In brief: Ex-TV anchor Hutchison new leader of state GOP
Former Seattle TV anchor Susan Hutchison has been elected chair of the Washington State Republican Party.
Hutchison defeated the interim GOP chair, Luanne Van Werven, in a runoff vote after two other candidates were eliminated at the party’s meeting in Spokane on Saturday.
Hutchison ran unsuccessfully for King County Executive in 2009, downplaying her Republican ties.
On Saturday, she pledged to breathe new life into a state Republican Party that has suffered stinging election defeats.
Hutchison said the party is “nearly broke,” has a “useless” website and a get-out-the-vote operation that is spotty in some places and ineffective in others.
President appoints Crocker to federal broadcasting panel
Ryan Crocker, who grew up in Spokane and served as ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan, was named to the Broadcasting Board of Governors by President Barack Obama.
The federal agency oversees international broadcasters including Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Radio and TV Martí and Radio Free Asia.
“It is an honor and a privilege for me to serve on this board,” Crocker said in a news release. “I am delighted to have had the confidence of the President in nominating me and the Senate in confirming me.”
Beef Counts provides meat to food bank worth $20,000
Beef Counts, a program operated by cattle ranchers and beef processors in Washington, last week celebrated a summer promotion that contributed $20,000 worth of beef to Second Harvest food bank.
Since its inception in 2010, Beef Counts has provided more than a half-million beef meals to food banks in Washington and Idaho.
The summer promotion was conducted with Rosauers stores and was based on sales of beef from processor and marketer Agri Beef Co., Second Harvest said in a news release.
Youthful bomb plotter apologizes, renounces beliefs
PORTLAND – A young Somali-American man convicted of plotting to bomb a 2010 holiday tree-lighting ceremony in Portland’s town square has written an apology letter in advance of his sentencing and says he renounces his former beliefs.
In a letter from jail, filed by his lawyers in federal court, Mohamed Mohamud offers to speak to young Muslims “to help keep them away from the path of extremism.” And he told U.S. District Judge Garr M. King he turned to books to help him “walk a better path.”
Mohamud faces a possible sentence of life imprisonment. Mohamud’s defense team suggests 10 years. Sentencing has been set for Sept. 6, but the date may be changed.