. She is the daughter of Bill and Claudia Wahl of Sherwood, Ore. His parents are Phil and Darlene Gutzwiler of Malaga.

Herrera, Field

Jennifer Field and Dennis Herrera II were married Nov. 7 at The Property Conference Center in Casa Grande, Ariz., before the Rev. John Cunningham. She is the daughter of Darlene Milam of Denver and William Field of Phoenix. His parents are Dennis and Pam Herrera of East Wenatchee.

Enlow, Erickson

Erin Enlow and Coby Erickson, both of Vancouver, have announced their engagement. She is the daughter of Greg and Cathy Enlow of Wenatchee. His parents are Lee and Linda Erickson of Vancouver.

Cummins, Baber

Molly Cummins and Chad Baber, both of East Wenatchee, have announced their engagement. She is the daughter of Greg and Kelli Turner of East Wenatchee. His parents are Perry and Tona Baber of East Wenatchee.

Slideshows can put a personal stamp on a wedding

Jennifer Cocchiara wants guests at her wedding next November to understand how she and her fiance fell in love, so she plans to present a slideshow with photos of them growing up and growing together as a couple. It also will include shots of the people who are important to the couple — the people who will be viewing the photos.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: Final arrangements were completed this week for construction of a three-story brick building at the southeast corner of Wenatchee Avenue and Orondo Street. Partners in the project are J.W. Quigg, J.A. Scaman and Walter M. Olive.

Dear Abby: Patronizing professor needs a lesson in social graces

Dear Abby: I have always been a curious and motivated person. Because of it, I pursued higher education and became a college professor. Most of my siblings have also gone to college. However, their significant others have varying levels of education. I like to think of myself as a nice person, but my siblings have let me know that when I converse with their partners, I often come across as patronizing. Do these partners need to be less sensitive, or do I need to be more so?

Waugh celebrates century mark

Friends and family of Josephine “Jo” Waugh are invited to a celebration in honor of her 100th birthday at 2 p.m. Friday at Blossom Valley Assisted Living, 1701 Orchard Ave. The family requests no gifts.

Reader scrapbook

Leave it to a finicky feline to find the most unfathomable spot to catch some Z’s. “My cat Razzie was looking for a place to snooze and found this unique place in the closet in-between the hangers,” reported Martha Floyd of East Wenatchee.

College life

Eastern Washington University: CHENEY — The following students were named to the fall honor roll at Eastern Washington University. To be eligible, a student must earn at least a 3.5 grade-point average in at least 12 credit hours.

Pet of the week: Adventure with Vespa

Share an Vespa is an adventurous, social and sweet pit bull terrier, say officials of the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society. She is 10 to 12 months old and weighs between 35 and 40 pounds. She is very affectionate and would benefit from training. She will make a great hiking companion, officials say.

Helping out

Organization: Domestic and Sexual Violence Crisis Center of Chelan & Douglas Counties Purpose: To empower victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and crime in Chelan and Douglas counties.

National discussion series to focus on foreign policy

LEAVENWORTH — A local discussion group will join in an eight-week national series titled “Great Decisions 2010,” targeting nonpartisan foreign policy issues, organizers say.

Yoga Day USA celebration planned for Saturday

LEAVENWORTH — The Snow Creek Yoga and Dance Studio, 210 Division St., has planned a free yoga day in celebration of Yoga Day USA on Saturday. The first class begins at 8:30 a.m. and the last class is at 5 p.m.

Crisis center to host open house and tour

WENATCHEE — The DSV Crisis Center of Chelan and Douglas Counties and the Child & Family Advocacy Center have planned an open house from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday at 1207 N. Wenatchee Ave.

Photos wanted of pioneer Emogene Wells

WENATCHEE — The YWCA of Wenatchee Valley is seeking photos of Emogene Wells to publish in its Inspiring Women book.

Panther boys fall in OT

WENATCHEE — Too little, too late. The Wenatchee boys basketball team made a frenzied comeback from a 20-point deficit to force overtime against Sunnyside on Tuesday night, but the Grizzlies escaped with a 61-55 victory.

Tuesday, January 19

Eastmont girls notch league win

EAST WENATCHEE — Things are looking up for the Eastmont girls basketball team.

Tuesday’s basketball scores

Check here throughout the night for scores from NCW basketball games.

Eastmont races past Moses Lake

Wildcat swimmers capture nine of 11 events; diving canceled due to broken board

EAST WENATCHEE —The Eastmont Wildcats got back on the winning side in their first meet since losing to rival Wenatchee on Saturday, cruising to a 106-64 victory over Moses Lake in a Columbia Basin Big Nine dual meet at the Eastmont YMCA Aquatic Center on Tuesday.

Mudslide blocks train tracks north of Seattle

SEATTLE — Burlington Northern Santa Fe says another mudslide is blocking train tracks nearly 10 miles north of Seattle. It’s the third slide in the same area since Saturday morning. Burlington Northern spokesman Gus Melonas says a rain-saturated slope gave way around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. The slide covers both tracks and is about 20 feet deep and 40 feet wide. The slide took about 40 trees down, and flowed over the seawall and into Puget Sound.

The best we could hope for is not enough

WASHINGTON — President Obama begins his second year in the White House with such anemic approval ratings, you’d think he was another Ronald Reagan: Among recent presidents, only the Gipper had fallen so low in the esteem of voters at this stage of his presidency. In the end, things worked out rather well for Reagan — a landslide re-election victory, success in changing the course of the nation and the world, canonization by the Republican Party. In this context, the serenity of Obama’s political advisers is understandable. It has been a tough year, and the president has had to make a host of decisions that he knew would be politically unpopular. If history is any guide, these early approval numbers say little about where Obama will stand politically in 2012, much less how he will rate at the end of his presidency. The White House is right not to panic.

Health care bills will cost us

U.S. House and Senate Democrats have passed two sweeping 2,000-page bills that would fundamentally and dramatically change our health care. There are significant differences between the two bills, but the more moderate Senate bill has the best chance of passing through the conference committee and being signed by the president. Both bills passed on a strict party-line vote, with essentially no support from minority Republicans. What will this far-reaching legislation mean for Washington state?

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Johnny the flying Dutchman: My WSU education professor told me when you interview for a school position, the first person you want to talk to is the school janitor, because he has contact with many students, teachers, principals and superintendents.

Sign this, but keep it quiet

The big legal news this month: The Supreme Court will decide if the First Amendment requires government to keep secret that you signed a public document in a supermarket parking lot. Some argue that your right to free speech, expression and political association command government to conceal that you have placed your name on a list of like-minded people. That the list is a petition intended to bring a public vote to overturn state law, a public part of a public process subject to public scrutiny, is not beside the point. The First Amendment guarantees your unrestricted right to petition the government, too, and government should not serve up your name to your political opponents to do with as they will. But keeping public documents secret will undermine the very concept of open government as practiced in Washington state, pushing us into some very dark valleys, all to maintain someone’s comfortable anonymity.

Gov. Gregoire proposes enhanced preschool

OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire said Monday that she wants all preschools for children ages 3 and 4 to be certified by the state. Gregoire said that under her proposed “All Start” preschool program, certification would ensure that all preschools would operate under the same standards set by the Department of Early Learning.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Monday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 340

Safety issues remain for Hanford treatment plant

TRI-CITIES (AP) — Inadequate mixing of some radioactive wastes at the Hanford vitrification plant could cause a build-up of flammable gas that could cause an explosion, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. But the Department of Energy believes the problem can be resolved.

Families of slain officers plead for changes

OLYMPIA — In emotional testimony Monday night, family members of four slain Lakewood police officers asked lawmakers to make changes to a system they say failed their loved ones. Lakewood police Sgt. Mark Renninger and Officers Ronald Owens, Tina Griswold and Greg Richards were shot to death in November at a coffee shop before the start of their Sunday morning shift. The man accused of killing them, Maurice Clemmons, was fatally shot by a Seattle police officer two days later.

Court-martial for girl’s drug death at Army base

FORT LEWIS — Court-martial proceedings are beginning today at Fort Lewis for a soldier blamed for the drug overdose death of a 16-year-old girl in barracks at the Army base. Pvt. Timothy E. Bennitt, originally from Rolling Prairie, Ind., is facing manslaughter and drug charges in the Feb. 15, 2009, death of his girlfriend, Leah King.

Two brothers killed in car crash, authorities say

TACOMA — Authorities say two brothers — ages 8 and 11 — were killed in a crash after leaving a Monster Truck Show at the Tacoma Dome, and the boys’ mother is under investigation for vehicular homicide. Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum says the crash happened Saturday as the 41-year-old mother and her two sons headed home.

Pew poll finds ‘new isolationism’ in American attitudes

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Is it the economy? The blood spilled in Afghanistan and Iraq? A fear of China, or imported diseases? It must be a mix of all that bothers us, experts suggest, because never in the history of polling have so many Americans said the nation should take care of its own and stay out of other countries’ affairs.

Scientists fear Haiti’s in for more quakes

PHILADELPHIA — The deadly earthquake that felled much of Haiti’s capital last week broke 250 years of strain — a tension that had built slowly across the nearby fault as it resisted the inexorable tug of drifting tectonic plates. Geologists who have studied the complicated fault system in the area say more quakes could follow last week’s disaster, which killed an estimated 50,000 to 100,000, according to the Pan American Health Organization. Often quakes such as this trigger others nearby in a domino effect, the experts say. In coming years, other sections of the same fault are likely to rupture, threatening not only Haiti but also the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

Marilyn L. Cotter Thompson

Marilyn L. Cotter Thompson, 76, of East Wenatchee, died Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010.

Mouk Phasavath

Mouk Phasavath, 72, of East Wenatchee, died Sunday, Jan. 17, 2010.

Betty Munch

Betty Munch, 84, of East Wenatchee, died Monday, Jan. 18, 2010.

Lisa K. Melcher-DeChenne

Lisa K. Melcher-DeChenne, 46, of Wenatchee, died Friday, Jan. 15, 2010.

Jack Darrell Frei

Jack Darrell Frei, 65, of East Wenatchee, died Friday, Jan. 15, 2010.

Fred Henry Davis

Fred Henry Davis, 88, of Monitor, died Friday, Jan. 15, 2010.

Flaws, questions surround U.S. figure skating hopefuls

SPOKANE — The women’s competition at the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships is so unpredictable that almost nothing would come as a surprise, short of Michelle Kwan taking the ice for the short program. Come to think of it, she might have a chance.

Man arrested in city’s first homicide of 2010

YAKIMA — The man suspected in the city of Yakima’s first homicide of 2010 is being held in the Yakima County jail today after his arrest at a motel this weekend on Fruitvale Boulevard. Bobby Ray Zapien, 37, is being held on a pending first-degree murder charge and an unrelated first-degree robbery charge, authorities said.

Metals

NEW YORK — Spot nonferrous metal prices Tuesday.

After a year of layoffs and closures, automakers plan to start hiring again

LOS ANGELES — Even as they finish closing plants from their worst sales year in decades, beleaguered automakers are also starting to hire again — almost 5,000 workers in the coming year. The added jobs amount to just a fraction of the 40,000 that carmakers shed during their tailspin last year. But it is a sign that the big manufacturers expect business to improve this year.

Southridge coach resigns

KENNEWICK — Dallin Palmer walked into Andy Troxel’s classroom last Thursday with the rest of his Southridge football teammates, expecting the usual offseason pep talk about getting into the weight room and readying for spring ball. Instead, Troxel informed his players that he was stepping down after 11 seasons.

Road worries for Vikings in NFC title game

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Perhaps the question was a buzz kill, no matter how relevant. A day after the Minnesota Vikings pummeled Dallas by 31 points to earn a spot in the NFC Championship Game at New Orleans, coach Brad Childress was asked by a Negative Nelly about his team having dropped three in a row on the road. “I think that there are too many great stories to talk about (instead of) struggles on the road, really quite frankly,” Childress said.

Jets look to first game with Colts

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts might be the prohibitive favorite to win the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, but one thing that might help the Jets is their familiarity from having played and beaten the Colts, 29-15, three weeks ago in Indianapolis. They faced a similar situation in the wild-card round of the playoffs when they met Cincinnati after beating the Bengals a week earlier in the regular-season finale.

Reader scrapbook: Winter’s mood

Leavenworth’s Tom Guthrie took this shot of an unknown person skating at the Sun Mountain Lodge rink last January. “I thought it was an interesting scene with the mountains rising above the clouds,” Guthrie writes.

Trail of the Week: Pole Mountain and Snowcone Peak

A place to be when the skies are blue at Lake Wenatchee

Access: 16 miles west of Leavenworth. From the Junction at Highway 2 and 207, drive north 4.4 miles, then turn right on Chiwawa Loop Road and go 1.2 miles. Turn left on Chiwawa River Road and go 1.5 miles to the Sno-Park. Fees: A State Parks and Recreation Sno-Park Pass is required. Day passes are $21 and season passes are $41.

Stomping around in the snow

New-fangled snowshoes mean just about anyone can partake in the activity

WENATCHEE — Remember the old wood-and-rawhide snowshoes? Some are still in use in the backwoods. I observed an older gentleman squish-squish-squishing in a pair along the Icicle a couple weekends ago. But you’re more likely to spot them hanging from a brick wall in a restaurant or shop. I had a pair (bought from the old Asplunds store on North Wenatchee Avenue in the 1980s) that I foolishly sold in a garage sale a few years ago. Ah, yes, the memories. If not the extra weight and clumsiness.

UW player honored

SEATTLE — Washington senior forward Quincy Pondexter is the Pac-10 men’s basketball player of the week. The senior forward from Fresno, Calif., averaged 26.0 points and 7.5 rebounds in the Huskies’ victories over Stanford and California.

Chairwoman of the backboards

Wenatchee High School’s Michaela George is a rebounding machine

Michaela George has known for a long time that she wanted to be a great basketball player. Since beginning organized play in second grade, the Wenatchee High School sophomore has not only tried to improve her game every year, but has also endeavored to excel, to stand out from the pack.

Autopsy on woman found in lot planned for this afternoon

WENATCHEE — An autopsy is scheduled for this afternoon on a Wenatchee woman whose body was found in a vacant lot Friday afternoon. Wayne Harris, Chelan County coroner, said Dr. Gina Fino will conduct the autopsy on Lisa K. Melcher-DeChenne, 46. The initial police report incorrectly said her name was Lisa K. Melcher and she was also known as Lisa K. Dechenne.

Nevermore

The original grave of Edgar Allen Poe is shown with a bottle of cognac and roses left by a mysterious visitor, in Baltimore, last year. At 5:30 a.m., today, Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum, announced that the mysterious visitor, who had always appeared between midnight and 5:30 a.m. on Jan. 19, Poe’s birthday, did not show this year.

‘Avatar’ pulled from 1,628 Chinese movie screens

LOS ANGELES — “Avatr” may be too popular for its own good in China. The communist nation’s state-run movie distributor, China Film Group, unexpectedly began pulling the blockbuster science-fiction picture from 1,628 2-D screens this week in favor of a biography of the ancient philosopher Confucius.

Obama to seek additional $1.35 billion for education

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — President Barack Obama announced today he’ll ask Congress for $1.35 billion to extend an education grant program for states, saying that getting schools right “will shape our future as a nation.” Obama outlined the proposal that will be part of his budget request for this year at an elementary school here, where he also held a short discussion with sixth-grade students.

Man who shot pope in 1981 out of prison

ANKARA, Turkey — The Turkish man who shot Pope John Paul II nearly 29 years ago emerged from prison Monday and declared himself a messenger from God. Mehmet Ali Agca, 52, said he would talk to the media in the next few days.

Taliban attacks paralyze Kabul

KABUL — Taliban militants wearing explosive vests launched a brazen daylight assault Monday on the center of Kabul, with suicide bombings and gunbattles near the presidential palace and other government buildings that paralyzed the city for hours. Afghan forces along with NATO advisers restored order after nearly five hours of fighting as explosions and machine gunfire echoed across the city, sending terrified Afghans racing for cover. Twelve people were killed, including seven attackers, officials said.

Calorie counting on menus affects spending

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The debate over the impact of nutritional information on menus continues. The latest study comes from Stanford Graduate School of Business, whose researchers have found that posting nutritional data on menu boards can result in customers buying items with fewer calories.

FDA hearing will debate cancer, tanning beds

WASHINGTON — Just as millions head to tanning beds to prepare for spring break, the Food and Drug Administration will be debating how to toughen warnings that those sunlamps pose a cancer risk.

Man questioned after five found slain

BELLVILLE, Texas — Authorities working to determine what spurred a flurry of gunfire that left five people dead in southeast Texas are questioning a 20-year-old man who lived with the victims in the isolated house surrounded by pasture land.

Two people injured in three-vehicle crash

WENATCHEE — Two people were treated and released at Central Washington Hospital after a three-vehicle accident at the intersection of Ferry and Mission streets at noon Monday. Ruby Rios, 8, of Wenatchee, was treated for neck pain.

Chelan blows by Highland at SunDome; Granger girls over LR

An off night for Joe Harris? No problem for Goats with Engstrom, McQuaid stepping up

YAKIMA — Chelan’s Joe Harris doesn’t have to do everything, it turns out. The University of Virginia-bound player scored just 13 points — 14 points below his season average — but Mat Engstrom had a career night offensively to lead the Goats to a 68-26 win over Highland at the SunDome Showdown in Yakima on Monday.

Cops sort shooting stories

Witness accounts are all over the map

WENATCHEE — Wenatchee police are struggling with numerous — and different — descriptions of a suspect as they investigate a residential shooting early Sunday morning. Among the descriptions of the male suspect, who fired multiple rounds into a house in the 800 block of Cashmere Street, are:

Alcoa planning $20 million upgrade to PUD grid

WENATCHEE — Alcoa will spend some $20 million by about mid-2012 to make the power grid that supplies its Wenatchee Works smelter more reliable. Improvements are part of an “interconnection agreement” approved Monday by Alcoa and the Chelan County PUD.

State picks Omak company to help with biomass project

OMAK — Atlas Pellets in Omak is one of four companies picked last week by the state Department of Natural Resources as part of an experiment to sell the slash and undergrowth in state forests for biomass. The DNR says it hopes to encourage these four companies to purchase the slash for renewable energy resource, and at the same time clear out undergrowth in state forests.

Okanogan Sheriff: ‘There’s just water everywhere’

Mudslides, standing water close roads, threaten orchard camp

OKANOGAN — Mudslides and flooding in different parts of Okanogan County threatened an Okanogan orchard camp and temporarily closed one county road east of Tonasket over the weekend. Officials say the flooding problems are the result of a frozen ground and unseasonably warm weather, and — east of Okanogan — a wildfire last summer that cleared the hillsides of vegetation.

Events celebrate King’s legacy, value of diversity

WENATCHEE — Jalani Stevens was a little embarrassed when her dad called her up before a crowd gathered at the community Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration Monday night. Stevens stood nervously with her best friend, Anna Leski, as her father said that without the social progress gained since King’s days of activism, the two girls may not be friends today. His daughter is of African descent and Leski is Anglo.

Susan Nicholson Orem

Sue Jane Nicholson was born on June 28, 1945, in Wenatchee, to parents, Rebecca "Becky" Nicholson and Jim "J.O." Nicholson. Throughout her childhood and early adult life, nothing made her happier than spending time with her grandparents, the Allens, at their cabin at Lake Wenatchee.

Edna "Petey" Murphy

Edna "Petey" Murphy, 96, a lifelong resident of Washington and most recently of Newport, WA, passed away Thursday, January 14, 2010, at Newport Long Term Care.

Floyd R. Holloway

Floyd R. Holloway, 71, went to be with our Lord on January 14, 2010, after a long, courageous battle with asbestosis. He was born June 2, 1938, in West Plains, MO, to the late William Rudolph and Nellie Mae (Johnson) Holloway.

Anna Mae Gaston

Anna Mae Gaston passed away on January 14, 2010, in her home in Wenatchee. Anna Mae was born in Oatville, KS, on July 8, 1930, to Charles L. Neff and Eva A. (Richardson) Neff.

Haitians in U.S. rush to apply for protected status

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — In South Florida, a crisis in the Caribbean generates the fear of flotillas of refugees in rickety boats attempting the dangerous passage across the Florida Straits. But nearly a week after an earthquake devastated Haiti, “there are no indications that anything like this is happening,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer Bobby Nash said.

U.S. troops land at Haiti presidential palace

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Scores of U.S. troops landed on the lawn of Haiti’s shattered presidential palace today to the cheers by quake victims eager for reinforcements in the sluggish global effort to bring food, water and shelter to the devastated country. Thousands more U.S. troops are on the way and the U.N. Security Council was expected to approve a boost in its peacekeeping and police forces to help control outbursts of looting and violence that have slowed relief efforts.

Haiti, their homeland, on minds of Yakima-area kids

SUNNYSIDE — Ryan White’s silence speaks volumes. He hardly discusses Haiti’s earthquake, even with his adoptive parents.

Westbound Highway 18 lanes reopen at Auburn

AUBURN — A traffic problem in south King County is easing. The state Transportation Department has reopened two of the three lanes of westbound Highway 18 that were blocked by a landslide Thursday near Auburn.

3-D goggles may help stroke victims

TOKYO — Researchers have developed 3-D goggles that could help stroke victims recover their lost vision. Tens of thousands of stroke victims are thought to suffer from visual field loss, or are unable to respond even if they are able to see things.

What’s in a cigarette? FDA to study ingredients

RICHMOND, Va. — The Food and Drug Administration is working to lift the smokescreen clouding the ingredients used in cigarettes and other tobacco products. In June, tobacco companies must tell the FDA their formulas for the first time, just as drugmakers have for decades. Manufacturers also will have to turn over any studies they’ve done on the effects of the ingredients.

Pudding warms the heart and stomach

There’s something about rice pudding that says cozy. As far as comfort items go, it’s right up there with your softest blanket, oldest sweater and fuzziest slippers.

On the low-fat menu: Healthy makeover to Chinese takeout staple

Chinese takeout is always a treat, but it can be hard to sort out whether it’s a healthy one. Of course, with egg rolls, spareribs and fried rice, there’s not much guessing. But when it comes to the vegetable stir-fries and noodle dishes, the answer isn’t as obvious as we’d like.

Storms in Mideast kill British tourist, 6 others

CAIRO (AP) — Rare torrential rains across the Middle East swept away homes, marooned resort towns and killed seven people Monday, including a British tourist, in what officials are calling the worst flooding in at least a decade. The flooding along Egypt’s Red Sea coast, the border with Israel and in the south left six people dead. It also damaged the roads leading to the resorts in the Sinai desert and brought down telephone and power lines.

California state grant money could speed stem cell cures

LOS ANGELES — Dr. Karen Aboody estimates that she has cured several hundred mice of a cancer of the central nervous system called neuroblastoma. First she injected them with specialized neural stem cells that naturally zero in on the tumors and surround them. Then she administered an anti-cancer agent that the cells converted into a highly toxic drug.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: A petition for the incorporation of Brewster, signed by the necessary legal voters, was forwarded to the county seat at Conconully Monday.

Dear Abby: His bedside manner offers little comfort

Dear Abby: I rent my own apartment and my family lives an hour’s drive away. My boyfriend of one year, “Mac,” lives about 10 minutes from me and spends the night a few times a week and vice-versa. I got the flu last month and it developed into bronchitis. I was so sick I could barely drag myself out of bed. I asked Mac to come over and take care of me and he said, “No, I don’t want to get sick. I’ll come by when you’re better.”

Rapes of elderly women terrify central Texas towns

YOAKUM, Texas — With a serial rapist on the loose, Cassandra McGinty has developed a new routine when she arrives home: search room to room, a handgun or stun gun drawn. The predator has been assaulting older women in central Texas over the past year, terrifying residents and frustrating investigators who have only a vague description of the suspect.

Drinking alcohol now and then isn’t bad for you, is it?

A few months ago I received a book called “The Two Martini Diet” (Authorhouse, 2008), in which Jerry Sorlucco documents his success at losing more than 100 pounds without forgoing his daily cocktails. He doesn’t break new diet-book ground: Sorlucco follows well-established practices such as controlling portion sizes, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, and managing his calorie intake and expenditure to accommodate those drinks. I’ve kept the book on my desk because I’m intrigued by the interplay between healthful eating and alcohol consumption. Is it really possible, I’ve wondered, to incorporate alcoholic beverages into a healthful diet and lifestyle, or are those of us who hope it is possible just fooling ourselves?

It may be cold and dreary, but don’t forget sunscreen

With winter hitting its stride, that means the sun is sitting lower in the southern sky and most of us are spending less time outdoors because it’s just too darn cold. When we do venture out, we’re usually bundled to our ears. But that’s no reason to forgo sunscreen during winter months, says Dr. Quenby Erickson, a dermatologist and skin cancer surgeon at St. Louis University Hospital.

Fitness trends for 2010: efficient, cheap and trendy

Where is fitness going in 2010? Well, people want to sweat, get it done quickly and not spend a lot of money. The American Council on Exercise announced the top 10 fitness trends for 2010 based on an annual survey of personal trainers, group fitness experts and others. The key words are “unique” and “efficient.”

Rice demystified: The long and short of the new products

Once upon a time, in a land called USA, there was rice. It was called Uncle Ben’s or Riceland. It was white or brown, converted or instant. It was pretty simple.

Monday, January 18

Boardings up at Pangborn through December

EAST WENATCHEE — Boardings on commercial flights out of Pangborn Memorial Airport increased 7 percent in 2009. A total of 51,541 people boarded flights for Horizon Air and Executive Flight in 2009.

Red Cross will take cash, checks, credit cards for Haiti

WENATCHEE — The Apple Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross is accepting cash, check and credit card donations for Haiti earthquake victims. Donors can contribute through the chapter’s Web site, applevalleyredcross.org.

The resolutions racket

The other day, I walked into a bookstore looking for some escapism and stumbled right into a wall of diet books. It’s January. I published a diet book right around this time back in the ’90s, which is why I’ve been able to mostly avoid the diet book section ever since. But did I ever used to know that world. Every year, for more decades than I care to count, my resolution was the same, even the same weight: the holy grail of 125. (Years ago I learned that when you’re lying about a number, never let it end with a zero or a five. Even now, I laugh when I look at my license with the hopelessly untrue-at-the-time 125. If I had to do it again, I’d make it 126.) I bought every book that existed, tried every diet they offered, no matter how stupid — sure that life would be entirely different and better if a smaller number were staring back at me in the mirror.

Google’s heroism (sort of)

So Google wants to play human-rights superhero. Five years ago, it compromised its standing as the global avatar of cyber-freedom by blocking certain searches on its Chinese Web site at the behest of the government in Beijing. Now it’s threatening to leave China after discovering a massive campaign to hack the Gmail accounts of dissidents there. If it follows through, Google would be abandoning a potential $1 billion annual market for search engines. But let’s put Google’s move in a proper — that is to say, cynical — perspective. The attacks on Google involve far more than ideas that Chinese leaders seek to suppress. They go beyond complaints that searching on Google.cn for stuff about the Dalai Lama or the banned spiritual group Falun Gong produce only propaganda denouncing them.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

State budget crisis: The cause is simple: too much government in Olympia and at all levels. Add a business and regulatory environment that runs out businesses like Boeing. This will never change so long as our public representatives continue to sell out to the SEIU, Washington Education Association and other special interests. The Seattle Times states, for every 247 employees laid off in the private sector, only one government employee was laid off in Washington.

Suspected U.S. drone strike kills 20

MIR ALI, Pakistan — At least one suspected U.S. drone fired on a house in Pakistan’s volatile tribal region Sunday, killing 20 people in the 11th such attack since militants in the area orchestrated a deadly suicide bombing against the CIA in Afghanistan, intelligence officials said.

Pope, Jewish leaders disagree over Pius

ROME — In a synagogue visit haunted by history, Pope Benedict XVI and Jewish leaders sparred Sunday over the record of the World War II-era pope during the Holocaust and agreed on the need to strengthen Catholic-Jewish relations.

Haitians pray, cry for help, shout in anger

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Prayers of thanksgiving and cries for help rose from a roofless cathedral and the huddled homeless Sunday, the sixth day of an epic humanitarian crisis that was straining the world’s ability to respond and igniting flare-ups of violence amid the rubble.

Obama tries to save a Senate seat

BOSTON — His agenda at risk, President Barack Obama fought Sunday to save a struggling Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and the critical 60th vote needed for his health care plan. The White House and congressional Democrats scrambled to find a way to pass the bill quickly if Martha Coakley loses a special election Tuesday.

Wrong door, big mistake at JFK

NEW YORK — The man returning from Haiti who walked through a restricted door and set off an alarm at John F. Kennedy Airport has told police he went through the door by mistake.

‘Avatar’ wins best drama honor at Globes

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The Golden Globes gave top honors to James Cameron’s “Avatar” and took its cue from the film’s celebration of humanity, with winners ranging from the gritty child-abuse drama “Precious” to freewheeling comedy “The Hangover.” Sunday’s awards ceremony also opened wide to embrace the long-admired Jeff Bridges, who took best dramatic-acting honors for the country-music film “Crazy Heart,” and a sitcom actress, Mo’Nique, who emerged as a fierce screen presence in “Precious.”

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Here are the daily winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game:

News of record

News of record reports from Chelan and Douglas counties

Mary Theresa (Gaynor) Smith

Mary Theresa (Gaynor) Smith, 74, of Klamath Falls, Ore., died Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010.

Jess Neil Mayrant

Jess Neil Mayrant, 79, of Ephrata, died Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010, in Soap Lake.

Douglas B. ‘Doug’ Cockrum

Douglas B. “Doug” Cockrum, 57, of Monitor, died Friday, Jan. 15, 2010, at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee.

Marjorie E. Budnick

Marjorie E. Budnick, 87, of Edmonds, died Monday, Dec. 21, 2009, at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Big Bend sweeps Wenatchee Valley

MOSES LAKE — The Big Bend Vikings dominated the boards and limited Wenatchee Valley to under 40 percent shooting to take an 84-57 win. The loss drops WVC to 0-3 in league and 4-10 overall.

College roundup: Huskies snap losing streak against Cal

SEATTLE (AP) — Quincy Pondexter scored 21 of his 25 points in the first half, Isaiah Thomas added 20 and Washington put itself back in the Pac-10 race with an impressive 84-69 win over conference-leading California on Saturday. After three straight losses dropped Washington from the rankings and to the bottom of the conference standings, the Huskies rebounded with an easy laugher against Stanford, then frustrated the Bears into just their second loss in their last seven games.

NFL playoffs: Jets shock Chargers to reach AFC title game

SAN DIEGO — The New York Jets’ improbable run continues. The Jets rattled off 17 unanswered points in the second half and kept the Chargers’ high-powered offense in check, escaping with a 17-14 victory over San Diego in an AFC divisional game at Qualcomm Stadium on Sunday.

UW QB to transfer

SEATTLE — Citing a desire for a better chance at immediate playing time, Washington backup quarterback Ronnie Fouch said Sunday he is transferring to Indiana State. Indiana State is a Football Championship Subdivision school and Fouch, who will be a redshirt junior next season, will be immediately eligible and have two years remaining to play.

Dirt games: Chasing thrills and adrenaline at Town Toyota Center

WENATCHEE — Dirt and adrenaline mixed Friday and Saturday nights to create an eardrum-splitting, high-flying, mud-spewing display of motorized fun. Ed Beckley, owner of Texas-based Checkered Flag Productions, brought his Bad Boys of Arenacross to the Town Toyota Center and the crowds turned out in force. Attendance was 2,627 Friday night and 3,247 Saturday night.

Officer killings may change laws

OLYMPIA — The murders of four Lakewood police officers will be the subject of a lengthy public hearing tonight. Lawmakers will hear from everyone from Gov. Chris Gregoire to the officers’ families and members of the law enforcement community. The lawmaker holding the hearing, Rep. Chris Hurst of Enumclaw, says he wants to know why shooter Maurice Clemmons was free despite a criminal history in both Washington and Arkansas.

Mudslide hits railroad tracks south of Everett

SEATTLE — Freight trains are moving again after a mudslide blocked BNSF Railway’s double mainline tracks Saturday morning south of Everett. BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas says the slide happened at 8 a.m. between Mukilteo and Howarth Park. He says a rain-saturated slope gave way after four days of heavy rainfall from a tropical storm in the Puget Sound.

Record boardings at Tri-Cities airport

Passenger boardings soared to record levels at the Tri-Cities Airport last year. Boardings jumped to 256,449, an increase of about 6 percent from 2008, making last year the best ever for the Pasco airport. Holiday travelers may have helped set a new monthly boarding record in December at Pasco with 25,560 passenger boardings.

Two injured in residential shooting

WENATCHEE — A gunman fired shots into a Wenatchee residence early Sunday morning, sending two people to the hospital. Neither shooting victim suffered life-threatening injuries, said Sgt. Ken Britt, a spokesman for the Wenatchee Police Department. Both victims were treated at Central Washington Hospital.

Rain, rain go away? Not in the valleys this week

WENATCHEE — With all this damp sogginess, what are we becoming? Seattle East? No record highs or lows. No frozen rivers. No snow mounds to blast through when changing lanes. No crisp, sunny days to lift the spirits.

Gig Harbor lake residents seek mate for mute swan

SEATTLE — Alone, in the middle of Sylvia Lake, swims a prince without his princess. For 25 years, Prince, a mute swan, has called Sylvia Lake home, and up until December 2007 he shared his days and nights with Princess. The two did everything together in this Gig Harbor community, including entertaining the locals, scaring away obnoxious Canada geese and hobnobbing with their duck friends.

Inmate’s fall could leave her paralyzed

A 35-year-old inmate at Benton County jail is likely paralyzed from the waist down after falling from a second-floor railing. Lorri Kaneaster, who is now at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, reportedly was sitting on the railing Thursday when corrections officers told her to get down, said her mother, Dianne Kaneaster of Kennewick.

State legislators look to strengthen cell phone law

OLYMPIA — Some Washington state lawmakers are looking to crack down even more on drivers who use a cell phone without a handsfree device. Three years ago, the state approved a law that would slap drivers with an extra fine if they were caught holding a cell phone when pulled over for another infraction, such as speeding.

Former Washington governor Rosellini turns 100

SEATTLE — They gathered Saturday for lunch to honor the oldest member of a very exclusive club. It has only seven members, and they all make sure that no matter what important things are on their schedule, or where they are, they make it to this event. It is the seven living governors of this state, and on Saturday, although in a wheelchair after breaking his hip in September, there was Al Rosellini, about to turn 100 on Thursday.

Warm weather hard on the ice but great for tourism

CHELAN — Warm weather didn’t seem to deter winter revelers at two festivals that featured snow and ice this past weekend. Lake Chelan’s annual Fire and Ice Winterfest and Leavenworth’s Bavarian Ice Festival drew record numbers of visitors, thanks in part to the warm weather, officials said. Clouds parted after a previously rainy week pushing temperatures up to the mid-40s for a while Saturday afternoon, about 10 degrees warmer than normal. By Saturday night, though, it was back to a mix of light rain and snow.

Humongous boulder removed; Tumwater Canyon reopens

LEAVENWORTH — An avalanche crew from the state Department of Transportation used three rounds of explosives to break up a massive boulder that had blocked Highway 2 just west of Leavenworth.

Class offered on mental health emergencies

WENATCHEE — A class aimed at helping participants identify mental health emergencies will be offered in January and February by the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The class is open to anyone wanting knowledge about community resources and how to work with others to help mentally ill people. The fee is $50 but scholarships are available.

The Worm: ‘Down with fruitcakes!’ sequel next year

Fruitcakes always seem to get a bad rap. The Worm, who likes ones chock full of fruit and nuts soaked in rum, is sure it’s because people have only tasted ones that got messed up somehow in the making. Alas, the fruitcake has reached a new low as the joke end of an advertising campaign in East Wenatchee.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: Electric Light & Power Co.’s plant on the Entiat River is nearing completion. The company will furnish light and electricity to the Wenatchee area

Dear Abby: Name game may save face for co-worker

Dear Abby; I have been working at my current job for a couple of years. One of my co-workers, who is in another department and who I see a couple of times a week, calls me “Sue.” My name is “Joyce.” He has been doing this for some time and I don’t know how to correct him without embarrassing him. Any suggestions?

Pretty poison growing in gardens and pots near you

Most gardeners (and even non-gardeners), are aware that a few houseplants are poisonous. Almost every home with a houseplant has a Philodendron or a Dieffenbachia. The latter is commonly called dumb cane because, if you chew the stem, it can cause the tongue to swell painfully, making speech (or even breathing) impossible for a time.

10 home trends you can bank on in 2010

Is glamour dying? At the very least, it’s being redefined during an uncertain economy as we enter the next decade.

Sunday, January 17

Wild lose in shootout to Texas

FRISCO, Texas — The Texas Tornado became the first team this season to sweep the Wenatchee Wild in a series, beating the Wild 2-1 in a shootout Saturday.

Koos, Valaas bring home SuperTour wins

Wenatchee’s Sammie Zontek, Leanne Thorson victorious in Junior Olympic sprint qualifiers in Methow Valley races

WINTHROP — It was a homecoming like no other for local Nordic skiing stars Torin Koos and Laura Valaas.

Wenatchee 3rd, Eastmont 8th at Marysville Premier tourney; Omak takes 6th

Panthers lock up three individual championships

MARYSVILLE — Isaac Gates, Nick Hunt and Jacob Sealby brought home individual titles for the Wenatchee wrestling team, but it wasn’t enough to catch up to Moses Lake and Snohomish at the Marysville Premier Wrestling Tournament Saturday.

Eastmont girls fall to Falcons

RICHLAND — The Eastmont Wildcats took an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter but were limited to just two points in the final frame and lost 41-34 to Hanford Saturday.

Panthers swim past Eastmont 102-83

WHS’ Kurz, Fryhover take 2 events each

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee High boys swimming team was too much for Eastmont on Saturday, defeating the Wildcats 102-83 in a Columbia Basin Big Nine dual meet.

Roberts scores 38 in Wildcats win over Hanford

RICHLAND — It appears there is no stopping Malachi Roberts right now. For the second time in as many nights, Eastmont’s star senior set a career-high in scoring, leading the Wildcats to a 66-56 come-from-behind victory over Hanford Saturday.

WHS boys recover to upend Bulldogs

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee boys basketball team rebounded from a lackluster first half to dispatch winless Pasco at home on Saturday night by the score of 54-41.

Panthers click in victory over Pasco

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee girls basketball team hadn’t beaten Pasco in 10 meetings prior to Saturday night.

Prep basketball from around the region

Ephrata boys dominate Quincy, improve to 10-0

EPHRATA — Ephrata coach Brandon Evenson wants to prove to the rest of the Central Washington Athletic Conference that his second-ranked Tigers are more than a two-headed monster.

Saturday, January 16

Google adds storage to sweeten online office suite

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google Inc. is expanding its Internet warehouse so people can stash more digital keepsakes from their life and work.

Boulder closes Highway 2 for the night

LEAVENWORTH — Highway 2 west of Leavenworth remained closed Saturday morning after a boulder fell on the roadway about 4:30 p.m. Friday. The large boulder is just west of the junction with Icicle Road in Leavenworth.

What about pets?

Two of the three taxidermists interviewed said they had been asked to do people’s pets, but have never done it.

Care in field dressing gives taxidermists more to work with

Hunter-induced mistakes can tax the patience of any taxidermist. Blane Rogers, owner of Red Dawg Taxidermy, said 90 percent of the craft is knowing how to fix “mistakes and screwups.”

Gadget show wraps up another year

In another sign of the tentative economic recovery, the country’s largest trade show saw at least a small increase in attendees, after a large drop a year ago. According to preliminary figures, The International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas had more than 120,000 attendees last week, the Consumer Electronics Association said Monday. Its preliminary figures are usually within a few thousand of the final, audited figures.

Wii becomes third game console to stream Netflix

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s a triple crown for Netflix. Beginning in the spring, the Wii will become the last of the three current video game consoles to get instant viewing of Netflix movies and TV shows over the Internet. Wii owners who have a broadband connection and a Netflix subscription that costs at least $9 a month will be able to watch those programs with no extra charge.

Speed up old computers on a budget

My mother-in-law recently gave her old Toshiba laptop to our 14-year-old daughter. It works fine but is a tad slow. It has an Intel Celeron M processor, a chip speed of 1.5 gigahertz, 448 megabytes of RAM and a 55.8-gigabyte hard drive. Is there anything we can do to speed it up without spending a lot of money? Would adding more RAM be worthwhile? Answer: Yes, more RAM would speed up the system. From your description, I think you have a Toshiba Tecra A5-S116 (check your PC to make sure.) Laptops of this type can be upgraded to a total of 2 gigabytes of memory.

Real estate records

Real estate records for Chelan and Douglas counties

People & places

New jobs, new faces Jenny Cravens joined Cashmere Valley Financial Corp. as vice president and chief financial officer of both the corporation and of its wholly owned subsidiary, Cashmere Valley Bank.

Workshops to teach ag profitability tool

WENATCHEE - Washington State University Extension is offering a two-part series about AgProfit, an agricultural profitability tool. AgProfit is a computer program designed to help growers make decisions when considering implementing new technology or evaluating cropping system changes.

Stewardship classes offered for landowners

LEAVENWORTH — Landowners are invited to attend a series of monthly classes about stewardship practices for small-acreage landowners. The classes are based on the “Living on the Land” curriculum. These classes will address issues unique to both new and experienced landowners and include such topics as mud, manure and pasture management; fencing; surface water and animal care.

WSU to host Horticulture Days this week

Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension will present four meetings this week covering apples, pears and cherries and other stone fruits. Presentations will be given by WSU and government researchers and staff.

Sunday business and agriculture briefing

Call for artists to design Bavarian logo: A Leavenworth nonprofit is asking area residents to submit logo designs for the organization.

Wheat ranchers still feeling the pinch

With December precipitation levels in the state half of normal in most places, wheat growers continue to look at a lean year for growing their crop. “In 2009 we had a disaster designation for drought, so we were already down moisture-wise,” explained Michel Ruud, executive director for USDA Farm Service Agency for Chelan and Douglas Counties. “When we went into the 2010 crop year for dryland winter wheat, we started behind normal.”

Former deputy jumps into inflatable games

WENATCHEE — A former local law officer has jumped into the inflatable game business. Marc Doney, who served seven years in law enforcement, has opened Jump Around, a new Wenatchee-based company renting inflatable castles, trucks and obstacle courses that kids (and adults) love to crawl into and, well, jump around in.

U.S. livestock industry struggling

Many challenges have hit in 2009 and continue

SEATTLE — It’s little wonder that farmers fret about the future of the livestock industry. In the past two years, feed costs skyrocketed, pork and dairy prices plummeted, and animal rights groups stepped up efforts to improve living conditions for farm animals. Some farmers are hoping to strike back with proactive efforts to ward off unwanted legislation and boost the struggling industry.

Patent seen as roadblock to feeding hungry

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A pair of American nonprofits want to ramp up production in the next year of a high-protein peanut butter-like paste that could feed some of the more than 1 billion people around the world who don’t have enough to eat. But Breedlove Foods Inc. and the Mama Cares Foundation believe one thing stands in their way: U.S. patent No. 6,346,284, held by a French company and a French government research institute that are pioneers in so-called ready-to-use foods — food intended for the severely malnourished. The American nonprofits filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., last month challenging the patent.

