Partly sunny, with a high near 66. Forecast here.
Making headlines around the Northwest:
- Vancouver erupts into chaos after Canucks lose
- Off the wire: Truck crash kills one, deputy reinstated
- Somber Gregoire signs budget; revenue to fall
- Tumwater, Lacey lose longtime businesses
Cars set on fire in Vancouver following loss
Parked cars were set on fire, others were tipped over and people threw beer bottles at giant television screens following the Vancouver Canucks' 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals.
People chanted obscenities and some leaped over raging bonfires as riot police moved in to try to restore order in the downtown streets strewn with garbage and filled with acrid smoke.
Meanwhile in Boston, the Stanley Cup champion Bruins landed less than 12 hours after their victory. Just a half hour later, two buses carrying the team arrived at the TD Garden where several hundred fans were waiting.
Team captain Zdeno Chara carried the 35-pound cup off the bus holding it high over his head, before walking over to a group of fans to let them touch it.
Off the wire: Truck crash kills one, deputy reinstated, more
- The Washington State Patrol says the driver of a semi-truck lost control due to a medical issue, causing a fatal crash Wednesday on Interstate 82 near Kennewick. The Tri-City Herald reports the truck crossed the median and collided with an oncoming car. The car driver, 60-year-old Lawrence Volker of Conover, N.C., died at the scene. An ambulance took the truck driver to a hospital.
- The Pierce County sheriff's office says a 54-year-old man was fatally shot by a Tacoma police officer after the man reportedly brandished a handgun when the officer pulled him over for erratic driving. Tacoma police say the man's gun was loaded and a search of his truck found a large amount of ammunition.
- The King County executive has ordered an inquest into an Auburn police officer's fatal shooting of a 48-year-old man. Auburn police say the officer fired May 7 after a man he stopped for a burned-out headlight climbed out of his car and threatened the officer with a knife.
- A fired Yakima County sheriff's deputy who was reinstated after an eight-year legal battle is being re-trained to return to duty. Both Deputy Jan Bartleson and Sheriff Ken Irwin are working to rebuild a professional relationship. Irwin fired Bartleson in 2003 after doctors told him she was suffering too much stress for active duty. An arbitrator and state appeals court ruled in her favor. Bartleson is getting her job back with back pay up to $500,000.
Somber Gregoire signs budget, cuts education
Gov. Chris Gregoire has given final approval to a new state operating budget that relies largely on cuts to education to fill a $5 billion budget shortfall.
Gregoire said Wednesday that she was signing the bill with a heavy heart, questioning whether she was undoing years of her own work. She said the education cuts were the hardest for her to swallow.
The spending plan reduces salaries for teachers by 1.9 percent and for administrative staff by 3 percent. It suspends programs designed to keep class sizes low.
The Everett Herald also reports that the $738 million set aside in reserves though that amount is likely to shrink when a new revenue forecast comes out today. Everyone expects it will predict another drop in tax receipts.
Tumwater, Lacey lose longtime businesses
The Point Tavern in Tumwater closed last weekend, and The Shipwreck Cafe will close its Lacey location this month, reports The Olympian.
The Point’s last day in business was a standing-room-only goodbye that ended at 2 a.m. Sunday, said Linda Gault, who had owned the business for about seven years, since the death of her husband. Her husband, Bob, ran it for 27 years, she said.
The Shipwreck Cafe, another longtime business, will close its 16-year-old Lacey location on June 26, co-owner Sherri McQuilkin said Tuesday. The closure is not entirely because of the economy, although staying in business became a losing proposition as the cost of doing business (food, utilities, taxes) kept rising, she said.