Pakistan bombing claims two soldiers

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber has attacked an army vehicle in the Pakistani part of Kashmir, killing two soldiers. Local government head Sardar Khursheed says four soldiers were injured in Saturday’s blast on the outskirts of Rawalakot town.

Iraqis say they’ve got bomber

Captured suspect may be behind ’03 headquarters attack

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi authorities have captured a senior leader of a militant group linked to al-Qaida in Iraq who oversaw the 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad and other attacks, the military said. The announcement of the arrest — which took place in June — comes as Iraq’s government looks to reassure voters it can keep the country safe before a parliamentary election in March. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has made improved security one of the centerpieces of his re-election bid.

U.N. sanctions seem to be grinding on North Korean government

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Last month, North Korea got a coveted visit to Pyongyang by a top U.S. official and hinted it was ready to resume negotiations on giving up its nuclear program. Now, the country appears to be backpedaling, raising the bar by demanding an end to international sanctions before any talks.

Census worker talked suicide, friend says

FRANKFORT, Ky. - An eastern Kentucky census worker found naked, bound and hanging from a tree had told a friend he intended to kill himself and that he had chosen the time, place and method to do it, police records show. Those records about the death of Bill Sparkman were released Friday to The Associated Press by the Kentucky State Police.

Authorities questioning United passenger

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - Police questioned a passenger on a small commercial plane that flew from Chicago to a northern Michigan resort town on Friday after the crew reported he was acting suspiciously. Crew members aboard United Airlines Flight 6036 said the 28-year-old California man had taken “an article” into the bathroom and left without it, said Traverse City Police Capt. Steve Morgan. The crew found that a panel inside the bathroom had been tampered with, he said.

Karzai’s Cabinet picks flunk with Parliament

Kabul - The Afghan parliament rejected the majority of President Hamid Karzai’s second slate of Cabinet choices Saturday, dealing a new setback to the U.S.-backed leader’s effort to assemble a team that can focus on badly needed reforms. The U.S. and other countries contributing troops and aid have pushed Karzai to get his second-term administration in place ahead of a Jan. 28 international conference on Afghanistan to be held in London. The mixed results will further delay the process, two weeks after parliament rejected 70 percent of his first Cabinet picks.

President thinks he can make bank tax stick

Washington - President Barack Obama was confident Saturday that lawmakers would approve his proposed tax on banks to recover bailout money, despite opposition from Republicans and the financial industry. “Like clockwork, the banks and politicians who curry their favor are already trying to stop this fee from going into effect,” he said, using his weekly radio and Internet addresses to promote the plan he announced this past week.

Haiti losing patience

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A flood of food, water and U.S. troops flowed toward Haiti on Saturday as donors squabbled over how to reach hungry, haggard earthquake survivors still trying to claw others from ruined buildings before the dying became the dead. Haiti’s government alone has already recovered 20,000 bodies — not counting those recovered by independent agencies or relatives themselves, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told The Associated Press. He said a final toll of 100,000 dead would “seem to be the minimum.”

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: Farmers’ Telephone & Tele-graph Co. will extend its telephone system to about 25 families in East Wenatchee.

Dear Abby: Class reunion kindles man’s obsession with past

Dear Abby: My wife, “Jana,” and I have been married 15 years. We have three beautiful children, successful careers and a nice home. Before we dated, Jana ran with a fast crowd, and was somewhat promiscuous. We went to Jana’s class reunion last fall, and with each guy I met, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had slept with my wife. I know about some of her old boyfriends, but not all.

Technology aims to replace animal testing

WASHINGTON (AP) — Technology allowing cosmetic makers to test for allergic reactions to their products without controversial animal trials is in the works and could be in use by next year. The technology developed by Hurel Corp., with funding from cosmetics maker L’Oreal, is designed to replace tests on mice and guinea pigs used to predict skin reactions from drugs and cosmetics. The device uses laboratory-grown human skin cells to simulate the body’s allergic response to foreign chemicals. Preliminary experiments show promise, but rigorous tests are still needed to determine the technology’s accuracy.

Report calls for tougher dog breeding standards

LONDON — Britain considers itself a nation of dog lovers. But a new report says the country needs tougher breeding standards and better education to curb deformity and disease caused by the quest for the best beagle or the perfect Pekingese. Thursday’s report by a leading biologist comes after sponsors shunned the country’s most famous dog show over cruelty claims.

Federal markets

Apples: YAKIMA VALLEY AND WENATCHEE DISTRICT 2009 SEASON — Demand good. Market steady. Carton tray pack WAExFcy Red Delicious 72-125s $15-16; Golden Delicious 72-80s $18; 88s $16-18; 100s $14-16; 113s $14-15; 125s $13-14; Fuji 64s $17-18; 72-88s $22-24; 100s $17-18; 113s $15-16; Granny Smith (includes blush) 72-80s $18-20; 88s $18; 100-113s $14-15; 125s $13-14; Gala 72s $24-26; 80-88s $22-24; 100s $18-20; 113-125s $16-18; Braeburn 72-80s $16-18; 88s $15-17; 100-113s $13-15; 125s $12-14.

NW cattle report

MOSES LAKE (Jan. 15) — Feeder cattle this week: 5,100; last week: 3,200; last year: 6,900. Compared to last week’s close, feeder cattle 1.00-3.00 higher. Trade moderate with good demand. The feeder supply included 59 percent steers and 41 percent heifers. Near 94 percent of the run weighed over 600 lbs. Prices are FOB weighing point with a 1-4 percent shrink or equivalent and with a 5-10 cent slide on calves and a 3-6 cent slide on yearlings. Delivered prices include freight, commissions and other expenses.

Saturday’s basketball scores

Check here throughout the night for scores from NCW prep basketball games.

Hay report

MOSES LAKE (Jan. 15) — Tonnage this week: 5,658; last week: 5,700; last year: 3,350. Compared to last week, all qualities of dairy hay steady, except Supreme not tested. Demand moderate and supplies light to moderate for higher testing hay and mostly moderate for lower testing hay. Good and Premium Export steady in limited test, demand light to moderate and supplies limited. Retail/feed store/horse hay steady, demand light to moderate and supplies moderate. Good moisture has fallen this week over most of the area. Producers and buyers attending Washington Hay Conference going on this week.

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Friday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Local-interest stocks

As of closing Friday

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Friday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

Mutual funds

TOP TEN / Price / Chng / 1-year return

New York Stock Exchange

Friday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

High miles, but well maintained: NASA’s offering deals on shuttles

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Here’s a recession bargain: the space shuttle. NASA has slashed the price of these 1970s-era space-ships from $42 million to $28.8 million apiece. The shuttles are for sale once they quit flying, supposedly this fall.

787s cleared for live flights, Boeing says

EVERETT (AP) — Boeing Co. announced Friday it has completed initial airworthiness tests on its new 787 jetliner, which means the planes can now fly with flight test engineers in their cabins. Boeing said that the two test planes have completed 15 flights to check out aircraft systems, performance, stability and handling.

Saucy Globes are heavy on dark and sober themes

LOS ANGELES — A loose and cheeky tone is typical for the Golden Globes. Yet Hollywood’s first major prize show on the road to the Academy Awards has plenty of heavy drama for the hard times we live in. Three films with war-on-terror angles scored nominations, led by critical darling “The Hurt Locker,” which is among best dramatic picture contenders.

Don’t miss

Better than the Oscars: The Golden Globes might not be as prestigious as the Oscars, but it’s lots more fun because the stars tend to drink like a fish and let their hair down. Adding to the frivolity this year will be snarky first-time host Ricky Gervais, who promises to give the celebrities in attendance some gentle ribbing. “Anyone who’s younger and thinner and richer and more attractive than me are the ones I’m going for,” he says. We can hardly wait. 8 p.m. Sunday, NBC.

Conan versus Leno: Let the jabs begin

PASADENA, Calif. — Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien have mined NBC’s late-night mess for plenty of jokes about their employer. Now they seem to be turning on each other. There was a certain bite to some monologue jokes by each man Wednesday, a day after O’Brien said he wasn’t willing to move the “Tonight” show back a half-hour to make way for Leno.

Digest: Big Three deliver at U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane

Hey, all you guys not named Jeremy Abbott, Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir. Better start packing your programs for Sunday’s free skate now. Because with the way those three are skating, you’re going to need every trick you’ve got. Abbott, Lysacek and Weir put on one impressive performance after another at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Friday night in Spokane, leaving little doubt they are the class of the American field. And with their superior performance skills, the rest of the world ought to keep an eye on them, too.

Collegians: Whitworth hoops has an NCW feel

SPOKANE — Five NCW basketball alumni are all contributing in meaningful ways at Whitworth. Three women’s basketball players, seniors Natalie Orrell and Cassie Pilkinton, as well as sophomore Taylor LaMoreaux play for the Pirates, who are 6-8 and 2-3 in the Northwest Conference.

Highlights this week in Rec Sports

Mission Ridge skiers compete in invitational

WENATCHEE — More than 130 young skiers, most of them age 12 and under, took part in the 18th-annual Apple Invitational Ski Race the weekend of Jan. 9-10 at Mission Ridge Ski and Board Resort. Skiers competed in the giant slalom in four age classes for the two-day event.

Good news for Pete Carroll: Twice-fired coaches can succeed in NFL

SEATTLE — The coach left a role where he’d proven himself a perfect fit, forsaking a job he excelled at to become an NFL head coach, a position he had already been fired from. Twice. The team got roasted for hiring a retread, the coach was criticized for not knowing his own limits, and the whole endeavor was dismissed as foolhardy on both sides.

NFL playoffs highlight power of the passer

LOS ANGELES — Memo to NFL teams: Want to get to the Super Bowl? Get a good quarterback.

A fateful dive helped Olympian rise to the top

Billy Demong eyes medal in Nordic combined at B.C.

Billy Demong went into the tattoo parlor with a simple request. Nothing gaudy, Gothic or garish. All he wanted was a hockey puck-sized tattoo on his ribcage showing the universal “No Diving” sign, the one with the red circle and slash through the figure of a man plunging headfirst into the water.

WHS star on state soccer team

WENATCHEE — Korynn Blanksma, a junior at Wenatchee High School, will play for the Washington state team at the Region IV girls soccer championships in the Olympic Development Program. Washington will play teams from Nevada, California and Utah at the Phoenix, Ariz., tourney.

Americans rolling with Winter Games approaching

U.S. Ski Team now considered one of the best squads in the world

The success of Lindsey Vonn on the ski slopes, Tim Burke in biathlon and Billy Demong and Todd Lodwick in Nordic combined is giving the U.S. a considerable lift three weeks before the Olympics. With a string of World Cup conquests across Europe this month, the four Americans are raising expectations — both their own and others’ — for a fruitful Winter Games in Vancouver.

New SuperTour venue

WINTHROP — The Methow Valley SuperTour races on Sunday will be held at the Loup Loup Ski Bowl, while Saturday’s races will be at Liberty Bell High School as originally planned. Methow Valley Sport Trails Association event director Kristen Smith cited “questionable weather conditions on Sunday” as the reason for the change of venue.

Facebook users stumble across scary network flaw

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Georgia mother and her two daughters logged onto Facebook from mobile phones last weekend and wound up in a startling place: strangers’ accounts with full access to troves of private information. The glitch — the result of a routing problem at the family’s wireless carrier, AT&T — revealed a little known security flaw with far reaching implications for everyone on the Internet, not just Facebook users.

Book by suspect in Tylenol murders mentions ‘nut’ who spiked capsules

CHICAGO — First-time author and Tylenol murder suspect James William Lewis may be trying to distance his new thriller from the infamous 1982 tampering case, but he couldn’t resist mentioning it in his self-published novel. Halfway through Lewis’ 374-page fiction piece “Poison!: The Doctor’s Dilemma,” the narrator refers to the tampering case as “some nut spiked Tylenol capsules with cyanide in 1982, killing several people in Chicago.”

FDA scolds maker of Tylenol for foot-dragging in recall

WASHINGTON — As McNeil Consumer Healthcare Products expanded its recall of various batches of Tylenol, Motrin and other over-the-counter products tainted by a chemical in wooden shipping pallets, the company came under fire Friday from the Food and Drug Administration for dragging its feet in investigating the contamination and pulling goods from store shelves. The recall includes some batches of regular and extra-strength Tylenol, children’s Tylenol, eight-hour Tylenol, Tylenol arthritis, Tylenol PM, children’s Motrin, Motrin IB, Benadryl Rolaids, Simply Sleep, and St. Joseph’s aspirin.

Feds want more study of chemical used in plastics

No immediate restrictions planned

WASHINGTON — In a long-awaited decision on a controversial chemical found in some baby bottles, children’s drinking cups and other food containers, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday that the safety the compound merited further study but did not warrant immediate restrictions on its use. The FDA, the Department of Health and Human Services and other health agencies have committed $30 million to studying the health effects of BPA and expect results in 18 to 24 months. In the meantime, they have issued guidance for limiting the exposure of children and babies.

Health bill at stake, Obama to stump for Coakley

BOSTON (AP) — His health care plan in peril, President Barack Obama laid on a last-minute campaign trip to Massachusetts for Democrat Martha Coakley on Sunday with polls showing her struggling in an unexpectedly close race against Republican Scott Brown to fill the late Edward M. Kennedy’s Senate seat. Vice President Joe Biden, trying to turn the focus of the race away from the president’s embattled health care bill, joined the fray, sending an e-mail to Democrats assailing the Republican candidate for opposing Obama’s just-announced plan to tax large Wall Street firms.

Analysis: Massachusetts Senate race underscores voter anger

WASHINGTON — The ill winds of an angry electorate are blowing against Democrats, the warning signs clear in a closer-than-expected Massachusetts Senate race that may doom President Barack Obama’s health care agenda and foreshadow the party’s midterm election prospects. Anti-incumbent, antiestablishment sentiment is rampant. Independents are leaving Obama. Republicans are energized. Democrats are subdued. And none of that bodes well for the party in power.

We knew it: Snow we need

We know, we have enough to worry about already, but the big news last week confirmed what we were feeling in our bones: we need snow. Federal agencies released their early water-supply forecasts, and told us what we could see for ourselves. December was a lousy snow month — precipitation about half of normal. Consequently, the mountain snowpack is thin — about 85 percent of normal in the region that drains into the Columbia above The Dalles, Ore. That would provide a streamflow about 82 percent of average, according to forecasters, but that assumes precipitation will be normal for the rest of the winter. If it isn’t, watch out.

Great performance

Not just the arts community, but the entire region should take note of last week’s surprise announcement that Sara Cornell will be leaving her position as executive director of Wenatchee’s Performing Arts Center. In that job her accomplishments were enormous. Some eight years ago she took over a newborn, struggling institution, cleared its clouded future and made it thrive. She did this with constant determination and rare creativity. In the process the Performing Arts Center became what it was meant to be: the center of the performing arts for Wenatchee, a community asset, a showcase, a source of entertainment and cultural enrichment. It also — and this is no small feat — is financially sound. Nearly all of this is due to artistic talent, and steadfast and skilled management.

If Congress won’t do its job, let it take a vacation

WASHINGTON — You know the foreboding you feel while watching the steamier Greek tragedies, when dynasties are falling and sons are marrying their mothers and everyone is behaving badly and you are thinking: Really, things cannot continue like this. Washington feels that way on the rare and fleeting occasions when it really thinks about the nation’s looming crisis of public finance. The crisis, which is obvious and inevitable, combines unfulfillable entitlement promises and unsustainable budget deficits. So Washington is succumbing, yet again, to an idee fixe, which is usually, and in this case, scary.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Showing so much poise: As a student teacher at Wenatchee High School, recently I had the privilege of listening to 13 WHS young ladies share about themselves for their Apple Blossom speeches. Having been in the Top Ten myself, I know how nerve wracking it is to stand ready to deliver a speech to thousands of people.

Supreme Court will hear Ref. 71 case

Friday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case involving the release of names of Referendum 71 petition signers was greeted warmly by traditional-marriage supporters but with wariness by some gay-rights leaders, who contend it plays into a broader strategy by gay-rights opponents to operate without scrutiny. At issue before the court is whether signing a ballot petition is a form of political speech protected by the First Amendment. And if so, whether a portion of the state’s Public Records Act violates the signers’ First Amendment rights. The law subjects to public disclosure the identities of those who sign referendum or initiative petitions.

Groups seek regulation of bumblebee importation

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Conservation groups and scientists want federal agricultural authorities to start regulating shipments of commercially domesticated bumblebees — used to pollinate crops — to protect wild bumblebees from diseases threatening their survival. The groups said Tuesday that four species of bumblebees once common in the United States have seen drastic declines — and the evidence points to diseases spreading out of greenhouses that use domesticated bumblebees.

Having fun on a winter's day

Mekenna Walker, 8, rides her scooter along Madison Street in Wenatchee just after 1 p.m. Friday. She was let out of class early because of a short schedule in the Eastmont School District. Mekenna and her brother Darin Donaglia, 11, spent a few minutes riding the scooter and a bike as they waited for their mom to finish with work.

Two resign from Manson parks board

MANSON — Two of five members of the Manson Parks and Recreation District board have resigned, saying the three newly elected members appear to have their own preset agenda and will not listen to other views. Tom Tobey and Steve Vaughn delivered a letter to the district stating they resigned immediately on Thursday, two days after the first meeting of 2010 in which the new board overturned one of the old board’s bylaws and eliminated the district’s business manager’s position held by Fred Sharp.

Hanford spot a mystery

TRI-CITIES — Work has begun with federal economic stimulus money to solve the mystery of what’s buried in one the most hazardous burial grounds of the Hanford nuclear reservation. The 618-10 Burial Ground “received some nasty stuff from the labs in the 300 Area where they did everything done at Hanford but at a small scale,” said Larry Gadbois, scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency, a regulator on the project.

More than 20 students suspended in bullying case

SEATTLE - More than 20 students at McClure Middle School have been suspended for allegedly bullying one of their classmates over the Internet. A Seattle Public Schools spokeswoman said school administrators learned Tuesday evening that some McClure students were involved in the bullying, and investigated Wednesday.

Yakama tribal members protest tax prosecution

YAKIMA - More than 50 Yakama tribal members demonstrated outside the federal Courthouse in Yakima where three members are on trial, accused of selling untaxed cigarettes. The Yakima Herald-Republic reports demonstrators carried signs Thursday that said “Our treaty cannot be denied” and “Treaty rights are not a crime.”

Holiday closures

Here’s a list of what’s open and closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday Monday:Banks: Most banks will be closed Monday.

Quincy Community Center gets renovated

QUINCY — The Quincy Community Center is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and to commemorate the occasion, the center’s board of directors has decided to give the center a much-needed facelift. The first phase of the refurbishment project, already under way, includes a new paint job to the exterior of the building and was funded through donations from Quincy Rotary, Intuit, Wilber-Ellis and Quincy Valley Lions.

No health insurance?

Are you one of nearly 40,000 North Central Washington residents who don’t have health insurance? The Wenatchee World is gathering information for an in-depth story about local residents who have no insurance, and what they think about the national health care debate. Please contact reporter K.C. Mehaffey at (509) 997-2512, or by e-mail at mehaffey@wenatchee world.com if you would like to be interviewed for this story.

Are you affected by Haiti?

Have you lived and worked in Haiti? Has Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti touched your life or the lives of family or friends? If so, please contact World staff reporter Christine Pratt, 665-1173, pratt@wenatcheeworld.com.

Grace Eileen Pilgrim Adams Sommers

Grace Eileen Pilgrim Adams Sommers, 79, was born May 2, 1930, in Leavenworth, WA to Egbert S. Pilgrim and Charlotte Juliet Hutchins Pilgrim. Grace, with sister, Betty and brother, Eddie, grew up in Leavenworth and on the farm on Blewett Pass, chasing goats up and down mountains and swimming in Peshastin Creek.

Thomas J. Burke, Jr.

Thomas Joseph Burke, Jr. died January 9, 2010, after a courageous eight year battle with cancer. Born June 23, 1940, he called Wenatchee, Albuquerque, Boise, Redmond, Mercer Island and, most recently, Seattle and Whidbey Island home.

Helena Lorraine (Holdt) Shiflett

Helena Lorraine (Holdt) Shiflett went to be with the Lord on Friday, January 8, 2010. Born to Hans and Caroline Holdt, June 26, 1909, on Badger Mountain, Helena was the seventh child of ten children.

Armando "Junior" Surita, Jr.

Armando "Junior" Surita, Jr. passed away on Saturday, January 9, 2010, in Tacoma. He was born October 29, 1953, in Sabinal, TX. He moved to California, then to Wenatchee, where he met and married his wife, Mary Surita, in 1982.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Friday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 676

Stephen Raymond Smith

Stephen Raymond Smith, 60, of East Wenatchee, died Monday, Dec. 28, 2009, at the University of Washington Hospital in Seattle.

Floyd R. Holloway

Floyd R. Holloway, 71, of East Wenatchee, died Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010, at his home.

Jess Neil Mayrant

Jess Neil Mayrant, 79, of Ephrata, died Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010, in Soap Lake.

Luis B. Castellanos

Luis B. Castellanos, 67, of Quincy, died Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010, at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee.

CWU asks staff for tough sacrifices

YAKIMA — To cut costs, Central Washington University is asking for voluntary retirements, resignations and leaves from its 1,500 regional employees.

Massive rock thuds down on Highway 2

LEAVENWORTH — A truck-sized boulder crushed Highway 2 just west of Leavenworth Friday afternoon, closing Tumwater Canyon at the start of the busy Martin Luther King three-day weekend. State Department of Transportation engineers were assessing the damage Saturday morning to see how they would go about removing the boulder and repairing extensive damage to the roadway.

Suspect in WSU hit-and-run found incompetent

Doctors have found an Idaho driver accused of striking two Washington State University students with his car incompetent to stand trial.

Palisades has two-year levy on the ballot

Palisades votes will decide on a two-year maintenance and operations levy for its tiny school in the next few weeks.

Three injured in Highway 2 accident

A Leavenworth man and two Maple Valley residents were injured Friday in a two-vehicle collision on Highway 2 west of Leavenworth.

2 Wenatchee schools no longer a hazard

The state Department of Ecology is planning to remove two Wenatchee-area schools from its statewide list of hazardous sites.

Still life, with fur: Taxidermists say the details make it art

WENATCHEE — Greg Tubbs knew from the moment that he stepped into a taxidermy shop 35 years ago that bringing dead animals back to life was in his future.

Talking It Over: New book heralds the Berlin airlift’s heroism and triumph

A new book on the Berlin airlift of 1948-49 written by Richard Reeves, “Daring Young Men,” outlines the “heroism and triumph” of that memorable event. The blockade of Berlin by land came about when the three Allied powers — the U.S. Britain, and France — brought in new currency to Berlin. The Russians were determined to make all of Berlin part of their eastern German Communist state. It set off a concern that this would be the start of another war if, as some of our military advised, the Allies forced a way open by land.

Wenatchee schools may lease land for parking

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee School District will consider paying $1,050 a month to rent a vacant lot for parking near Sunnyslope Elementary School.

New hope for reduced cabin fees

WENATCHEE — U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings announced Friday that he will introduce a bill that would end what he said are exorbitant yearly fees for cabins owners in national forests.

Woman pulled to safety after car goes into river

WENATCHEE — Two Wenatchee police officers pulled a woman out of a car in the Columbia River at Confluence State Park about 8:45 p.m. Friday. The officers used a rock to break a window on the car, which was in the water about waist deep, said Cpl. Tim Lykken, a Wenatchee police spokesman. The woman was pulled to safety and was taken to Central Washington Hospital for a mental-health evaluation. The incident happened at the park’s swimming area.

Sheriff’s office investigating woman’s death

WENATCHEE — Chelan County sheriff’s deputies are investigating the death of a Wenatchee woman whose body was found in a vacant lot near the 100 block of Boodry Street Friday afternoon. Children cutting through the vacant lot about 3:20 p.m. found the body, which had no visible signs of trauma, said Jerry Moore, chief of investigations for the sheriff’s office. The death is not being investigated as a homicide.

Wild stumble in Texas opener

Little offense for Wenatchee

FRISCO, Texas — Generally when a game is decided on special teams, that favors the Wenatchee Wild, who are among the NAHL’s best on the power play and the penalty kill.

LR blasts Cashmere

Bulldogs struggle to get going early

CASHMERE — Cashmere went without a field goal for the first five minutes, and the Bulldogs’ shooting woes continued all night long in a 68-46 boys basketball loss to Lake Roosevelt on Friday.

Prep basketball from around the region

Okanogan boys slip by Brewster; Chelan hits 100 points

OKANOGAN — Dakota Condon nailed a 3-pointer with less than a minute left, and Joe Townsend intercepted a pass with three seconds left to seal Okanogan’s 61-60 boys basketball win over Brewster on Friday night.

Rough third quarter does in Wildcat girls

YAKIMA — A cold shooting performance in the third quarter held back an Eastmont comeback attempt, as the Wildcats lost 47-40 to Eisenhower Friday night.

Injury haunts Eastmont in loss to Ike

Malachi Roberts puts up career-high 35 in defeat

EAST WENATCHEE — An Eastmont team with Darren Spaeth may have been enough to beat the Eisenhower Cadets. But that wasn’t what took the floor Friday night, and Robert Bonser took advantage.

Venom hires a team president

Skalisky also part owner of Wenatchee franchise

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Valley Venom have a new team president and part owner in retired Air Force officer Kyle Skalisky.

Friday, January 15

Boulder closes Highway 2 for the night

LEAVENWORTH — Highway 2 just west of Leavenworth will be closed tonight due to a large boulder in the roadway. The boulder is west of Leavenworth, just beyond the junction with Icicle Road, a state Department of Transportation news release said this evening.

Friday’s basketball scores

Check here throughout the night for scores from NCW prep basketball games.

Red Cross accepting cash, checks and credit card donations for Haiti

Boardings at Pangborn up through December

DOUGLAS COUNTY — Boardings on commercial flights out of Pangborn Memorial Airport increased 7 percent through December. A total of 51,541 people boarded flights for Horizon Air and Executive Flight for that period of time. From January through December last year, 48,123 passengers boarded, airport data shows.

Palisades district puts two-year levy on the ballot

PALISADES — Palisades votes will decide on a two-year maintenance and operations levy for its tiny school in the next few weeks. The school district is asking for $91,646 in 2011 and $93,250 in 2012. That’s a 3 percent increase from the last school levy, said Palisades Superintendent Russ Elliott.

Doctors find suspect in WSU hit-and-run incompetent

PULLMAN — Doctors have found an Idaho driver accused of striking two Washington State University students with his car incompetent to stand trial. Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy says 31-year-old Daniel Noble will stay at Eastern State hospital for an additional 90 days. A judge ordered Noble to the hospital on Dec. 10 for a mental examination.

Justice Department looking into fraud on Wall Street

WASHINGTON — Turning its scrutiny to bigger fish in the subprime mortgage scandal, the Justice Department is investigating whether lenders or Wall Street firms defrauded investors in the sale of risky mortgage securities, its Criminal Division chief disclosed Thursday. “We absolutely are looking at the conduct of the securitizers themselves, and what did they say to those who purchased the (securities),” Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer told a commission created by Congress to investigate causes of the nation’s economic collapse.

John Henry Jenkins

John Henry Jenkins, 68, of Wenatchee, died Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010.

News of record

News of record reports for Chelan and Douglas counties

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Thursday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 969

Hope crushed for Port Orchard family

PORT ORCHARD (AP) — A Port Orchard couple has received the news from Haiti they’ve been dreading. Their daughter Molly Hightower was killed in the collapse of a building at a Port-au-Prince orphanage where she had been volunteering.

Richland orthopedic surgeon headed to Haiti

RICHLAND (AP) — Help for victims of Haiti’s earthquake and the scores of injured is on the way from Richland orthopedic surgeon Lewis Zirkle. Zirkle, who developed a bone-mending technique 10 years ago that uses metal rods as a surgical implant, will be taking about 400 pounds of surgical gear and stainless steel rods to the heart of the disaster near Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. He will set up makeshift operating rooms in a rural missionary school’s classroom that somehow withstood the 7.0-magnitude quake.

Spending power waned in ’09, report says

WASHINGTON (AP) — American families were squeezed last year as their inflation-adjusted weekly wages fell 1.6 percent — the sharpest drop since 1990 — well below the 2.7 percent consumer inflation rate. Consumers’ spending power sank in the face of falling wages, job losses and higher prices for energy, medical care and education. Slack pay and scarce job creation are slowing consumer spending, hindering the economy’s ability to mount a strong recovery.

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Thursday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 10,700 for the first time in 15 months on Thursday as investors bet that the corporate earnings season would overcome a rocky start. The advance was slightly uneven, with technology stocks rising ahead of quarterly earnings from chip maker Intel Corp. and financials climbing before a profit report from JPMorgan Chase & Co. due today. Safe havens like utilities and consumer staples stocks fell. The Dow industrials gained 30 points, and broader indexes also rose.

New York Stock Exchange

Thursday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Metals

NEW YORK — Spot nonferrous metal prices Friday.

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Thursday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

Local interest stocks

As of closing Thursday

Carroll moving fast on rebuilding Seahawks

RENTON — Pete Carroll kept saying upon his arrival from Southern California that he “couldn’t wait to get started” rebuilding the Seahawks. He didn’t have to.

Washington and Gonzaga capture big wins; Cougars fall to Cal

Three straight lopsided defeats had defending Pac-10 champion Washington in a deep, dark hole. Time for a Holiday.

Waterfowl ruffled by NCW’s weather

WENATCHEE — Waterfowl hunters have been getting more than they’ve bargained for this season due to rare weather patterns. Scouting is a must for hunters as a result of “unsettled weather” that is causing unpredictable waterfowl movement, said state Department of Fish and Wildlife waterfowl specialist Mikal Moore in the WDFW Weekender newsletter.

It took some doing to haul in record bass

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a record. To be more specific, a long-standing record has been tied. The International Game Fish Association announced Friday that it certified a 22-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass caught in Japan in July.

Prep roundup from North Central Washington

Wildcats, Panthers win matches

EAST WENATCHEE — The Eastmont and Wenatchee wrestling teams each scored convincing wins Thursday night, with the Wildcats winning 12 of 14 matches against West Valley for a 60-10 win, and the Panthers taking 10 of 14 matches against Davis in their 55-15 victory. Eastmont 60, West Valley 10

Sounders pick UCLA F

SEATTLE — Sounders FC selected UCLA forward David Estrada with its first-round pick in Thursday’s Major League Soccer Superdraft. Estrada, listed at 5 feet 8 and 160 pounds in his UCLA bio, scored 22 goals with 14 assists in his four-year Bruins career. He set a UCLA freshman record for goals with 12 in 2006.

Okanogan girls basketball team firing on all cylinders

Freshmen playing huge role in early success

OKANOGAN — Most coaches would love to have Gary Smith’s problems. Smith, the girls basketball coach at Okanogan, entered the season with all five starters back from a year ago. He also had three freshman phenoms who’d been big parts of a successful Okanogan varsity-level summer team. Coming into this season, that left Smith with five starting spots and at least eight players who were good enough to start.

Valaas ‘peaceful’ as she awaits Olympics decision

Wenatchee native focusing on SuperTour stop

WINTHROP — Physically, Laura Valaas will be in the Methow Valley this weekend for the SuperTour races, the closest thing she’s had to a skiing homecoming since high school. Mentally, she’s already in a good place. “I feel like I’ve chased this dream to its potential in how I’ve trained and lived my life the last couple years,” said Valaas, who will find out next week if her dream of competing in the Olympics has come to fruition. “I have no regrets. I’ve really devoted myself and put 100 percent into my training, so I guess I feel peaceful about what I’ve done in the past.”

Eastmont’s Malachi Roberts develops into prolific scorer — and colleges are noticing

There aren’t many high school basketball players that can do what Malachi Roberts does. With his penchant for dunks, deep 3-pointers, and fluid fast-break play, Eastmont’s star guard has put on a show while averaging 23.6 points per game this season — and he’s got the attention of Division I colleges as a result.

Ousted president wants to return, which could set off political storm

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A weeping former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, living in exile in Africa since he was ousted in a rebellion five years ago, said today he wants to return to his quake-devastated country and is prepared to leave immediately. In a rare public appearance, Aristide told reporters at a hotel next to Johannesburg’s airport that he and his family are ready to return to Haiti to help with the catastrophe. He said friends, whom he did not name, are willing to provide a plane to fly him to Haiti with medical supplies and other emergency equipment.

Desperate Haitian looters break into U.N. warehouse

GENEVA (AP) — Looters have broken into U.N. food warehouses in Haiti’s crumbled capital, an official said today, as security and logistical challenges mounted for groups trying to feed at least 2 million people reeling from a devastating earthquake. The U.N. World Food Program had 15,000 tons of food aid in Haiti prior to Tuesday’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake, stocks designed for hurricane relief. Spokeswoman Emilia Casella said local partners reported that the U.N. warehouse in Port-au-Prince’s Cite Soleil neighborhood was looted but the agency did not know how much aid was stolen or exactly when it was taken.

Aid arriving for Haiti — security is next concern

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Hundreds of U.S. paratroopers touched down in shattered Port-au-Prince overnight as U.N. and other aid organizations struggled today to get food and water to stricken millions. Fears spread of unrest among the Haitian people in their fourth day of desperation. Hard-pressed government workers, meanwhile, were burying thousands of bodies in mass graves. The Red Cross estimates 45,000 to 50,000 people were killed in Tuesday’s cataclysmic earthquake.

Experiments that buried pigs in snow stopped

VIENNA — Vehement protests by animal rights activists prompted scientists to temporarily stop an avalanche experiment that involved burying pigs in snow and monitoring their deaths. The two-week experiment — taking place in the Alps — was trying to determine what factors make it possible for humans to survive an avalanche in an air pocket until rescued without suffering permanent brain damage.

Tyson settles lawsuit over antibiotics

BALTIMORE — Tyson Foods Inc. has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the poultry giant of falsely claiming its chickens were “raised without antibiotics.” Under the proposed settlement, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson would pay up to $50 to anyone who bought poultry that was labeled antiobiotics-free.

Obama pushes as health talks hit overdrive

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats rushed to strike final deals on historic health care legislation today as they nervously eyed next week’s special Senate election in Massachusetts that could doom the bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she was hoping lawmakers could send the tax and spending provisions of the package to the Congressional Budget Office later in the day for a cost estimate, a necessary step before votes are cast.

Gates: Military fails to spot danger within ranks

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today an investigation into the Fort Hood shootings found the military isn’t sufficiently prepared to prevent similar attacks in the future. Commanders must be encouraged to intervene if they think someone within the ranks is a threat, Gates said. He directed Army Secretary John McHugh to make changes and expects new policies to be in place by summer.

Washington, D.C., trial eyed for Gitmo terror suspect

WASHINGTON — An intense security review is under way as the Obama administration considers holding a trial in Washington for the Guantanamo Bay detainee suspected of planning a deadly Bali nightclub bombing, a move that would bring one of the world’s most notorious terrorism suspects to a courthouse just steps from the Capitol, officials said. Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, was allegedly Osama bin Laden’s point man in Indonesia. Until his capture in August 2003, he was believed to be the main link between al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiyah, the terror group blamed for the 2002 bombing on the island of Bali that killed 202 people.

Sun salutation

School students watch the formation of the annular solar eclipse through special filter eyeglasses in Cochin, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, today. Thousands of people in India, the Mideast and Africa viewed the eclipse of the sun looking skyward as the moon crosses its path, blocking everything but a narrow, blazing rim of light.

Women in politics still held to a different standard

WASHINGTON — Ask yourself: Who is likely to be the first woman president of the United States? Anyone? Anyone?

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

No more $30 tabs: I am writing today to ask all taxpayers what happened to $30 vehicle licensing? While visiting my father recently he pointed out to me that not only is he not paying $30 to put tabs on his car, he’s paying close to $100. What happened? I would like to ask Tim Eyman, was this really what you fought for just a few years ago? You have gone on to bigger and better things but forgot what made you. You need to come back to the little towns and fight for us once more because this is ridiculous. Why are we paying so much and seeing so little from that money? They decided to add on so many taxes to our tabs that we are now back to paying what we were before. How is it right for them to tax us on the weight of our vehicles and not see any road improvements because of that tax? How is it fair for them to tax us for our state parks and yet they are still closing them down? I hope all that read this really think come election time because I for one want new leadership.

Our World: Closer to Haiti than we knew

It takes a crisis to remind us that we are part of a larger world rather than in just an isolated bubble of prosperity and abundance. Along with the rest of the world, we watched in horror this week as television screens brought home to us the utter devastation from the earthquake in Haiti, the most impoverished nation in the hemisphere. It may have surprised people how much of a local story this became as we discovered how many ties North Central Washington has with that country.

Arena dirties up as crews get set for muddy show

WENATCHEE — Skating will be impossible at the big ice arena at Town Toyota Center through Sunday. The ice will be covered with up to 1,400 cubic yards of dirt — no good for jumps and other tricky maneuvers, unless you’re driving a big truck or a motocross bike.

Grant for hatchery slips away

LEAVENWORTH — The Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery has lost much of an $18.1 million federal stimulus grant to replace its failing water system because of design flaws in the project and public opposition. The federal Bureau of Reclamation announced Thursday that the funding, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will now be used for other projects. The loss of funding will likely push off replacing the hatchery’s deteriorating water system — which had been scheduled to start this fall — for years.

Judge’s ruling allows drug case to move forward

WENATCHEE — A Superior Court Judge ruled Thursday that a warrant to search a Wenatchee home where a fatal shooting took place April 6 was valid. The ruling by Chelan County Superior Court Judge T.W. “Chip” Small allows the prosecution to continue its drug case against Joshua Ray, 25, of Wenatchee.

Dorothy Brattain

Dorothy Brattain, age 89, died on Tuesday, January 12, 2010, at Franklin Hills Health Center in Spokane. She was born on July 29, 1920, in Pine Creek, to parents, Carl and Etta (Didra) Paxton.

James Royce Downs

James Royce Downs, "The Bracelet Man," of Drain, OR, 64, passed away on January 12, 2010, of pancreatic cancer. He was born August 30, 1945, in Ashland, KS, to Harold and Opal (Callahan) Downs.

Man threatens another over cigarette

WENATCHEE — An East Wenatchee man threatened a Wenatchee man with a railroad spike Thursday morning, police said. The victim, who works for Cusick Construction, stepped outside at 1422 N. Miller St. shortly after 10 a.m. He was smoking when a 50-year-old East Wenatchee man approached him and asked him for a cigarette, said Wenatchee Police Sgt. Cherie Smith.

Man pleads guilty to reduced assault charges

WENATCHEE — A 22-year-old Wenatchee man has been sentenced to five months in jail in connection with a gang-related stabbing last September. Jose DeJesus Garcia Guizar entered an Alford plea Monday in Chelan County Superior Court to complicity to third-degree assault. He was originally charged with first-degree assault. An Alford plea means he does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict him.

Man crashes vehicle into residence

WENATCHEE — A 23-year-old Wenatchee man drove into the front porch of a home Thursday night at 2400 No. 1 Canyon Road. The man was driving up Fifth Street just before 9:30 p.m. and failed to make the S-curve as the street turns into No. 1 Canyon Road, said Sgt. Cherie Smith.

Cascade superintendent moving on

LEAVENWORTH — Superintendent Rob Clark plans to leave Cascade School District after his contract expires June 30. “I told the district six years ago that I was going to be here for six years,” Clark said in an interview Thursday. He told the school board of his decision Monday.

Cornell departing Performing Arts Center

WENATCHEE — Sara Cornell, executive director of the Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee through its formative years, will leave her post at the end of March, she announced Thursday. Cornell has headed the center since 2002, two years after its opening. The 535-seat venue has grown in attendance and income under Cornell’s stewardship, hosting up to 40,000 people and earning $1 million in its 2008-2009 entertainment season. The center also retired the debt on its $7.5 million construction costs, and renegotiated its lease for the city-owned property where it sits, now paying just $1 a year.

Slide blocks westbound Highway 18 at Auburn

AUBURN — The Transportation Department says traffic on Highway 18 could be disrupted through this afternoon by a landslide blocking the westbound lanes near Highway 167 at Auburn. Experts were called in this morning to assess the stability of the slope and determine when it is safe for crews to remove the mud, rocks and debris that slid down Thursday night onto the pavement.

Area events to mark King’s life, impacts

WENATCHEE — Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, accomplishments and impacts on the civil rights movement will be celebrated Monday at events in Omak and Wenatchee. In Wenatchee, a free evening of activities and presentations will be held at the Wenatchee Community Center, 504 S. Chelan Ave.

Six people appointed to Wenatchee city boards

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee City Council on Thursday approved the appointments or re-appointments of six people to city boards and commissions. Franciso Cuevas, a Social Security representative, and Greg Jones, a facility manager for the Chelan County PUD, were reappointed to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board through 2013.

Oroville students plan Dominican Republic exchange

OROVILLE — Eight Oroville High School students and two teachers will spend the last three weeks in March in the Dominican Republic examining cocoa farming, sustainable forestry and fair-trade practices. Students from Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic, will then come to Oroville in April to visit apple orchards and study farming practices here, said George Thornton, contemporary world problems teacher at the Oroville High School.

Television documentary on North Cascades airs Sunday

NCW — A documentary on the North Cascades and the people who work to protect it is scheduled to air on public television this weekend. The show, “North Cascades: People, Places and Stories,” airs at 10:30 p.m. Sunday on KCTS 9 and KYVE 47, and again at 7 p.m. Wednesday and 4:30 p.m. Jan. 31.

Bicycle Board goes regional

WENATCHEE — To tackle bicycling issues using a more regional approach, the city’s Bicycle Board will shift to the Wenatchee Valley Transportation Council. The Wenatchee City Council approved the shift Thursday.

Rain to continue through weekend

NCW — North Central Washington residents will see rivers and streams swell this weekend, thanks to rainy weather. “It doesn’t look like there’s going to be flooding at this time,” said meteorologist Paul Bos of the National Weather Service. “But we are very certainly going to see some rises on streams, especially those that originate near the Cascade crest.”

District may lease land for Sunnyslope school parking

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee School District will consider paying $1,050 a month to rent a vacant lot for parking near Sunnyslope Elementary School. The school provides 25 parking spaces for a staff of about 35. Parents and visitors park along Peters and School streets before and after school and during parent events, said Wenatchee Superintendent Brian Flones.

Children’s theatre gets kids pumped up for plays

Missoula Children’s Theatre is visiting Abraham Lincoln Elementary School this week every day after school to prepare about 60 kids for a performance of “Pinocchio.” The play will be presented at 2 and 6 p.m. Saturday.

Man admits ‘sexting’; cell phone banned

WENATCHEE — A Chelan County Superior Court Judge has banned a 23-year-old Wenatchee man from owning or using a cell phone after he pleaded guilty to “sexting,”or sending sexual text messages, to a 13-year-old girl. Erasmo “Eddie” Badillo Eccles pleaded guilty Wednesday in Chelan County Superior Court to communicating with a minor for immoral purposes and indecent exposure. He was sentenced to three months in jail.

China tries to limit Google dispute fallout

BEIJING (AP) — China tried today to keep its censorship row with Google from damaging business confidence or ties with Washington, promising good conditions for foreign investors but giving no sign it might relax Internet controls. U.S.-China trade and economic ties will not be affected by any Google Inc. decision to withdraw from China, said Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian. However, he insisted foreign companies must obey Chinese law.

New surgical technique turning out successful in windpipe transplant

LONDON (AP) — For more than a quarter century, Linda De Croock lived with constant pain from a car accident that smashed her windpipe. Today, she has a new one after surgeons implanted the windpipe from a dead man into her arm, where it grew new tissue before being transplanted into her throat. The way doctors trained her body to accept donor tissue could yield new methods of growing or nurturing organs within patients, experts say.

China tests Google’s idealism

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google Inc. co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have always said they put their principles before profit, even to the point of using their control of the company to take a stand. The billionaires’ idealism underlies a potentially expensive decision disclosed this week: Google’s threat to leave China’s rapidly growing Internet market in defense of free speech and its users’ privacy rights.

Holiday Closures

Here’s a list of what’s open and closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday on Monday:Banks: Most banks will be closed Monday. Buses: Link Transit buses will provide regular service Monday. Grant County Transit buses will not run Monday.

Lawmakers to hold telephone town hall meeting Jan. 21

WENATCHEE — Sen. Linda Evans Parlette and Reps. Cary Condotta and Mike Armstrong are inviting residents of the 12th Legislative District to participate in a telephone town hall meeting to ask questions about plans for the 2010 legislative session. The event will take place from 7 to 8 p.m. on Thursday. The session began Monday.

Reminders not going out in Douglas County

WATERVILLE — Douglas County will not be sending out delinquent tax and utility statements this year in an effort to save money, said Treasurer Mary Dodge. “It’s not a state requirement, but it is something we’ve been doing for years,” she said.

Music classes for toddlers to be held at conservatory

WENATCHEE — The Woods House Conservatory of Music, 323 First St., will offer “Music for Toddlers I” and “Music for Toddlers II” classes for children.

Library to hold after-school program

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Public Library, 310 Douglas St., will host the “Books and Bites” after-school program at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: Edith Lorena Kenney and Herbert L. Garrett were married yesterday. They will make their home in the Stemilt area.

Dear Abby: Vegetarian feels picked on for lifestyle

Dear Abby: I have been a vegetarian for five years. When it comes to people who question or make fun of my choice, I’m tired of laughing and letting the comments “roll off” my back. When my grandfather sits near me at a family event, he will analyze my plate, look at me in disgust and then tell me, “Carrots have feelings, too.”

Hunt for bird mummy in Conn. comes up empty

NORTH HAVEN, Conn. — Researchers who examined an Egyptian mummy with the latest imaging technology found no evidence that a packet inside her was an offering to the gods of the ancient world. Previous tests led to speculation that the packet was a bird mummy — something researchers said would be an unusual and exciting find — but high-resolution tests Thursday at Quinnipiac University showed no remnants of a bird.

Maybe men aren’t all that primitive; study stirs debate

WASHINGTON — Women may think of men as primitive, but new research indicates that the Y chromosome — the thing that makes a man male — is evolving far faster than the rest of the human genetic code. A new study comparing the Y chromosomes from humans and chimpanzees, our nearest living relatives, show that they are about 30 percent different. That is far greater than the 2 percent difference between the rest of the human genetic code and that of the chimp’s, according to a study appearing in the journal Nature.

Honda climbing the charts in domestic SUV sales with Pilot

Honda is well known for its fuel-efficient cars. But the Japan-based automaker also sells America’s second most popular sport utility vehicle that can accommodate at least seven people. The sizable Honda Pilot beat out the Chevrolet Tahoe, Ford Explorer and Toyota Highlander in 2009 to take second spot in U.S. sales of SUVs with three rows of seats.

Longstanding Lego has transformed itself

BILLUND, DENMARK — A Lego brick is a Lego brick is a Lego brick. Except when it’s a Lego Star Wars pajama set, a Lego Indiana Jones video game, a range of warrior-heroes based on Polynesian mythology or indeed any number of the other lucrative tie-ins from Disney to Harry Potter that now form the backbone of Scandinavia’s most prominent toy maker.

Money management course begins Jan. 28

WENATCHEE — King’s Orchard Church of Christ, 1610 Orchard St., will host a 13-week Financial Peace University course beginning at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 28. Course topics include budgeting, insurance, debt, investing, saving and cash flow. The course fee is $100 and covers books, CDs, curriculum and other materials.

‘God hasn’t let me down yet’

How angry young man turned his life around

CHICAGO — For better and worse, Sam Vega couldn’t stop looking back. Let down by a mother with destructive habits, a father he never knew, and the grandmother who moved him to Chicago, Vega struck out on his own at age 18.

Latest faith healing trial set to begin

OREGON CITY, Ore. — An Oregon City couple will soon go on trial for the death of their son, the latest Oregon criminal case over faith healing deaths. Jeff and Marci Beagley have been charged with criminally negligent homicide for not providing medical treatment to their 16-year-old son, who died of an untreated urinary tract blockage. The family belongs to Followers of Christ Church, whose members shun medical care in favor of prayer. Their trial begins this month.

‘Autism affects everyone’

UW clinic understands the need for family approach

SEATTLE — Debbie Krenzler does not expect people to understand. When her son, Garrett Moore, starts screaming in public and she has to hold him down with her arms and legs crossed over him like a wrestler, even though he’s 17 and nearly 6 feet tall, and she’s 54 and 6 inches shorter, no, she does not expect much in the way of sympathy.

Parenting Corner: Mother can be nurturing and demanding

Well, I mean, I’m the nurturer, right?” she said. I was talking to a mother about a disciplinary issue she was having with one of her children when she made some comment concerning her overall approach to parenting. I asked why she felt the way she did, and the above remark was her response.

No health insurance?

Are you one of nearly 40,000 North Central Washington residents who don’t have health insurance? The Wenatchee World is gathering information for an in-depth story about local residents who have no insurance, and what they think about the national health care debate. Please contact reporter K.C. Mehaffey at (509) 997-2512, or by e-mail at mehaffey@wenatcheeworld.com if you would like to be interviewed for this story.

Class to teach parents about kindergarten

CASHMERE — The Cashmere School District will hold a free READY! for Kindergarten class for parents who have children ages 4 or 5 not yet enrolled in school. The class will take place at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Vale Elementary School, 101 Pioneer Ave.

Kids can take part in library’s monthly celebrity story time

WENATCHEE — The children’s department at the Wenatchee Public Library, 310 Douglas St., will present celebrity story time on the third Tuesday evening of each month.

YWCA offers training help for young baby sitters

WENATCHEE — A baby sitter’s training course for kids ages 11 to 15 is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 23 at the YWCA Wenatchee Valley, 212 First St.

Thursday, January 14

Rapist gets 27 years

‘I am no longer your victim,’ woman tells him

WENATCHEE — An 18-year-old Wenatchee man was sentenced to 27 years in prison on Monday for raping a woman during an armed home invasion robbery.

‘Saboteur’ a different kind of WWII game

Games set in World War II are common to the point of oversaturation. But most of them are first-person shooters or strategy types. “The Saboteur,” though it takes place during that terrible conflict, offers a fresh perspective by putting the player in control of a resistance fighter in Nazi-occupied France and parts of Germany.

‘Lovely Bones’ trades soul for spectacle

Odd as it sounds, Peter Jackson needed to come down to Earth a bit more in “The Lovely Bones,” his adaptation of Alice Sebold’s best-seller about a murdered girl looking back on her life from beyond.

New DVDs offer contrasting portrayals of Iraq war

“The Hurt Locker” Summit Entertainment, DVD $26.99, Blu-ray $34.99

DVD+U

“Halloween II” Sony, DVD $28.96, Blu-ray $38.96

Soundbites

“Contra” Vampire Weekend, $14.98

Led Zeppelin bio explores band’s mythic image

Is there a more mythic band than Led Zeppelin? At the pinnacle of their success, with Robert Plant’s hair lighted by stadium lights, they looked like they’d just come down off Mount Olympus.

Write On The River welcomes Brooks

Write On The River, the writers’ conference founded by Kay Kenyon in 2006, brings bestselling fantasy author Terry Brooks to give its keynote address when it opens May 15 at Wenatchee Valley College. Brooks first gained notice with the “Shannara” fantasy series, and later branched out into other series. His latest novel is “A Princess of Landover,” published in August. He also wrote the novelization of “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.”

Across the universe

Closing out a major work, SF author Kay Kenyon shifts genres

Kay Kenyon’s quartet of novels “The Entire and the Rose” deals with two parallel universes, each struggling to survive at the expense of the other, and the people who travel between them. Kind of like publishing. After 10 novels in the science fiction genre, on the eve of the Jan. 26 publication of her new book “Prince of Storms,” Kenyon is planning her jump into another fictional field: fantasy.

Check it out: Art

Collective Visions Gallery opens its state-wide juried art show Feb. 2-27, featuring 128 pieces by Washington artists. Wenatchee artist Guy C. Crilly’s “Mount Rainier Polar Panorama” photograph was selected among the pieces from nearly 800 submissions.

All downhill from here

World’s readers pick best sledding slopes for maximum whoosh

Last week, the Lincoln Park sledding hill was looking a little spotty — an ice coating over patches of bare green grass — but Wenatchee city officials expressed hope that a weekend storm might elevate the popular slope back to its World’s Best status. “When we’ve got snow, that’s one great place to sled,” says Dave Erickson, the city’s Parks and Recreation director. “So whenever it snows — maybe soon? — we’ll be ready.”

Check it out: Scene

Those with a nose for the bold, the subtle and the in-between will find fun at the museum Jan. 30. Its annual fundraiser provides samples from 14 area wineries, as well as hors d’oeuvres for the palate.

Check it out: Overtures

Icicle Creek Music Center resident pianist Oksana Ezhokina directs Leavenworth’s annual piano festival, which includes a week-long intensive of private lessons and master classes for budding young musicians.

Check it out: On stage

The frenetic 1936 family comedy, "You Can't Take It With You" by George Kaufman and Moss Hart, captures the extended family of patriarch Martin Vanderhof (John Ryan), who presides over a household of happy eccentrics.

Deliver us from ‘Eli’

Travolta had his “Battlefield Earth,” Costner had his “Waterworld” and now Denzel Washington has his truly awful sci-fi epic, “The Book of Eli.” This futuristic action catastrophe, seemingly collaged together from the lesser works of Vin Diesel, is an affront to anyone with even moderate blood flow to the brain.

I ‘Spy’ limp and lifeless Chan film

Jackie Chan, the martial arts comic and greatest physical funnyman since Buster Keaton, used to dazzle us with his athletic hijinks — clambering over this and that, using ladders, a sailboat mast, anything at hand — to chase down or beat down bad guys.

How to send help to Haiti

I don’t need to tell you how unimaginable is the devastation in Haiti. An earthquake of magnitude 7.0, very heavy but very survivable in most modern cities, struck just 10 miles from one of the poorest places in the poorest nation in the hemisphere. Buildings of brick, block and sand cannot stand such shaking. Early estimates place the death toll at 50,000, and climbing. The survivors may be only slightly better off. The already pitiful infrastructure is largely destroyed — no water, no food, no sanitation, no transportation, little or no medical care in a city of 2 million people now filled with rubble and corpses. This may the great humanitarian tragedy of our time, in this hemisphere. Americans have and will respond with typical generosity. President Obama has pledged $100 million in assistance. A Navy carrier has anchored. Marines and the 82nd Airborne are on the ground, working to get the Port-au-Prince airport operational for a massive airlift of relief supplies and personnel.

There’s a rock on the health care road

WASHINGTON — Although Democrats think their health care legislation faces smooth sailing to implementation, there is a rock dead ahead — a constitutional challenge to the legislation’s core. Democrats who assume it is constitutional to make it mandatory for Americans to purchase health insurance should answer some questions:Would it be constitutional for the government to legislate compulsory calisthenics for all Americans? If not, why not? If it would be, in what sense does the nation still have constitutional, meaning limited, government? Supporters of the mandate say Congress can impose it under the enumerated power to regulate interstate commerce. Since the New Deal, courts have made this power capacious enough to include regulating intrastate activity that “substantially affects” interstate commerce. Hence Congress could constitutionally ban racial discrimination in “public accommodations” — restaurants, motels, etc. — as an impediment to interstate commercial activity.

Business needs to get political

The ongoing test flights of the new Boeing 787 have been a magnificent display of American engineering and have showcased one of the greatest successes in American manufacturing. Unfortunately, for residents and workers in Washington state the test flights are also a painful reminder of a missed opportunity, jobs lost and the economic hit our state will take from losing the second 787 production line to South Carolina. With one in three jobs in our state connected to Boeing, news involving Boeing always makes the headlines. But it’s not just about Boeing. The same ill-advised public policies and misguided lawmakers that drove Boeing out of our state are hurting thousands of small and medium sized businesses in Washington as well.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Manage the forest: John Malone raises some important issues in his recent opinion piece on our national forests (The Wenatchee World, Jan. 8). He is correct that there is little management activity. Timber sales on the Wenatchee National Forest are practically nonexistent, and that is not a good economically, or ecologically. Ironically. we need the work of chainsaws if we are to save the forest from catastrophic fire.

News of record

News of record reports for Chelan and Douglas counties

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Wednesday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game:

State peace group sues, claiming infiltration

SEATTLE (AP) — Members of a Washington anti-war group are suing an Army intelligence analyst, as well as the city of Olympia and several of its police officials, claiming their organization was illegally infiltrated and that the information gathered was used to make wrongful arrests. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, 13 people alleged John J. Towery, a civilian intelligence analyst at Fort Lewis, attended their meetings and demonstrations using a false identity and relayed information about them to law-enforcement authorities, such as Seattle’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Man throws sandal at judge, assault charge to be added

SEATTLE — A man in a Seattle courtroom for a mental competency hearing threw his jail sandal at the judge and hit him in the mouth. King County Superior Court Administrator Paul Sherfey says Judge Palmer Robinson was not injured in Wednesday’s incident. Three jail guards quickly subdued the defendant, 22-year-old Abdi Abukar of Seattle.

Haq gets life sentence for Jewish office shooting

SEATTLE — A judge in Seattle is sentencing Naveed Haq to life in prison without release. The term at today’s court hearing is the only option after a jury rejected his insanity claims last month and convicted him in a shooting rampage at the Seattle Jewish Federation office in July 2006 that killed Pamela Waechter and wounded five others.

Aid workers face ‘chaos’ in Haiti

GENEVA (AP) — Roads full of hungry, homeless people. A ruined port and an overwhelmed airport. Hundreds of crumpled buildings and little heavy machinery. Few working phones. Relief supplies and emergency experts started pouring into Haiti from around the world today but aid groups said the challenge of helping Haiti’s desperate quake survivors was enormous.

Susan J. (Nicholson) Orem

Susan J. (Nicholson) Orem, 64, of Wenatchee, died Monday, Jan. 11, 2010.

Nina M. Johnson

Nina M. Johnson, 88, of Wenatchee, died Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010.

Katie Gotti Detrick

Katie Gotti Detrick, 82, of Omak, died Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010, at Apple Springs Assisted Living in Omak.

Lenore Alene (Jahlstrom) Bozarth

Lenore Alene (Jahlstrom) Bozarth, 88, of Wenatchee, died Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010.

Patrick Alan Beasley

Patrick Alan Beasley, 44, of Wenatchee, died Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010. He had lived in Wenatchee for two years and had been a commercial fisherman in Alaska.

Defenseless Cardinals: Arizona goes from facing Rodgers to now Brees

TEMPE, Ariz. — After Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers shredded the Arizona Cardinals’ defense, imagine what Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints might do. The Cardinals’ defense made the big play that won the game in Arizona’s 51-45 overtime thriller over the Packers, but before that Rodgers’ offense moved up and down the field with little resistance.

Singer Teddy Pendergrass dead at 59

NEW YORK — Legendary singer Teddy Pendergrass, dead after a long illness at age 59, spent his last 28 years in a wheelchair, left to wonder what life might have been like had a car crash not completely altered his destiny.

Officials say suspected U.S. missiles kill 12

ISLAMABAD — U.S. missiles slammed into a former school where Pakistani Taliban leaders were meeting today, killing 12 people near the Afghan border in a strike that may have been aimed at the insurgents’ top commander. The militant chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, was not among the victims, intelligence officials and militants told The Associated Press.

AG Holder: Justice fighting financial crime

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder today told a panel investigating the financial crisis that the Justice Department is using “every tool at its disposal” to fight the financial crimes that contributed to the meltdown and could cause another.

China tells Web companies to obey law

BEIJING — In China’s first official response to Google’s threat to leave the country, the government today said foreign Internet companies are welcome but must obey the law and gave no hint of a possible compromise over Web censorship.

Obama seeks tax on banks; calls bonuses obscene

WASHINGTON (AP) — De-claring “We want our money back,” President Barack Obama wants to slap a tax on banks to recoup the money that the American public spent on bailing out large financial institutions on the brink of collapse. The president said today his goal is not to punish banks, but rather to prevent them from a behavior of excess, including new employee bonuses he called “obscene.”

Perch posts

Seagulls form a line as they rest on poles at Bang Pu seaside resort in Samut Prakarn province, eastern Thailand today. The birds migrate from Russia and Mongolia to this resort town every year beginning in November.

Deal reached on health bill tax

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House reached a tentative agreement with union leaders today to tax high-cost insurance plans, officials said, removing one of the major stumbling blocks in the way of a final compromise on comprehensive health care legislation sought by President Barack Obama.

Metals

NEW YORK (AP) — Spot nonferrous metal prices Wednesday.

Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market is trading in a tight range after the government reported that businesses increased inventories by a larger-than-expected amount in November. The gain in inventories is a welcome sign for the economy and suggests that businesses are feeling more confident that sales will pick up. It was the second straight month that stockpiles increased after a stretch of 13 monthly declines. The positive news on inventories Thursday helped to balance weaker reports on retail sales and initial unemployment claims.

New York Stock Exchange

Wednesday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Local interest stocks

As of closing Wednesday

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Wednesday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Digest: Tennessee running back unanimous All-Pro choice

Chris Johnson didn’t get any votes for MVP. He didn’t miss any for The Associated Press 2009 NFL All-Pro team. The 2,000-yard rusher from the Tennessee Titans is the only unanimous choice for the squad announced today. He’s joined in the backfield by Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who won an unprecedented fourth MVP Award last week.

Branyan ready to move on from Mariners

SEATTLE — Russell Branyan is reluctantly moving beyond the Mariners and will now focus on other teams that have expressed interest in him. Talks between the first baseman and the team stalled this winter, initially because of Branyan’s attempts to land a multiyear deal. The 33-year-old, who clubbed 31 home runs after the Mariners gave him his first shot at a full-time major-league job, talked Wednesday for the first time since the team traded for first baseman Casey Kotchman.

Caribou Trail League wrestling: Five teams among state’s top 11

EAST WENATCHEE — In the latest state wrestling poll, Tonasket came in at No. 11 in the Class 1A rankings. Ordinarily, that would mean the Tigers would be in the hunt for a league title. But if the polls are accurate, they won’t even finish in the top half of the Caribou Trail League standings this season.

What’s wrong with the Huskies?

SEATTLE — To calm concerns about Washington’s ability to resurrect its season, sophomore star Isaiah Thomas has repeatedly said it’s early in the college basketball season, which is a dangerous misnomer. Truth be told, the Huskies are midway through the regular season, which makes their three-game losing streak all the more troubling.

WSU has best record, but little respect

PULLMAN — Washington State has the best overall record in the Pacific-10, and it would be even better if not for a controversial officials’ decision. But that’s not enough to get the Cougars any respect. No Pac-10 team received a single vote in this week’s Associated Press Top 25, including Washington State (12-4, 2-2 Pac-10).

Ephrata and Chelan No. 2 in first AP polls; Okanogan, Cascade, Entiat also place

WENATCHEE — The first state basketball polls of the season confirmed what everyone already knew: Ephrata and Chelan have pretty good boys teams. The Tigers and Goats debuted at No. 2 in their respective classes — Ephrata in 2A and Chelan in 1A — in the Associated Press polls released Wednesday.

Panthers’ Alec Martin takes part in national prep football showcase

WENATCHEE — Alec Martin is an integral part of the Wenatchee boys basketball team. His size (6-foot-4, 245 pounds), sure hands and physical play make him a bear for opposing teams to keep contained.

Panther girls bowling team clinches playoff berth

EAST WENATCHEE — A day after falling short of the league title in a loss to Kennewick, the Wenatchee girls bowling team shattered three records in a 2,270-1,924 win over Pasco, clinching a regional playoff berth in the process. The Panthers set new team records for a single-game score (1,079), two-game score (1,968), and total score (2,270).

Could Zags get land in Spokane for tourney games?

SPOKANE — Around Gonzaga these days, there are more important things to worry about than NCAA tournament seeding and siting, beginning with a treacherous matchup tonight at St. Mary’s. The Gaels have quietly put together a 15-2 record and a tidy 36 RPI. But winning at St. Mary’s would continue to position Gonzaga nicely for a postseason plum almost unthinkable in October.

Wildcat girls put brakes on an eight-game losing streak

EAST WENATCHEE — The Eastmont Wildcats may have earned their first win in over a month by beating Davis 53-38 in Columbia Basin Big Nine Cascade Division play Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean coach Brent Darnell was pleased with his team’s performance.

Knights get blown out by Spokane – twice

Eastmont graduate Brooke Randall leads Sasquatch over WVC women

SPOKANE — Poor shooting did in the Wenatchee Valley College women’s basketball team, as Spokane blew by the Knights 78-37 Wednesday night in Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges East Region action.

Eastmont wins crazy one versus Davis

Wildcat boys team snaps three-game losing streak, now 6-4 overall

YAKIMA — A dominant first-half performance turned out to be Eastmont’s saving grace Wednesday night, as its 20-point halftime lead helped it withstand a furious Davis comeback and escape with a 62-60 win.

School officials cross fingers, lay out levies

Ballots will be mailed next week to voters in several North Central Washington school districts seeking to pass levies in a special election Feb. 9. All but one of the districts are hoping to replace existing maintenance and operations levies that fund everything from athletics to text books. The Okanogan School District is asking for a special technology levy, with funds to be used only to purchase and maintain technology.

Forest Service offers grants for improvement projects

WENATCHEE — The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest is offering grants for projects designed to benefit the national forest. Title II project proposals must be submitted to the Forest headquarters in Wenatchee by Feb. 19.

Semi crash closes Blewett Pass highway

BLEWETT PASS — Traffic was blocked on Highway 97 near the Blewett Pass summit for about four hours Wednesday night after a semitrailer crashed. The accident happened about 10 miles south of the summit at about 10:50 p.m., according to a Washington State Patrol report. The rig, which had been traveling northbound, went out of control and came to rest in the southbound lane and ditch.

Crews cut down treacherous trees

Rotting maples worried PUD

WENATCHEE — Yep. They were rotten, all right. Crews made short work Wednesday morning of two towering silver maples at the foot of Island View Street in Wenatchee Riverfront Park.

Linda "Kaye" Hancock

A great star in our lives fell from view on December 30, 2009, when our beloved Kaye passed away, following a sudden illness, surrounded by her children, only two months after losing her sweetheart, Tom.

Haiti crisis means anxious hours at home

QUINCY — At seven-and-a-half months pregnant, Allison Razey says she’s usually in bed by 8 p.m. But not Tuesday, the day the earth leveled the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, where her parents are working as missionaries. “I learned about the earthquake around 3:30 p.m.,” said the young Quincy mother Wednesday. “The only phone number we had for them, we tried calling and got a recording saying phone calls weren’t working. Not knowing was extremely scary. Just waiting, seeing all the devastation on TV and the Internet and wondering where they were.”

Senator says U.S. should consider using drone attacks in Yemen

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate chairman said Wednesday that the U.S. should consider airstrikes, armed drones and clandestine operations in Yemen to defeat an emboldened al-Qaida force there. The remark by Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, is a rare public admission by a senior U.S. official that direct U.S. military action in Yemen is possible in coming months.

Clerics in Yemen threaten jihad if U.S. sends troops

SAN’A, Yemen — A group of prominent Muslim clerics warned today they will call for jihad, or holy war, if the U.S. sends troops to fight al-Qaida in Yemen. The group of 15 clergymen includes the highly influential Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, whom the U.S. has branded a spiritual mentor of Osama bin-Laden but who is also courted by the Yemeni government for his important backing.

Apple Blossom names top 10 finalists

WENATCHEE — The Washington State Apple Blossom Festival on Wednesday announced the top 10 candidates vying for the festival’s 2010 queen and princesses.

City turns to former administrator as interim

LEAVENWORTH — The city of Leavenworth will strike a 90-day contract with former City Administrator Rich Brinkman while it searches for a permanent replacement. Brinkman, who was Leavenworth’s city administrator from 2005 to 2008 and previously served a similar role in Wenatchee, will earn $1,400 a month to act as a part-time administrator, working at least eight hours a week. He’s expected to start work Monday and continue through April 13, when the city hopes to have a permanent administrator on board.

More math credits has Wenatchee administrators scrambling for answers

WENATCHEE — The new state math requirement may lead to more changes than just another class, administrators told the Wenatchee School Board on Tuesday. Last spring, the Legislature added another math credit to state graduation requirements. Instead of two math credits, this year’s freshmen must earn three in order to earn a diploma. Two of those three credits must be Algebra I or geometry. The third credit can be either Algebra II or a math credit relevant to the student’s career path.

Moses Lake men fined for illegal bear kill

SPOKANE — Federal prosecutors say two Moses Lake men have been fined $3,000 each, ordered to pay nearly $15,000 in damages and put on probation for the killing of a grizzly bear in 2007. On Monday, 26-year-old Brandon D. Rodeback and 30-year-old Kurtis L. Cox pleaded guilty to charges of transporting the animal. Bears are listed as a threatened species, and transporting an animal protected by federal, state or tribal law is a crime.

Boat racing in East Wenatchee?

EAST WENATCHEE — Ever on the lookout for events to draw people to East Wenatchee, Dawn Collings, the city’s events board director found an opportunity for the city to host sprint boat races. Collings said a representative from the U.S. Sprint Boat Association contacted the Wenatchee Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau earlier this month expressing interest in holding the races in the Wenatchee Valley.

Couple challenges license denial

LEAVENWORTH — Steve and Debbie Demarest don’t know if they will ever reopen their electric bike rental and sales business in downtown Leavenworth. But they still plan to pursue legal action against the city for denying their business license — which eventually forced them to close their unique business last summer.

No health insurance?

Street Alert: Traffic slowdown at Chelan intersection

CHELAN — Beginning at 8 a.m. today, there will be a flagger-controlled traffic slowdown and revision near Pat and Mike’s at the intersection of Highway 971 (South Lakeshore Drive) and Highway 97A. State Department of Transportation workers will be replacing a guardrail that was destroyed out by a truck wreck in December, according to a DOT news release. The work will affect traffic for most of the day.

Quincy school directors reapportion district

QUINCY — Quincy School Board directors adopted a plan to reapportion the school district they serve Tuesday. The school district now moves from five to three areas of representation. Two of the five directors will become at-large positions, meaning they can reside anywhere in the district. The three others will come from specific parts of the district that have become larger, said Burton Dickerson, district superintendent. The three districts were designed to be similar in population and ethnic makeup. The change, which was approved by Quincy voters in last November’s election, allows more citizen participation, Dickerson said. All of the director positions are currently filled until at least 2011.

Area jazz students learn from the masters

The Wenatchee Jazz Workshop is under way this week in the music room at Wenatchee High School. Jazz bands from Eastmont Junior High School, Wenatchee High School, Pioneer Middle School and a combined band from Orchard and Foothills middle schools are getting help from six professional musicians.

Columbia Valley Community Health hires new CEO

WENATCHEE — Columbia Valley Community Health has a new chief executive officer. Patrick Bucknum took the helm at Columbia Valley last week, leaving his job as chief operating officer at the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic. He filled the post that’s been vacant since Cheryl Damstetter left last May to move to Victoria, B.C. Carol Diede, deputy director, served as acting CEO until this month.

Talking it Over: Family farm provided fertile ground for a writer’s imagination

A best-selling historical novel about growing up on an orchard just north of Entiat was written about 60 years ago by Allis McKay, titled “They Came to a River.” A review of that book and two other historical novels by McKay appeared in the winter issue of Columbia Magazine of the Washington State Historical Society.

Nine Vermont state office candidates favor secession

SHELBURNE, Vt. — Peter Garritano thinks it’s time for Vermont to call it quits with America. The way the 54-year-old automobile salesman sees it, the “empire” is about to implode and tiny Vermont can lead the way by becoming its own independent republic. So he’s running for lieutenant governor, topping a slate of secession-minded candidates seeking statewide offices this year.

Haywire winter weather, affects tourists — and turtles

ORLANDO, Fla. — Mark and Barbara Willard were at home in Wickford, England, two weeks ago checking the weather forecast on the Internet before packing for their trip to Orlando — sunny and 70 degrees. By Saturday afternoon they had the hoods on their brand new coats pulled tight around their heads as the walked down the International Drive tourist strip.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: E.F. Cadman is building a residence on South Mission Street.

Dear Abby: Parents worry about son’s tag-along girlfriend

Dear Abby: Our son, “Sam,” is a senior in high school and has chosen a college that will suit his major. Now, all of a sudden, his girlfriend, “Amanda,” has decided she wants to attend the same school. We’d like to discourage it because we know she’s only going there to be close to our son. We feel she needs to get out on her own as much as Sam does. Sam has tried to break up with her in the past, but she makes him feel guilty about breaking it off. He is a bright kid, but seems not to be smart where Amanda is concerned.

Surviving a loss with song

It was exactly five years ago last Thursday that I saw my dad for the last time. At Christmastime 2004, he told me about his cancer and that he was only given about six months. A couple of weeks later, I was in a Seattle hospital at his bedside, holding his hand and telling him goodbye. He was 56 years old.

Senior, junior financial aid night Tuesday

WENATCHEE — The director of financial aid at Wenatchee Valley College will talk to parents of seniors about financial aid on Tuesday. The event will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Wenatchee High School auditorium.

Former fire chief named to council post

CASHMERE — Former Cashmere Fire Chief and auto parts store manager Jeff Gomes was named to a vacant seat on the Cashmere City Council Monday. Gomes, 64, steps in to replace longtime Councilman Dean Falteisek, who resigned Oct. 31. Gomes was one of four applicants for the open seat, including former Councilman Bruce Moses, Web designer Matthew Hanson and Dan Gemeinhart.

Yiddish takes yet another blow

BALTIMORE — It survived Hitler, Stalin, the decision to make Hebrew the official language of the State of Israel and the adoption of English by immigrants to the United States. Now Yiddish, for 1,000 years the everyday language of European Jews, is facing another threat: budget cuts.

Peace of My Mind: Want some real wisdom? Try reading through the Yellow Pages

You can learn a great deal by perusing a telephone book’s Yellow Pages. Chambers of commerce may stretch the truth a bit about how wonderful a community is. Civic leaders might exaggerate a city’s strong points, while conveniently ignoring its problems. But the Yellow Pages don’t fudge; they tell it like it is.

Wenatchee police sergeant explores state’s ‘Great Places’

John Kruse wanted to be a writer. For years, he got a lot of practice ... writing arrest reports. The Wenatchee police sergeant had other subjects he preferred, though — long hikes, quail hunts, idyllic fishing trips. Writing about the latter topics is what got Kruse to this point.

Wednesday, January 13

Wanted: NCW folks with ties to Haiti

Have you lived and worked in Haiti? Has Tuesday’s tragic earthquake in Haiti touched your life or the lives of family or friends? If so, please contact World staff reporter Christine Pratt, 665-1173, pratt@wenatcheeworld.com. Thank you!

Wenatchee aches with Haiti

WENATCHEE — Stunned by reports of Haiti’s devasting earthquake, local residents with ties to the Caribbean country waited this morning for news of friends and colleagues living in and near Port-Au-Prince. Thousands of buildings in the capital city were crushed Tuesday by a magnitude-7.0 tremor and aftershocks continued today.

Man gives apologetic note about robbery, then waits

PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland police say a man handed an apologetic robbery note to an employee at a FedEx Kinko’s store, then waited for police to arrive. Employee Paul Rhoney says the note said: “This is a robbery, I’ll wait outside for police, sorry.”

Horrors untold in Haiti as rescue effort begins

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitians are piling bodies along the devastated streets of their capital after a powerful earthquake flattened the president’s palace and the main prison, the cathedral, hospitals, schools and thousands of homes. Untold numbers are still trapped. President Rene Preval said he believes thousands of people are dead even as other officials give much higher estimates — though they were based on the extent of the destruction rather than firm counts of the dead.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: The Rev. John W. Johnson of Rochester, N.Y., has been called to the pastorate of the Wenatchee Baptist Church.

Dear Abby: Union rep advises silence in response to harassment

Dear Abby: I’m at my wit’s end at work. There’s a woman in her early 30s here who is out of the closet. I’m straight, happily married and 20 years older than she is. Abby, she keeps hitting on me! I’ve told her I’m not interested and that I’m straight. She then makes comments that she has converted other women.

Renouncing evil powers and anonymity

I went to church in San Francisco on Sunday, the big stone church on Nob Hill, whose name is an old slang term for a rich person, where a gaggle of railroad tycoons built their palaces high above the squalid tenements of the poor back in the Gilded Age, and there with considerable pomp we baptized a dozen infants into the fellowship of faith and we renounced the evil powers of this world, which all in all is a good day’s work. The term “evil powers” is one you hear only in the church, or in Marvel comic books, or Republican speeches, and it isn’t something I renounce every day. I am a romantic Democrat, raised on William Saroyan and Pete Seeger and Preston Sturges, and we have faith in the decency of the little guy, and we believe you can depend on the kindness of strangers. But it ain’t necessarily so.

Into mouth a foot will go

If Michael Steele can pull himself away from bashing Harry Reid, he really should take a moment to dash off a thank-you note ... to Harry Reid. Without Harry Reid, Michael Steele would be looking at another week of whispers about his rocky reign as chairman of the Republican National Committee. Which is only fair, because without Michael Steele, Harry Reid would have been looking at a full week of panicky chatter about the Senate majority leader’s likely-to-be-shrinking Senate majority.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Sleepless in Waterville: My son called from Afghanistan around Christmastime. He has been there for almost a year now. He said his mission had changed. He serves in the U.S. Army Infantry Airborne and his unit mostly sought out and fought the Taliban. Now, his unit is distributing seed and money to the farmers to encourage them to grow crops for food rather than opium for the Taliban. As the son of a wheat farmer from Fort Benton, Mont., and his mother and stepfather, both wheat farmers in Waterville, it was a delightful and rewarding mission for him.

Quincy ranks best in the West

Say you’re running a corporation deep into high-tech. The end of the recession is in sight, demand is starting to creep up, you have some precious capital in hand and you want to build a nice small factory or distribution facility. Where would you go? That’s never a simple decision, but these are cost-conscious days in corporate boardrooms and you are likely to be drawn inexorably to a place that’s relatively cheap. You might look at a comparison of costs that vary by location, like labor, fringe benefits, property taxes and electricity, and find some places that stand out. In fact, in the West, the best could very well be Quincy, Wash. It’s a little bit of a surprise, because you’d never heard of the place until Microsoft built a server farm there a couple of years ago.

U.S., Afghan troops killed in explosions

KABUL — Two U.S. service members died and four Afghan soldiers were killed in separate explosions today in eastern Afghanistan, an area of the nation rife with violence, officials said. Nine members of the Afghan National Police were injured today in other incidents.

Conan O’Brien says no thanks to NBC move

LOS ANGELES — “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien used his best material for his statement that said he wouldn’t play ball with NBC’s plan for him to make room for Jay Leno to come back to late night. By the time O’Brien arrived on stage Tuesday night for his “Tonight Show” monologue, his remarks about the scheduling debacle took the form of a few swipes at NBC.

Army charges mom who refused deployment

SAVANNAH, Ga. — The Army is pursuing criminal charges against a soldier in Georgia who did not deploy to Afghanistan last year because she’s a single mom and says she had no family able to care for her infant son. A spokesman for Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah said today that Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, a 21-year-old Army cook, has been charged with missing movement, being absent without leave, dereliction of duty and insubordinate conduct.

Bank CEOs say they underestimated 2008 financial crisis, offer apologies

WASHINGTON — Wall Street executives said today they underestimated the severity of the 2008 financial crisis and apologized for risky behavior and poor decisions. They also defended their bonus and compensation practices to a skeptical commission investigating what caused the collapse. Americans are furious and “have a right to be” about the hefty bonuses banks paid out after getting billions of dollars in federal help, the commission’s chairman told chief executives of four major banks, all survivors of the deepest and longest recession since the Depression.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Tuesday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 170

Rogue peacocks wearing out their welcome in Sultan neighborhood

SULTAN — The wild peacocks that wander around Marni Seid’s neighborhood make her feel a bit conflicted. On the one hand, she likes how they look. She remembers marveling at the beauty of one strutting around the street with his long, iridescent tail feathers fanned out.

Activists file immigration initiative again

SEATTLE — Proponents of stricter immigration rules have again filed an initiative in Olympia, which demands the state ask for proof of citizenship for a person applying for a driver’s license. The initiative also calls for the state to adopt E-Verify, a federal government program that checks a person’s work eligibility in the country.

Aleksey Nikolayevich Ivanenko

Aleksey Nikolayevich Ivanenko, 59, of Malaga, died Monday, Jan. 11, 2010.

Thomas J. Burke Jr.

Thomas J. Burke Jr., 69, of Seattle, died Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010.

Anthony Emanuel Arriaga

Anthony Emanuel Arriaga, 4-year-old son of Vicente and Martha Rodriguez Arriaga of Wenatchee, died Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010.

Anti-drug war nets second gang kingpin

TIJUANA, Mexico — The capture of a brutal druglord accused of ordering massacres, beheadings and the dissolving of bodies in caustic soda marks the second time in less than a month Mexico has taken down one of its most powerful traffickers.

Co-op says river flows played part in spiking Methow electric rates

WINTHROP — Ray Ellis, manager of the Okanogan County Electric Cooperative, said the last thing he needs right now is another low snow year. “I never used to think about snowpack before I had this job,” said the manger for the small electric co-op in Winthrop that serves 3,455 homes, businesses and irrigators. Now, he said, “I’m worried about it. Everybody that purchases energy should be worried about it.”

North Korea says it will allow more American tourists

BEIJING (AP) — North Korea said today it will begin to allow in more American tourists after years of heavy restrictions on visits to the isolated country, according a tour operator. The United States has never had diplomatic relations with North Korea since the Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. More recently, tensions have remained high over the North’s nuclear program.

Google threat a rare show of defiance in China

BEIJING — Google’s threat to pull out of China over censorship is a rare display of defiance in a system where foreign companies have long accepted intrusive controls to gain access to a huge and growing market. Dismayed by the prospect of a China without Google, visitors left flowers at its Beijing headquarters today as Web sites buzzed with words of support and appeals to stay.

Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are higher as the heads of some of Wall Street’s biggest banks appear on Capitol Hill to testify about the roots of the financial crisis. Financial stocks are reversing an early slide and pulling the market higher. An improved profit forecast at Kraft Foods Inc. is lifting consumer staples stocks.

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

New York Stock Exchange

Tuesday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Local interest stocks

As of closing Tuesday

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Tuesday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Metals

NEW YORK — Spot nonferrous metal prices Wednesday.

Kiffin hired by SC

LOS ANGELES — Nobody was surprised Southern California replaced Pete Carroll with a coach who has rich ties to the Trojans. But almost everybody was stunned to learn exactly which former Trojan is back.

Farrar skips Australia

ADELAIDE, Australia — Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has arrived in Adelaide for Tour Down Under, where he made his comeback race last year after more than three years in retirement. Armstrong touched down in a private jet today on a flight from Hawaii, where he has been training, with his partner Anna Hansen and their baby boy Max.

Olympic figure skating trials on tap in Spokane

SPOKANE — The U.S. Figure Skating Championships return to Spokane on Thursday for the second time in four years. The championships, running until Jan. 24, will select the U.S. Olympic team for Vancouver Games.

Commentary: Sundays will reveal the truth about Pete Carroll

Despite his success, he comes to Seattle as a bit of an unknown

RENTON — In truth, we learn almost nothing from introductory news conferences like Tuesday’s with new Seahawks coach Pete Carroll. Every new coach is at his best, his most enthusiastic and most optimistic at these events. And Carroll, who is a natural showman and shines in front of an audience, thrives in these settings. He is rambling and rah-rah and full of revivalist rhetoric.

Brewster seeking to join reshuffled Class 2B league

Athletic directors lay out two-division proposal

BREWSTER — The Brewster School Board decided Monday to petition the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association to allow Brewster High School athletic teams to compete in Class 2B for the next two school years. The move comes in the aftermath of large layoffs at Gebbers Farms in Brewster, following an audit by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. School officials said some students have withdrawn from school since the layoffs as families move from the area. Others are expected to follow suit.

Power outage affects 1,000 Sunnyslope customers

WENATCHEE — About 1,000 Chelan County PUD customers were without power this morning after two insulators on a power line on Easy Street failed. Affected customers were in Sunnyslope, including Easy Street to Monitor, the Eagle Rock Subdivision, and those in Sleepy Hollow and along American Fruit Road, said PUD spokeswoman Kimberlee Craig.

Nellie Agnes "GG" (Walsh) Beckman

Nellie "GG" Agnes (Walsh) Beckman, age 93, passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family, on January 9, 2010, in Bellingham, WA. Nellie will be remembered for her youthful spirit and love of poetry, music and reading. "GG" will always be missed and loved, but never forgotten.

Ruth Louise Eaton

Ruth Louise Eaton, longtime Douglas County resident, passed on Thursday, January 7, 2010, at Highline Care Center LLC, East Wenatchee, WA. The daughter of Sid and Myrtle Butterfield, she was born on December 2, 1914, and raised in the family home and attended school in Burlington, WA.

Gerald Lester "Jerry" Vandiver

Gerald Lester "Jerry" Vandiver was born February 24, 1929, in Malott, WA. He passed away unexpectedly on January 3, 2010, in Yuma, AZ. Jerry was the eighth child of Will Vandiver and Ada (Hilderbrand) Vandiver, a longtime pioneer family in the Okanogan Valley.

Violet Hart

Violet Hart, age 99, passed away Thursday morning, January 7, 2010, at Cashmere Convalescent Center. She was born February 20, 1910, in Golden, CO.

Eastmont superintendent contract extended

EAST WENATCHEE — The Eastmont School Board wants its superintendent to stick around another year. The board voted to roll forward Garn Christensen’s three-year contract to June 30, 2013.

School district prepares ballfield bids

CHELAN — The Lake Chelan School District plans to seek bids early next month for infrastructure work on property it purchased for ballfields. The land in the Apple Blossom Center in Chelan would eventually also be used for other school facilities.

Wenatchee YWCA to host free “Inspiring Women” tea party

WENATCHEE — The YWCA of Wenatchee Valley, 212 First St., has planned a free “Inspiring Women” tea party from 8 to 9:30 a.m. Jan. 27.

Appleaires seek new members to join singing group

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Valley Appleaires are seeking new members to join their singing group.

Milestones: Marriage licenses

Thomas Lee Post, 49, and Renae Dene Hann, 55, both of Wenatchee

On the line: Tri-City kiteboarders use wind to get moving

PASCO — Steve Thatcher rarely misses the chance to be outdoors on a windy day. Whether it’s on land, water or snow, the Pasco man loves harnessing wind power to take a ride.

Blane, Eastland

Janelle Blane of Spokane and Grant Eastland of Pullman have announced their engagement. She is the daughter of Bob and Terri Blane of Wenatchee. His parents are John and LaVonne Eastland of Astoria, Ore.

LaFreniere, Harum

Ashley LaFreniere and Matthew Harum, both of Wenatchee, have announced their engagement. She is the daughter of Sheri and Ken Haugh of Wenatchee and Greg LaFreniere of Wenatchee. His parents are Mike and Kelly Harum of Wenatchee.

Hill, Molera

Andrea Molera and Nathan Hill exchanged wedding vows Nov. 14 at the People’s Church in Fresno, Calif., before Pastor Harry Townsend. She is the daughter of Mary Torres of Walnut Creek, Calif., and Norman Molera of Pismo Beach, Calif. His parents are Mike and Carol Hill of Leavenworth.

Pickens, Montgomery

Holly Montgomery and Justin Pickens exchanged wedding vows June 20 at Highlander Golf Club in East Wenatchee. Chelan County District Court Judge Nancy Harmon officiated the ceremony.

Economy forces couples to downsize weddings

Michael and Tressa Schuler of Towson, Md., had their wedding all planned: an elaborate but intimate affair at historic Gramercy Mansion with about 75 guests. But then family members extended more invitations, and soon the guest list swelled to 170. “It just started to get too stressful, and we felt that we should be happy planning this,” Michael Schuler said.

Parents still concerned about Make Your Day

WENATCHEE — Parents criticized the Wenatchee School District’s classroom management program for nearly an hour Tuesday, despite district efforts to make the program more consistent and positive. Most of the 15 parents who attended told the school board they believe Make Your Day still has a negative impact, especially for students who act out class after class.

Brighton — 60th

Thomas and Dale Brighton of Wenatchee celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with a cruise to Alaska in September. Dale Shoff and Thomas Brighton were married Sept. 3, 1949, at the Spokane Church of the Nazarene.

Lakeside residents to keep their docks

WENATCHEE — Community efforts may continue to improve a tiny, public “micro park” along Lake Chelan’s south shore, but the private docks around the park will stay. That was the outcome Monday after Chelan County PUD commissioners denied a request by the city of Chelan for more time to come up with a concrete plan for the small PUD-owned beach.

Reader scrapbook

Pugsley shows off his snow beard after a romp in the yard last winter. “He had been outside burying and then digging his ball out of the snow,” said photographer Beth Lynch. “He loves playing ball and he wasn’t going to let a little snow stop him.” The Shih Tzu/pug mix lives with Lynch in Pateros.

Council votes to lower waste removal rates

EAST WENATCHEE — Waste removal costs to ratepayers in East Wenatchee should decrease after an East Wenatchee City Council vote Tuesday to modify rates based on the Consumer Price Index. The city’s contract with Waste Management of Greater Wenatchee ties trash collection rates to increases in the index. As a consequence of the recession, this year the index decreased 1.29 percent. City Finance Director Nick Gerde suggested the language of the contract tied rates to the index, which didn’t account for decreases.

Health District announces H1N1 clinics

EAST WENATCHEE — Clinics where the general public can get free vaccinations against the H1N1 flu will be offered in January and February. They will be held at the Chelan-Douglas Health District, 200 Valley Mall Parkway, from 1 to 4 p.m. Jan. 19, Jan. 25-26, Feb. 1-2, Feb. 8-9 and Feb. 16.

NCW residents give $35,000 to Neighbors Care Fund

WENATCHEE — No doubt about it. The spirit of giving is alive and well in North Central Washington. As of Tuesday, some 228 donors contributed a record $35,155 to The Wenatchee World’s Neighbors Care Fund this year, nearly twice what the annual fundraiser collected last year. The goal was to raise $20,000, which would have been a record, said Rufus Woods, the newspaper’s editor and publisher.

Former area resident backs out of state court plea agreement for child-sex crimes

TACOMA — A wealthy pilot who last fall received a federal sentence of 25 years for child-sex crimes has backed out of a Pierce County Superior Court plea agreement, raising questions about what happens next. Weldon Marc Gilbert’s lawyer, John Henry Browne, said Tuesday he thinks the federal plea bargain is in jeopardy. Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Rogoff says he thinks it remains in effect because Pierce County prosecutors upheld their part of a deal agreed upon by Gilbert, the U.S. government and the state of Washington.

Serving the nation

Air Force Airman 1st Class Seth Burlando recently graduated from basic training with honors at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.

Wenatchee man’s woodworking on display

Bud Patrick, of 800 Methow St. in Wenatchee, has been working with wood for the last 30 years and it’s not uncommon to see him in his front or backyard working on a carving. Patrick estimated he has made at least 200 pieces.

Pet of the Week: Let Zoey sweeten your home

Zoey is a social and sweet schnauzer and terrier mix, say officials at the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society. She is 4 years-old and weighs between 20 to 25 pounds. Zoey walks great on a leash and is mostly house trained. She is up-to-date on her routine shots and has a special adoption fee of $150.

Milestones: Births

Central Washington Hospital, Wenatchee: Nathan Paulsen and Tara Schock, East Wenatchee: Son, Gavyn Andrew-Eugene, Dec. 20.

Wet forecast this week may not help snowpack

WENATCHEE — It may be snowing in the mountains and raining in the valley, but forecasters say even a wet January may not offset a dismally dry December in North Central Washington and the rest of the state. A water supply report released Monday predicts that streamflows throughout Washington state will be below normal this spring. The Wenatchee River at Plain will be about three-quarters its average flow level, or 73 percent of normal, according to forecasts in the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Washington Water Supply Outlook Report.

Soldier with stress disorder finds relief in service dog

WENATCHEE — Life has become calmer, safer and less stressful for Chris Goehner since he paired up with Pelé. Goehner, 25, a Wenatchee Valley native now attending Central Washington University in Ellensburg, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It’s something he picked up while serving two tours as a U.S. Navy corpsman attached to a U.S. Marine Corps emergency room unit in Iraq. He worked as a medic in Kuwait and Iraq in 2004 and 2005, before being diagnosed with PTSD and discharged in 2006.

College life

Eastern Oregon University: LA GRANDE, Ore.— Jeffrey Stephens of East Wenatchee and Lisa Carrington of Wenatchee recently graduated from Eastern Oregon University.

WHS bowlers fall to Kennewick

EAST WENATCHEE — Wenatchee bowlers had no trouble building a big lead on Tuesday. Holding that lead proved to be a bit more difficult.

Panthers take care of business

Pin by Hilario Farias propels Wenatchee to victory in home match against Southridge

WENATCHEE — When Wenatchee’s Hilario Farias stepped onto the mat on Tuesday night, he did so knowing that his team not only needed him to defeat, but pin his opponent to get the Panthers back on track.

Panther boys swim team breezes to two wins

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee boys swim team rolled to a pair of wins Tuesday, beating Davis 137-47 and Eisenhower 140-38.

Prep basketball from around the region

Cascade girls top Cashmere in overtime; Kodiak boys complete sweep of Wenatchee Valley rival; Entiat teams rout Bridgeport

CASHMERE — Cascade’s Leah Newell hit a pair of free throws with four seconds left in overtime, and Cashmere missed a desperation 3-point attempt at the buzzer as the Kodiaks escaped with a 66-64 victory in a Caribou Trail League contest between the rivals Tuesday night.

Tuesday, January 12

Tuesday’s basketball scores

Check here throughout the night for scores from NCW prep basketball games.

Traffic worries meet proposal to move Cascade High School

LEAVENWORTH — A dark, curvy road and a narrow, traffic-choked bridge could create dangers and bottlenecks if Cascade High School moves to Peshastin, area residents said Monday. Some 40 Leavenworth-area residents gathered in the Osborn Elementary School gymnasium to discuss the possible move, one of several options pondered by the Cascade School District to repair or replace its aging buildings.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Monday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game:

News of record

News of record reports for Chelan and Douglas counties.

Tacoma bloodmobile offers beer to blood donors

TACOMA (AP) — A Tacoma-based blood center offers donors a deal: Give a pint of blood, get a pint of beer. Cascade Regional Blood Services says the promotion has worked so well at six Tacoma pubs and breweries, it’s expanding its “Give blood, get beer” offer to its bloodmobile for pubs in Federal Way and Steilacoom.

Amtrak trains to Vancouver Winter Olympics filling up fast

EVERETT (AP) — Anyone who’s thinking of taking the train to Vancouver, B.C., for the 2010 Winter Olympics might want to make a reservation now. The two Amtrak Cascades trains that make a daily trip into Vancouver are already about 50 percent booked for the Olympics, which begin Feb. 12. Usually, trains don’t start filling up until two weeks in advance, said Vickie Sheehan, a spokeswoman for the state Rail and Marine Office.

New plan drafted for bears in Rockies, Cascades

BILLINGS, Mont. — Wildlife officials from the United States and Canada meet this week in Montana to draft a new grizzly bear recovery plan for the Northern Rockies and North Cascades. Federal officials will join representatives of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Washington and their counterparts from Alberta and British Columbia for the meetings today and Wednesday in Missoula.

Antique grenade prompts evacuation of part of city

COEUR d’ALENE, Idaho — Police in Coeur d’Alene evacuated several blocks of the city after a man tried to bring an antique grenade to authorities. Sgt. Brett Walton told The Coeur d’Alene Press that a man who recently took custody of an elderly couple’s estate found a World War II or Korean War-era grenade, and decided to bring it to police on Monday because he didn’t want it on his property.

Funding problems may force DNR to close trails, camps

OLYMPIA — The state Department of Natural Resources would close more than 20 trails, campgrounds and interpretive centers in March under Gov. Chris Gregoire’s cash-strapped supplemental budget. None are in North Central Washington.

Reid was crude but right — color makes a difference

WASHINGTON — Skin color among African-Americans is not to be discussed in polite company, so Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s newly disclosed remark about President Obama — that voters are more comfortable with him because he’s light-skinned — offended decorum. But it was surely true. Color bias has always existed in this country. We don’t talk about it because we think of color as subordinate to racial identification. There are African-Americans with skin so fair that only contextual clues speak to the question of race. I remember once looking up some distant cousins on my father’s side. They were so fair of hair and ruddy of cheek that I thought I’d gone to the wrong house, until one of them greeted me in what I guess Reid would call “Negro dialect.”

When every puddle is ‘navigable’

Our state, and Central Washington in particular, is no stranger to the political and socio-engineering tug-of-war surrounding water rights, water demand and water supply. Our region’s development, agriculture and economy look the way they do today because of the water decisions made throughout the last century. As such, the shape of our region’s future will be greatly impacted by the water policies put in place today. Many homebuilders and employers in Kittitas County have been devastated by the Department of Ecology’s recent ban on new water wells. While there is now word of a temporary window this spring and summer for new wells, much of the damage to our region’s economy and to families’ life savings has already been done.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Not listening to us: The insurance industry realizes $400 billion pure profit every year. Their CEOs make on average $25 million to $50 million a year in salaries and bonuses. These businesses own billions in real estate and investments. What does this have to do with our health care?

Higher taxes and morality

It’s the big question this season. When is rasing taxes simply the right thing to do? Lawmakers have been thinking hard on this. “A basic question should always be asked: Is this particular tax incentive, exemption or loophole more important than funding for schools, health care, and public safety for our people?” Speaker Frank Chopp said in his session-opening comments in Olympia Monday.

Richard C. Parr

Richard C. Parr, 94, of Manson, died Saturday, Jan. 9. 2010, at Harmony House Care Center in Brewster.

Raymond Jordan

Raymond Jordan, 49, of Malaga, died Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010.

Gordon L. Novich

Gordon L. Novich, 58, of Wenatchee, died Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010.

Linda ‘Kaye’ Hancock

A memorial service for Linda “Kaye” Hancock, whose obituary was printed in the Jan. 5 edition of The Wenatchee World, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Telford’s Chapel of the Valley in East Wenatchee.

Nov. trade deficit increases to $36.4 billion

WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit jumped to the highest level in 10 months as an improving U.S. economy pushed up demand for imports. However, exports rose as well, boosted by a weaker dollar, supporting the view that American manufacturers will be helped by a rebounding global economy. The Commerce Department reported today that the trade deficit jumped 9.7 percent to $36.4 billion in November, a bigger imbalance than the $34.5 billion deficit economists had forecast.

‘Cougars’ unwelcome on Carnival cruises

MIAMI — Carnival Cruise Lines won’t be sailing anymore with a boatload of “cougars” and their willing prey. The Miami-based company has turned down a request from a singles travel group to book another cruise with the cougar theme. The term refers to older women who date younger men.

School board keeps ban on boy’s long hair

MESQUITE, Texas — The parents of a 4-year-old boy disciplined for having long hair have rejected a compromise from a Texas school board that agreed to adjust its grooming policy. The impasse means pre-kindergartner Taylor Pugh will remain in in-school suspension, sitting alone with a teacher’s aide in a library. He has been sequestered from classmates at Floyd Elementary School in Mesquite, since late November.

Iraq seizes explosives in security operation

BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces locked down large swathes of Baghdad today, seized hundreds of pounds of explosives and arrested 25 men suspected of plotting terror attacks possibly timed to coincide with the run-up to parliamentary elections in March. Iraq’s nationwide election will test whether Iraqis can vote in a government capable of overcoming deepening ethnic and sectarian rivalries, or whether those divisions will dissolve into violence that threatens the country’s unity and regional stability. Serious threats to Iraq’s security could hinder the drawdown of U.S. forces slated to happen after the March 7 vote.

Skiers rescued from stuck German gondolas

BERLIN — Mountain rescue teams rappelled from helicopters to help rescue dozens of people from gondolas stuck high above a southern German ski resort today, lowering the stranded skiers to the ground with climbing ropes. Scores of firefighters and mountain rescue specialists also joined the effort to bring down the 43 skiers stuck inside the 30 gondolas affected, police spokesman Harald Bauer said in nearby Bad Toelz.

Walmart pulling jewelry cited in cadmium report

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal and state watchdogs opened a new front Monday in the campaign to keep poisons out of Chinese imports, launching inquiries into high levels of cadmium in children’s jewelry while Walmart pulled many suspect items from its store shelves. A day after The Associated Press documented the contamination in an investigative report, the top U.S. consumer safety regulator warned Asian manufacturers not to substitute other toxins for lead in children’s charm bracelets and pendants.

Bomb kills Iranian nuclear physicist

TEHRAN, Iran — A nuclear physics professor who publicly backed Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in the disputed June presidential election was killed today when a bomb-rigged motorcycle blew up outside his home. The blast, apparently set off by a remote trigger, left a puzzling mix of clues about why a 50-year-old researcher with no prominent political voice, no published work with military relevance and no declared links to Iran’s nuclear program would be targeted.

Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — A disappointing profit report from Alcoa and steps by China to curtail growth are raising concern among investors that the global economy will have trouble recovering. Stocks are lower Tuesday as earnings and revenue from aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. fell short of expectations. Investors look to the company’s results for an early read on how other corporate profits will turn out.

Metals

NEW YORK (AP) — Spot nonferrous metal prices Tuesday.

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Monday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Monday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

Local interest stocks

As of closing Monday

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

New York Stock Exchange

Monday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Digest: Fox to launch second all-soccer network in the spring

Fox will announce today that it is launching its second all-soccer network in the United States on March 1. The new network, called Fox Soccer Plus, will televise matches of the European Champions League, England’s Premier League, the English Football Association Cup and the Italian Serie A.

Mark McGwire finally admits using steroids

NEW YORK — Finally willing to talk about the past, Mark McGwire sobbed and sniffled, giving the missing — and unsurprising — answer to the steroids question. Ending more than a decade of denials and evasion, McGwire admitted Monday that steroids and human growth hormone helped make him a home run king.

Mariners ‘road trip’ hits Wenatchee

With new players, Seattle should be a strong team, say pitchers Fister, Olson

WENATCHEE — Spring training is still more than a month away, but Seattle Mariners pitchers Doug Fister and Garrett Olson kicked off the first road trip of the year Monday. Fister and Olson, along with Mariners announcer Dave Sims and the Mariner Moose, the team’s mascot, were in Wenatchee, the first stop on the Mariners caravan’s tour of 20 cities in 11 days over the next three weeks. The Mariners contingent first stopped at Sunnyslope Elementary School and later made an appearance at Smith Gymnasium at Wenatchee Valley College.

Reader scrapbook: Heading to the backcountry

Mike Dolfay, Larry LaCabe and Rusco the dog cruise around in a snowcat on the Liberty Beehive Road in December. The party traveled about 25 miles roundtrip from Forest Ridge to near Haney Meadows and then back. Dolfay says he uses the snowcat to access the backcountry for skiing and snowshoeing.

Trail of the Week: Echo Ridge

Above the clouds

The tracks are in and the stage is set for winter recreation at Echo Ridge Nordic Area. Skiers are often above the islands of clouds and find themselves peeking down to find glimpses of the lower Chelan Valley. The trails loop around ridge tops and make you feel as if you are “on top of the world.” Access: On Highway 150 between Chelan and Manson, turn right on Boyd Road and follow Echo Valley/Ridge signs to Cooper Gulch. Drive past Echo Valley Ski Area and turn right onto Forest Service Road No. 8021 at the Echo Ridge Nordic Area sign. “Zoom” is the first of four trailheads you’ll reach as you drive up Echo Ridge Road. Zoom has parking space for six vehicles and is open to skiers, snowshoers, walkers and dogs. The “Shoe” snowshoe trailhead has four parking spaces for vehicles. The Shoe loop system is also open to walkers and dogs. There are two parking areas at the end of the road, the “Upper Trailhead” and “Lower Trailhead” each accommodate 50 vehicles. All trailheads have either vault toilets or sanicans.

Friends, family honor fallen Grant County deputy at memorial

MOSES LAKE — An incredible smile. A favorite phrase: “Hey pal …”

Heavenly descent on mountain biking trails in Oregon

OAKRIDGE, Ore. — Michael Kelley was dwarfed by the monstrous tree stumps as he coasted down the “Jedi” section of the Alpine Trail. A few miles later, out of the dense forest, he was on the edge of a hillside offering a dramatic vantage point of the surrounding tree-covered hills.

Giving bikes a lift at Stevens Pass

Longtime ski area west of Leavenworth plans to build park for mountain biking

EVERETT — Stevens Pass ski resort officials want to break ground on the state’s only lift-access mountain bike park after the snow melts, but the U.S. Forest Service could tap the brakes on that plan. It first needs to hear from the public on an environmental assessment.

Gonzaga up to 17th

SPOKANE — Gonzaga rose two spots to No. 17 in the AP basketball poll released Monday. The Bulldogs (12-3) won their only game of the week, beating Portland on the road. They play at Saint Mary’s on Thursday and San Diego on Saturday.

Bjornsens will compete in Germany

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Sadie Bjornsen and her brother, Erik Bjornsen, both of Mazama, have been selected to represent the United States in world championship cross country ski competition. Sadie Bjornsen, 20, was named to the U.S. Under 23 team, and Erik Bjornsen, 18, was picked for the U.S. World Junior Team. Both will compete Jan. 24-31 in Hinterzarten, Germany.

Methow next for top Nordic skiers

Koos and Valaas among those racing in weekend SuperTour

WINTHROP — Last week, the nation’s best cross country skiers were in Anchorage for the national championships. In about a month, the best skiers in the world will descend on Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics. But before they get to British Columbia, some of them will be making a stop south of the border to compete in the U.S. Ski Association’s SuperTour races at Winthrop this weekend.

Early departure: Marboe to Idaho

Former Panther football star to take part in spring practice

WENATCHEE — The weight of leaving home didn’t hit Mike Marboe until he got his final high school transcript. Looking at that piece of paper brought home the reality that it was time to go.

New coach to get ‘operational duties’

SEATTLE — New Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll will also have “operating duties” with the NFL franchise. Those were the words of team chief executive officer Tod Leiweke on Monday night, after Carroll signed his contract to become Seattle’s eighth coach in 34 years.

Here comes Pete: Former USC coach ready for Seattle challenge

SEATTLE — Pete Carroll says he loves challenges. Well, he’s coming to the right place. His new Seattle Seahawks, who pried him from Southern California and back into the NFL, will provide one of the biggest in the league right now.

Child dies from choking on hot dog

WENATCHEE — A 4-year-old Wenatchee boy died from choking on a hot dog Saturday, said Chelan County Sheriff Mike Harum. Antonio Arriaga was pronounced dead at Central Washington Hospital about 5:30 p.m., Harum said. The boy is the son of Vincente Arriaga and Maria Rodriguez. Harum said Antonio’s parents and other family members were outside the family home in the 1700 block of Methow Street, holding him, when a deputy arrived.

Richard C. Parr

Richard C. Parr, 94, a 50 year resident of Manson, died Saturday, January 9, 2010, at Harmony House Care Center in Brewster. He was born August 17, 1915, at Sheridan, IN, the child of Bert and Nellie (Couch) Parr.

Myrtle Grace Manor

Myrtle Grace Manor, 93, of Chelan and a former longtime Wenatchee resident, died Saturday morning, January 9, 2010, at home with her children at her bedside. She was born on September 26, 1916, in Kansas City, MO, to Charles John Barnett and Mabel Cameron Barnett.

Julie Fenske Bennett

Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. ~ John 6:47. Julie dedicated her life and love to the Lord and her family and friends. Although now at home with the Lord, she will be greatly missed.

Isabelle V. Hiltz

Isabelle V. (Crook) Hiltz was born May 23, 1924, in Wenatchee WA. She passed suddenly on January 7, 2010, in Edmonds, WA. She attended Wenatchee High and graduated from Everett High in 1942.

Glenn Weyenberg

Glenn Weyenberg, longtime Wenatchee Valley resident, passed away January 7, 2010. He was 92.

PUD to remove old park trees for safety

WENATCHEE — Chelan County PUD crews Wednesday will begin removing as many as 51 old trees that staff experts say could threaten users of its seven public parks. Trees slated for removal include a half-dozen maples, poplars and cottonwoods along the Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail between Fifth and Ninth streets in Wenatchee Riverfront Park.

Dryden man sues state agencies over fish project

WENATCHEE — A Chelan County Superior Court judge on Friday consolidated three lawsuits filed by a Dryden man alleging wrongdoing at five local and state agencies. The suits, all filed Nov. 19, name the state Department of Ecology, Department of Fish and Wildlife and Shorelines Hearings Board. However, they also find fault with the Chelan County Community Development Department and the state Attorney General’s Office.

Charges reduced in drive-by shooting

WENATCHEE — A Wenatchee man will serve no additional jail time after charges against him were greatly reduced Monday in connection with a drive-by shooting last September in Wenatchee. Ohara J. Molinero, 22, pleaded guilty Monday in Chelan County Superior Court to one count of felony harassment. Judge T.W. “Chip” Small sentenced him to three months in jail, with credit for having served all the time already.

Activists, officials take on puppy mills

RONKS, Pa. (AP) — Megan Anderson’s nerves are shot. But she presses ahead — the dogs need her. She pulls into the driveway of Scarlet-Maple Farm Kennel. She tells the adolescent boy who greets her that she’s looking for puppies to give to her nephews for Christmas.

Hispanic/Latino Legislative Day event

SEATTLE — The public is invited to attend the fifth annual Hispanic/Latino Legislative Day event Jan. 22. Starting at 8 a.m., at the Capitol Campus, 1115 Washington St. S.E. in Olympia, the legislative event is a forum to promote Latino participation in civics.

Ecology urges local residents to avoid burning

WENATCHEE — The Washington Department of Ecology is asking residents of Chelan and Douglas counties to avoid using wood stoves and other wood-burning devices through Wednesday. Weather conditions could trap smoke low to the ground, and drive up levels of fine particles in the air to unhealthy levels, according to an Ecology news release.

Lawsuit over apartment fire dismissed

WENATCHEE — A lawsuit stemming for a 2004 fire that damaged an apartment complex was dismissed on Friday by a Chelan County Superior Court Judge. The suit was filed in 2007 by Burke-Hill LLC, which owned the apartment complex at 119 Okanogan Ave., against tenant Earlene Hollenbeck.

Sheriff: Gun law changes will not prevent officer killings

WENATCHEE — Maurice Clemmons, who gunned down four Lakewood police officers Nov. 29, was an evil man and no changes in gun laws are going to prevent murders like he committed. That is a conclusion that Chelan County Sheriff Mike Harum said he came to while serving on a panel of law enforcement officers looking into the shootings. He was appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire to a panel that was asked to determine if changes in state laws might have prevented the murders, or if any changes could prevent similar murders in the future.

Accident victim still in serious condition

SEATTLE — A car-accident victim remained in serious condition this morning in intensive care at Harborview Medical Center. Donna E. Kain, 61, of East Wenatchee, suffered a head injury Dec. 31 in a four-car crash on Highway 97A about two miles south of Entiat. She was a passenger in a car driven by George S. “Steve” Barnett, 56, of East Wenatchee.

Parents search for cause of daughter's pain

WENATCHEE — There are few things more heart wrenching than not being able to soothe your child’s pain. Lily Rose Stehr has been tormented by terrible, intermittent pain much of her 3 1/2 years. Her parents, Jodi and Braedon Stehr of Wenatchee, have spent many sleepless night trying to console their daughter’s cries. “It takes your heart out of your chest and just stomps on it,” said Jodi Stehr, 33. “It’s agonizing for any parent to see their child like that.”

On the low-fat menu: Healthy, high-fiber bulk can help shed pounds

Eating less isn’t the only way to weigh less. While starving yourself can help you shed pounds, it isn’t healthy and will only leave you with stronger cravings.

Moving hips in hooping is good exercise

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Undulating her hips hypnotically, Allison Miller can almost make you think the hoop spinning around her waist is suspended in air, defying gravity. Round and round it goes — effortlessly for hoopers, it seems. And the six students following Miller, 21, at her hooping-for-fitness class in Carmichael, Calif., try to keep pace, though occasionally the multicolored sparkly hoops clang to the wood floor.

Ten ways to eat out wisely in the new year

If your No. 1 resolution for the new year is to eat healthier and shed some pounds, congratulations and good luck. But those of us who dine out frequently will need more than luck to make real progress. It will take dedication to some rules we know but don’t always remember to follow.

13 essentials bakers say they can’t live without

Peeking into a baker’s pantry is a lot like peeping into someone’s refrigerator — it yields a glimpse of their individuality and personality. I poked through my own pantry for must-have items and polled other home bakers and local pastry chefs to compile a baker’s dozen of items we just can’t live — I mean bake — without.

Key limes: Tart, herbal and complex

At first glance, Key limes are hard to resist. Bright green, shading to lemon yellow, smooth and compact, they’re adorably cute — yeah, cute, just like a little puppy. It’s hard not to want to snatch a bag or two along with your other groceries. Of course, once you have gotten them home, you have to use them. You can break out the cocktail shaker — a no-brainer — Key limes often have been referred to as the “bartender’s lime,” and they readily complement a host of libations. But then what? Fix margaritas for a small party and you still might be left with several cute little limes, sitting sadly alone on your counter. What to do?

Dear Abby: Neighbor jumping to conclusions might end up landing in hot water

Dear Abby: I’m writing about “Not Nosy, Just Concerned” (Nov. 13), the neighbor who suspects the woman she sees entering “John” and “Marcia’s” house is having an affair with John while Marcia sleeps. There is another scenario to consider, and it is, perhaps, the biggest reason “Nosy” should keep hers out of it. It is entirely possible that Marcia is fully aware and willingly participating in the after-hours visits of the “tart.”

Old news

100 years ago — 1910 Berdenia Pilson of Wenatchee and Leonard Olive of Cashmere were married last night at the Methodist parsonage with The Rev. H.L. Beightol officiating. They will make their home on Olive’s ranch near Cashmere.

Monday, January 11

Clinton heads to the Pacific; focus on terror

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is kicking off her 2010 diplomacy agenda as she did a year ago, with a trip meant to strengthen U.S. relations with key partner nations in the western Pacific. This time terrorism and the Obama administration’s push to improve international cooperation to thwart the threat in Asia and the Pacific, as well as the greater Middle East, will play a prominent role in her talks.

Chelan County considers animal control cuts

WENATCHEE — Chelan County canceled its animal control contract last month in order to negotiate another less-expensive contract with the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society in the next few months. Facing a $2 million deficit, commissioners approved the county department budget last month. Commissioners are still hoping to trim more from the budget by renegotiating some service contracts in an effort to boost the county’s reserve fund.

China says missile defense test successful

BEIJING — China’s military successfully tested a system for intercepting missiles in mid-flight today, state media reported.

Pakistani couple sacrifices baby in ritual

KARACHI, Pakistan — Pakistani police have arrested a couple on charges of stabbing their 3-month-old baby to death in a black magic ritual they believed would get them rich.

Mine collapse kills 6, including 5 children

KINSHASA, Congo — A U.N. radio station says six people — including five children — have died in a tin mine collapse in southeast Congo.

New Jersey kidnap victim rescued

LAKE OZARK, Mo. — Police say a New Jersey kidnapping victim was rescued in central Missouri after a convenience store employee spotted him struggling to escape from his captors.

Cut salt content, New York asks

NEW YORK — New York City health officials have already battled calories and trans fat. Now, they’re taking on salt.

$187 million for fuel efficiency research

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will announce today funding for nine projects designed to significantly increase fuel efficiency in heavy trucks and passenger vehicles, with more than half the money coming from the $787 billion stimulus package.

Sun Belt struggling in search for economic recovery

WASHINGTON — On the surface, economic stress in some of the Sun Belt’s hardest-hit counties appeared to ease in November. But beneath some positive numbers is a region struggling to rebound from the damage of the housing crisis and recession, according to The Associated Press’ monthly analysis of economic stress in more than 3,100 U.S. counties. In Riverside County, Calif., the nation’s 11th-most economically stressed county, unemployment dipped slightly in November. But that was due mainly to seasonal hiring by retailers — hiring that didn’t extend past the holidays.

Wife accused of tampering with husband’s table saw

OLYMPIA — Court papers allege that an Olympia woman, angry that her husband left her, tampered with his power tools so that he received a powerful electric shock. Carolyn Paulsen-Riat, 33, was booked Friday into the Thurston County Jail for investigation of third-degree assault, domestic violence, and second-degree malicious mischief.

Cigarette may be cause of fatal house fire

EDMONDS — An unidentified Edmonds woman died in a house fire Sunday morning, after a discarded cigarette apparently ignited a paper trash bag, firefighters say. A neighbor reported smoke coming from the house just before 10 a.m. Firefighters arrived quickly and found the woman, in her 70s, during a home search as they were dousing the flames. The home wasn’t equipped with smoke alarms, officials said.

Police: Woman runs over other woman’s arm in fight

KENNEWICK — A Kennewick woman has been charged with vehicular assault after prosecutors say she ran over the arm of another woman during a scuffle outside a restaurant. The Tri-City Herald reports 56-year-old Diana Lynn Jones pleaded not guilty in court to the allegations on Thursday.

Man accused in crossbow death not competent

SPOKANE — A judge has ruled that a Spokane man accused of killing a woman with a crossbow is not mentally competent to be tried. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen said Friday that Cole Strandberg has a long history of being severely mentally disturbed.

911 tapes give details of officers’ shootings

TACOMA — Newly released 911 tapes reveal the horrifying minutes after the Dec. 21 shootout at an Eatonville home that killed a Pierce County sheriff’s officer and the gunman and wounded another deputy. In the tapes released Friday, a deputy later determined to be sheriff’s Sgt. Nick Hausner shouts into his radio, “I have been shot,” setting off a frantic search for who made the call.

Cards outlast Pack in classic; Ravens oust Patriots

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Karlos Dansby’s 17-yard fumble return for a touchdown in overtime gave the Arizona Cardinals a 51-45 victory over the Green Bay Packers in the highest-scoring playoff game in NFL history. Aaron Rodgers, who started the game with an interception but was marvelous after that, was stripped by Michael Adams. The ball careened off Rodgers’ foot and into the hands of Dansby, who ran untouched for the score.

Knights drop league openers

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Valley College men’s basketball team dropped its Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges East Region opener 74-57 to Yakima Valley Saturday at Smith Gymnasium. WVC had a rough night shooting, making just 31 percent of its attempts from the floor. Meanwhile, the Yaks hit 37 percent of their shots, including 40.5 percent in the second half.

Chiawana thumps Wildcat girls

EAST WENATCHEE — The Eastmont girls basketball team was manhandled by Chiawana at home on Saturday night by the score of 67-35. Eastmont couldn’t contain the Riverhawks’ three-headed monster of Hayley Hodgins, Sadie Sparks and Mikaela Rivard. Chiawana jumped out to an 18-3 first-quarter lead against the Wildcats, who have struggled with slow starts all season. Eastmont shot 22 percent from the field in the first two periods.

UW reeling after third straight loss; Cougars lambasted at Arizona St.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Jamelle Horne scored a career-high 22 points to lead Arizona to an 87-70 victory over No. 24 Washington on Sunday, the Huskies’ worst loss of the season. Washington (10-5, 1-3) lost 67-51 to Arizona State on Friday night, the first time the Huskies were swept on the Arizona trip since 2003.

Panthers fourth in PNW Classic; Eastmont 13th at swim meet

SPOKANE — Brian Nygard won his second tournament in as many weeks, dominating the 171-pound weight class and helping the Wenatchee wrestling team to a fourth-place finish at the Pacific Northwest Classic at University High School over the weekend. Nygard also won the Paul Reasor Memorial Cat Classic at Eastmont last weekend.

Prep basketball roundup from around the region

Cascade boys shock Lake Roosevelt; Ephrata wins again

LEAVENWORTH — Let the upsets begin. Cascade hit its free throws down the stretch to take a 63-49 win Saturday over Lake Roosevelt, a state tournament team a year ago, to provide the first upset in Caribou Trail League boys basketball this season.

Fire FC lose close one

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Fire FC lost a tight Premier Arena Soccer League game to the Whatcom Soccer Academy Rapids 9-8 on Saturday night at the Wenatchee Valley SportsPlex. It was the second home match for the Fire, who fall to 1-2 on the season with the loss. The Rapids improved to 3-1.

Pete Carroll to Seahawks: All that’s left is details

Pete Carroll will be the next Seahawks coach. All that’s left is to sign the papers and figure out what his titles will be. What we know

Wild suffer first defeat since break

Wichita Falls scores six unanswered goals

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — The Wenatchee Wild lost for the first time in five games since returning from their holiday break, ceding six unanswered goals to the Wichita Falls Wildcats in a 6-3 defeat on Saturday at Kay Yeager Coliseum. The Wild took a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals by Andrew Christ and Dajon Mingo, but the Wildcats dominated the rest of the game.

Legislature starts work on $2.6 billion deficit

OLYMPIA — The 2010 Washington Legislature is convening for a 60-day session, with lawmakers searching for ways to fix a $2.6 billion budget deficit. On top of budget problems, legislators also have some difficult crime, business and environmental issues on their plate.

Memorial for Grant County deputy killed in crash

MOSES LAKE — Gov. Chris Gregoire headed to the memorial service for a Grant County sheriff’s deputy saying this has been one of the toughest two months for law enforcement officers in the history of Washington. With Monday’s service for Deputy John Bernard at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, the public remembers the seventh officer to die on duty since the end of October. They include a Seattle police officer, four Lakewood officers and a Pierce County deputy who were shot to death.

Deputies arrest ‘Most Wanted’ fugitive one day after TV show airs

MANSON — A Redmond fugitive whose case aired on the television show “Washington’s Most Wanted” Friday night was arrested in Manson on Saturday morning by Chelan County Sheriff’s deputies. The 46-year-old man had threatened to kill a law enforcement officer who had contacted him as part of an investigation, or any other officer who tried to stop him, said Michael Poston, community response supervisor for the Washington State Department of Corrections.

Teacher honored for conservation efforts

OKANOGAN — A Tonasket teacher who launched a class research project with 100-year-old landscape photos was named “Teacher of the Year” for 2009 by the Washington Association of Conservation Districts. Teacher Scott Olson and his class at Tonasket Alternative High School researched photographs taken by pioneer photographer Frank Matsura, according to a news release issued today from the Okanogan Conservation District.

County plans more river cleanup work in 2010

WENATCHEE — Chelan County had so much success pulling garbage from the Wenatchee River last year that it now applying for money to do it again. A total of 3,000 pounds of scrap metal, appliances, old bicycles and other metal objects were removed from the river during volunteer clean-up work in 2009, said Matt Shales, a natural resource specialist for the county. In late November, the county hired a contractor to remove part of the old Tibbets Bridge abutment just upriver from Cashmere. The county received about $30,000 from the state Department of Ecology to do the work. Shales said he is applying to receive at least that much to continue the river cleanup this year.

Study: Youth now have more mental health issues

CHICAGO — A new study has found that five times as many high school and college students are dealing with anxiety and other mental health issues as youth of the same age who were studied in the Great Depression era. The findings, culled from responses to a popular psychological questionnaire used as far back as 1938, confirm what counselors on campuses nationwide have long suspected as more students struggle with the stresses of school and life in general.

Up next: Super Bowl-style corporate ads for candidates?

WASHINGTON — Possibly coming soon to your TV screen: election-season Super Bowl-style ads promoting congressional and presidential candidates, paid for by some of the nation’s largest corporations. It may happen. For decades, business and union money has been largely shut out of state, congressional and presidential campaigns. The Supreme Court may change that in a big way.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Here are the daily winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game:

As land erodes, a shipwreck emerges

NORTH COVE — Washaway Beach, the sandy area between North Cove and Tokeland that is infamous for rapid erosion that causes whole houses to tumble into the ocean, now has a second reason for fame. Coastal storms in late December and early January have unearthed the remnants of a shipwreck. The large wooden piece, measuring close to 100 feet in length, contains dozens of iron spikes jutting out of the sand, just south of Warrenton Cannery Road.

It’s lights out for zoo’s popular Nocturnal House

SEATTLE — The Nocturnal House at the Woodland Park Zoo has always been in the dark. But now the zoo plans to turn the lights off. Because of budget troubles, the zoo plans to close the popular Nocturnal House, which houses 61 animals, from bats to sloths and even armadillos. The closure date hasn’t been set but is expected to be announced in the next month.

Peninsula rescue center helps wild animals

CHIMACUM — Veterinarian Tony Rogstad is realistic about his efforts to rescue and rehabilitate thousands of wild animals found injured, sick or abandoned over the years — from beavers, otters and porcupines to barred owls, eagles, hawks and blue herons. As long as man moves in on wildlife habitat, it will be a win-some, lose-some proposition, as he sees it.

Donald G. ‘Don’ Wickenhagen

Donald G. “Don” Wickenhagen, 75, of East Wenatchee, died Friday, Jan. 8, 2010, at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee.

George R. Harsh

George R. Harsh, 89, of Redmond, died Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010.

Dodd rides into finance reform

With polls showing that Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd would probably lose to most everyone running against him, the Democrat’s decision not to seek re-election is a relief to all but his Republican opponents. A Senate seat from true-blue Connecticut isn’t something Democrats should have to worry about. They’ve already got enough on their hands dealing with the state’s other senator, independent Joe Lieberman. Dodd’s plan to leave the Senate after three decades should move his compass point from politics to policy. Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Dodd has been pushing for stringent regulation of the very financiers whose reckless conduct he used to tolerate. Had he supported these needed changes — such as a strong consumer protection agency and joining the four bank regulators into one effective overseer — two years ago, his political future would have been considerably brighter today. Unfortunately, he wasted much time and opportunity defending many risky practices of the financial industry.

The newest federalism

In 1981, Ronald Reagan’s ideologists pronounced his attack on the welfare state an expression of the “new federalism.” It wasn’t that they were against helping the poor and the needy, but that the federal government was the wrong branch of government to do it. Even the president talked about it. People, myself included, wrote papers. Later on, the new federalists acknowledged and even boasted that of course they weren’t for state welfare states, either. They were for smaller government, period, and less dependence and all the rest. But at the time, federalism was an easier pill to swallow.

Making the cut: Dancers, singers try out for Follies

WENATCHEE — Enthusiasm, almost more than talent, scored high at Sunday’s auditions for the Wenatchee Valley Follies Guild variety show — at least in the dance routine portion. David Parks, a 58-year-old Wenatchee orthodontist, was one of more than 150 people who showed up at the Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee to strut his stuff for the triennial fundraising event that will take place Feb. 4-6.

Winter laboratory

JoAnn Hess, right, of Leavenworth enjoys a snowshoe tour with family members. Behind her is grandson Jared Hedding, 8; his mom, Sheri; and Hess’s husband DeWayne. They are taking part in The Winter Life Snowshoe Tour held Saturday at the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery.

The Worm: ‘Hey Hey Yeah Yeah’ keeps on playing

Scott Myrene’s song may just outlive him. The Wenatchee-born bassist for Seattle rockers the Boss Martians helped record the track “Hey Hey Yeah Yeah” for the group’s 2007 album “Pressure in the SoDo.” Once released, the song got snapped up for the background music in those famous E*Trade commercials, with the talking baby who buys and sells shares on his computer.

Dairy profits sucked dry

YAKIMA — Fearful of what this year may bring, dairyman Bill Scheenstra won’t be replacing two aging tractors and a feed truck. He’s among roughly 70 Yakima County dairy operators entering 2010 with wariness after the skyrocketing feed costs and plummeting milk prices of last year.

Brewster says goodbye to longtime country doctor

BREWSTER — Dr. Harold B. Stout was one of the first country doctors to serve Brewster and several surrounding towns. Some say he was among the last in this region with the true spirit of a traveling physician. A doctor and surgeon for 60 years, Stout died Nov. 20 at age 96. A memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 17 Hospital Way, Brewster.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: Residents of Mansfield, Douglas, Waterville and other neighboring towns are petitioning the U.S. Postal Service to establish daily mail service over the new Wenatchee-Mansfield branch. Mail currently sent to that area is transported by boat.

Dear Abby: Sisters’ wedding pact crumbles

Dear Abby: When we were younger, my sister, “Patti,” and I made a pact to be each other’s maid of honor. It was Patti’s suggestion, and we both thought I would soon marry my then-boyfriend. It didn’t happen. A few years later, when Patti became engaged, she asked a friend with whom she had recently reconnected to be her maid of honor.

New Year’s resolutions for the home: Stick to them and see results

It’s still the season for resolutions, and for many people that means vowing to get their home in the best shape possible. Whether it’s clearing out clutter, catching up on small repairs, bringing fresh style to a favorite room or organizing closets, many of us have home on the brain as the new year begins.

In the Garden: Resist temptation and avoid Plants Gone Wild

It’s gray and cold. The only garden activity is the birds foraging for seeds from last year’s blooms. This is the time that gardeners are susceptible to temptation, to fantasize about bigger and better. It is a dangerous time of year for avid gardeners who most likely received at least one Christmas gift book. The book is filled with lurid, tempting photos of lush color and voluptuous blooms, as well as sensuous combinations of form and design.

This seed catalog isn’t just another pretty face

January is National Mailorder Gardening Month, and the mailboxes of gardeners will soon be stuffed with tomatoes and melons, peas and perennials. But few will have the historic beauty of the catalog the D. Landreth Seed Co. has produced to celebrate 225 years of teaching people how to garden. “Starting in the 1840s, the Landreths educated Americans about gardening — and about more than gardening,” said owner Barbara Melera. “With this catalog, we’ve come full circle. There is a real need to educate a new generation about gardening. That’s part of the purpose of this catalog.”

Turquoise is top decor shade for 2010

ORLANDO, Fla. — Interior designer Debbie Sheaf is way ahead of the curve. Last February, inspired by the blues and greens in her collection of antique majolica pottery, she painted the room that houses her collection a vibrant turquoise.

Sunday, January 10

Patricia Eleanor Cummings

Patricia Eleanor Cummings Wenatchee, WA

Eastmont’s tough week ends in OT loss

Three losses in seven days for Cats

PASCO — When the prep basketball season is over, the Eastmont boys basketball team aren’t going to look back at this week fondly. The Wildcats lost their third game of the week Saturday, falling victim to a last-minute shot by Justin Smith in a 73-71 loss at Chiawana.

Wenatchee girls fall at Southridge

KENNEWICK — A late rally by the Wenatchee girls’ basketball team fell short, and the Panthers were outlasted by Southridge on the road in a 36-34 slugfest.

Panther boys pound Southridge

Interior game rules as Smith drops 28

WENATCHEE — And so begins the long road back for Wenatchee. After beginning the season 1-9, the Panther boys basketball team beat Southridge 68-57 at home Saturday night in what it feels will be the first step toward another turnaround in league play.

Laurene "Lauri" Fox (In Memoriam)

Laurene "Lauri" Fox December 28, 1923 ~ December 26, 2009

Saturday, January 9

WHS pix

whs pix

Saturday’s basketball scores

Check here throughout the night for scores from NCW prep basketball games.

Wenatchee has good day at Spokane tournament

SPOKANE — The Wenatchee wrestling team posted an impressive first day of action here at the Pacific Northwest Classic, hosted by University High School. The Panther grapplers won 11 of its 13 matches in the 16-team tournament and seven of those victories came via pinfall.

Texas Instruments getting into e-books

DALLAS — Texas Instruments Inc. is getting into e-books. The Dallas-based chipmaker said Thursday that it has developed processors and software for electronic books that are more energy efficient than current systems. TI said it is already collaborating with more than 10 e-book makers to release products this year using its technology. The chips and software will reportedly allow users to flip through more than 14,800 pages before needing to recharge the battery.

Google reveals its own version of a smart phone

LOS ANGELES — Internet giant Google unveiled the Nexus One, a smart phone that it bills as the connection between the phone and the Web, at a news conference Tuesday morning at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. A company spokesman said the smart phone is the next step in Google’s ambitious strategy to spread its dominance on personal computers to the emerging market of mobile advertising and products.

What technologies went obsolete in the last decade?

As we stand here at the beginning of a new decade, have you thought about everything that died in the last one? As new technologies rise up, they often kill off older technologies. Let’s review some of the death and destruction that has occurred over the last 10 years. For example, think about the record store. This is hard to believe now, but just 10 years ago people bought all of their music at record stores. Napster, which marked the beginning of the end for record stores, was invented in June of 1999. Prior to that, no one had ever heard of an MP3 file. Napster made the MP3 file a household name, and dramatically boosted the idea of portable MP3 players (invented in 1998). The iPod first appeared in 2001, along with iTunes. With the rise of digital music, the need to go to a physical store to buy music died, and record stores started closing.

Gadget show debuts Windows tablet, Ford tweets

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off a new touch-screen, tablet-style computer from Hewlett-Packard Co., the first of several such devices expected to be unveiled this month. The tablet — also known as a slate, a one-piece portable computer without a physical keyboard — was one of several new PCs Ballmer demonstrated Wednesday as he delivered Microsoft Corp.’s customary keynote presentation on the eve of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Man misses paying two cents, so COBRA promptly cancels

MIAMI — Stan Rosen of Miramar lost his job, his wife was six months’ pregnant and he faced an operation — but he felt he could manage because he had COBRA health insurance. Then, he mistakenly underpaid his November bill by two cents, and his benefits administrator said his policy was being canceled. Rosen and his wife, Sabrina, saw their life crumbling. He quickly paid the two cents, but it was only after he and his dad called about 100 times and The Miami Herald inquired that the company relented and continued coverage.

Federal markets

Apples: YAKIMA VALLEY AND WENATCHEE DISTRICT 2009 SEASON — Demand fairly good. Market about steady. Carton tray pack WAExFcy Red Delicious 72-125s $15-16; Golden Delicious 72-80s $18; 88s $16-18; 100s $14-16; 113s $14-15; 125s $13-14; Fuji 64s $17-18; 72-88s $22-24; 100s $17-18; 113s $15-16; Granny Smith (includes blush) 72-80s $18-20; 88s $18; 100-113s $14-15; 125s $13-14; Gala 72s $24-26; 80-88s $22-24; 100s $18-20; 113-125s $16-18; Braeburn 72-80s $16-18; 88s $15-17; 100-113s $13-15; 125s $12-14.

NW cattle report

MOSES LAKE (Jan. 8) — Feeder Cattle this week: 3,200; last week: 900; last year: 4,350.

Hay report

MOSES LAKE (Jan. 8) Tonnage this wee: 5,700; last week: 2,035; last year: 2,270.

Portland grain

Local-interest stocks

As of closing Friday

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Friday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

New York Stock Exchange

Friday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Armed attackers hit Chevron oil pipeline

LAGOS, Nigeria - Gunmen attacked a Chevron Corp. oil pipeline in Nigeria’s restive Niger Delta, causing an unknown amount of damage, a government spokesman said Saturday. Linus Chima, a Delta State spokesman, said the gunmen damaged the Makaraba pipeline southwest of Warri. That pipeline transports crude oil out of one of Chevron’s seven swamp fields in the area, which produced 77,000 barrels of oil per day in 2008.

Italy removes African migrants after riots

ROSARNO, Italy - Some 300 African migrants were bused early Saturday out of a southern Italian town rocked by two days of clashes between the migrants, police and local residents. Police said another migrant was wounded in a pellet gun attack in a nearby town.

Hopes evaporating for public health option

WASHINGTON - Senior House Democrats have largely abandoned hopes of including a government-run insurance option in the final compromise health care bill taking shape, according to several officials, and are pushing for other measures to rein in private insurers. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other senior Democrats told President Barack Obama in recent meetings they want the legislation to strip the insurance industry of a long-standing exemption from federal antitrust laws, officials said. That provision is in the House-passed measure, but was omitted from the bill that the Senate passed on Christmas Eve.

Goalie says attackers killed 3 on team bus

CABINDA, Angola - A goalie for Togo’s national soccer team said on French radio Saturday that the death toll from a shooting attack on the team’s bus in Angola has risen to three. Goalie Kossi Agassa — who plays for French club Istres — told France-Info radio by phone that a Togo assistant coach and a spokesperson have also died. Agassa said that a second team goalie was badly wounded and transported to South Africa for treatment.

Scientists betting we’re not so alone

Earth-like planets are out there ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Astronomers say they are on the verge of finding planets like Earth orbiting other stars, a key step in determining if we are alone in the universe. A top NASA official and other leading scientists say that within four or five years they should discover the first Earth-like planet where life could develop, or may have already. A planet close to the size of Earth could even be found sometime this year if preliminary hints from a new space telescope pan out.

Old news

100 years ago — 1909: Frank C. Smith yesterday sold his residence on Orondo Avenue to George Paton for $2,500.

Dear Abby: Unapologetic ogler can’t see wife’s humiliation

Dear Abby: My husband constantly leers at women. He bases many of his choices on the “best views” available for girl watching: his seat in a restaurant, where he parks to pick up the kids from high school, seats at sporting events that are close to the cheerleaders — the scantier clad the better. When we were saying goodbye to our daughter whom we had taken to college, I turned to my husband for comfort. Abby, his eyes were glued on the rear end of a co-ed!

Don’t miss

American Idol: Contenders and pretenders Go ahead and clear those calendars from now until late May. Television’s ultimate star-making — and time-consuming — talent show is about to settle in for the long haul. But Season 9 figures to have a much different feel to it as head cheerleader Paula Abdul has fled the judges’ panel. Her replacement, comedian Ellen DeGeneres, won’t join the festivities until Hollywood Week. In the meantime, we’ll have the usual parade of talented contenders and deluded pretenders to occupy our attention. 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Fox.

Fox adds gas to the Conan fire

LOS ANGELES — Fox, never one to miss an opportunity to make a competitor’s life more difficult, has indicated that if Conan O’Brien wants to leave NBC, it would be happy to talk. O’Brien, who is being asked to move “The Tonight Show” from 11:35 p.m. to 12:05 a.m. to make room for Jay Leno’s return to late night, has not made up his mind on whether he’ll take one for the team or take a walk. Leno’s moving back to late night because NBC affiliates are beyond frustrated with his 10 p.m. show and what its ratings are doing to their late local news.

Ghost shows: They just won’t die

Vampires may be getting all the glory these days, but when it comes to day-in, day-out spooky family entertainment, it’s hard to beat ghosts. The popularity of ghost and paranormal stories are nothing new — from the King’s ghost in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” to Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” to the phenomenal box office last fall for “Paranormal Activity.”

Who will outlast, hero or villain?

LOS ANGELES — Not even “Boston Rob” Mariano’s newborn baby could stop him from returning to “Survivor.” Mariano is among 20 former contestants who will compete in CBS’ “Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains,” the reality series’ 20th season, premiering Feb. 11 (8 p.m. EST). He left behind 4-week-old daughter Lucia Rose and wife, Amber Brkich, who bested Mariano to win the “All-Stars” edition in 2004 and accepted his marriage proposal during the finale.

Kiss Hannah goodbye

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Disney Channel executive says the popular show starring Miley Cyrus is likely to shut down for good after filming its fourth season. Production on season four is set to begin later this month, said Senior Vice President of Programming Adam Bonnett. Those episodes will start airing in late spring and continue through 2011.

Cougs edge Arizona; Huskies fall to ASU

DeAngelo Casto hit a twisting layup with 0.1 seconds left to give Washington State a 78-76 victory over Arizona on Friday night at Tucson, Ariz. The Cougars set up the last shot after Arizona freshman Solomon Hill tipped in a missed shot by Nic Wise to make it 76-76 with 13 seconds left.

Digest: Gutierrez and Mariners finalize four-year deal

Center fielder Franklin Gutierrez and the Seattle Mariners finalized a $20.5 million, four-year contract Friday that avoided salary arbitration. The deal includes a team option for 2014.

Enumclaw shreds Auburn

AUBURN — On paper, it looked close. But once they took the wrestling mat, the second-ranked Enumclaw Hornets destroyed No. 4 Auburn Mountainview Thursday night, 44-22, for their 28th consecutive South Puget Sound League dual-meet victory.

Locker says 12-0 season ‘realistic’ for Huskies

SEATTLE — Washington quarterback Jake Locker spoke to the media Friday for the first time since his mid-December decision that he would return to the Huskies for his senior season rather than leave for the NFL. And when he did, he made it clear one reason for delaying the chance to be a potentially top-five pick is his high expectations for the Huskies in 2010.

Collegians: Bryan 3rd in scoring

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Dominican University Freshman Austin Bryan is third in the Pacific West Conference in scoring with a 16.4 point-per-game average, but his scoring prowess hasn’t immediately translated into wins for the 3-9 Penguins. Bryan is the career scoring leader at Wenatchee High School, and was the Columbia Basin Big Nine Columbia Division’s Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year as a senior last winter.

Week in Rec Sports: Mission Ridge Ski Team strong in NW Cup opener

Clare Wise of the Mission Ridge Ski Team finished second in the giant slalom and was sixth on the second day of the super-G in the first Northwest Cup races of the season earlier this week at Schweitzer Mountain in Idaho. Another Mission Ridge skier, Alec Jones, was second in the giant slalom and sixth and fourth on the two days of super-G racing. Ridge skier Allison LaRock was fifth in the super-G.

Injuries to play a role in Pats-Ravens, Cards-Packers games

The New England Patriots were good enough to beat Baltimore 27-21 in October and won the AFC East at 10-6. The Ravens earned the other AFC wild card at 9-7. On Sunday, New England will be without league-leading receiver Wes Welker, gone with a knee injury. Look for the Ravens to double-team Randy Moss on every down.

Mora ‘shocked’ at being let go

Fired Seahawks head coach says he’s grateful for chance to return to his hometown

SEATTLE — Jim Mora said he tasted no bitterness when his term as Seahawks coach ended after a single season. That didn’t make the franchise’s decision to fire him any easier to swallow, though, as he wrestled with the emotions of the decision.

Sonics ‘Voice’ Bob Blackburn dies

SEATTLE — Bob Blackburn, the original voice of the Sonics, died Friday of pneumonia. He was 85. “We had six children and they all kept stats for their Dad,” said Blackburn’s wife, Pat, of Issaquah. “I even kept stats for a little bit. We still call Bob, ‘Voice,’ that’s his nickname. In fact our license plate is ‘Voice1.’ The whole family loved every minute of it.”

Valaas 2nd at Nationals

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Laura Valaas came up just short in her bid Friday to deny Kikkan Randall a national championship sweep. Randall won the women’s classic sprint finals in 3:26.6, with Wenatchee native Valaas less than three seconds back in 3:29.3.

Carroll and Hawks: A match that clicks

LOS ANGELES — Why would Pete Carroll leave USC for the Seattle Seahawks when he rejected the entreaties of other NFL teams? And why is Carroll, who had a mediocre record as an NFL coach, attractive to the Seahawks?

Suspect faces courtroom in Detroit case

DETROIT (AP) — Wearing a chain at his ankles, a somber-looking Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas said he understood the charges against him, triggering the defense of a criminal case that could lead to life in prison. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s arraignment in federal court Friday took less than five minutes and a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf. The 23-year-old said little, telling the judge simply that he understood the six-count indictment he faces and the maximum penalty.

Posthumously released tape backs Taliban story

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Jordanian doctor who killed seven CIA employees in a suicide attack in Afghanistan said in video clips broadcast posthumously Saturday that all jihadists must attack U.S. targets to avenge the death of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud. Footage showed Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi — whom the CIA had cultivated as an asset against al-Qaida — sitting with Mehsud’s successor in an undisclosed location. It essentially confirmed the Pakistani Taliban’s claim of responsibility for one of the worst attacks in CIA history, though a senior militant told The Associated Press that al-Qaida and Afghan insurgents played roles, too.

Stolen goodbye kiss may be at the root of Newark breach

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A man believed to have breached security to bid his girlfriend goodbye, triggering the shutdown of a busy Newark Airport terminal that led to snarled flights worldwide, was arrested in New Jersey and faces a trespassing charge and a fine of up to $500, punishment a senator says should be much harsher. Haisong Jiang, 28, of Piscataway was taken into custody at 7:30 p.m. Friday at his home, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said. He was questioned at the airport by Port Authority police, who arrested him, and released him shortly after midnight.

Reborn Blackwater’s still a major player in business of Afghanistan war

WASHINGTON (AP) — Blackwater Worldwide’s legal woes haven’t dimmed the company’s prospects in Afghanistan, where it’s a contender for an important role in the U.S. strategy for stabilizing the country. Now called Xe Services, the company is in the running for a Pentagon contract potentially worth $1 billion to train Afghanistan’s troubled national police force. Xe has been shifting to training, aviation and logistics work after its security guards were accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians more than two years ago.

President’s health pitch in high gear

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Congress struggles for final agreement on health care, President Barack Obama is getting a head start on promoting a permanent ban on “the worst practices of the insurance industry” and other changes in the overhaul he’s eager to sign into law. Obama acknowledged it would take several years — until 2014 in some instances — for some of the changes to be fully in place, and that has disappointed consumers and their advocates.

Jazz, and much more

It happens nowhere else but here. Professional musicians, among the best in their field, come to our small city to spend a week among our students, providing invaluable lessons in technique and style. They coach, they inspire, they perform for and with the students, and in the process provide life lessons available no other way. They bring gifts — students learn not only an appreciation of music as art, but realize they can create it. Hundreds of young minds are invested with this enormous potential. Sensing the possibilities, that they are far less limited than they thought, is an attitude that will serve them well in any endeavor they undertake. This is the Wenatchee Jazz Workshop, which takes place this week in area schools. It is now in its 10th year, the brainchild of just-retired music teacher Jeff Sandberg, who nursed the project from the beginning. The musicians — Clay Jenkins, trumpet; Ira Nepus, trombone; Tom Peterson, saxophone; Rich Eames, piano; Jeff D’Angelo, bass; Dick Weller, drums — begin work with students Monday. For the public they will perform by themselves Thursday, and with students Friday. Both concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center.

For all of us, break up DSHS

In 1970, under the direction of Gov. Dan Evans and approval of the Legislature, all of the state’s major social services agencies were consolidated under one giant agency — the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). It seemed a good idea at the time, as Gov. Evans sought to “unify the related social and health services of state government” under one umbrella. But over the following 20 years, the Legislature found various services could be more efficient, effective and customer oriented if they were separated from the bureaucracy of DSHS. So lawmakers removed several agencies from DSHS, including veteran’s affairs, prisons, services for the blind, the school for the deaf, and the Department of Health, and established them as separate agencies. Even with those departments removed, DSHS has expanded to become the state’s largest agency, administering divisions dealing with everything from the treatment of drugs and alcohol, welfare assistance, and homelessness, to Child Protective Services and programs for the aging and disabled. With more than 19,000 employees and a staggeringly high budget of more than $20 billion, DSHS has grown so large and unwieldy that it has lost its way; so large that it can no longer be effectively managed; such a behemoth that the one-stop shopping idea envisioned 40 years ago has become enveloped so deep in bureaucracy that it can no longer deliver the quality of services our state’s most vulnerable need and deserve.

Creative sacrifice to cut a deficit

As Washington’s legislators convene seeking solutions to a $2.6 billion budget deficit, we can suggest they look to Okanogan County for inspiration. The state’s employees should as well. Like all others, Okanogan County’s government faced drastic cuts in revenue and spending — down a substantial 10 percent from the year previous. In response, the county’s union and non-union employees volunteered to take furloughs, days off without pay, and actual pay and benefit cuts to save the jobs of their fellow workers. The effect will be a large enough reduction in expenses, the equivalent of a 10 percent pay cut, to reduce county layoffs from 10 to six — a full 40 percent.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Missing Grover: Rufus Woods, thank you for the true and meaningful tribute to Grover Collins (The Wenatchee World, Dec. 22).

Misguided California golden no longer

WASHINGTON — Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976) was a hero to the American left, partly because of his 1939 anti-war novel “Johnny Got His Gun.” Trumbo’s title modified the lyric “Johnny get your gun” from the World War I song “Over There.” Trumbo’s “Johnny” is horribly maimed in that war. Now we need a novel titled “Berkeley Got Its Liberalism.” Pending that, we have Tad Friend’s report, in the Jan. 4 New Yorker, on maimed Berkeley. California, a laboratory of liberalism, is spiraling downward, driven by a huge budget deficit. So the University of California system’s budget was cut 20 percent. Then the system increased in-state student fees 32 percent to ... $10,302. But that is still 70 percent below student costs at Stanford and other private institutions in California that Berkeley considers no better than it is.

Stephen R. Smith

Stephen Raymond Smith died Monday, December 28, 2009, at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, from complications resulting from cancer treatment. He was 60 years of age.

Laurene "Lauri" Fox

Laurene "Lauri" Fox, 85, was born on December 28, 1923, in Stratton, CO. Lauri passed away December 26, 2009. An avid Rockies fan, she never missed a game.

Dale Coultas

Dale Coultas, 96, of Methow, WA, passed away January 5, 2010, at home. He was born August 11, 1913, on a farm near Reading, MN, to Marguerite Elizabeth (Kinsman) Coultas and Roy Walter Coultas.

John R. Pelley

John R. Pelley, 59, died peacefully at home surrounded by family on January 2, 2010, after a courageous battle with cancer. He was born on February 13, 1950, to Bill and Patty Pelley in Seattle, where he spent his youth and attended school.

John R. Buckingham

John R. Buckingham, 74, of Brewster, WA, passed away on Saturday, December 26, 2009, from Pancreatic Cancer at his Brackettville, TX home. He was born on August 24, 1935, at Brewster, WA, to Arthur and Ruth Buckingham.

Ruth Louise ‘Butterfield’ Eaton

Ruth Louise “Butterfield” Eaton, 95, of East Wenatchee, died Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010.

Disruptive passengers prompt two domestic flights to change course

Military jets scrambled in one case

DENVER — Military jets scrambled to intercept a San Francisco-bound jetliner reporting a problem aboard — one of two commercial airplanes diverted because of disruptive passengers. In addition, police at London’s Heathrow Airport arrested three passengers after removing them from a jetliner bound for Dubai.

Jefferson County, Ore., sheriff to resign

MADRAS, Ore. - The Jefferson County, Ore., sheriff says he’ll resign in the first week of February and plead guilty to a misconduct charge. Sheriff Jack Jones’ decision was announced Friday.

Lottery

OLYMPIA - Friday's winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game:

Layoffs leave Brewster waiting, worrying

BREWSTER — In this town of just over 2,000 residents, a big layoff means big worries. Business owners and managers in Brewster are concerned about recent layoffs and the kind of impact they will have on a town where the majority of residents are Hispanic.

Charter flight traffic is off, Hastings hears

EAST WENATCHEE — Like other troubled businesses, the formerly high-flying charter aviation industry must rely on innovation and entrepreneural know-how to get them through these stormy times, Rep. Doc Hastings told officers of a local charter company. But at Executive Flight, Inc., where charter business is down 80 percent and staffing down 20 percent, company officials admitted the slumping economy and resulting recession politics have taken a toll that, at this point, is hard to navigate.

Recreation Park was a full-service campgound along the Cariboo Trail

I discovered an old map, dating to 1925, promoting international travel across the Canadian border to the north of us. The Okanogan Cariboo Trail was the name of the group aiming at promotion of tourist highway road travel. The map came with a group of old maps donated to me by Lee Adler of East Wenatchee.

Enloe dam proposal enters home stretch

OROVILLE — The Okanogan County PUD is entering the final stretch of an approximately five-year effort to get a federal license to again generate electricity at Enloe Dam. Federal regulators Thursday launched a 60-day period to gather public comment and recommendations on the PUD’s $31 million proposal to rehabilitate the dam, on the Similkameen River, 3.5 miles northwest of Oroville.

IRS sets new rules for tax preparers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tax preparers might need to sharpen their pencils. The Internal Revenue Service will be requiring them to pass a test, register with the government and follow additional guidelines in the next two years. The new regulations, an IRS effort to better police a largely unregulated industry, would enhance protections for consumers and result in greater compliance with tax laws, an agency press release said Monday.

Sunday briefing

Business expo set for Jan. 21 More than 75 local businesses are set to participate Jan. 21 in an all-day summit and trade show at the Wenatchee Convention Center.

People & places

Community contributions The Wenatchee Wild awarded the Washington Apple Education Foundation a check for more than $20,000, raised at a game at Town Toyota Center Dec. 5 through auctions, contests, raffles, ticket sales and sponsorships.

Man and his dog take snowy trek up Saddle Rock

WENATCHEE — Dave Helvey of Wenatchee and his dog Molly often go walking up the trail to Saddle Rock during the summer. On Wednesday, they tried it for the first time this winter with snow on the ground. Helvey said he planned to hike up the Appleatchee Riders side and down the Wenatchee Racquet & Athletic Club side.

Wenatchee Visconti’s turns a quarter century

WENATCHEE — Right from the start, Candy Mecham wanted a place where she could serve good food to good friends, the kind of restaurant where customers felt more at home than perhaps in their own kitchens. Twenty-five years later, Mecham said her popular Visconti’s Italian restaurants here and in Leavenworth have loyal followers who know her gnocchi, savor her sauces and prize her pasta. “These are the folks who come back month after month,” Mecham said. “They’ve definitely become our friends.”

ICE facility plan gets chilly reception from Yakima neighbors

YAKIMA — To the displeasure of neighbors, a federal facility to hold immigration detainees is being proposed for a Yakima industrial area. A 4.3-acre site at the end of Presson Place is proposed for a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office complex that could include two guardhouses and cells for federal detainees.

Monsanto control could lead to price increases for consumers

ST. LOUIS — Confidential contracts detailing Monsanto Co.’s business practices reveal how the world’s biggest seed developer is squeezing competitors, controlling smaller seed companies and protecting its dominance over the multibillion-dollar market for genetically altered crops, an Associated Press investigation has found. With Monsanto’s patented genes being inserted into roughly 95 percent of all soybeans and 80 percent of all corn grown in the U.S., the company also is using its wide reach to control the ability of new biotech firms to get wide distribution for their products, according to a review of several Monsanto licensing agreements and dozens of interviews with seed industry participants, agriculture and legal experts.

Yakima barista busted for baring buttocks

YAKIMA — Yakima police say a Yakima Avenue barista served up a little more than coffee this week. She and her boss were charged with indecent exposure Friday, marking the latest in Yakima’s controversy over espresso stands featuring baristas wearing skimpy clothing.

Officials looking for last man seen with Yakima homicide victim

YAKIMA — Yakima County Sheriff’s Office detectives are seeking a Canadian man who was the last person seen with homicide victim Fernando Figueroa. Chief of Detectives Stew Graham identified the man being sought as Joseph Ezequiel John, 19, a Canadian man living in Yakima.

Unwanted surprises found in storm-water pipes

WENATCHEE — City workers have made some unpleasant discoveries over the years as they worked on storm-water pipes in Wenatchee and East Wenatchee. A couple of years ago, they found sewage in the storm drain near East Wenatchee City Hall and the old Eastmont Junior High School. They were unable to determine whether it came from a poorly connected sewer line or from one that had deteriorated.

Cause of Dryden motor-home fire unknown

DRYDEN — Fire officials say the cause of a fire that destroyed a motor home at the Dryden Square RV Park on Friday morning is undetermined. “We’re guessing it was electrical,” said Dryden Fire Chief Phil Guthrie. He said investigators checked out heat tape and other possible causes and found no problems. Remains were too charred to do a thorough investigation, he said.

Wild rout Wildcats

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — Jeff Jubinville scored a pure hat trick and the Wild dominated on special teams on the way to a 6-1 victory over the Wichita Falls Wildcats on Friday night.

Prep basketball from around the region

Even without Kerr, Bulldogs upend Goats

OKANOGAN — The Okanogan girls basketball team found out Friday afternoon that 2009 CTL co-MVP Morgan Kerr was going to be sidelined for the next two weeks due to academic issues.

EHS girls drop seventh in row

RICHLAND — The Eastmont girls basketball team lost its seventh straight game on Friday night, failing to cash in on easy looks around the basket in a 52-39 defeat at Richland.

Eastmont’s late run falls short against No. 8 Richland

EAST WENATCHEE — Right now, the only thing that separates the Eastmont Wildcats and the eighth-ranked Richland Bombers is free-throw shooting.

Friday, January 8

Friday’s scores

Prep basketball Girls

Wenatchee basketball games canceled

WENATCHEE — Tonight’s scheduled basketball games between Wenatchee and Davis have been canceled due to predicted icy road conditions.

Food-safety class registration open now

EAST WENATCHEE — Food service businesses can sign up for ServSafe classes this month and next in North Central Washington. Washington State University Extension and the Chelan-Douglas Health-District are providing ServSafe certification for restaurant managers.

Humane Society makes interim director permanent

WENATCHEE — The new interim director at The Wenatchee Valley Humane Society is here to stay. The Humane Society’s 12-member board of directors unanimously chose Stephanie Manriquez on Thursday as the new permanent, full-time director.

Ridge skiers finish strong at Northwest Cup races

SANDPOINT, Idaho — The final day of Northwest Cup racing at Schweitzer Mountain on Jan. 5 brought clear skies and great racing conditions. Mission Ridge racers finished up the 3-day Northwest event strong with top 20 finishes by both the boys and girls teams.

National forests, unmanageable

In 1905, Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot conspired to set aside much of the public domain to protect watersheds and wildlife. These lands became national forests. For many years to come the management of these forests was custodial — clearing trails and fighting forest fires by a few “good men” (i.e., forest rangers). Timber harvesting became a major activity in the 1940s, to support the war effort. After World War II timber harvesting continued and increased and recreation became a major use also. Late in the 1960s, environmental concerns surfaced about mainly the timber harvest and road building programs. The concerns were addressed by many groups, and by a national committee. The result was a deserved cutback in these programs. Sustainable forestry became the order of the day.

Obama orders up more air security

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of law enforcement officers are being trained as federal air marshals to ramp up security as the Obama administration tries to prevent a repeat of the near-catastrophic attempt to blow up an airliner bound for Detroit on Christmas Day. President Barack Obama ordered the U.S. intelligence agencies to do a better job of recognizing serious terror threats and sharing information with those who can disrupt a plot as quickly as possible.

Economy loses 85,000 jobs, unemployment rate steady

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lack of confidence in the economic recovery led employers to shed a more-than-expected 85,000 jobs in December even as the unemployment rate held at 10 percent. The rate would have been higher if more people had been looking for work instead of leaving the labor force because they can’t find jobs. The sharp drop in the work force — 661,000 fewer people — showed that more of the jobless are giving up on their search for work. Once people stop looking for jobs, they are no longer counted among the unemployed.

New smog rules could come as a surprise to some counties

LOS ANGELES — Parts of the country that haven’t worried about air pollution may soon be in the fight California has faced for decades: cleaning up smog. Stricter rules proposed Thursday by the Obama administration could more than double the number of counties across the country that are in violation of clean air standards. That would likely have a big impact on other parts of the nation since California already sets stringent standards for cars, ships and trucks.

Anti-whaling boat left to sink in Antarctica

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA (AP) — Conservationists abandoned a sinking ship wrecked in a confrontation with Japanese whalers to resume their aggressive campaign to stop the hunt today amid concerns about contamination of pristine Antarctic waters. The bow of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s Ady Gil was sheared off Wednesday in a crash with a far larger Japanese whaling ship — the most serious clash in what has become an annual confrontation off the frozen continent. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is based in Washington’s San Juan Islands.

Brrr: Parents fight for sleds as Europe shivers in cold

PARIS (AP) — Snow settling near France’s Mediterranean shores. German parents battling to buy sleds. British horse races called off over too much ice. A European cold snap — awfully cold in some places — saw snow clog roads and airports today, knock out electricity and induce hoorays from schoolchildren kept home from school. The low temperatures, prompted by an Arctic weather system, are set to continue through the weekend.

Latest shot in hummus war: Israel doubles recipe

JERUSALEM — Israel has taken the upper hand in a new kind of Mideast conflict, one in which bullets are replaced by chickpeas. Using a satellite dish on loan from a nearby broadcast station, cooks in an Arab town near Jerusalem whipped up more than four metric tons of hummus, the chickpea paste that is a staple — and a near-religious obsession — for many in the Middle East.

KFC pulls Australian ad over racism complaints

CANBERRA, Australia — Fast food giant KFC has pulled an Australian television advertisement after it was branded racist in the United States. The ad depicts a white Australian cricket fan subduing boisterous black West Indian fans by sharing his fried chicken.

Chilean zoo celebrates birth of white tigers

SANTIAGO, Chile — The Chilean National Zoo is celebrating the birth of a rare litter of five white tigers. Zoo director Mauricio Fabry said Thursday that the zoo will build a special habitat to accommodate the tigers born on Dec. 28.

Suspected U.S. missiles kill four

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Suspected U.S. missiles killed four people in northwest Pakistan today, the latest in a surge of such attacks since a suicide bomber staged a deadly assault on CIA employees just across the frontier in Afghanistan. The attack was the sixth in just over a week in North Waziristan, an unusually intense bombardment that also follows repeated calls by the United States for Pakistan to do more against militants there blamed for attacks on American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Churches attacked in ‘Allah’ dispute

KUALA LUMPUR, Malyasia — Three churches in Malaysia were attacked with firebombs, causing extensive damage to one, as Muslims pledged today to prevent Christians from using the word “Allah,” escalating religious tensions in the multiracial country. Many Malay Muslims, who make up 60 percent of the population, are incensed by a recent High Court decision to overturn a ban on Roman Catholics using “Allah” as a translation for God in the Malay-language edition of their main newspaper, the Herald.

1 U.S., 8 Afghan troops killed by bombs

KABUL — Roadside bombs have killed eight Afghan soldiers and a U.S. service member in separate incidents in Afghanistan, officials said today. NATO confirmed the American died Thursday in eastern Afghanistan, but provided no other details.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: A shower was held Friday in Cash- mere for Sarah Gavin, in honor of her upcoming marriage to Charles Burbank. The guests included Ruby Long, Ina Long, Fanny McManus, Lydia McManus, Sylvia McManus, Louise Amos, Edna Burbank, Edna Hartley, Bessie Hartley, Elsie Holli-day, Wilma Jordan, Mrs. George Johnson and Mrs. Guy Long.

Dear Abby: Boys dread two more years of school harassment

Dear Abby: I am a short high school sophomore. I am small-boned and my voice is high-pitched. I’m terrible at sports, and physical education class is a nightmare. I have become friends with another guy, “Rick,” who is much like me, and it helps to have someone who has similar problems. Because Rick and I hang out together, some of the macho guys have started a rumor that we’re gay, and now everyone in the school thinks it’s true. Our PE teacher has even made comments to this effect, which compounds the problem.

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Thursday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Local interest stocks

As of closing Thursday

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Thursday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

New York Stock Exchange

Thursday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are trading in a tight range as the market took a relatively weak jobs report in stride. The Labor Department says employers cut 85,000 jobs in December. However, November’s figures were revised to show a slight gain in jobs, the first in nearly two years. The monthly jobs report is considered an important indicator of the economy’s health, however job growth has been badly lagging in this recovery even as other parts of the economy improve, such as manufacturing, housing and retail sales.

Metals

NEW YORK (AP) — Spot nonferrous metal prices Friday.

To Ellen Goodman, with love

I confess to feeling only slightly more rational than “Misery’s” Kathy Bates. I want to strap Ellen Goodman into a chair and make her keep writing columns.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

A year to go: I cringe every time I hear someone refer to this year as the beginning of a new decade, or last week as the end of an old. It’s just like 10 years ago when we were approaching a new millenium (which started on January 1, 2001, not January 1, 2000).

Our World: Sacrificing for the greater good

There’s nothing quite so inspiring as folks who make significant sacrifices for the greater good. We saw an outstanding and somewhat unusual example of this when union and non-union employees of Okanogan County agreed to make significant wage concessions to save the jobs of four individuals, according to a story by our reporter, K.C. Mehaffey.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Thursday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 972

News of record

News of record report for Chelan and Douglas counties

Despite Spokane’s red-light cameras, accidents and injuries up in first year

Police confident crash numbers will fall

SPOKANE (AP) — Intersections where Spokane installed red-light cameras in 2008 in the name of safety saw an increase in crashes and injuries in the first year of the controversial program. There were 38 collisions at the three intersections the year after the city began fining violators caught on tape. That’s up from 32 the previous year, according to police collision reports provided to The Spokesman-Review.

Mourning Maple Falls teen

Family friend and neighbor Kathryn Pitner lights a candle Thursday at a small memorial in front of the house in Maple Falls where a man shot his girlfriend and killed her 14-year-old daughter before killing himself. “She was a bright and happy girl. She would run around the neighborhood helping people out with anything they needed, “ Pitner said. Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo did not immediately identify the man. However, The Bellingham Herald says others have identified him as the homeowner, 41-year-old Sean D. Wilson, a Whatcom County planning commissioner.

Boy critically injured in city intersection

MUKILTEO — A 14-year-old boy was struck by a car about 7 a.m. Thursday at an intersection in Mukilteo. Fire district spokeswoman Leslie Hynes told The Daily Herald the Mukilteo boy was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with life-threatening injuries.

Officials believe restaurant fire was arson

EVERETT — Police say the fire that destroyed a waterfront restaurant on Everett’s Silver Lake was probably arson. Sgt. Robert Goetz told The Daily Herald that detectives have evidence the fire on Nov. 9 at Emory’s restaurant was set. The loss was estimated at $2 million and put 50 employees out of work.

Rare trumpeter swan killed near Colville

COLVILLE — Birdwatchers in northeastern Washington are offering a reward to find whoever killed a rare trumpeter swan on the Colville River west of Colville. At least $1,600 has been collected by birding groups for information leading to the arrest of whoever shot the swan on Dec. 28. The bird later had to be euthanized by a state Fish and Wildlife Department officer.

Gun at school leads to 12-year-old boy’s arrest

VANCOUVER — Clark County sheriff’s deputies have arrested a 12-year-old boy at his Vancouver-area middle school after finding an unloaded 9 mm handgun and two loaded ammunition clips in the boy’s backpack. Sgt. Craig Randall says the boy told investigators Thursday that he took his father’s gun to Pacific Middle School, without permission, to protect himself and friends from a bully.

Missing woman believed homicide victim

EVERETT — Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives have arrested an ex-boyfriend of a missing Everett woman for investigation of second-degree murder. While no body has been found, they say they believe Sherry Harlan is a homicide victim. Booked into the Snohomish County Jail on Thursday was 40-year-old Eric Christensen of Gold Bar.

Negotiators wrap up talks on Klamath Dam removal

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Negotiators have wrapped up the second half of a two-part agreement to remove four dams on the Klamath River to help salmon. Representatives of governments, Indian tribes, fishermen, and conservation groups concluded talks in Sacramento, Calif., on Thursday on $1 billion worth of fish and wildlife habitat restoration and greater assurances of irrigation water for farmers.

Chinese student disputes police stun-gun account

EUGENE, Ore. — A lawyer for a non-English-speaking Chinese college student disputes a Eugene police officer’s account of events that led the officer to shoot the student with a stun gun. Eugene attorney Ilona Koleszar also said Thursday that her client intends to sue the city over the Sept. 22 incident. Koleszar says her client, who has not been identified, denies making any move toward Officer Judd Warden inside the foreign student’s west Eugene townhouse.

Seattle fire boat rescues two kayakers

SEATTLE — Two men attempting an overnight kayak trip from Bainbridge Island to Seattle capsized in Puget Sound and had to be rescued. One had a cell phone and called for help about 2 a.m. today. The Coast Guard and Seattle Fire Department boats started a search.

Man died of meningitis

FRIDAY HARBOR — San Juan County authorities say a Friday Harbor man who was found dead in his home on New Year’s Day died of bacterial meningitis. Sheriff’s deputies found the body of 54-year-old Mark Ambrose Trahan after a neighbor expressed concern. An autopsy determined the cause of death.

Couple collects cans to pay for wedding

SPOKANE — A Spokane couple is collecting aluminum cans to help pay for their wedding. Andrea Parrish and Peter Geyer have more than 18,000 cans in their living room — about 5 percent of their goal of collecting 400,000 cans.

Man’s body found floating in canal

SEATTLE — Seattle police say the body of a man in his 30s was found floating in the Lake Washington Ship Canal just west of the Fremont Bridge. Police spokeswoman Renee Witt said a citizen reported the body Thursday afternoon. Police at the scene estimated it had been in the water for quite a while.

500 soldiers heading to Iraq

FORT LEWIS — With today’s deployment ceremony Fort Lewis is preparing to send another 500 soldiers to Iraq. This will be the third Iraq deployment for the 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment.

TSA sending full-body scanners to airport

SEATAC — Sea-Tac Airport expects to install five full-body scanners this year. They are part of the 150 the Transportation Security Administration plans to distribute at the nation’s airports to step up passenger screening.

Plastic-wrapped body pulled from canal

TOPPENISH — A Yakima County sheriff’s officer says a man whose plastic-wrapped body was pulled from an irrigation canal near Toppenish has been identified as 21-year-old Fernando Figueroa of Yakima. Sheriff’s detectives say the man may have suffered a gunshot wound. An autopsy is planned.

More charges filed in Lakewood shootings

Prosecutors filed more charges today that could bring steeper sentences against two associates of Maurice Clemmons, the ex-convict who fatally shot four Lakewood police officers Nov. 29 before he was killed two days later by a Seattle police officer. New charges of rendering criminal assistance and gun violations were brought against Eddie Davis, 20, and Douglas Davis, 22, who were originally charged with one count of helping Clemmons, 37, elude police after learning Clemmons had shot the four officers.

Farmers continue to fight Franklin Co. feedlot

ELTOPIA — Although a 30,000-head feedlot in rural Franklin County is near completion, nearby farmers are continuing to challenge it. Easterday Ranches Inc., one of the Northwest’s largest feedlot operators, is constructing a feedlot on 100 acres of its 960-acre property near Eltopia, about 25 miles northeast of Pasco.

Chubby Checker classic helps Medicare promote new prescription ‘twist’

WASHINGTON (AP) — In case the prospect of nearly $4,000 in prescription assistance isn’t enough to perk up low-income seniors, the government is using ’60s singer Chubby Checker to publicize “the twist” in the Medicare drug program. As of Jan. 1, more than 1 million low-income seniors are newly eligible for more generous prescription drug benefits under the “extra help” program. Benefiting from a new law are those with life insurance policies and those who regularly get money from relatives to help pay household expenses but were previously disqualified because of too many assets or too much income.

Elvis’ hometown toasts The King

Mississippi birthplace is becoming a new mecca for fans

TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — The simple white shotgun shack where Elvis Presley was born is so tiny it could easily fit inside a single room in the opulent Graceland mansion where he spent his final years — maybe in the Jungle Room with its green-carpeted ceiling. While the focus on Elvis’ 75th birthday today will be on Graceland, the international tourist attraction in Memphis that has become synonymous with the legend since his death in 1977, hundreds of fans are expected to converge on his birthplace in northeastern Mississippi for a different perspective on the man who reshaped popular music by blending elements of black and white, blues and bluegrass, gospel and rockabilly to become arguably its most popular figure, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Thomas G. White

Thomas G. White, 71, of East Wenatchee, died Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010.

Glenn T. Weyenberg

Glenn T. Weyenberg, 92, of Wenatchee, died Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010.

William B. ‘Bill’ Shanahan

William B. “Bill” Shanahan, 84, of East Wenatchee, died Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010.

Quinton Dale Leander

Quinton Dale Leander, 91, of Moses Lake, died Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010.

Violet Hart

Violet Hart, 99, of Cashmere, died Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010.

Gladys A. Gleason

Gladys A. Gleason, 78, of Wenatchee, died Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010, in East Wenatchee.

Treasurer for Masons faces forgery case

WENATCHEE — The former treasurer of the Masonic Lodge in Chelan has been charged with forgery after nearly $50,000 was taken from the organization’s bank accounts. Harry P. Himmelhaver, 56, of Brewster, is charged with seven counts of forgery in Chelan County Superior Court. On Monday, Judge T.W. “Chip” Small denied his request for a public defender even though he does not have a job, noting that his wife works and that they own their home “outright,” according to court documents.

Cold, sloppy weather settling in for a weekend stay in NCW

WENATCHEE — Expect more of the same kind of drizzly wet weather for the next couple of days. The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for snow, sleet and freezing rain through Saturday afternoon. The advisory covers all of Chelan, Douglas and Grant counties and the western half of Okanogan County.

Activist speaks up for census

WENATCHEE — The co-founder of the United Farm Workers labor union and advocate for the working poor and women’s rights will visit Wenatchee next month to encourage everyone to take the 2010 census. Dolores Huerta, 78, will speak from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 3 at the Wenatchee Community Center. She last spoke in Wenatchee in the early 2000s.

The 2010 census is coming

The form: 2010 census forms will be mailed to all U.S. households starting in mid-March.

Fire destroys motor home at Dryden RV park

Firefighters finish putting out a fire that destroyed a motor home being used for a permanent residence at the Dryden Square RV Park on Dryden Frontage Road in Dryden this morning. Owner Ray Dronen ,an unemployed truck driver, escaped the fire but at first was unable to find his 3-year-old boxer, Tippy.

Digest: Glover leads SBS golf tourney

U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover recovered from a double bogey on his opening hole to shoot 7-under 66 for a one-shot lead in the season-opening SBS Championship. Nathan Green of Australia and Martin Laird of Scotland, among seven players making their debuts at Kapalua on Thursday, joined Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney at 67. British Open champ Stewart Cink and Masters champion Angel Cabrera were among those at 68.

Mariners get Kotchman from Red Sox

SEATTLE — Casey Kotchman spent summers from age 7 through 10 on long rides with dozens of older guys all over Washington. He was traveling from Boise, Idaho, tagging along with the low-level minor league team managed by his father, Tom. “I enjoyed all the bus rides. I spent a lot of time growing up here in the Northwest,” Kotchman said Thursday.

Forty years of the ‘Angling Edge’

Ask anyone who’s ever fished, and chances are they’ve heard of these guys. Al Lindner. Ron Lindner.

NFL playoffs: Cowboys, Bengals look to break through on Saturday

The Cowboys haven’t won a playoff game in more than a decade. The Bengals haven’t won one in nearly two decades. That can change, they hope, in Saturday’s wild-card round. Both get familiar foes: Dallas takes on NFC East rival Philadelphia for the third time since early November, and for the second straight week. Cincinnati also has a rematch from Week 17 against the New York Jets.

Alabama tops Texas for BCS football title

PASADENA, Calif. — The running game wears teams down. The defense changes games. Yes, Alabama, this season’s version of the Crimson Tide could have been your dad’s Crimson Tide, too.

Venom zeroing in on SportsPlex for their indoor practice facility

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Valley Venom, the region’s expansion indoor football team, will play its games at the Town Toyota Center beginning in late March but have a second home for practices. The Venom, which begins play in the American Indoor Football League for the 2010 season, will work out primarily at the Wenatchee Valley SportsPlex at the foot of Fifth Street, but will also occasionally practice in the arena when space is available.

Learn to Curl is Sunday

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Curling Club will host a Learn to Curl event Sunday at Town Toyota Center. Cost is $13 per person, and the session runs from 5 to 7:15 p.m. at the arena.

Trip donations sought for Cashmere soccer player

CASHMERE — Donations are being sought to help defray the cost of sending Cashmere soccer player Stephanie Zamudio to Philadelphia. Zamudio was named a high school All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in December, and will be traveling to Philadelphia later this month to receive her award.

Steelhead fishing good in NCW

Fish still biting, especially when temperatures aren’t freezing

WENATCHEE — Some might think it’s cold out there, but it hasn’t been cold enough to adversely impact local steelhead anglers. Fishermen are still enjoying the special hatchery steelhead season on the Columbia and Wenatchee rivers, especially when the temperatures are above freezing.

Eastmont drops home matches to Wenatchee, ML

But Panthers coach says Wildcat wrestlers much better than a year ago

EAST WENATCHEE — Ken Hoyt has seen better birthdays. The longtime Eastmont wrestling coach was dealt a bad hand on his birthday Thursday, as the Wildcats suffered losses at home to Moses Lake (53-9) and rival Wenatchee (53-15), the top two teams in the Columbia Basin Big Nine.

Panthers beat Ike in league bowling

YAKIMA — Three Wenatchee bowlers came through with 200 games, sending the Panthers to an easy win over Eisenhower on Thursday, 2,048 to 1,900. Savanna Lindenmuth led the way with a 214, Brooke Tate rolled a 203 on the way to a 401 two-game series, and Mandy Menzel finished with a 200.

Surgeries for Seahawks

RENTON — Seattle safety Deon Grant is having wrist surgery and defensive end Patrick Kerney will undergo elbow surgery. The team expects Grant to be fully recovered by late April or May, and Kerney within six weeks.

Shawn Christian Broesch

Shawn Christian Broesch, age 20, of Tonasket, had an unexpected departure on January 3, 2010, near Tonasket. He was born on March 2, 1989, in Deer Park, WA, to parents, Timothy Shawn Broesch and Tammie Victoria Tipton.

H1N1 vaccination clinic scheduled

OKANOGAN — Okanogan County Public Health will hold an H1N1 vaccination clinic Wednesday. It will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the district offices at 234 South 2nd Avenue in Okanogan.

Hastings not shy about stance on health care bill

YAKIMA — Democratic leaders in Congress have yet to negotiate a final bill for health care reform, but regardless of what the House and Senate ultimately agree on, Rep. Doc Hastings is sure he will vote no. In a speech before members of the Downtown Yakima Rotary Club on Thursday, Hastings called President Barack Obama’s health care reform “very, very bad policy” and said he believes it’s likely to lead to rationing of medical services in the United States.

Historic Preservation grant opportunity

SEATTLE — The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation has announced that grant applications for the 2010 Valerie Sivinski Washington Preserves Fund are being accepted. Established in 1997, the program has awarded 62 projects totaling more than $51,000 to local historic preservation organizations and advocates.

Flags to be lowered to honor deputy

OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire has directed that flags at all Washington state agency buildings be lowered to half-staff Monday in memory of Grant County Sheriff’s Deputy John Bernard. Bernard was killed while on duty last week from injuries sustained in a one-car crash. Flags should remain at half-staff until close of business Monday, or first thing Tuesday morning, according to a news release from the Governor’s Office.

Hospital infection rates not unexpected

WENATCHEE — Recently released infection rates for patients treated at hospitals in Washington state show rates for NCW hospitals in ranges expected by health experts. That is because the numbers are either zero or are not considered unusually high, said Pamela Lovinger, policy advisor for the Department of Health. Some infection is expected, and many health experts say that not all infections from hospital sources can be prevented, she said.

State revokes licenses of nurse practitioner who doled out painkillers

WENATCHEE — A nurse practitioner accused by state officials of writing large amounts of narcotic prescriptions to patients with addiction problems can no longer practice in Washington state. The Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission, an arm of the state Department of Health, has revoked the registered nurse license and the advanced registered nurse practitioner license of Deborah S. Rehberg.

Time to say goodbye

Joe Schumacher carries Joseph from his Nativity scene at the front of his home to a bin to put him away for the year along with the rest of the figures at his home at 1609 S. Miller Street in Wenatchee. According to Schumacher, he and his wife, Melba, have had the outdoor Nativity scene for about three years.

Talking It Over: Former Middle East ambassador brings the world home

Former Ambassador Ryan Crocker gave a large crowd at Wenatchee Valley College some basic lessons of diplomacy that he has learned in his career with the Foreign Service.

Money management course begins Jan. 13

WENATCHEE - The First Presbyterian Church, 1400 S. Miller St., will host a 13-week Financial Peace University course beginning at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 13.

Museum offering family art class

WENATCHEE - The Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center will host a Family ArtVentures class from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the museum, 127 S. Mission St.

Church plans midweek recharge events

WENATCHEE - The First Presbyterian Church, 1400 S. Miller St., will host two midweek recharge programs every Wednesday beginning Jan. 13.

Parenting Corner: No-sleepovers rule applies to Grandma, too

Q:I have been divorced for almost 20 years. My grandson is 8 and my granddaughter is 4. I have been in a relationship for a year and my grandchildren are used to seeing us together. I think my granddaughter is jealous of my boyfriend even though he has been good to her.

Steepled beacons flicker on the prairie

WAKEENEY, Kan. — On the prairie, a dozen miles from town, a stiff winter wind whips across fields frozen and striped with snow. A car rolls up a two-lane road. It’s the Sunday morning before Christmas.

Suzuki’s midsize Kizashi challenges Camry and Accord

With exterior styling that is similar to a Volkswagen sedan, an upscale interior, five-passenger seating and thrifty, four-cylinder fuel mileage, the midsize 2010 Kizashi is Suzuki’s competitor to America’s favorites, Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. Suzuki says the Kizashi is an affordable, attractive sedan that can be had with all-wheel drive, which neither Camry nor Accord offers.

Spiritual book discussion group begins Jan. 16

WENATCHEE - A spiritual book discussion group, presented by Eckankar, will begin at 3 p.m. Jan. 16 at Read It Again New and Used Books, 11 Palouse St.

Waffle tradition keeps the kids — and parents — happy

The herd of teenage boys enter through the kitchen archway and yell “Waffles!” with arms raised. After serving themselves from the plate of hot waffles and choosing their toppings, they sit at the long dinner table to eat and chat with their friends. Welcome to Waffle Monday at Karin and Brad Schock’s Wenatchee home.

Blind woman learning to be a chef

CHICAGO — A kitchen is a spiritual place for Laura Martinez, a space that arouses her senses, excites her imagination. It’s not where she imagined herself finding such satisfaction. When she was too young to understand she was blind, she dreamed of being a surgeon. She grew up and out of such fantasies and studied briefly to be a psychologist. But the kitchen beckoned. It lured her away from her family in Moline, Ill., to the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary program at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago.

Storage solutions for all those toys

Take a deep breath. Now another. The holidays are over, but now you’re stuck with this new round of clutter — er, gifts. How do you integrate the new loot without drowning in toys? Parent advice

Thursday, January 7

New filing raises charge to murder in Omak shooting

SPOKANE — A 21-year-old Omak man previously charged with assault has now been indicted by a federal grand jury for first-degree premeditated murder.

‘Shaper of Seattle’ tells how one man changed the city

Picture a downtown Seattle where, after meeting a friend at the corner of Pine and Third, you climb several flights of stairs — or take the counterbalance if you’re lazy — for a whiskey and a view of the city from the veranda of the Denny Hotel.

Book depicts the artistry of the Pacific Northwest

Tony Angell views the Pacific Northwest from two vantage points — as a naturalist, and as an artist. Both inform his sculpture, his drawings and his splendid new book, “Puget Sound Through an Artist’s Eye,” which chronicles 40 years of the Seattle-area artist’s sculptures and paintings of the birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and undersea life of the Puget Sound area.

The jazz decade

Wenatchee music workshop turns 10

The Wenatchee Jazz Workshop gets a 10th birthday next week, but its father doesn’t plan to be around for the party. The educational program launched in 2000 by middle school band instructor Jeff Sandberg carries out its latest round of student training starting Monday, with public concerts Jan. 14 and 15 featuring both the students and the professional musicians flown in to instruct them.

’10 on the screen

Hot film prospects link this year with last

Contemporary Hollywood can feel like a creatively stagnant place, stocked with remakes, sequels and vehicles inspired by toys and television. But for anyone worried that the movie business has an originality problem, 2009 offered plenty of evidence to the contrary. Could that be a harbinger for the new movie year?

Check it out: Scene

A concert by Seattle swing quartet Miss Rose and Her Rhythm Percolators has been canceled until further notice due to illness.

Check it out: Art

The Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center’s featured exhibit, “Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices,” concludes Saturday.

Check it out: On stage

The frenetic family comedy, "You Can't Take It With You," by George Kaufman and Moss Hart captures the extended family of patriarch Martin Vanderhof (John Ryan), who presides over a household of happy eccentrics.

Check it out: Overtures

Whitworth College student Mac Merchant lends his piano skills to a fundraising effort for the Woods House’s scholarship program.

‘Leap Year’s’ troubled travelogue

If chemistry were all, then the sparks Amy Adams and Matthew Goode set off would be enough in “Leap Year.”

‘Youth’ works as homage to outlaw love

“Punk” and “rebel” don’t belong in the same sentence with “Michael Cera.” But somehow, they connect in the few-holds-barred teen comedy “Youth in Revolt.”

‘Up in the Air’ flies smooth

With a director, Jason Reitman, whose “Juno” sometimes mistook cleverness for insight and a star, George Clooney, who sometimes mistakes cocky for craft, “Up in the Air” might have been an unsightly splatter of inside jokes and smarmy jocularity.

Stylish ‘Daybreakers’ lacks a vital pulse

In the “Daybreakers” future, the vampires have it all worked out. Can’t drive during the day? Fit cars with blackout windows and drive by video screen. Need blood? It’s farmed in gigantic dairy styled processing facilities where the few surviving humans are imprisoned and sucked dry.

DVD+U

“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” Sony, single-disc DVD $28.96, two-disc DVD $34.95, Blu-ray $39.95

Go on the hunt for Zelda’s body in ‘Spirit Tracks’

Link trades his boat in for a train in “The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.” The game follows a similar structure and has the same cartoonish visual style as the series’ previous DS adventure, “Phantom Hourglass.” Like that game, “Spirit Tracks” is played mostly with the stylus.

Fur flies in pet poll — but dogs win it by a long, wet nose

LOS ANGELES — Cats. Dogs Those can be fighting words in some circles. Cats are “nasty, stinking creatures,” says Mark David of Warrensburg, Mo. And dogs? They’re noisy, disruptive and “lick you and themselves,” counters Sanford Reikes of Louisville, Ky.

State police shootings spark possible changes

OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire and several law enforcement groups support the idea of a state constitutional amendment that would give judges more leeway to deny bail. Gregoire met Wednesday with police, prosecutors and judges to discuss possible changes to state law in the wake of the slayings of four police officers in November.

Can’t hold? Washington jobless center calls back

OLYMPIA — Tired of waiting on hold for the Washington unemployment claims center to answer your call? No problem; it will call you back without losing your place in line. The Employment Security Department says it has adopted technology called “virtual hold” to deal with large numbers of the jobless filing claims.

Washington gets $13.5 million for green jobs

SEATTLE — Washington state is receiving $13.5 million from the U.S. Department of labor to train people for green jobs. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray said Wednesday that three projects will receive money as part of $100 million in grants that the Labor Department is distributing nationwide.

State to appeal felon vote ruling to U.S. Supreme Court

OLYMPIA — Attorney General Rob McKenna and Secretary of State Sam Reed say they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an appellate court’s decision that would give Washington state felons in prison and on community supervision the right to vote. McKenna and Reed announced their decision Wednesday. The appeal has to be filed with the court by April, and the state will seek a stay on felony inmates’ ability to vote until the case is resolved.

DuPont man was killed in Afghanistan CIA blast

TACOMA — The family of a DuPont man told The News Tribune of Tacoma he was one of the seven people killed by a suicide bomber Dec. 30 at a CIA base in Afghanistan. Dane Clark Paresi was a retired Army master sergeant from a Special Forces group at Fort Lewis who was working as a contractor for the company formerly known as Blackwater.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

War for whom?: In regards to “Just a thought” (The Safety Valve, Dec. 27): From a prior military perspective I can tell you firsthand that the majority of the American people are correct in thinking that we are at war against terrorism. I would also fathom that the 2.8 million active and reserve servicemen and woman and their families would tend to agree as well. For someone to suggest that we are only fighting an ideology is idiocy. To suggest that these 2.8 million people are risking their life and dying for only such a thought is preposterous, demeaning and shameful.

Immigration reform, soon

It is happening all over the country, not just in Brewster. Agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) audit the employee records of a selected company, identify employees with irregularities in their immigration status, inform the company of potential violations, and then the suspect employees lose their jobs. Criminal prosecution of the company could follow if a “pattern” of hiring illegal immigrants emerges. This audit system is an enforcement measure substantially beefed up by the Obama administration, which increased their frequency by a factor of four in the last year. The results can be felt in Brewster this week, where a late-December ICE audit at Gebbers Farms resulted in “significant” firings. How many isn’t known, but enough that local school enrollment could drop noticeably. Gebbers, which grows and packs fruit and is a significant presence in its community, is one of 1,000 companies targeted by ICE audits recently, on top of hundreds prior to that. “We are expanding enforcement,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told The New York Times, “but I think in the right way.”

Big colleges are rattling the pigskin piggy bank

WASHINGTON — In 1957, Queen Elizabeth, attending a Maryland-North Carolina football game, asked Maryland’s governor, “Where do you get all those enormous players?” He replied, “Your majesty, that’s a very embarrassing question.” Tonight’s championship game between Alabama and Texas, featuring head coaches paid $4 million and $5.1 million, respectively, will be an occasion for more hand-wringing about the “commercialization” of college football. That is a hardy perennial.

Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — A rising dollar and caution ahead of the government’s monthly employment report is keeping investors from making big moves in the stock market for a third day. Stocks are staying in a tight range Thursday as traders remain wary ahead of Friday’s report on December employment. Analysts expect the unemployment rate to have risen. The government reported a rise in weekly claims for unemployment benefits Thursday, though the increase was less than expected.

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Local interest stocks

As of closing Wednesday

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Wednesday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

New York Stock Exchange

Wednesday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Metals

NEW YORK (AP) — Spot nonferrous metal prices Thursday.

Wild win in Texas

Early advantage nearly disappears

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — The Wenatchee Wild scored four first-period goals Wednesday and held on for a 4-3 victory over Wichita Falls in the first game of a three-game series with the Wildcats. Dajon Mingo scored one of those goals and assisted on two others for a three-point night for the Wild. Mingo now has six points in the Wild’s last three games.

Digest: Patriots’ Brady wins Comeback Player of the Year Award in NFL

Tom Brady has gone from record-setting MVP to injured superstar to The Associated Press 2009 NFL Comeback Player of the Year. Brady’s strong return from a left knee injury that sidelined him for all but the first quarter of the 2008 opener earned the Patriots quarterback the award Wednesday. One of football’s biggest stars, Brady has gone from NFL Most Valuable Player in 2007, when he set several passing records, to sidelined to earning his second league award.

Seattle U. crushes OSU

CORVALLIS, Ore. Before the season began, Seattle U. men’s basketball coach Cameron Dollar said he told his team that if it simply plays hard and together, “we will all be surprised at the types of things that can happen.” But even Dollar had to admit he was a little taken aback by what took place at Gill Coliseum on Wednesday night as the Redhawks — in their first full season playing Division I basketball since 1980 — manhandled the host Oregon State Beavers 99-48.

DH denied: Martinez falls short in first Hall of Fame vote

SEATTLE — In his first appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot, Edgar Martinez got nearly half the support he’ll need to enter Cooperstown. The challenge in years ahead will be winning over voters who aren’t convinced a designated hitter belongs.

Mora: No changes at quarterback for Seahawks

Coach says Hasselbeck is still his man behind center

RENTON — The Seahawks will make changes this offseason, but coach Jim Mora doesn’t envision the starting quarterback being one of them. Mora made that clear when asked if Matt Hasselbeck was still Seattle’s starting quarterback when he closed his eyes and imagined the start to next season.

Former deputy charged after four-car wreck

WENATCHEE — A former Douglas County Sheriff’s Office deputy has been charged with three counts of vehicular assault in connection with a four-car, injury accident Dec. 31 near Entiat. The charges were filed Wednesday afternoon in Chelan County Superior Court against George S. “Steve” Barnett, 56, of East Wenatchee, The charging documents allege he was driving under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collisions, said Doug Shae, Chelan County deputy prosecutor.

At the end of the day, the title is up for grabs

Fate may be in the Longhorns’ corner tonight, but the Crimson Tide may have the better team

LOS ANGELES — Texas will win the national championship because, in La-La land, people like scripts that come full circle, having their fortunes told and Jupiter aligned with Mars. There are too many coincidences to think it can go any other way — at least that’s what the palm reader said.

At the break: How are WHS, EHS faring halfway through?

WENATCHEE — At the halfway point of the Columbia Basin Big Nine basketball season, the Wenatchee girls are starting to feel it. The Panthers, who enter Friday’s game with Davis (the 11th of 20 regular season games) at 7-3 overall and 2-0 in league, are beginning to sense the target on their backs.

M’s sign player

SEATTLE — Reserve infielder Chris Woodward and the Seattle Mariners have agreed to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said Wednesday that Woodward “was a role model and mentor as well as a contributor on the field” for Seattle last year.

Texas and ’Bama: Blue bloods play for a title

For these storied college programs, football is frequently larger than life

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Nick Saban gave Mack Brown a cooler full of Alabama’s favorite, Dreamland Bar-B-Que. Brown presented Saban with a pair of genuine Texas spurs. A quaint gesture, and a great photo op.

Valaas 6th in 20K ski at nationals

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Kikkan Randall won the women’s 20-kilometer classical race Wednesday at the 2010 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships, while Wenatchee native Laura Valaas skied to another strong finish. Valaas was sixth on Wednesday in 1:15:49.2, about a minute-and-a-half off the pace set by Randall, who won her third title in as many races at this year’s championships and the 13th national championship race of her career.

Suspected airline bomber was flagged for extra screening

WASHINGTON — U.S. border security officials learned of intelligence concerning the alleged extremist links of the Christmas Day airline bomber as he was airborne en route to Detroit and had decided to question him when he landed, officials said in disclosures Wednesday. The new information shows that border enforcement officials came across important clues about the Nigerian suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, despite intelligence failures that were criticized by President Barack Obama this week.

Winter storm bashes Midwest, South

DES MOINES — Snow was piled so high in Iowa that drivers couldn’t see across intersections and a North Dakota snowblower repair shop was overwhelmed with business as residents braced today for heavy snow and wind chills as low as 50 below zero. Frigid weather also was gripping the South, where a rare cold snap was expected to bring snow and ice today to states from South Carolina to Louisiana. Forecasters said wind chills could drop to near zero at night in some areas.

Man threatening Jews taken off flight

MIAMI — An airline passenger in Miami proclaimed “I want to kill all the Jews” before police forced him off a Detroit-bound plane, authorities said today. Mansor Mohammad Asad, 43, of Toledo, Ohio, was arrested Wednesday night, according to a Miami-Dade Police Department statement. Asad was charged with threats against a public servant, disorderly conduct and resisting an officer without violence.

Video footage leads to robbery suspect

EPHRATA — Footage from a video camera at an Ephrata gas and convenience store has lead to the arrest of a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of first-degree robbery. Police Chief Mike Warren said the boy is accused of robbing The Tiger Pause about 10:30 p.m. Nov. 25. The store is located at 1750 Basin St. S.W. He was armed with an air pistol.

Court fines speeding millionaire $290,000

ST. GALLEN, Switzerland —A Swiss court has slapped a wealthy speeder with a chalet-sized fine — a full $290,000. Judges at the cantonal court in St. Gallen, in eastern Switzerland, based the record-breaking fine on the speeder’s estimated wealth of over $20 million.

Lois E. Boyd

Lois E. Boyd, 80, a longtime Wenatchee resident, passed away Tuesday morning, January 5, 2010, at her home in Wenatchee. She was born on September 22, 1929, at Albion, NE, the daughter of the late Joseph and Mabel (Dietsch) Hickman.

Suicide bomber kills 7 in Afghanistan market

KABUL — A suicide bomber killed seven people at a busy bazaar in eastern Afghanistan today, and a bomb hidden in a garbage container outside a provincial governor’s compound slightly wounded the official, authorities said. The attacks were in Paktia and Khost provinces, both of which border Pakistan and suffer frequent violence as insurgents gain momentum in their fight against Afghan and international troops.

Accused Holocaust museum shooter dies in prison

WASHINGTON (AP) — The death of a white supremacist accused of opening fire at the Holocaust museum has left some conflicted — not sorry he’s gone, but frustrated that he won’t stand trial. James von Brunn, who faced charges that could have earned him the death penalty, died Wednesday at a North Carolina federal prison while awaiting trial. He was 89.

Kennewick’s Clover Island lighthouse gets its lid

KENNEWICK — The first lighthouse built in the United States since 1962 now towers over Clover Island in Kennewick. On Wednesday, crews erected an 8-foot-tall gray steel cylinder and a 10-foot lantern room on the round lighthouse platform that recently was installed.

Washington Health Department rates hospitals

OLYMPIA — A state Health Department Web site lets the public compare infection rates at hospitals in Washington. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says infections that develop during or soon after hospital care are one of the top 10 leading causes of death nationwide.

Ex-child soldiers leave Nepal camps after 3 years

DUDHAULI, Nepal — Scores of former child soldiers, many in tears, boarded buses today for home, leaving a jungle detention camp where they have been held for three years and their lives as fighters behind. The 155 youths were among some 3,000 minors known to have been affiliated with the Maoist rebels, who fought the Nepalese government for 10 years before laying down their arms in 2006 and joining mainstream politics.

As Rainier’s glaciers recede, debris chokes rivers

SEATTLE — The fallout from Mount Rainier’s shrinking glaciers is beginning to roll downhill, and nowhere is the impact more striking than on the volcano’s west side. “This is it in spades,” said Park Service geologist Paul Kennard, scrambling up a 10-foot-tall mass of dirt and boulders bulldozed back just enough to clear the road.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Wednesday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game: 856

News of record

News of record reports for Chelan County

Diversity Council to hold quarterly town forums

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Diversity Advisory Council hopes to organize quarterly events throughout this new year to bring the area’s different cultures together and reward local efforts that promote cultural diversity. Council President Megan Alaniz said Wednesday, during the group’s first meeting of the year, that priorities for 2010 include the quarterly events, which include:

Charles Allen ‘Al’ Simms

Charles Allen “Al” Simms, 69, of Wenatchee, died Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009.

George Stanley ‘Stan’ Snitily

George Stanley “Stan” Snitily, 91, of Richland, died Saturday, Jan. 2, 2010, at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland.

Gitte Laila Panton

Gitte Laila Panton, 67, of Tonasket, died Friday, Jan. 1, 2010.

Claudia W. Nash

Claudia W. Nash, 92, of Wenatchee, died Monday, Jan. 4, 2010, at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee.

Rogelio Villalpando

Rogelio Villalpando, 69, of Brewster, died Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009, at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee.

Okanogan council seeks new member

OKANOGAN — The Okanogan City Council is seeking to fill a vacancy on the council, and is asking interested residents to apply for the post. The vacancy comes after Councilwoman Joan Pfeiffer resigned in December because she plans to move outside the area.

Nine homes darkened by brief power outage

WENATCHEE — A burned-out fuse on a power pole caused a brief electrical outage this morning in a Wenatchee neighborhood. The outage, reported to the Chelan County PUD around 5:30 a.m., affected nine homes in an area bordered by Cedar Street, Wilson Street and Castlerock Avenue. A PUD crew was dispatched to replace the fuse.

Grants would help students get to school safely

WENATCHEE — Communities across the state have an opportunity to increase safety for students walking and biking to school through the Safe Routes to School grant program administered by the state’s Department of Transportation. The DOT in a news release Wednesday issued a “call for projects” that would make it safer for kids to get to school. The program helps pay for sidewalks, bike lanes, pedestrian safety education, bicycle safety skills classes, crossing guards, speed feedback signs and traffic safety cameras.

H1N1 vaccinations available at more places around the area

WENATCHEE — The list of local clinics and pharmacies offering H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccine continues to grow. The Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic is now offering free H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccine for area veterans 8 to 11:30 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m. weekdays.

Orchardists learn pruning techniques at free clinic

About 30 orchardists and workers attended a pruning clinic Wednesday at Kenoyer Orchards, east of Cashmere. Presented by Bob Gix, a fieldman for Blue Star Growers, the clinic showed how to achieve desired fruit size and volume by using pruning methods.

Appeals court upholds teacher’s firing

Jury rejects her claim that she was dismissed for filing grievances

SPOKANE — The state Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by a former elementary school teacher who claimed she didn’t receive a fair trial in her retaliation lawsuit against the Eastmont School District in 2008. After a nearly three-week trial, a 12-person jury sided with the school district as it defended its decision to fire Lynn McCoy in 2004.

No suspects in Ephrata shooting death

EPHRATA — Investigators have no suspects in the shooting death Dec. 29 of an Ephrata man outside his home. “It’s looking like there is a possible lead, but it will take a few more days to verify if the person moves up to being a suspect,” said Mike Warren, Ephrata police chief Wednesday.

Man gets prison for sixth DUI

WENATCHEE — A Clarkston man has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to his sixth drunk-driving offense. Daniel L. Dearmont, 41, was sentenced Monday in Chelan County Superior Court.

WVC students back to class

Wednesday marked the first day back to classes after winter break at Wenatchee Valley College. After nearly three years as a student at WVC, Jaime Coleman finally decided to get her student identification card.

Services to be held Monday for Grant Co. deputy

MOSES LAKE — The Grant County Sheriff’s Office has announced a memorial service for a deputy who died in a one-car crash. The service for Deputy John Bernard will be held at noon Monday at the Big Bend Community College gymnasium in Moses Lake. It will be open to the public.

Enchantments permit deadline comes earlier

LEAVENWORTH — Hikers hoping to win one of 1,500 permits to camp in the Enchantments of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness will have to apply early this year if they hope to get picked. Hikers seeking an overnight wilderness permit in one of five Enchantment permit zones must apply between Feb. 1 and Feb. 8, the U.S. Forest Service announced Wednesday. That’s three weeks earlier than in past years.

Dubai opens half-mile-high tower, world’s tallest

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dubai opened the world’s tallest skyscraper Monday in a blaze of fireworks, then added a final flourish: It renamed the half-mile-high tower for the head of neighboring Abu Dhabi, whose billions bailed out Dubai amid last year’s financial crisis. Long known as Burj Dubai — Arabic for “Dubai Tower” — the building rises 2,717 feet (828 meters) from the desert. The $1.5 billion “vertical city” of luxury apartments and offices and a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani also plans to have the world’s highest mosque (158th floor) and swimming pool (76th floor).

Hubble telescope shows earliest view of universe

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Hubble Space Telescope has captured the earliest image yet of the universe — just 600 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was just a toddler. Scientists released the photo Tuesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. It’s the most complete picture of the early universe so far, showing galaxies with stars that are already hundreds of millions of years old, along with the unmistakable primordial signs of the first cluster of stars.

Dear Abby: There is more than one way to count the days

Dear Abby: I enjoyed the column you published with letters from readers about 13-13-13, and I’m not the least astonished that many of them didn’t get the humor. You failed to point out that several calendars actually DO have 13 months, among them the Muslim and Chinese calendars, each of which are lunar-solar calendars. Thus, 13-13-13 could be possible.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: The Owl Pharmacy is installing a 16-lamp electric sign, illuminating the world “Drugs.” Bliss Electric Co. is completing the work.

Forget New Year’s resolutions — how about an adventure a week instead?

CHICAGO — “Start a snowball fight with elementary school students. “Visit Ethiopia.

Peace of My Mind: Slow down this wobbly ol’ world so I can stay on

For every ending in life there’s always a new beginning. It may not happen immediately; it may take years or decades to unfold. And the journey from one to the other is often difficult and filled with bumps, potholes and numerous detours. This thing called life is not for the timid or faint of heart. It’s wise not to keep track of how many derailments and dead ends we encounter along the way. Our human experiences are seldom like a Boeing 767 taking flight. It’s more akin to driving on the old Blewett Pass highway with its many twists and turns.

Cool fun at the ice rink: Just slip in and chill ...

WENATCHEE — For some of us, winter sports are better when they’re indoors. No wet slush. No subfreezing temperatures. Steaming cups of hot chocolate just a few yards away. Too good to be true?

Wednesday, January 6

Brewster schools to meet over Gebbers Farms layoffs

BREWSTER — After learning about “significant layoffs” at Gebbers Farms, the Brewster School District scheduled a special board meeting Monday to decide whether the loss of jobs could affect the school’s status as an Class 1A League school. Superintendent Aaron Chavez said Wednesday that he doesn’t know how many workers were fired from Gebbers Farms, which operates a packing house and orchards.

Pacific County wind farm no threat to murrelets

ABERDEEN — A study found there would be no significant threat to marbled murrelets and other birds from the proposed Radar Ridge Wind Farm in Pacific County. KXRO reports the study will allow permitting work to continue on the project.

US lawyer joins Knox’s Italian defense team

ROME — Amanda Knox’s family says a U.S. lawyer with an international practice will work with their imprisoned daughter’s Italian defense team to map strategy for the appeals process. The family said in a statement Monday from Seattle that Theodore “Ted” Simon will bring international as well as criminal defense experience to the case.

Judges: Felony inmates should get to vote

OLYMPIA — In a decision that could give momentum to other efforts to expand voting to inmates, a federal appeals court ruled that incarcerated felons should be allowed to vote in Washington state. There’s a patchwork of laws across the nation concerning restoration of felons’ voting rights, but only Maine and Vermont allow those behind bars to cast ballots.

Reading, chatting, card playing — that’s the life

The cruise ships sail from Tampa and Fort Lauderdale and Miami, great ocean-going pueblos, 10 decks high, passengers lounging on their verandas, gazing at the sea, workhorse Americans trying to get out of cell-phone range for a week and sweeten up to their families. It is a beautiful thing to behold. You walk around the ship as Florida slips past in the gloaming and smell hamburgers frying and hear the rhythm of mojitos being shaken and the clik-clok of the ping-pong tables and pick out the accents of New Jersey, Canada, Atlanta, Little Havana, Iowa, people who have left their lives behind and formed a village of 1,200 souls joined by a solemn compact to try to have fun.

See through the years

The calendar turns. A new year begins. And more than a new year — a new decade. Off to the mists of history go the Aughts, or the Naughts, or the Naughtys, or whatever your favored label happens to be for the era just ended.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Great Wild: I always read all the good things Town Toyota Center is doing for our community and what the Wenatchee Wild are doing in the community. Me and my family think the players need a lot more recognition! After Saturday’s game we stood in line for 20 minutes to get my 7-year-old and my 1-year-old autographs. I didn’t think anything about it, just thought it would be fun for the kids, but when we got to the tables you could see how tired they were but they were all so very nice and made the kids feel so good and happy. It was amazing!

Really getting into recycling

In this age of eco-sensitivity, recycling is mandatory for all good people. It is a moral imperative, when it is good and worthwhile, and when it is ineffective and expensive. We fill up our blue bins because we care about the world around us. But in the recycling realm contradictions and moral ambiguity abound. On a Tuesday we will dutifully separate our bottles and cans, newspapers and plastic jugs ever so carefully, and on Saturday we’ll line up at the transfer station with a pickup full of brush, trimmings, leaves and muck to send off to the landfill. It’s ironic, because it’s probably the most reyclable stuff of all, and takes up more room in the landfill than most of the other trash we sort so attentively.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Tuesday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game:

News of record

News of record reports for Chelan and Douglas counties

Man who set co-worker ablaze gets probation

POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) — A man who set his co-worker on fire in July has been sentenced to five years of probation after the victim forgave him. Judge Stephen Dunn of the 6th District Court sentenced Jeremy Ulrich, 31, of Pocatello, to probation Monday after a letter from the victim convinced him it was the right way to resolve the case.

Thousands remember slain deputy

TACOMA (AP) — Less than a month after law enforcement officers filled the Tacoma Dome for a memorial service for four of their own, they returned Tuesday for yet another sad ceremony for one of their colleagues. Thousands of officers from the Northwest and members of the public gathered to remember Pierce County sheriff’s Deputy Kent Mundell, 44, of Puyallup. He died Dec. 28, the sixth law officer killed in two months in Pierce County and Seattle, days after he was shot by a drunken man at a home near Eatonville.

New school improvement plan gets board approval

SEATTLE — After three years of research and discussion, the State Board of Education on Monday approved a new way to identify failing schools and manage their improvement. Under the new process, districts with schools in the bottom 5 percent of a new accountability index would have a required performance audit and must start an improvement plan.

Wife pitches out a fortune after husband socks money in shoes

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romanian newspapers are reporting that a Romanian family who hid about $57,768 in a pair of old shoes, then threw them away by mistake, has recovered the bulk of its savings. Newspapers Evenimentul Zilei and Gandul reported Wednesday that a man from the city of Alba Iulia hid the savings in the shoes without telling his wife. The papers say the wife cleaned house before Christmas and threw the shoes away.

Delaying Yemen transfers puts Guantanamo in doubt

WASHINGTON — In a potential glitch to the administration’s effort to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, President Barack Obama on Tuesday ordered a halt to the transfer of detainees to Yemen, where the Christmas Day attack on a U.S. airliner is believed to have been planned. Obama’s decision shows that the failed attack on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit is having a direct effect on a key objective of his presidency.

Yemen bristles at U.S. chasing al-Qaida across borders

SAN’A, Yemen (AP) — Yemen’s foreign minister said today that his country opposes any direct intervention by U.S. or other foreign troops in the fight against al-Qaida. Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told The Associated Press in an interview that “there is a lot of sensitivity about foreign troops coming to Yemeni territory.”

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Metals

NEW YORK (AP) — Spot nonferrous metal prices Wednesday.

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Tuesday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

Local interest stocks

As of closing Tuesday

New York Stock Exchange

Tuesday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — Traders are making modest moves on the stock market ahead of the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting. Stocks edged higher Wednesday after the Institute for Supply Management said its services industry index rose to 50.1 in December from 48.7 in November. Any reading above 50 signals growth. Investors will be looking closely at the Fed’s minutes for clues about when the central bank might move to raise interest rates.

Digest: Johnson retires after 22 seasons

Randy Johnson is retiring after 22 major league seasons, 303 wins, 10 All-Star selections, two no-hitters and a World Series ring. The five-time Cy Young Award winner finishes with a career record of 303-166 and 4,875 strikeouts for Montreal, Seattle, Houston, Arizona, the New York Yankees and San Francisco.

Orange Bowl: Well-prepared Iowa handles Georgia Tech

MIAMI — Basking in an Orange Bowl victory, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz misspoke during the postgame news conference when he referred to the opponent as “Wake Forest.” Ferentz knew who the Hawkeyes were playing. They had a month to prepare for Georgia Tech, and it showed.

WHS bowlers roll over Chiawana

EAST WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee bowling team rolled to an easy win over Chiawana on Tuesday, 2,016 to 1,680. Savanna Lindenmuth led the Panthers with games of 214 and 224.

Seattle set to acquire Red Sox first basemen Kotchman

SEATTLE — The reshaping of the Mariners continues today as first baseman Casey Kotchman arrives in town for a physical ahead of a trade here from the Boston Red Sox. In return for Kotchman, 26, a former first-round pick, the Mariners will send the Red Sox utility player Bill Hall, plus a low-tier minor-leaguer and cash. Kotchman is a former 13th overall draft pick of the Los Angeles Angels, but will join his fourth team in less than three years after delivering underwhelming offensive results the past two seasons.

Prep basketball from around the region

Buzzer-beater lifts Cascade girls

LEAVENWORTH — Leah Newell hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer to lift the Cascade girls basketball team to a thrilling 40-38 victory over Brewster on Tuesday night in a Caribou Trail League matchup. Cascade trailed by eight at the start of the fourth quarter, but rallied to within one with 25 seconds to go.

Chelan basketball camp Saturday

CHELAN — The Chelan boys basketball team will hold a mini camp from 1-3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Chelan High School gym for boys in grades 2-8. Cost is $20, and each camper receives a T-shirt.

Youth sports: Coach nominees sought

WENATCHEE — Nominations are being accepted for the Wenatchee Valley Sports Foundation’s Coaches of Inspiration awards. The awards are designed to recognize amateur youth sports coaches who are strong motivators and positive role models. One coach from each sport is recognized each year, and three honorees will receive special recognition.

Here comes the Mariner Moose ... and a player or two

Seattle pitchers Fister and Olson to join mascot in Wenatchee

WENATCHEE — The Seattle Mariners are making their annual trip to North Central Washington, and this time they’re bringing a pair of pitchers, an announcer, and a Moose. Right-hander Doug Fister, southpaw Garrett Olson, play-by-play man Dave Sims and the team’s mascot, the Mariner Moose, will all be hand when the Mariners Caravan makes its annual stop in Wenatchee on Monday.

Autopsy shows Grant County deputy died from head trauma

EPHRATA — Autopsy results released this morning confirmed that a Grant County deputy died from severe head trauma in a crash of his patrol car last weekend. “The autopsy results are no different from what we’d figured before,” said Grant County Undersheriff John Turley. “Nothing unusual.”

Accident victim remains in serious condition

WENATCHEE — An East Wenatchee woman injured in a four-car accident Thursday near Entiat remained in serious condition in intensive care this morning at Harborview Medical Center, a hospital official said. Donna E. Kain, 61, suffered head injuries when the car she was riding in crossed the center line of Highway 97A and struck another car head-on and then two other vehicles.

Woman run over in roadway remains serious

SOAP LAKE — An Ephrata woman who was run over by a vehicle Dec. 20 near Soap Lake remains in serious condition at Providence Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane. Kimberly Ann Krich, 37, suffered a shattered pelvis, a broken left arm and internal injuries when she was hit by the northbound car on Highway 17, about nine miles north of Soap Lake, according to the State Patrol.

Men arrested after business break-ins

WENATCHEE — Police Tuesday arrested two Wenatchee men on suspicion of breaking into two businesses and stealing about $2,000 worth of state lottery tickets and trying to cash them in. The two men are ages 20 and 24. The arrests came after an investigation into the Dec. 14 break-in and theft of lottery tickets at a Union 76 gas station at 210 Ferry St. in Wenatchee and a Dec. 20 break-in at Wenatchee Specialty Store, a tobacco and smoking shop at 1210 N. Wenatchee Ave.

Quincy Council swears in new and returning members

QUINCY — The Quincy City Council swore in one new council member, two returning members, a new police officer and appointed a mayor pro-tem at its first meeting for 2010 Tuesday night. Travis Wittman replaces Rebecca Young on the council. Paul Worley and Jose Saldana are returning council members. All were elected to the seven-member council in unopposed races in November. Jeremy McCreary, also newly elected to the council in November, was sworn in at a meeting last month.

Okanogan County employees save jobs with concessions

OKANOGAN — Many Okanogan County employees this year are taking unpaid furloughs, reductions in medical benefits, and even cuts in hours and pay to save the jobs of fellow workers. After adopting a final 2010 budget last week, Okanogan County will lay off six people, but officials say concessions made by both union and non-union employees will prevent at least four layoffs.

High jump

Alex Dotter and Genny Stephens, both 16, jumped over a fence at the Eastmont High School football and track stadium after running laps in the snow Tuesday after school. Alex is training for the track season this spring and Genny is running alongside for support. She is a member of the school’s dance team.

Bonita Grace Glover

Bonita Grace Glover, 65, of Okanogan, died Monday, Jan. 4, 2010, at her home.

Patricia E. Cummings

Patricia E. Cummings, 79, of Wenatchee, died Monday, Jan. 4, 2010.

Lois E. Boyd

Lois E. Boyd, 80, of Wenatchee, died Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010, at her home.

New gadgets help in the fight against fat

ALHAMBRA, Calif. — The fight against fat is going high-tech. To get an inside look at eating and exercise habits, scientists are developing wearable wireless sensors to monitor overweight and obese people as they go about their daily lives. The experimental devices are designed to keep track of how many minutes they work out, how much food they consume and even whether they are at a fast-food joint when they should be in the park. The goal is to cut down on self-reported answers that often cover up what’s really happening.

Obama presses for health bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is prodding House and Senate Democrats to get him a final health care bill as soon as possible, encouraging them to bypass the usual negotiations between the two chambers in the interest of speed. Obama delivered the message at an Oval Office meeting Tuesday evening with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his No. 2, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., joined in by phone.

Three key Democrats to retire this year

WASHINGTON (AP)— With the 2010 election year barely under way, two senators and one governor — all Democrats — ditched plans to run for re-election in the latest signs of trouble for President Barack Obama’s party. Taken together, the decisions by Sens. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota as well as Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter caused another bout of heartburn for Democrats as they struggle to defend themselves in a sour political environment for incumbents, particularly the party in charge.

Socialite’s body to be flown east for burial

LOS ANGELES — The body of socialite and Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson will be flown east for a private family funeral service. Family spokesman Jesse Derris wouldn’t provide details today about where Johnson’s body would be taken. Johnson’s father is New York Jets owner Robert Wood “Woody” Johnson.

Service sector growing again, numbers say

NEW YORK — The Institute for Supply Management, a private trade group, says a measure tracking the U.S. service sector returned to growth last month. It says its service index rose to 50.1 in December from 48.7 in November. A level above 50 signals growth.

Want tax help? Calling IRS may not help you

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Only seven in 10 taxpayers calling the Internal Revenue Service for help this tax season are expected to reach a real person — if the agency reaches its service goal. A report issued today by an internal watchdog said the lucky ones who get through can expect to wait on hold for an average of nearly 12 minutes. National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, who issued the report, said that level of service is unacceptable. It would, however, match the level of service provided last year.

Prosecutor: Swede likely ordered sign theft

WARSAW, Poland — A Swedish citizen suspected of ordering the theft of the “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign from the Auschwitz memorial met with Poles who carried out the crime, a prosecutor said today. Krakow prosecutor Artur Wrona said officials have evidence that the Swedish suspect visited the Polish site with two Poles last spring. The Swede told the pair that he wanted them to steal the infamous sign, which means “Work Sets You Free” in German.

U.S. drones suspected in fatal strikes

ISLAMABAD — Two suspected U.S. drone missile strikes killed at least 12 people today in Pakistan, intelligence officials said. The North Waziristan tribal area hit today is home to several militant groups that stage cross-border attacks against coalition troops, including the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network.

U.S. mother, baby girl killed by elephant

NAIROBI, Kenya — A lone elephant charged out of the brush as an American family was hiking near Mount Kenya and trampled to death a mother and the 1-year-old daughter she held in her arms, officials said today. Four adults and the baby were walking with an unarmed guide just outside Mount Kenya National Park on Monday morning when the elephant charged, said Kenya Wildlife Service official Michael Kipkeu.

Suicide bombing kills six police, wounds 16

MAKHACHKALA, Russia — A suicide bomber blew up an explosives-packed car at a police station in Russia’s troubled North Caucasus today, killing six officers and wounding at least 16 people, officials said. The officers who died took action to prevent far greater devastation at the traffic police station on the outskirts of Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, where 150 officers were lined up outside for roll call at the time of the attack, city police chief Col. Shamil Guseinov said.

Cold snap grips Gulf states

COLUMBIA, S.C. — An unusual Southern cold snap continued its grip on the Gulf states today as Florida farmers worked to salvage millions of dollars worth of crops and sun-seeking tourists were met with chilly temperatures expected to last through the weekend. A hard freeze warning was issued along the Gulf Coast, including most of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. Forecasters say the dangerously cold air mass could force temperatures into the teens in parts of the region by Thursday.

Leavenworth after school program focuses on the arts

The first Icicle Arts’ After School Arts Program (A.S.A.P.) class took place Tuesday at Osborn Elementary School in Leavenworth. The first session focused on hip-hop dancing.

ICE audit leads to firings at Gebbers Farms

WENATCHEE — A large Brewster tree fruit company recently fired an undisclosed number of employees after federal immigration authorities warned that some workers were unauthorized to work in the United States. Gebbers Farms said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials informed the company that some of its employees were unauthorized to work in the U.S. based on documents provided by the employees on employment eligibility forms, called I-9 forms.

Sage James Munro

Lifelong Ephrata, WA resident, Sage James Munro, 35, died Tuesday, December 29, 2009, at his home. Sage was born on November 18, 1974, in Ephrata at Columbia Basin Hospital and spent the majority of his life in the town he loved.

George Stanley "Stan" Snitily

George "Stan" Snitily, a longtime resident of Wenatchee, died on Saturday, January 2, 2010, at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland. Stan was born on February 22, 1918, in Seward County, NE to Anton and Mary Snitily.

Pocket knife incident tests school policy

WATERVILLE — The Waterville School District might rewrite its weapons policy after a sixth-grader was suspended for a year for bringing a pocket knife to a November football game. The suspension, in line with recently revised policies in a student handbook, was later reduced to several weeks.

Change in works for Cascade’s school buildings

LEAVENWORTH — Cascade High School moved to Peshastin? Osborn Elementary bullozed and sold? It’s all on the table as the Cascade School Board decides how to repair or replace the district’s aging buildings. Cascade Superintendent Rob Clark said the school board has kicked around five to seven project scenarios, ranging from a few repairs at each building to an all-district shift.

Wildlife fence saving deer, sheep along 97A

WENATCHEE — A new deer fence has dramatically cut the number of wildlife deaths on Highway 97A this winter. But deer and sheep are starting to find a way through it. State wildlife and transportation officials are now trying to figure out how the animals are breaching the nearly five-mile-long barrier north of Rocky Reach Dam.

Skiers may see delays on some X-C trails

MAZAMA — Cross country skiers using the Methow Valley Community Trail may experience delays on weekdays in areas where the U.S. Forest Service is logging this winter. The Forest Service expects short delays when tree falling or skidding are occurring over the next two weeks and trails throughout the area will remain open. No weekend logging will occur.

Neighbors Care Fund passes $30,000

As of Tuesday, 40 more contributions were made to this year’s Neighbors Care Fund, for a total of $34,870. Those making contributions in the past week were:

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: Mayor John A. Gellatly this morning reported that final arrangements have been completed with officers of the First National Bank for the installation of a comfort station adjoining the bank on Orondo Avenue. This is the first comfort station to be built in the city.

Dear Abby: Embarrassing pictures send words of warning

Dear Abby: Shortly after college and a bad breakup, I met someone I thought was a “nice” guy. I allowed him to take sexually explicit photos of me. I realize now that I did it because I had very low self-esteem back then. The moment he snapped the pictures I regretted it and asked for them back. He refused, and even tried to extort money from me with threats of sending copies to my workplace. I was working for a Fortune 500 company at the time and was scared to death. Fortunately, he didn’t follow through on his threat.

Her special day — and theirs, too

Including kids at the wedding can be a blessing in disguise

As a baby sitter and church school teacher, Liliana Galicia had no qualms about having children attend her September wedding. In fact, Galicia, a 23-year-old from New Rochelle, N.Y., embraced the idea, incorporating about 40 young guests, mostly relatives, in the festivities.

Milestones: Births

Nickolas and Chelsee Seffern, Ephrata: Son, Vincent Alexander, Dec. 21.

Milestones: Marriage licenses

Christopher Bryan Manke, 26, Leesburg, Fla., and Renee Dawn Peterson, 27, Wenatchee

Tomco, Goetz

Natalie Tomco and Dan Goetz, both of Seattle, have announced their engagement. She is the daughter of Jim and Cheryl Tomco of East Wenatchee. His parents are Janet and Greg Franz of Wenatchee and Steve Goetz of Cashmere.

McCaw, Wright

Mandy McCaw and Brandon Wright, both of East Wenatchee, have announced their engagement. She is the daughter of Clyde and Pam McCaw of East Wenatchee. His parents are Lynn Wright of East Wenatchee and Pam Wright of East Wenatchee.

Dundas, Dorman

Katie Dundas of Walla Walla and John Dorman of Touchet have announced their engagement. She is the daughter of Shaun and Cheri Dundas of Wenatchee. His parents are Gary and Mina Dorman of Touchet.

Celaya, Barsten

Grecia Elizabeth Celaya and Cohen Shad Barsten, both of Wenatchee, have announced their engagement. She is the daughter of Jess and Alma Celaya of Wenatchee. His parents are Lynne and Debbie Barsten of Wenatchee.

Gebbers, Schultz

Samantha Schultz and Hawkins Gebbers exchanged wedding vows Sept. 19 at North Shore Bible Church in Manson. Pastor Craig Rayment officiated the ceremony. She is the daughter of Eric and Mary Schultz of Chelan. His parents are Mac and Becky Gebbers of Brewster.

Grubb, Ramin

Andrea Ramin and Donald Grubb were married Sept. 11 at Rocky Reach Dam Park in Wenatchee before the Rev. Haden Guffey. She is the daughter of Melanie and Rich Smith of Wenatchee and Bob Ramin of Omak.

Kramer — 56th

Charles and Brunilda Kramer of Malaga are cele-brating their 56th wedding anniversary. Brunilda Gonzalez became the bride of Charles Kramer Jan. 17, 1954, in Glendale, Calif.

Reader scrapbook

Three-year-old Nolan Campbell sits atop his personalized pumpkin for a portrait last October. In the yard of family friends Jim and Kriss Crilly, Nolan’s name was etched in a fledgling fruit last July and retained the writing as it grew to be 400 pounds. Grandmother Kathy Campbell submitted the image. Nolan lives in Wenatchee with his parents, Adam and Megan Campbell. — Abby Holmes, World staff

Kindness taught in school’s online class

SEATTLE — If you recently found a shiny gold dollar coin in downtown Bellevue, thank the kindness class. Ditto if you stumbled upon a piece of glass art in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, or a lottery ticket taped to a bus shelter with a note saying, “This may be your lucky day.” Since mid-September, the 250 people in Puget Sound Community School’s online course learned about kindness by practicing it.

Pet of the week: Share a family Miracle

Miracle is a black domestic longhair, say officials at the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society. The 3-month-old foster kitten is very affectionate, gets along with other animals, and is litter-box trained.

Serving the nation

Air Force Airman Elizabeth Compton recently graduated from basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Compton, a 2007 Eastmont High School graduate, is the daughter of James and Jill Compton of East Wenatchee.

Free college financial aid seminars Monday

WENATCHEE — The Washington Apple Education Foundation is hosting three free seminars at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Washington Apple Commission building, 2900 Euclid Ave.

Chelan girls outlast Wildcats in OT

EAST WENATCHEE — Eastmont’s Nikki Gilbert hit a 3-pointer with less than 20 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, but Chelan prevailed in the extra frame for a 41-35 win over the Wildcats in non-league play Tuesday.

Toe-to-toe

Harris scores 37 to lead Chelan boys over Eastmont, which gets 29 from Roberts

EAST WENATCHEE — Eight games into the prep basketball season, the Chelan Goats have proven a point — they can play with anybody.

Tuesday, January 5

Tuesday’s prep basketball scores

Tuesday night’s prep basketball scores. Boys basketball

Autopsy on Grant County deputy killed in crash

EPHRATA — An autopsy today on the Grant County sheriff’s deputy killed in a one-car crash may indicate whether a medical condition figured in Sunday’s accident. Undersheriff John Turley says the autopsy on Deputy John Bernard was being conducted for the county at the Forensics Institute at Samaritan Hospital in Moses Lake.

The envoy

Ambassador Ryan Crocker remembers the Middle East

Lecturing Wednesday in Wenatchee, Ryan Crocker represented the nation in some of the Middle East's most infamous hotspots.

Mission Ridge team post top results

SANDPOINT, Idaho — Mission Ridge Ski Team members are starting the season strong, with many top finishes at the first Northwest Cup Series race of the season Jan. 3-4 at Schweitzer Mountain Resort.

Woman found dead in fire had been shot

TACOMA — Police say the woman found dead Sunday in a Tacoma house fire had been shot multiple times. Police spokesman Mark Fulghum said Monday her husband suffered serious burns in the fire and is at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Fulghum says he has been unable to talk to detectives because of his condition.

Two women say they were raped in Bellingham hotel

BELLINGHAM — Two British Columbia women say they were held against their will in a Bellingham hotel room and sexually assaulted by a man they met at a casino. Police told The Bellingham Herald the women invited the man to their room Saturday night. Police were called to the hotel shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday after a report of a naked man running up and down the hallway. He locked himself in a room and caused about $5,000 in damage by breaking glass and other items.

Apartments evacuated as explosive removed

SPOKANE VALLEY —A Spokane County sheriff’s spokesman says the county bomb squad has successfully removed about a half-pound of powerful homemade explosive material from an apartment in the Spokane Valley. Nearby residents who had been asked to leave their apartments Monday evening have been allowed to return.

Ex-Army Ranger pleads guilty to more crimes

SEATTLE — A former Army Ranger convicted of leading a 2006 Tacoma bank robbery in a terrifying military-style heist has pleaded guilty to attempting to hire a hit man to kill a federal prosecutor. Luke E. Sommer also pleaded guilty Monday to attacking a robbery co-defendant behind bars. The 22-year-old Peachland, B.C., resident pleaded guilty in federal court to assault with a deadly weapon and solicitation of a crime of violence.

Paying their respects

A law enforcement motorcycle escort begins to assemble at Frontier Park in Graham today. They were set to take part in the procession to the Tacoma Dome for the memorial service of Pierce County Sheriff’s Deputy Walter “Kent” Mundell Jr., who died Dec. 28.

Pinched workers losing interest in their jobs, survey finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — We can’t get no job satisfaction. Even Americans who are lucky enough to have work in this economy are becoming more unhappy with their jobs, according to a new survey that found only 45 percent of Americans are satisfied with their work.

Selling Scout-A-Vista: Unfair

Divorce announcements are shocking. Unfortunately, decisions just don’t happen overnight, but result from an accumulation of circumstances. A breakdown in trust is often at the top. Members of the North Central Washington — Save Our Scouts (NCW-SOS) have not lost their belief in the Scouting program, but only in the trust placed in the Grand Columbia Council Executive Board’s leadership.

It’s ridicuous to put Cuba on the terrorist list

WASHINGTON — Under new rules prompted by the failed Christmas Day terrorist attack, airline passengers coming to the United States from 14 nations will undergo extra screening: Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. For our first quiz of the new decade, which country doesn’t fit with the others? The obvious answer is Cuba, which presents a threat of terrorism that can be measured at precisely zero. Cuba is not a failed state where swaths of territory lie beyond government control; rather, it is one of the most tightly locked-down societies in the world, a place where the idea of private citizens getting their hands on plastic explosives, or terrorist weapons of any kind, is simply laughable.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Financial re-fooling: The financial reform bill approved by the Senate has two serious flaws, and taxpayers could be left guaranteeing debt. According to Peter Eavis in the Wall Street Journal, the bill states if a “liquidity event” would “destabilize the financial system,” the Treasury and bank regulators could offer a debt backstop that guarantees bank debt, as we did in this financial crisis. The bill restricts debt backstops to banks that are solvent.

Saying goodbye to 1910 technology

I have always loved this photograph. It shows what was, for a frontier town like Wenatchee, a massive crowd gathered at the brand new World Building (now part of the Liberty Theater complex) in the winter mud of Mission Street. The mostly men in really cool hats are waiting for news from a crucial event — a challenge football game in far off Seattle between two famed state champions, Wenatchee and Oak Park, Ill. The date on the photograph says Christmas Day, but various other accounts list the game’s date as Dec. 26, 1910. By the way, Wenatchee lost 22-0. A large print of the photo hangs in The World’s conference room. Through many a dull meeting I have looked at the faces in the crowd and wondered who they all are, especially the small boy in the cap at the lower left, and the man behind him in the walrus mustache, both staring at the camera.

Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market is zigzagging as reports on factory orders and housing give mixed signals about the economy. The modest moves Tuesday come a day after the Dow Jones industrials jumped more than 150 points on upbeat manufacturing reports in the U.S. and China. The Commerce Department says factory orders rose by more than twice what had been expected in November. Meanwhile, the number of buyers who agreed to purchase previously occupied homes fell sharply in November.

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Monday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

Local interest stocks

As of closing Monday

Selected stocks

Selected stocks Stock prices as of Monday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

New York Stock Exchange

Monday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Metals

NEW YORK (AP) — Spot nonferrous metal prices Tuesday.

Reader scrapbook: ‘I thank my lucky stars’

Last April, Lee and Randy Dawson of Wenatchee spent a day up at Mission Ridge, shooting photos of the Ridge to River race and snowshoeing over Windy Ridge and down to the parking lot.

Trail of the Week: Nice views on crisp days

Access and length: From Highway 97A turn onto the Entiat River Road and travel 24 miles to the Entiat River Sno-Park. The groomed trail goes up the road for 10 miles to the North Fork Entiat, or after five miles turn right onto Shady Pass Road No. 5900 for 17 miles of groomed trail snowmobiling to Junior Point. Fees: Entiat River Sno-Park offers parking for both snowmobiles and for non-motorized winter sports. A Washington State Sno-Park pass is required for parking. Daily passes are $21 per vehicle; season passes are $41. A “Special Groomed Trails Pass” is not required.

Digest: Memories of Russian team owner engulf Seattle Storm star Bird

Seattle Storm star Sue Bird rejoined Moscow Spartak on New Year’s Day with a heavy heart following the assassination of club owner Shabtai von Kalmanovic in November. Bird’s first game will be a road matchup Wednesday against Szeged Szeviep, one of the games that had been postponed due to von Kalmanovic’s death. Bird had a close relationship with von Kalmanovic. He affectionately called her his “Jewish daughter,” paying her and teammates $5,000 bonuses for some victories, sending them on lavish shopping trips in Paris and other cities, and signing Bird to a contract worth several times more than her WNBA deal, despite poor ticket sales.

Beltre heads to Red Sox

Third baseman to get $9 million for one year

SEATTLE — The news that Adrian Beltre was about to officially end his five-year tenure with the Mariners hardly came as a surprise. Beltre had given plenty of indication that he was likely to move on, culminating with his early December decision to decline an arbitration offer by Seattle. And while some Mariners fans held out hope he might re-sign with the team, the news Monday that he was close to agreement on a one-year, $9 million deal with the Boston Red Sox seems to indicate a change of scenery was what he had in mind from the outset.

Washington State, Washington schedules set

Apple Cup football game to be played Dec. 4 in Pullman

Get ready for a frozen Apple Cup. The Pac-10 released its 2010 football schedules Monday and Washington State will close the season against rival Washington on Dec. 4 in Pullman. It will be the first time the rivals have ever played each other in December.

Seahawks face offseason of uncertainty

RENTON — The 2009 Seahawks gathered together one final time Monday morning. They came to listen to their coach, clean out their lockers and move into an offseason that will be filled with uncertainty everywhere from the team’s top football post to the league’s financial structure to the question of which members of Seattle’s aging nucleus will be back.

Woman in serious condition after four-car accident

Several others sent to hospital

ENTIAT — An East Wenatchee woman was in serious condition this morning at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a head injury suffered in a four-car accident Thursday. Donna E. Kain, 61, was in the hospital’s intensive care unit, a hospital spokeswoman said. She was transferred to Harborview from Central Washington Hospital.

Bode Miller will skip slalom

ZAGREB, Croatia — Bode Miller will miss a World Cup slalom race Wednesday in Zagreb to give his sore right ankle more time to rest. The U.S. Ski Team announced in a release Monday that Miller is scheduled to rejoin the squad for races this weekend in Adelboden, Switzerland. He is on the mend from an ankle injury he suffered during a team volleyball game in Val d’Isere, France, on Dec. 12.

No easy BCS trick

Boise State defeats TCU in ‘David vs. David’ game

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Texas Christian against Boise State in Monday’s Fiesta Bowl was tense, close and wasn’t decided until the final 18 seconds. Boise State, surprise, used a trick play, and it worked.

Dump of snow means skiers can finally hit trails in NCW

WENATCHEE — Thanks to recent snowfall, most of the cross country ski trails in the Methow Valley are up and running, and the Leavenworth area trails will all soon be open as well.

Valaas 11th at Nationals

Wenatchee skier two minutes off pace in 10K

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Wenatchee native Laura Valaas finished 11th in the 10-kilometer freestyle race at the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships on Monday. Kikkan Randall won the 10K freestyle, her second title at the 2010 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships in three days.

Seven Wild players headed to NAHL prospects tourney

Wenatchee coach to oversee West All-Stars

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Wild has the largest contingent of any team headed for the NAHL’s Top Prospects Tournament later this month in Ann Arbor, Mich. Wild forwards Michael Di Puma, Christian Hilbrich, Duncan McKellar, Dajon Mingo and Shawn Pauly, defenseman Chris Rumble and goalie Brandon Jaeger were all named to the West Division squad, which was announced last week.

Fab Four

Here are our four top towns for Nordic skiing in NCW. Tell us your favorite spots.

It’s no secret that the Pacific Northwest is arguably one of the finest spots in the nation, and maybe the world, for cross country skiing. Every winter, thousands of locals and tourists alike strap their skis on and head out to explore trails all over the state, including ones near outdoorsy towns.

C-SPAN: Health care talks should be televised

WASHINGTON (AP) — The C-SPAN television network is calling on congressional leaders to open health care talks to cameras — something President Barack Obama promised as a candidate. Instead the most critical negotiations on Obama’s health plan have taken place behind closed doors, as Republicans repeatedly point out. In a Dec. 30 letter to House and Senate leaders released today, C-SPAN chief executive Brian Lamb asked for negotiations on a compromise bill to be opened up for public viewing, as Democrats work to reconcile differences between legislation passed by the two chambers.

S.C. GOP leaders vote to censure Sen. Graham

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Republican leaders in a South Carolina county known as a GOP stronghold have voted to censure U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham for working with Democrats on immigration and climate change. It’s the second time since November that Republicans in a South Carolina county have voted to censure the GOP senator.

Recession slows U.S. health care spending

WASHINGTON — The U.S. spent an average of $7,681 per person on health care in 2008, for an eye-popping total of $2.3 trillion — even though spending actually slowed dramatically that year because of the recession, a new federal study says. Health spending didn’t slow down as much as the nation’s overall economic output, the study said, in keeping with a decades-old trend that has now pushed health care costs to account for over 16 percent of the nation’s economy.

Spotty enforcement for new U.S. air screening rules

On the first day of what was supposed to be tighter screening ordered by the United States for airline passengers from certain countries, some airports around the world have conceded they had not cracked down. The U.S. demanded more careful screening for people who are citizens of, or are flying from, 14 nations deemed security risks. But enforcement of the U.S. rules appeared spotty Monday.

U.N. stops food aid to 1 million in southern Somalia

GENEVA — The U.N. food agency is stopping aid distribution to about 1 million people in southern Somalia because of attacks against staff and demands by armed groups that aid organizations remove women from their teams, the agency said today. The World Food Program is moving staff and supplies to northern and central Somalia from six areas in the south that are largely controlled by the al-Shabab Islamist group, said Emilia Casella, a WFP spokeswoman. The U.S. State Department says al-Shabab has links to al-Qaida.

Three die in Detroit fire, one escapes

DETROIT — Three people are dead after an early-morning fire swept through a Detroit home whose power had been out for months. A fourth person survived by jumping from an upstairs window. Fire department Capt. Steve Varnas says a 911 call was received around 3:30 a.m. today. He says the cause of the fire is undetermined.

Shootout suspect angry over Social Security

LAS VEGAS — Nearly four months after a judge dismissed his lawsuit over Social Security benefits, 66-year-old Johnny Lee Wicks opened fire with a shotgun in a Las Vegas federal building, killing one security guard and wounding a U.S. marshal before being shot to death, authorities said.

Bomber may have been double agent

WASHINGTON — The suicide bomber who killed eight people inside a CIA base in Afghanistan claimed to have information about Osama bin Laden’s second-in-command, and was being recruited as a double agent to infiltrate al-Qaida, a former senior U.S. intelligence official and a foreign government official confirmed Monday.

Landslides, tsunami batter Solomon Islands

HONIARA, Solomon Islands — Landslides and a tsunami unleashed by a major earthquake destroyed some 200 houses on one Solomon island, leaving about one-third of the population homeless, a disaster management official said today.

U.S. embassy says it is reopening in Yemen

SAN'A, Yemen — The U.S. Embassy in Yemen reopened its doors today after a two-day closure, saying successful Yemeni counterterrorism operations have addressed the threat that prompted the measure.

Teen comes home to smoke-filled house as fire destroys home

EPHRATA — The Ephrata home of Dave and Nea Aiken was destroyed by fire early Saturday morning. The couple was working in Moses Lake when the fire broke out, said Jeremy Burns, Ephrata fire chief. Keaton Duff, 19, Nea Aiken’s son, came home about 2:15 a.m. to find the home filled with smoke. He awakened his teenage brother, Karter Duff, who was sleeping in a detached building that served as a pool house in the back of the house.

Grant County grieves after crash claims ailing sheriff’s deputy’s life

EPHRATA — A Grant County sheriff’s deputy killed in a crash was remembered Monday for never asking for help as he battled leukemia and a rare blood disease, and for proudly watching his son graduate from the state law enforcement academy last summer. Deputy John Bernard died Sunday while on routine patrol in a rollover crash about nine miles south of Ephrata.

Okanogan sheriff’s got a challenger

OKANOGAN — Dave Yarnell, a deputy for the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office for 15 years, announced Monday that he plans to run for the sheriff’s position currently held by Frank Rogers. Yarnell, 39, said he believes field deputy services have deteriorated since Rogers took office seven years ago. Rogers was elected in November 2002 and faced no challengers in his 2006 re-election campaign.

Community Development chief quitting

WENATCHEE — Just a month after laying off six employees to balance his budget, Chelan County Community Development Director Bill Bailey has resigned. Bailey told county commissioners and his staff last week that he is leaving. He’s held the top spot for less than a year. His last day in Thursday.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Monday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game:

News of record

Chelan County Thefts

Mary Ellen Preugschat

Following a long term illness, Mary Ellen Preugschat, 81, surrounded by her family, left this life on the morning of January 2, 2010, to be with her beloved cowboy, "Obbie." Mary Ellen lived her entire life in Waterville.

Richard J. "Jerry" Martin

Richard J. "Jerry" Martin, 82, a longtime resident of the Wenatchee Valley, passed away January 1, 2010, at his East Wenatchee home, after a courageous battle with cancer.

Vernon C. "Vern" Vickery

Vernon C. "Vern" Vickery, passed away December 29, 2009, at Yakima Regional Hospital. Vern was born September 10, 1924, in Stella, AR, to Charles and Laura Vickery.

Doris Fay Stephens

Doris Fay Stephens of Twisp, WA, age 72, passed away peacefully on December 28, 2009, at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee. Doris was born April 9, 1937, in Chelan, WA, to Charles and Evelyn (Best) Schmidt.

Opal Middleton

Opal Middleton, 83, of George, died Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009.

Patricia E. Cummings

Patricia E. Cummings, 79, of Wenatchee, died Monday, Jan. 4, 2010.

Robert ‘Bobby’ Tavitas

Robert “Bobby” Tavitas, 61, of Okanogan, died Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009.

Linda ‘Kaye’ Hancock

Linda “Kaye” Hancock, 62, of Chelan, died Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009.

Wenatchee weather a ‘wintry mix’

WENATCHEE — Snow, rain, fog, ice. And this morning, a chance of freezing rain. The National Weather Service is calling for a “wintry mix” of weather in North Central Washington today. That comes after a day of rising and falling snow levels that kept even the experts guessing where it might be snowing, and where it had turned to rain.

Dr. Coy W. Summers

Dr. Coy W. Summers, 83, of Wenatchee, died Friday, Dec. 25, 2009, in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

John Richard Pelley

John Richard Pelley, 59, of Wenatchee, died Saturday, Jan. 2, 2010, at his home.

Paul Merighi

Paul Merighi, 90, of Wenatchee, died Monday, Dec. 21, 2009.

Larry R. Howe

Larry R. Howe, 64, of Quincy, died Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009.

Counselor surrenders license to practice

WENATCHEE — Ronald S. Hedin of Wenatchee has surrendered his license to practice as a mental health counselor in Washington state. The action comes after the state Department of Health alleged that he had sexual intercourse with a patient. Tammy Kelley, a case manager with the state Department of Health, said Hedin, in surrendering his license, did not admit to the allegations. Hedin, reached by phone on Monday, said he did not want to comment.

Fire claims couple’s home, animals

OMAK — An Omak couple lost their home and seven animals in a house fire, which was apparently caused by a heat lamp on their front porch used to keep a pet’s house warm. Stan and Linda Timentwa lost five dogs and two cats in the 1 p.m. Saturday fire, said Omak Fire Chief Kevin Bowling. He said some of their belongings may be salvageable, but the home is a total loss.

Pear pruning demonstration offered

CASHMERE — A two-hour pear pruning demonstration will take place at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Kenoyer Orchards in Cashmere. Those attending may meet at the Cashmere Tree Top plant at 12:30 p.m. to travel to the orchard. Bob Gix and Greg Rains of Blue Star Growers will give the demonstration, which is open to anyone interested. It is offered by the North Central Washington Fieldman’s Association and WSU Chelan-Douglas Extension. Spanish translation will be available. For more information, call Nate Squires at 669-9040, Brandon Lewis at 670-7684 or Tim Smith at 667-6540.

Dear Abby: Retired mom adopts daughter’s house

Dear Abby: My mom has recently retired and is spending a lot of time at our home. She’s constantly doing things — emptying the washer, drying dishes. Anything that is untouched for a few minutes she’ll get into. She also reorganizes our drawers and cabinets and thinks her way is best. She even remakes the children’s beds, which is part of their chores. She feels a bed needs to “air” for an hour after its occupant wakes up. When I tell her she doesn’t need to do it, she says she doesn’t mind — but she’s missing the point.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: Columbia cylinder records are being closed out at 15 cents each at the Wenatchee Bazaar. Disk records sell for 35 cents each.

On the low-fat menu: Roasted lemons, capers give chicken a just-right bite

If capers or roasted lemons are not typically in your cooking repertoire, give them a try in today’s dish. This chicken recipe is simple to make, and the capers and lemons lend sweet, sour and salty notes. Capers are the flower bud of a bush indigenous to the Mediterranean and parts of Asia. They are bold and salty with a hint of herbs. Add capers to dishes at the end of cooking for optimum flavor.

In most cases, sleepwalking is no child’s nightmare

Here is what can, and does, happen: The child gets out of bed and climbs out a window. Or gets out of bed, walks down a hallway, perhaps goes down a flight of stairs, navigates through a room or two, opens a door, walks out on the patio and, maybe, steps into the backyard swimming pool. The child is sleepwalking. According to some estimates, up to 17 percent of children have a sleepwalking experience between ages 4 and 12, peaking between ages 8 and 12. It is less prevalent among adults, affecting perhaps 4 percent of that population, although it can be more hazardous in that group.

A staple in India, naan can be made at home

A sandwich is a sandwich. But a naanwich, well, that’s a phenomenon that has popped up all over the nation as Americans warmly embrace the South Asian clay oven bread known as naan. No longer restricted to Indian restaurants or ethnic grocery stores, the airy and supple flatbread is now proffered in the bread aisles of Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and even many large grocery chains. Meanwhile, Sabri Naanwich shops serving their trademarked dish have risen all over Canada, and chefs in this country offer several non-trademarked versions of the inevitably named sandwich.

Study: Smoke exposure tied to emphysema risk

Scientists have long thought that people who quit smoking recover some of their lung function and health. That may be true, but it appears children exposed to secondhand smoke are not so lucky. Researchers reported recently that children exposed regularly to tobacco smoke at home were more likely to develop emphysema in adulthood, suggesting that lungs may not heal completely from early-life exposure.

FDA chastises Nestle for drink claims

The Food and Drug Administration came down on Nestle last month for marketing its children’s juice boxes as “medical” foods. In a Dec. 3 letter, the FDA said the company mislabeled its Boost drink, which comes in flavors including chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, “as a medical food for the medical condition of ‘failure to thrive’ and also for ‘pre/post surgery, injury or trauma, chronic illnesses.’ ” According to federal guidelines, the letter explains, “Medical foods must be for the dietary management of a specific disorder, disease, or condition for which there are distinctive nutritional requirements and must be intended to be used under medical supervision.”

Monday, January 4

Snow expected to continue through this evening

WENATCHEE — Tonight’s commute home might get a little dicey. Forecasters expect the snow to continue falling through 6 or 7 tonight. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for areas above 1,500 feet elevation until 7 p.m.

Passengers on U.S.-bound flights face more screening

WASHINGTON — Beginning today, air travelers flying into the United States from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Yemen and other “countries of interest” will be subjected to enhanced screening techniques, such as body scans, pat-downs and a thorough search of carry-on luggage. Additionally, all passengers on U.S.-bound international flights will be subject to random screening, the Transportation Security Administration announced Sunday. Airports also were directed to increase “threat-based” screening of passengers who may be acting in a suspicious manner.

Census Bureau kicks off once-a-decade head count

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Census Bureau kicks off its $300 million campaign today to prod, coax and cajole the nation’s more than 300 million residents to fill out their once-a-decade census forms. The bureau will mail out the 10-question forms to about 120 million households in March.

Norwegian teen tops chess world ranking

OSLO — Norway’s Magnus Carlsen has become the youngest person ever to top the world ranking in chess.

Poachers kill rare white rhino in Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya — The head of Kenya’s wildlife conservation agency says poachers have killed a rare southern white rhino.

Train crashes into hotel in Helsinki

HELSINKI — Finnish transport officials say a near-empty passenger train has crashed into a hotel by Helsinki’s main railway station, causing damage but no injuries.

I want McNuggets, now

TOLEDO, Ohio — Police say an Ohio woman punched through a McDonald’s drive-through window because Chicken McNuggets weren’t available.

Handout called how-to for heroin users

NEW YORK — A New York City-funded guidebook for heroin users offers information on how to prepare drugs carefully and care for veins to avoid infection.

Famed Mississippi judge to prison

OXFORD, Miss. — Bobby DeLaughter, a former judge and prosecutor who helped convict the killer of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, was expected to report to prison today for lying to FBI agents investigating judicial corruption.

Denis E. ‘Sully’ Sullivan

Denis E. “Sully” Sullivan, 72, of Leavenworth, died Friday, Jan. 1, 2010, at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee.

Mary M. Rambo

Mary M. Rambo, 86, of Wenatchee, died Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009.

Richard J. ‘Jerry’ Martin

Richard J. “Jerry” Martin, 82, of East Wenatchee, died Friday, Jan. 1, 2010, at his home.

Jack W. Magee

Jack W. Magee, 91, of East Wenatchee, died Friday, Jan. 1, 2010.

Delight S. Darley

Delight S. Darley, 93, of Cashmere, died Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009.

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Here are the daily winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game:

Tumor takes teen’s arm, not will to thrive

WOODLAND — Marykate Hughes wasn’t shocked when the tumor came back. She wasn’t angry.

Advocate for kids takes up troubled agency

OLYMPIA, Wash. — After spending more than 40 years working in child-welfare agencies on the East Coast and in the Midwest, Denise Revels Robinson is taking on the state Children’s Administration. The agency she inherits, with an annual budget of more than $500 million, is tasked with investigating child abuse and neglect, protecting vulnerable children, determining when family reconciliation is possible and running the state’s foster-care and adoption system.

Two inmates escape from Larch Center

YACOLT — The Washington Department of Corrections says two inmates have escaped from the Larch Corrections Center. Officials say the two were found missing at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday from the minimum-security prison northeast of Vancouver. They are 22-year-old Christopher Woodrum and 27-year-old Derek Brian Price.

Trial starts in civil suit over Morning Star ranch

SPOKANE — The first trial of a civil lawsuit over the Morning Star Boy’s Ranch starts Monday in Spokane County Superior Court. Nineteen men have sued the ranch, alleging that employees at the home for troubled boys sexually and physically abused them when they were residents.

Police find two runaway girls in pickup truck

BAKER CITY, Ore. — Oregon State Police say a Kuna, Idaho, man has been arrested after two runaway Longview girls were found in his pickup truck, one of them hiding beneath a seat. Police say a trooper stopped the pickup Saturday morning on Interstate 84 near Baker City after he saw one of the 14-year-old girls not using a seat belt. They say the driver, 19-year-old Shawn Matthew Grady, also was seen making illegal lane changes.

Tacoma Dome service for slain Pierce County deputy

TACOMA — Thousands of law officers and members of the public are expected to attend the memorial service in the Tacoma Dome for Pierce County sheriff’s Deputy Kent Mundell. The service begins at 1 p.m. Tuesday and is expected to last three hours. A procession of police cars to the Tacoma Dome is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. in Puyallup.

Independent centenarian celebrates

New Year’s birthday Her only vice: Legends Casino

YAKIMA — Not too many people are born on New Year’s Day. Not too many live to 100, either. Manuela Cortez can now make both claims to fame. Her family gathered Friday at her side in celebration of her 100th birthday.

Research will help Chelan PUD make the best decisions

The first results of important community research were presented to our Chelan County PUD Board of Commissioners recently, and I’d like to talk about why those results will be important for the PUD and all our customer-owners. As Chelan PUD moves forward with strategic planning, it’s crucial for the district to gather research and information that reflects the expectations and values of the majority of customer-owners. The district needs the public’s engagement and opinions to help shape important business decisions that affect the long-term durability of the PUD. As we approach 2011-2012, when several long-term power sales contracts expire, we will be deciding how to approach future power sales and how best to manage the tremendous hydropower assets that have been passed to us by the previous insightful leaders of this historic PUD.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

Undermining capitalism: I am no historian, but I do recall learning that this nation was founded to be the most capitalistic government in the world — one in which the federal government had limited power. Consequently, that doctrine created a nation with exceptional abundance and individual freedom surpassing all other nations.

Let house prices do what they must

To paraphrase Yogi Berra, the bubble’s not over till the last drop splatters. That is certainly the case with the housing bubble. Home prices that seemed to be strengthening over the summer have again slipped, according to the S&P Case-Shiller index. Neither low interest rates nor a fat tax credit for homebuyers has changed this reality. For the record, the city that took the biggest hit in 2009 was Las Vegas, where prices fell 27 percent. Denver took the smallest hit — prices there slid a tiny tenth of one percent.

Winter weather advisory for NCW, mountain passes

WENATCHEE — The new year brings a mix of snow, rain, sleet and freezing rain to North Central Washington as a series of storm systems move through the region.

Bowl roundup: Texas Tech puts aside strife, wins bowl shootout

Arkansas beats ECU on overtime field goal

Ruffin McNeill and Texas Tech closed out a difficult week with a game Mike Leach would’ve loved. Finally, the Red Raiders could unwind a little.

Mayo scandal leads to sanctions for Southern Cal basketball team

LOS ANGELES — Responding to allegations that former star O.J. Mayo received improper benefits while in school, the University of Southern California basketball team will forgo any postseason play this season, including the Pacific 10 Conference tournament, and forfeit all 21 victories from its 2007-08 season. The self-imposed sanctions, announced Sunday morning, also include a scholarship reduction and the return of money received from the NCAA tournament earned when Mayo was on the team.

Valaas third at nationals

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Wenatchee native Laura Valaas finished third behind champion Kikkan Randall in the women’s freestyle sprint, the first of four events at the 2010 U.S. Cross Country at Kincaid Park. Randall led from start to finish on her home course to claim the gold medal Saturday, the first of four events in the 2010 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships.

Seahawks’ season to forget ends in defeat

SEATTLE — Matt Hasselbeck didn’t see the result of his final pass of the season. He was where he spent too much of this season: on the ground, knocked down one last time just after he lofted a pass toward rookie receiver Deon Butler.

County approves controversial applications

WENATCHEE — Chelan County has once again approved two controversial land use applications that last year were appealed by the city of Wenatchee and overturned by a state hearings board. County commissioners amended the comprehensive plan to allow Margret Cochran and Kevin Gates to move forward with developing their adjoining properties just south of Wenatchee. The approval paves the way for up to 230 homes to be build on the now-barren hillside to the south of the city.

Woman robbed of wallet, medications in broad daylight

CASHMERE — A Cashmere woman who was walking to the store with her dog was accosted by two men about noon Saturday, and robbed of her wallet and pain medications. The 50-year-old woman told sheriff’s deputies that she was walking in the 100 block of East Pleasant Avenue when two young men jumped her and took her wallet with an undisclosed amount of cash, and her prescription of Percocet, said Jerry Moore, chief of administration for the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office.

Happy New Y-y-yow! Dozens of devoted bears take the polar plunge

LAKE WENATCHEE — Strip down to your swimsuit. Brr. Put bare feet on freezing metal dock. Brr. Stare deep into the lake with chunks of floating ice. Double brr. Now jump in.

Mary M. Rambo

Mary Magdalene Cameron was born June 12, 1923, to Lillian (Hulse) and Don Cameron in Antioch, NE. The family traveled from Nebraska to Iowa, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, and finally settling in Washington.

Clifford Lee Williams

Born December 31, 1932, in Moorcroft, WY, to Charles and Ruby Williams, Dad left for that "bigger fish" December 28, 2009, at 1:55 a.m. in Poulsbo, WA. Dad was surrounded by family and his dog/fishing friend, "Chopper."

Illegal fireworks confiscated at Manson

MANSON — Authorities seized about $2,000 worth of illegal fireworks on New Year’s Eve when a Chelan County Sheriff’s deputy saw an aerial display and found the resident who was setting them off. All aerial fireworks are illegal in Chelan County, said Jerry Moore, chief of administration for the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office.

Wanna ski big? Go to avalanche class first

LEAVENWORTH — So you want to ski without lifts, to the back country where solitude and untracked powder beckon. To avalanche country. “When you’re looking for good skiing, you’re also looking for avalanche terrain,” said John Race, a certified mountain guide in Leavenworth. Most skiers want to ski slopes that are 25 to 40 degrees, and 30- to 45-degree slopes are where most avalanches occur, Race said.

City seeks citizens to fill vacant boards and commissions

WENATCHEE — If you’ve ever wanted to get involved with grassroots planning and policy making in the city of Wenatchee, now’s the time. The city is seeking volunteers to fill vacancies on these boards and commissions:Arts Commission Planning Commission

The Worm: Oh, such sadness, Barista discovers ironic allergy

After three years of making and selling tasty caffeinated brews, Leavenworth coffee-maker Charley Voorhis has left the business. He’s severely allergic to coffee. “All my friends think this is the most incredible, ultimate case of irony,” said the former owner of the Red Bird Kaffi Haus, the downtown gourmet espresso shop. “Of course, they don’t laugh when I tell them about my three years of symptoms.”

Despite losses, Quincy hospital in the black

QUINCY — The Quincy Valley Medical Center lost money in November, and officials aren’t terribly optimistic about December, either. At the Dec. 28 meeting of Grant County Public Hospital District No. 2, commissioners, board members and staff discussed what could be done in the future to avoid another end-of-the-year swoon.

Wild destroy Alaska in weekend sweep

Three-week holiday break does Wenatchee good

WENATCHEE — After taking over three weeks off for the winter holidays, the Wenatchee Wild appear rested, rejuvenated and ready to launch an all-out assault on the North American Hockey League. The Wild thumped the Alaska Avalanche 5-1 at the Town Toyota Center on Sunday night to complete a weekend sweep of their West Division foes, and looked good doing it.

College basketball roundup: Ducks knock off No. 17 Huskies

SEATTLE — Malcolm Armstead scored 21 points, Michael Dunnigan added 20 and Oregon knocked off No. 17 Washington 90-79 on Saturday, snapping the Huskies’ 18-game home winning streak. Oregon held a 69-61 lead with eight minutes to play. A pair of free throws from Michael Dunnigan, a runner in the lane from Armstead and a 3-pointer from Teondre Williams gave the Ducks a 15-point lead.

Grant deputy killed in crash on patrol

EPHRATA — A Grant County Sheriff’s Deputy crashed his patrol car and died Sunday night while on duty driving south of Ephrata. Deputy John Bernard, 52, of Moses Lake, died at the scene of the crash on Road 5 NW, about nine miles south of Ephrata, the sheriff’s office reported.

Master Gardener site can be harvested year-round

We gardeners are invariably pondering one question or another: Should I protect the bark on my newly-planted tree this winter? What easy-care shrub can I plant that provides year-round interest? What’s causing pitch to ooze from the bark on my pine? Why did mushrooms sprout in my lawn last fall? For folks with Internet access, there are a wide range of reliable resources at our fingertips. If you’re like me, I don’t want to spend an hour searching through scads of Web sites, trying to sift through the off-base stuff and get to accurate and respected information.

Connecting with nature in NCW

Ten years ago when I moved to North Central Washington, I brought with me a love of nature along with a keen interest in learning more about the people and geography of this place. As a biologist and lifelong resident of the West, I was familiar with many of the plants, animals and natural communities I found here. Big sagebrush, red squirrels and dippers, for example, are old friends from other shrub steppe, coniferous forest and freshwater habitats where I’ve lived. Their presence, along with introductions to many people in the community, helped to quickly orient me to this place.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: J.J. Browne and M. Horan are co-presidents of Columbia Valley Bank here. Other officers are Guy C. Browne, vice president; Charles E. Owens, cashier; and Frank D. Case, assistant cashier.

Dear Abby: Reader thanks Abby for counseling advice

Dear Abby: Thank you for regularly advising counseling for readers who are dealing with emotional issues. Your message is heard in mainstream America and has an impact on those who are willing to hear it. I grew up in a small town. My mother’s family was of Irish-German descent; Dad’s parents came from Czechoslovakia. Mom’s family showed its love by teasing, criticizing and ridiculing.

Do we want toilet paper to be soft or good for the environment?

“They’ll take my Ultra Soft Charmin only when they pry it from my cold, dead, aloe-smelling hands.” Highly doubtful it will come to that. Please, sit.

Gonna be gone awhile? Flip the switch on your water heater

Q: We got back from an extended vacation last week and when I went to flip the breaker to turn our water heater back on, it wouldn’t work. I know that electric water heaters like ours constantly cycle on and off to keep the water hot, so it’s always made sense to me to turn the breaker off when we’re away so we save energy. Now all of a sudden, the thing won’t come back on. Any idea on this?

Communities get active with passive solar homes called Earthships

Q: I’ve heard of extremely environmentally friendly homes and communities called “Earthships” popping up across the U.S. What are they exactly? — Kelsey Kuehn, Kirtland, Ohio A: An Earthship is a kind of passive solar home — or community of homes — typically made of natural and recycled materials such as old tires and recycled cans. Such homes make use of non-polluting renewable energy sources and smart design to meet most if not all heating, cooling and power needs.

Modern de-icers will melt away your fears of corrosion, lawn damage

WENATCHEE — Salting sidewalks to get rid of ice might not appeal to everyone, but consider the possible alternative: busting your backside from an unexpected fall. “Nowadays, people don’t need to be afraid to use de-icer on their walks and driveways,” advises Michael Goode, a sales clerk at Stan’s Merry Mart in Wenatchee and the store’s de-icing guru. “Follow the directions, and everything should work out just right.”

Sunday, January 3

Boys prep roundup: Panthers fall in double OT; Eastmont rips Southridge

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — The Wenatchee boys basketball team closed its non-league slate with another heartbreaking loss, this time a 74-71 double overtime defeat at the hands of the Coeur d’Alene Vikings.

Girls prep roundup: Dani Hallberg has 24, but WHS thumped in Idaho

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — In Washington, the Wenatchee girls basketball team is 7-1, a contender to win its league and make a postseason run.

Panthers rule Cat Classic

Four Wenatchee grapplers win championships

EAST WENATCHEE — It might have been Eastmont’s tournament, but the annual Paul Reasor Memorial Cat Classic belonged to Wenatchee on Saturday.

Saturday, January 2

Help File: Make sure that computer is clean before you get rid of it

Q: How do I ensure my data’s gone from my old computer before I dispose of it? A: Dumping a file in the Recycle Bin or the Trash erases the computer’s record of it, not the actual file. Scrubbing the file requires extra tools.

Twitter co-founder takes aim at mobile payments

SAN FRANCISCO — Jack Dorsey revolutionized online socializing by co-founding Twitter in 2006. Now he wants to transform the way people exchange money. Dorsey is leading a new startup called Square. Its first product resembles a cube: a tiny credit-card terminal that plugs into the headphone jack of an iPhone. The goal is to make it easier to complete a credit card transaction, whether you’re a street vendor selling T-shirts or an individual settling a lunch tab with a friend.

Smartphone applications can save a lot of digging

As smartphones keep getting loaded with more features, there’s something in it for gardeners: more than a hundred software programs. Gardening apps aim to help with everything from locating supplies to fending off mosquitoes to converting cell phones into flashlights. Some are offered free, but most cost a one-time fee for downloading into your handset.

Sites make unloading old tech gadgets easy — and profitable

Now that the gift-giving holidays have passed, ’tis inevitable that last year’s now-obsolescent gadgets end up forgotten inside a closet or a desk drawer — or, worse still, in the local landfill. But it doesn’t have to be that way for folks looking to recoup a few dollars from their tech-buying habits, thanks to a handful of online services such as Gazelle (www.gazelle.com) and YouRenew.com that offer to pay a few bucks for last year’s iPod or BlackBerry. Log on, answer a few questions about the condition of your old digital camera, phone or music player, and you’ll get an automatically generated cash offer, tendered as quickly as your browser window takes to refresh.

Recession leads Americans to try to increase savings

As crazy as it sounds, losing a $70,000-a-year job has been good for Marty Morua’s finances. The former Wall Street stockbroker says the setback forced him to scrutinize his family budget and snip away at expenses. Soon, even with less income, their savings grew. First, he and his wife decided to live on her salary so he could be home with their 5-year-old daughter after school. Without a nanny, they saved $12,000 a year. He dropped services he didn’t use on his cellphone — texting and video games — to pocket $250 a year. He took a defensive-driving course for a 10 percent discount on his auto insurance and dropped car-rental and roadside-assistance coverage, for an extra $150 a year.

Poll: Americans seeking silver lining in 2010

WASHINGTON — The bank account is thin, but the future looks pretty good. That, oddly enough, is the view of many Americans who predict 2010 will be a better year than this one, even if they fear that the U.S. economy and their own financial circumstances won’t improve.

Two ships hijacked off Somali coast

LONDON - A cargo ship and a chemical tanker have both been hijacked by pirates in the perilous waters off the coast of Somalia, bringing to four the number of ships seized in the past week, officials said Saturday. The multiple hijackings indicate that piracy remains a serious problem a year after an international naval armada began deploying off Somalia to protect shipping.

Somali charged in attack on cartoonist

COPENHAGEN - A Somali man was charged Saturday with two counts of attempted murder for an attack on a Danish artist whose 2005 cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad ignited riots and outrage across the Muslim world, authorities said. The artist — 74-year-old Kurt Westergaard — was moved to an undisclosed location for his own protection.

Volcano erupts in eastern Congo

KINSHASA, Congo - A government official says a volcano has erupted in eastern Congo, sending lava toward a national park. Feller Lutahichirwa said Saturday that the Nyamulagira volcano had erupted at dawn. While the area where the lava was headed is sparsely populated, wildlife officials say it is home to about 40 endangered chimpanzees.

Afghan parliament rejects most Cabinet nominees

KABUL — Afghanistan’s parliament dealt a stinging rebuke to President Hamid Karzai on Saturday by rejecting 70 percent of his nominees for a new cabinet, including a regionally powerful warlord and the country’s only female minister. The laborious voting that took much of Saturday ended with the rejection of 17 of 24 nominees. The nominations, announced in mid-December, aimed to keep 12 current ministers in their posts for a second term. In part, that appeared aimed at satisfying U.S. and Western desires to keep trusted hands in place.

Former British hostage Peter Moore back in Britain

LONDON (AP) — Former hostage Peter Moore arrived at a military base in Britain on Friday evening after spending more than two-and-a-half years in captivity in Iraq. The British computer consultant is believed to be the only survivor of a dramatic daytime kidnapping in Baghdad in May 2007. U.S. officials said they believe he spent part of his time in captivity in Iran.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: Ernest Tombs has sold his residence at the corner of Walker and Peachey streets to Frank Hunt for $2,500.

Dear Abby: Siblings must come together for mother

Dear Abby: My problem is the relationship I have with my brother. We’re both in our 40s and married. Over the last few years our relationship has deteriorated. We live in different states, and I see him once a year when I visit Mom. I call him in between, but he never returns my calls. When we do get together, he makes it clear that he’d rather be somewhere else. It makes me sad because we have a small family and I’d like to be closer — like we were in the past.

Mother Teresa, Gene Autry on upcoming U.S. stamps

WASHINGTON — Nobel Prize winner Mother Teresa and Pulitzer Prize winner Bill Mauldin will be honored on U.S. postage stamps next year. Joining them will be Oscar-winning actress Katharine Hepburn, singing cowboy Gene Autry, artist Winslow Homer and Adm. Arleigh Burke.

Disinfectant misuse could help create unstoppable superbug

Disinfectants may be a double-edged sword in the fight against hospital-borne diseases, scientists say. According to a study in January’s issue of Microbiology, researchers from the National University of Ireland in Galway slowly introduced higher levels of disinfectant to lab cultures of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which lives in the soil and water around us. It can’t seriously hurt healthy people (it’s been implicated in “hot tub itch” and “swimmer’s ear”) but preys on those with compromised immune systems.

Researchers find venomous-bird fossil in China

WICHITA, Kan. — The world’s first known venom-fanged bird has been discovered in ancient fossils dug up in northeast China, scientists at the University of Kansas has announced. Sinornithosaurus (Chinese bird-lizard) was a turkey-size creature that had fierce-looking fangs that were long, grooved and venomous. It also probably had flight feathers on its back legs, which made it a four-winged gliding predator.

Second chance for ‘The Goode Family’

Comedy Central picks up show about totally politically correct family

Did viewers hate a free-swinging satirical cartoon that trashed both NPR-worshipping vegans and chastity nuts who conduct creepy father-daughter marriages? Or could they just not find it among the summer TV moonscape of mindless game shows and hashed-over reality series? Comedy Central is betting on the latter. The cable network has picked up the 13 little-seen episodes of “The Goode Family” that aired on ABC before its cancellation last summer and is showing them at 10 p.m. EST Mondays. And if an audience shows up this time, the show will go back into production.

Don’t miss

Two old ‘Friends’ will reunite on ‘Cougar Town’: Early on, we had our doubts about Courteney Cox’s sex-crazed sitcom, “Cougar Town,” but it has become one of the true comedic gems of the season.

Tyra to end talk show

Tyra Banks is strutting away from her daytime talk show. “The Tyra Banks Show,” which has won two Daytime Emmys and is in its fifth season, will wrap in the spring.

‘Glee,’ Chris Rock will be back in the spring

Audiences have to wait till spring for “Glee” to return to campus, but the show has helped wider viewers get a grasp on the wonderful work of actress Jane Lynch, who plays the evil, conniving Sue Sylvester on the show. Lynch (who occasionally plays a shrink on “Two and a Half Men”) says she patterns Sue on an instructor she once had. “There’s a little bit of this teacher I had in college, a theater teacher who had all of this mystique around her, and she was called the ‘Dragon Lady,’ and if you got her approval, it was just wonderful.

Fox, Time Warner Cable reach broadcast deal

Football, ‘American Idol’ fans can expect their shows to air

LOS ANGELES — Football fans and “American Idol” devotees can breathe a sigh of relief. Fox and Time Warner Cable have reached a deal in principle that will keep the network on the cable provider after Fox threatened to pull the plug over a fee dispute. Friday’s agreement, which included Bright House Networks, ended a week of public sparring that had some viewers worried they’d miss Friday night’s Sugar Bowl, Saturday’s Cotton Bowl and Sunday’s professional football lineup, as well as an array of other programming.

Digest: Report - Washington Wizards teammates pull guns on each other

Washington Wizards teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton drew guns on each other during a Christmas Eve locker room argument over a gambling debt, according to The New York Post. Citing an anonymous source, the newspaper reports in Friday’s edition that the standoff was sparked when Crittenton became angry at Arenas for refusing to make good on a gambling debt. That prompted Arenas to draw on Crittenton, who then also grabbed for a gun, league security sources tell the Post.

Cougar, Husky women lose

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Haiden Palmer had 19 points and nine rebounds and Oregon State defeated Washington State 64-49 Friday night in the Pacific-10 Conference opener for both teams. Talisa Rhea also scored 19 points for the Beavers (9-2), who won their fifth straight.

Moore brothers turn Prosser into Boise State territory

Town readies for Monday’s Fiesta Bowl

PROSSER — Tom Moore, the man who built the powerhouse Prosser High School football program, has noticed the change in colors around this small central Washington town of 5,138 people. For years, it’s always been red and white, the colors of the high school Mustangs.

Bowl roundup: Bobby Bowden goes out a winner in Gator Bowl

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Bobby Bowden watched the clock run down to :00, then took his last walk to midfield as his Florida State players jumped up and down, thrusting their helmets into the air. The coach went out a winner, carried off by the Seminoles.

Kobe Bryant won’t let injuries slow him

LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant hasn’t been trapped in a fancy Los Angeles building and surrounded by vicious enemies led by a brilliant German since the last time Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks visited Staples Center. Still, the Los Angeles Lakers’ unbreakable star was only half-joking recently when he said he was Bruce Willis — you know, the “Die Hard” star famed for playing action heroes who can’t be stopped, no matter the odds or injuries stacked against them.

Commentary: Tiger can pick his spot for return — or not

Golf Digest’s annual assessment of the state of Tiger Woods is a must-read every year, but never more so than at the end of the most eventful year of his life. Drawing on dozens of conversations with Woods and his parents beginning in 1990, writer Jaime Diaz limns a family dynamic that in hindsight makes Tiger’s fall from grace seem almost inevitable.

Black golf pioneer Bill Powell passes away at 93

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — Bill Powell, the first African American to build, own and operate a golf course, died Thursday. He was 93. The PGA of America said Powell died at Aultman Hospital in Canton following complications from a stroke.

Book explores evangelical monopoly in sports world

BOSTON — A toss left, a quick break past the defense, and it was obvious Philadelphia Eagles running back Herb Lusk was headed to the end zone. The real surprise came when he arrived 70 yards later. Lusk dropped to a knee in the NFL’s first public end zone prayer.

No roses for Oregon

Ducks’ offense falls short against Ohio State’s stingy defense

PASADENA, Calif. — Oregon’s potent offense met its match in Ohio State. The Ducks’ spread-option bogged down in the Rose Bowl, and No. 7 Oregon lost 26-17 on Friday in its first appearance in Pasadena on New Year’s Day since 1995.

Huskies’ home win streak at 18

U of O next challenger

SEATTLE — Eighteen and counting. The last time Washington lost at Edmundson Pavilion, California needed three overtimes to beat the Huskies 88-85 on Jan. 10, 2009.

Montana names coach

MISSOULA, Mont. — Montana promoted wide receivers coach Robin Pflugrad to head coach Thursday, a week after Bobby Hauck left for UNLV. The 52-year-old Pflugrad was an assistant coach for the Grizzlies from 1986 to 1994, then returned in July after three seasons as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Oregon. The former Portland State receiver coached and recruited for 13 seasons at Pac-10 schools Oregon, WSU and Arizona State.

Chris Johnson eyeing milestone against Seahawks

NFL’s leading rusher leads Titans into Seattle

RENTON — A few hundred feet and the Seahawks’ pride are all that will stand between Tennessee’s Chris Johnson and history this Sunday. The NFL’s leading rusher is 128 yards away from becoming the sixth player to rush for 2,000 yards in an NFL season and 234 yards from becoming the single-season record holder.

Once-presidential phrase casualty of word war

Word watchers say ‘Shovel ready’ should be buried

DETROIT — In its annual effort to protect the Queen’s English, a Michigan university is insisting that “shovel ready” be buried, “tweet” be tossed and all “czars” be banished. Lake Superior State University shamed those and several other words and phrases Thursday when it released its 2009 List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.

Pope calls for respect, peace at start of 2010

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI on Friday called for respect of all people without discrimination and the protection of children from war and violence as he celebrated the start of the new year. Jan. 1 is also the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace, and the pontiff issued an appeal to all armed groups to “stop, reflect and abandon the way of violence,” even if it seems impossible.

A gift for an Ethiopian boy who lost his arms

SEATTLE — Ever since that train ride into the next village, Abayneh Adefris has longed for the simplest pleasures — pulling on pants, brushing his teeth, bathing and feeding himself. Following a recent afternoon playing soccer, the Ethiopian boy’s foster mother, Traci Grant, fed him bites of baked chicken, brushed and flossed his teeth, scrubbed him down in the shower, helped him get ready for bed and then knelt next to the bed in prayer.

Safety Valve: Letters from readers

The season’s spirit: The Cashmere Food Bank along with Wacoka Kiwanis of Cashmere and American Legion Post 64, recently partnered to provide food boxes and gifts to families in need from the greater Cashmere area. This year we served an unprecedented 314 families, which represents 1,302 individual children and adults.

Police officers know they work in a dangerous world

When you ask local law enforcement officers how they’ve been affected by the recent spate of cop killings in western Washington, you see in their eyes a great depth of emotion and also a steely resolve to take every reasonable step to avoid that fate. A death in the law enforcement family is felt deeply by everyone in the public safety profession, as I learned in conversations with law enforcement officers this week.

Our World: Toward constructive engagement

As we begin the new year, I would like to take a few moments to talk with you about the direction of your daily news organization. This is without a doubt one of the most energizing, interesting and challenging times in the 104-year history of The Wenatchee World. What we do is changing dramatically as we learn to evolve and adapt to an increasingly digital and interactive world. In a nutshell, we are on a journey to discover how we can become more relevant to our communities.

Solar showdown in tortoises’ desert home

LOS ANGELES — On a strip of California’s Mojave Desert, two dozen rare tortoises could stand in the way of a sprawling solar-energy complex in a case that highlights mounting tensions between wilderness conservation and the nation’s quest for cleaner power. Oakland, Calif.-based BrightSource Energy has been pushing for more than two years for permission to erect 400,000 mirrors on the site to gather the sun’s energy. It could become the first project of its kind on U.S. Bureau of Land Management property, leaving a footprint for others to follow on vast stretches of public land across the West.

Saturday’s basketball scores

Check here throughout the night for updated scores from NCW prep basketball games.

Everett Guy Vance

Everett Guy Vance, 94, of Tonasket, passed away December 29, 2009, at the Wenatchee Valley Hospital, following complications from the return of prostate cancer treated previously in 1996. He was born November 18, 1915, near Harrington, WA, to Guy and Kate Vance.

Delight S. Darley

Delight S. Darley, 93, of Cashmere, died Tuesday, December 8, 2009. A Celebration of Delight's Life is being held on Saturday, January 9, 2010, at 2:00 p.m.

Grover Paul Collins

Grover Paul Collins, born November 22, 1944, in Omak, WA, went home to be with the Lord on December 19, 2009. Grover carried himself with grace, courage and nobility as an ambassador and servant of Jesus Christ.

E. Lee Johnston

E. Lee Johnston passed away in Wenatchee on December 24, 2009. He was born in Danville, KS, on July 21, 1916. In 1939, he married Grace in Wichita, KS. They lived in Wichita until he joined the U.S. Army, enlisting for World War II from 1944 to 1946.

Shirley Congdon

Shirley Congdon was born August 17, 1912, in Seattle, to Scotty and Mattie Foster. Shirley's early childhood was spent in the family home on Mercer Island.

Mitchell C. Webb Jr.

Mitchell C. Webb Jr., 72, of Omak, died Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009.

Coast Guard closes Columbia River bars

PORTLAND — The U.S. Coast Guard has closed river bars of the Columbia River, Tillamook Bay and Depoe Bay because of heavy seas. The Coast Guard announced the closures Friday night as weather buoys west of the Columbia River bar were measuring over 20-foot waves and strong winds.

Blind Kennewick machinist works by feel, intuition

KENNEWICK — The sign says “Basic Machining,” but what Bernie Vinther accomplishes inside his two-car garage converted into a shop is far more complicated than that. The 65-year-old moves around the cramped quarters, sidling between a 13-by-40-inch metal lathe, a metal band saw, drill press, cabinets with razor-edged cutting tools and a milling machine that would take three hefty men to inch it into position.

New law aims to eliminate puppy mills

Other new laws affect elections, payday loans

OLYMPIA (AP) — A new law, designed to eliminate puppy mills in Washington state, imposes tougher standards on dog breeders. The law, which took effect New Year’s Day, makes it illegal to own or have custody of more than 50 dogs capable of breeding and over the age of six months. It also spells out requirements for taking care of the dogs, including the size of their cages, temperature and cleanliness. If a breeder has 10 or more dogs at any one time, it requires that each dog have adequate time and space to exercise.

Obama cites apparent al-Qaida link in bomb plot

HONOLULU (AP) — An al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen apparently ordered the Christmas Day plot against a U.S. airliner, training and arming the 23-year-old Nigerian man accused in the failed bombing, President Barack Obama said Saturday. “This is not the first time this group has targeted us,” Obama said, reporting on some of the findings of an administration review into how intelligence agencies failed to prevent Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab from boarding Detroit-bound Northwest Flight 253.

Pakistan bombing toll nears 100

SHAH HASAN KHEL, Pakistan (AP) — A northwest Pakistani village that tried to resist Taliban infiltration struggled with grief Saturday as families mourned 96 people killed in an apparent revenge suicide bombing at an outdoor volleyball game. The attack on Shah Hasan Khel village was one of the deadliest in a surge of bombings that have killed more than 600 since October, and it sent a bloody New Year’s message to Pakistanis who dare take on the armed Islamist extremists. As rescuers looked for bodies in the rubble, many residents in the village of 5,000 were too scared Saturday to even speculate who carried out the blast.

U.S. civic leader slain in Mexico as lawlessness grows

LOS ANGELES — The execution-style murder of a young El Monte, Calif., civic leader in Mexico was viewed Friday as a stark sign of just how widely the country’s savage drug violence has spread. Bobby Salcedo, an assistant principal and school board member, had no ties to narcotics trafficking, said his family and friends. He is believed to be the first U.S. elected official killed in the 4-year-old spasm of carnage.

Lottery

OLYMPIA - Friday's winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game:

Survivor of 1906 SF quake dies at age 107

SAN FRANCISCO - Jeanette Scola Trapani, one of the oldest survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, has died at age 107. Dolores Legge says her mother had been suffering from pneumonia and passed away at her home in El Dorado Hills on Monday.

Iran wants West to supply nuclear fuel

TEHRAN - Iran warned on Saturday the West has until the end of the month to accept Tehran’s counterproposal to a U.N.-drafted plan on a nuclear exchange, or the country will start producing nuclear fuel on its own.

Man stable after Saturday morning crash

EAST WENATCHEE — A 19-year-old man is in stable condition at Central Washington Hospital after he crashed his car in East Wenatchee. The man was driving a red 1997 Toyota Corolla on the Sen. George Sellar Bridge and crashed after he turned onto the off-ramp to 9th Street and Valley Mall Parkway, said Sgt. William Redfield of the East Wenatchee Police Department.

Sunday briefing

No raise in minimum wage for 2010 If you’re hoping for a minimum wage increase in 2010, the state Department of Labor and Industries has issued a less-than-happy new year’s reminder:

December business licenses

Issued by city of East Wenatchee Tranquility Day Spa: Crystal McLaughlin, 530 Valley Mall Parkway, No. 5, 884-4900, massage therapist

People & places

New jobs, new faces Mike Lamey joined North Cascades National Bank as manager of the Mission Street branch in Wenatchee.

Airport see-all security system developed in Richland

RICHLAND — The see-all security system that uses advanced millimeter wave technology to detect potential threats concealed anywhere on a human body was developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland. The imaging technology, which initially was used in the garment industry to produce precise-fitting clothing, has been licensed to L-3 Communications in New York, said Staci West, a spokeswoman for PNNL.

Siblings enjoy snowy hill before this weekend’s forecast rain

WENATCHEE — Snow drew Max Nikischin, 14, and his sister, Inna Nikischina, 8, to Lincoln Park for sledding Thursday afternoon. In one impromptu race, Max pulled ahead of his sister as they slid down a hill.

Contract security at Army Corps’ dams comes to an end

TRI-CITIES — Contract security at six Army Corps of Engineers-owned dams on the Columbia River system in Eastern Washington and Idaho ended Dec. 31 and left about two dozen people jobless. The Corps opted against having private security companies provide armed and trained personnel once the contract with Doyon Security Group of Federal Way expired Dec. 31, said Brent Meisner, senior vice president for the company.

Walla Walla man united with surprise child

WALLA WALLA — Gary Pearce learned Nov. 12 he’s a father again. But late nights and baby bottles aren’t in this 70-year-old’s future. His new daughter, Tanya Kauwe, turned 50 last September. Yet the two had never met until she flew into the Tri-Cities Airport on a snowy New Year’s Eve.

High-speed chase ends in Wenatchee teen’s arrest

EAST WENATCHEE — A 19-year-old Wenatchee driver led officers on a high-speed chase through the Wenatchee Valley early Saturday morning. The pursuit began on North Baker Avenue, where the man was seen driving his 1990 Acura about 60 mph at 4:29 a.m., said Sgt. William Redfield of the East Wenatchee Police Department.

California man touts cooling shelter for farmworkers

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After watching grape harvesters toil in the vineyards on a summer day without shade, Garth Patterson was inspired to get them some relief. The Napa Valley businessman experimented with several prototypes before finding what he believes is the answer. He created a towable trailer with an aluminum canopy that provides first aid and relief from heat stress, a vehicle he hopes will improve farmworker safety while helping him turn a profit.

Couple pops onto regional candy scene

WENATCHEE — Owners of the Little River Candy Co. still remember the ol’ Orville Redenbacher tabletop hot-air popper, the tiny 6-quart cooking pot and the hand scoops used to fill those first few dozen orders of toffee-covered popcorn. Pop! Burst today into the factory kitchen of husband-and-wife Wade Polglase and Kathy Kurpuis and you’ll find a stainless steel production line churning out hundreds of pounds of air-popped corn and gallons of fresh-mixed toffee to fill orders of up to 15,000 bags of their sweet, crunchy concoction.

Leavenworth's new train stop exceeds ridership expectations

LEAVENWORTH — The new $1.4 million Icicle Station beat expectations for ridership in 2009, carrying 1,343 people to and from the Bavarian Village since the station’s inauguration in September. That number accounts for 586 people leaving Icicle Station since Sept. 27, and 757 people arriving. Leavenworth riders can catch the Seattle-bound Empire Builder at 6:08 a.m. each morning, and the eastbound train at 8 p.m.

Former Chelan County auditor loves new job, but stays in touch

A death in the family kept former Chelan County Auditor Evelyn Arnold from attending her own going-away party this fall. So she said she felt unsettled, as if she hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye, before leaving for her new job as King County elections supervisor.

Ephrata National Guard unit due back in March

EPHRATA — Members of the Washington Army National Guard 1161st Transportation Company have logged thousands of miles on the ground in Iraq since leaving Ephrata last March. The company, made up of about 100 Ephrata National Guard and 50 Guardsmen from a Spokane unit, arrived at Camp Taji in May after training in Indiana. Camp Taji is about 20 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Dan Jackson is loving the retired life

WENATCHEE — So how’s retirement? Dan Jackson called us with an update from the top of Kilauea Iki Crater in Hawaii. “If I were standing here 50 years ago, I’d be sitting in a lake of lava,” he marvelled. The Jackson family basked in 80-degree warmth for about a week over Thanksgiving. When the rest of his family returned to work, he stayed a few days longer and camped on the cheap.

Alps candy store rises again after fire

TUMWATER CANYON — After working much of the year out of temporary buildings, The Alps candy store should have a new home base by February or March — about a year after the store was destroyed by fire. “The building is up now and it’s got a roof on it, so it’s progressing real good,” said owner Archie Marlin.

Boy injured in lawn mower accident will lose left foot

EAST WENATCHEE — Neiko Wellborn, the East Wenatchee toddler who suffered serious foot and leg injuries in a May lawn mower accident, will have to have his left foot amputated in February. Adam Wellborn, Neiko’s father, said last month that the 3-year-old’s right leg is growing normally. But the left leg has stopped growing and has a visible bend near the ankle.

Friday, January 1

Mudslide kills 10 in Brazilian resort city

SAO PAULO - A rain-loosened slab of hillside collapsed on three houses and an upscale lodge after New Year celebrations at a resort near Rio de Janeiro, killing at least 10 people, Brazilian authorities said. About 100 rescuers were searching for other survivors of the mudslide that also injured at least five people early today. Police helicopters and navy vessels were helping in the rescue efforts.

Metals

NEW YORK (AP) — Spot nonferrous metal prices Thursday

Russia sets minimum price for vodka

MOSCOW - The Russian government has set a minimum price for vodka that more than doubles the cost of the cheapest vodka on the market in an effort to fight rampant alcoholism. The measure also is aimed at reducing the extraordinary number of deaths caused by drinking in Russia.

Thousands demand democracy in Hong Kong

HONG KONG - Thousands of Hong Kong residents marched to the Chinese government’s liaison office today demanding that Beijing grant full democracy to the semiautonomous financial hub. Chanting “One man, one vote to choose our leader” and clutching signs reading “Democracy now,” the demonstrators set off from a crowded street in the heart of the Central financial district.

Suicide bomber kills 20 at volleyball site

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A suicide bomber set off an explosives-laden vehicle on a field during a volleyball tournament today in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 20 people, police said. The blast occurred near Pakistan’s tribal belt, and was the latest bloodshed to rattle the country since the army launched a military offensive against Taliban fighters in the South Waziristan tribal region. The operation has scattered insurgents but provoked apparent reprisal attacks that have killed more than 500 people since October.

Iran’s opposition leader defies threats

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran’s opposition leader today pledged to remain defiant in the face of new threats — including calls by hard-liners for his execution — and said he was ready to sacrifice his life in defense of the people’s right to protest peacefully against the government. Mir Hossein Mousavi’s remarks come after the worst unrest since the immediate aftermath of the disputed June presidential election. At least eight people died during anti-government protests on Sunday, including Mousavi’s nephew.

After the party

Confetti and other remnants of the festivities litter the street in New York Times Square in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Hundreds of thousands of revelers rang in 2010 in chilly weather.

‘Coalition of the willing’ now an army of one

BAGHDAD — The British said cheerio back in July, around the same time the Romanians cleared out “Camp Dracula,” their compound on a U.S. base in southern Iraq. Tonga and Kazakhstan left ages ago, and no one seems to remember if any Icelandic forces ever made it to Iraq.

Judge cites missteps, tosses Blackwater case

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge cited repeated government missteps in dismissing all charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians in a case that inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed the case against the guards accused of the shooting in a crowded Baghdad intersection in 2007.

Few called market turn, fewer predict it will last

NEW YORK (AP) — Few analysts forecast this year’s remarkable stock market rebound as major indexes were plunging to 12-year lows last March. Now, most experts predict the pace of stocks’ gains will slow in 2010. Investor fears about a potential financial system collapse played a big role in the early year slump in stocks. Once it was clear that wasn’t going to happen, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index roared back 64.8 percent from its early March low.

Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) The stock market closed out a remarkable 2009 with a loss as investors bet the improving economy will lead the government to pull back on its stimulus measures. But stocks still managed their best year since 2003 as they recovered from the recession. In the last day of the year, more signs of healing first pleased investors, then had them concerned about the economy’s ability to thrive without government help.

Portland grain

PORTLAND, Ore. — Bids as of 11:30 a.m. Thursday for grains delivered to Portland by rail or barge, in dollars per bushel. Information from USDA Market News Service.

New York Stock Exchange

Thursday’s closing New York Stock Exchange selected prices:

Local interest stocks

As of closing Thursday

Selected stocks

Stock prices as of Thursday provided by Stifel Nicolaus & Co., Inc.

Mutual funds

TOP FIVE / Price / Chng / 1 year return

Zags beat Sooners; backboard shattered

Game stalled for 50 minutes for repairs

SPOKANE — Gonzaga buried Oklahoma under an early barrage of 3-pointers and ran away with the game Thursday night. Steven Gray scored 18 points as hot-shooting Gonzaga beat Oklahoma 83-69. Elias Harris added 15 points and Bol Kong 14 for Gonzaga (10-3), which had five players in double figures. The Bulldogs shot 50 percent and made 11 3-pointers, many on wide-open looks.

Huskies open Pac-10 with win over Beavers

SEATTLE — The defending Pac-10 champion Washington Huskies began conference play on New Year’s Eve with a 76-70 victory against Oregon State in front of 9,843 at Edmundson Pavilion. Quincy Pondexter led the 17th-ranked Huskies with a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Oregon edges WSU in 2OT

PULLMAN (AP) — With three seconds left in double overtime, Oregon’s Malcolm Armstead drove the lane and hit the game-winner to beat Washington State 91-89 in a Pac-10 opener Thursday night. Shortly before Armstead’s basket, the Cougars’ Klay Thompson had a good look at a 3-pointer. But he missed short, and that set up Armstead for the winner.

Patience a virtue in fair-chase blackpowder hunt

Longtime hunters know the adage: “That’s why they call it hunting, not killing.” For those who believe in fair chase, coming home empty-handed isn’t unusual.

Highlights and lowlights

The weird and wonderful from the last decade of sports in Seattle

SEATTLE — Has it been a decade already? Seems like just the other day we were peeking over the canned green beans and out the basement window to discover we’d all survived Y2K.

TCP quarterback in SI

PASCO — Here’s an educated guess that newsstand sales of Sports Illustrated’s Dec. 28, 2009 issue have been brisk in portions of Richland and Pasco. Will Hoppes, Tri-Cities Prep’s record-setting quarterback who lives in Richland, is featured on Page 26 of the Scorecard section as one of the Faces in the Crowd.

Cat Classic preview: 16 teams set for tourney WHS among favorites

EAST WENATCHEE — For the first time this season, the Eastmont and Wenatchee wrestling teams will be at the same place at the same time this weekend. The Wildcats and Panthers will be two of 16 teams in action at Eastmont’s annual Cat Classic, beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Wild ready to go after long break

Alaska in town for two games

WENATCHEE — After taking nearly a month off for the winter holidays, a recharged and rejuvenated Wenatchee Wild squad will open up the second half of its season on Saturday with a two-game set against the Alaska Avalanche at the Town Toyota Center. The Wild took the North American Hockey League’s best record into the break, and despite dropping two of three to the St. Louis Bandits in its last games on Dec. 4-6, Wenatchee still topped the West Division.

Airport pat-downs: Embarrassing and ineffective

CHICAGO (AP) — With all the screening technology at U.S. airports, the last line of defense is still the human hand: the pat-down search. But aviation experts say the pat-down is often ineffective, in part because of government rules covering where screeners can put their hands and how frequently they can frisk passengers. As a result, even if the man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound U.S. jetliner on Christmas Day got an airport pat-down, it probably wouldn’t have found the explosives authorities say were hidden in his crotch.

Many refugees receive birthday wishes as they ring in new year

Abdalla Ali thinks he might have been born during the rainy season. He is pretty sure the year was 1984 but he doesn’t know which month. Ali grew up not knowing his age or tracking his birthday.

Trooper pulls over driver lacking tire

SEATTLE - It wasn’t a tough call for a Washington State Patrol trooper to pull over a downtown Seattle driver in a Porsche 911 that lacked a right rear tire. Pedestrians on the sidewalk stopped and stared as the car went by, making a loud grinding noise amid a shower of sparks. When stopped, the 62-year-old Seattle man at the wheel informed the trooper that his transmission was going out. No, the trooper said, that’s not the problem.

Woman in mail truck leads police on two-state chase

PORTLAND - A woman who apparently stole a mail truck in Portland led law enforcement officers on an Interstate 5 chase that ended with her capture near La Center. The neighborhood-sized mail truck reportedly hit speeds as high as 70 mph. Washington State Patrol troopers eventually set out tire spikes. The State Patrol says the woman was arrested at about 8 p.m. Thursday at a gas station after she tried to run from the truck.

National law enforcement deaths for 2009 reach 125

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The death of a Washington state police officer Dec. 28 raised the total law enforcement deaths in 2009 to 125, still the fewest annual fatalities in the line of duty since 1959. The 125 deaths compared to 133 in 2008, the lowest since 108 a half-century ago, according to the annual report of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

News of record

News of record reports for Chelan and Douglas counties

Lottery

OLYMPIA (AP) — Thursday’s winning numbers in the Washington state Daily Lottery Game:

Happy 2010!

Fireworks from the Space Needle light up downtown Seattle, to welcome the new year today. As Seattle’s most visible landmark, the 605-foot-tall Space Needle was the focal point of the city’s New Year’s Eve festivities.

GPS-led travel goes awry

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — In a holiday hurry, Jeramie Griffin piled his family into the car and asked his new GPS for the quickest way from his home in the Willamette Valley across the Cascade Range. It said he could shave 40 minutes off the time of the roundabout route he usually takes to the in-laws’ place.

EWU notifying students of security breach

CHENEY — Eastern Washington University officials are notifying as many as 130,000 current and former students that computer records containing information about them have been breached. The breach affects student records dating back to 1987, including Social Security numbers, names and birthdates.

Parenting Corner: How to help kids cope with a parent’s illness

Q: Though my husband is only in his early 40s, he recently suffered a heart attack. He’s back home now and the prognosis is good, but our children, ages 9 and 11, saw everything and are very worried about him. How do we reassure them that Dad is fine? A: Witnessing a parent’s illness (mental or physical) or a sudden medical emergency can indeed be very troubling to a youngster — and plenty upsetting to a spouse as well. It’s even more disturbing if the kids saw paramedics performing CPR or taking away their father in an ambulance.

Clifford Lee Williams

Clifford Lee Williams, 76, of Poulsbo, died Monday, Dec. 28, 2009, in Poulsbo.

Jack R. Myers

Jack R. Myers, 78, of Omak, died Friday, Dec. 25, 2009, at his home.

Dana Sharon (May) Sebastian

Dana Sharon (May) Sebastian, 50, of Wenatchee, died Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009, at her home.

Joseph H. Fisher

Joseph H. Fisher, 85, of Wenatchee, died Monday, Dec. 28, 2009.

E-cycle Washington: State’s recycling effort a huge success

WENATCHEE — North Central Washington has recycled nearly 540,000 pounds of electronics through the state’s E-cycle Washington program, now ending its first year. “It’s been a real wild success,” said Miles Kuntz, spokesman for E-cycle. “The year has gone really quickly and better than we thought.”

Woman submerged in Columbia River pushes for guardrails

ORONDO — Lori Robelia doesn’t have nightmares about being trapped in her truck, submerged under the frigid waters of the Columbia River. But ever since a Feb. 17 accident that sent her pickup sliding off Highway 97 and plunging into the river, she drives a bit slower between mile markers 217 and 218, two miles north of Orondo. She gets a nervous feeling when the roads get slick. Robelia drives by the spot twice a day, to and from her job in export accounting at Columbia Marketing International in Wenatchee.

Fire destroyed Cashmere home, but built community

CASHMERE — On a bright late September day, smoke filled the skies in Cashmere as the Mueser family’s home was destroyed by fire. Since then, Lynn and Dan Mueser and their children, Nicole and Alex, have lived in their RV and neighbors’ rental homes. “It’s a struggle every day. It’s a struggle right now,” said Lynn Mueser on Dec. 22. “I think both my husband and I are stressed out to the max, just overwhelmed with life itself and circumstances.”

2009 ends with a flurry of white

WENATCHEE — A very white New Year’s Eve greeted revelers Thursday as a winter storm dumped about 2.5 inches of snow in the Wenatchee Valley and in areas of Okanogan County. The storm had mostly passed, however, by the time midnight rolled around.

It’s a girl! Wenatchee’s 'New Year’s Baby' arrives

WENATCHEE — Kimberley Ornelas, 28, gave birth to a baby girl at 4:36 this morning at Central Washington Hospital. She and her husband, Ruben Ornelas, 29, have yet to name their 7 pound, 6 ounce girl, so they’re calling her “New Year’s Baby” for now. She is the first child born in a Wenatchee hospital in 2010 and is the Ornelas’ biological sixth child. Kimberley's niece also lives with them.

Local woman turns Christmas gift into glass bead business

WENATCHEE — Jessica Jones’ passion for lampwork beads began with a Christmas gift she received 10 years ago. The perfect Christmas gift, Jones might say today. One that over a decade has boiled and bubbled and been fashioned into a gleaming craft and bright prospect for a home business. Jones, 37, received a glass bead-making hobby kit from her husband, Dusty, in 2000. The kit was something for her and the couple’s three children to play with at first. Using the kit’s directions, a propane torch and quarter-inch rods of colored glass, they learned to make their own glass beads and one-of-a-kind jewelry.

Wenatchee man charged with cyberstalking

WENATCHEE — A 29-year-old Wenatchee man has been charged with cyberstalking for allegedly sending threatening messages through a Facebook account. Jeramie P. Palmer was charged Dec. 7 in Chelan County Superior Court with three counts of felony cyberstalking. Under state law, cyberstalking is using electronic communication to threaten to injure or to kill someone.

George McAlpine

George McAlpine, 83, a longtime Ephrata resident, passed away suddenly on December 26, 2009, at Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee, WA. George was born on November 23, 1926, to George and Irene (Schroeder) McAlpine in Chicago, IL.

Former worship leader at Christ Center Sunday

CASHMERE - A former worship leader at Christ Center Church will return here Sunday to lead a service for the new year.

Library to offer after-school program

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee Public Library, 310 Douglas St., will host the “Books and Bites” after-school program at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. The program is geared toward children in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Old news

100 years ago — 1910: The formal laying of the corner-stone of Wenatchee Commercial Club building will be held Saturday. Among the speakers at the event will be Mayor John A. Gellatly, Ed S. Russell and Dr. W.A. Stevenson. Items to be placed in the cornerstone include a list of the club members and its constitution and by-laws, a list of city officials, copies of local papers and an apple.

Air Force Academy says religious climate improving

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — The Air Force Academy says religious tolerance has improved dramatically since allegations five years ago that evangelical Christians harassed cadets who didn’t share their faith. Even the school’s most vocal critic agrees. “This is the first time we feel positive about things there,” said Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which battled the academy in court over claims that evangelicals at the school were imposing their views on others.

As ear-piercing goes younger, one mom resists

I knew the question would be coming someday: “Mommy, can I get my ears pierced?” I was prepared for the request, if not to deliver the bad news. “You can get your ears pierced when you’re older,” I told my almost 5-year-old daughter.

Separated by dialect

Mixteco-speaking families struggle to make a life near Othello

OTHELLO — In a bleak housing project west of this rural town in Adams County, the Mexican farmworkers living here murmur to each other in a dialect many of them don’t want their children to learn. It’s called Mixteco, one of the dozens of dialects spoken by Latin America’s indigenous people.

Money management course to be offered

WENATCHEE - Wenatchee Free Methodist Church, 1601 Fifth St., will host a 13-week Financial Peace University course beginning at 6 p.m. Jan. 10.

Leaders of faith suggest New Year’s resolutions

Going into a new year, it’s easy to make resolutions that are too tough on yourself — and hardly realistic. However, there are many practical goals that you can aim for that not only are beneficial to you, but also to others.

Dear Abby: New year offers each of us a fresh start

Dear Readers: Can you believe it’s 2010? It’s the 10th anniversary of Y2K. Today is the day we discard destructive old habits for healthy new ones, so I will share Dear Abby’s often-requested list of New Year’s Resolutions, which were adapted by my mother, Pauline Phillips, from the original credo of Al-Anon. Just for today, I will live through this day only. I will not brood about yesterday or obsess about tomorrow. I will not set far-reaching goals or try to overcome all of my problems at once.