In brief: Holy Family opens new nursery for premature babies
Providence Holy Family Hospital has opened a new nursery for premature babies.
The nursery is for babies delivered at 36 to 37 weeks who need specialized care but don’t need to be in an intensive care unit. The nursery can care for up to 10 infants at a time.
Staffing will be provided by the Pediatrix Medical Group, which also staffs physicians and nurse practitioners at the neonatal intensive care unit at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital.
Man charged with placing bomb
PUYALLUP, Wash. – Pierce County officials say a 26-year-old man is in custody on a charge that he maliciously placed a homemade explosive device in a public place.
Prosecutors say Blake Edward Heger was also charged Monday with one count of having dangerous weapons.
Sheriff’s deputies were called to a Puyallup hardware store Saturday by a person who said Heger was outside sharpening knives and putting them in the back of his pants. A deputy found a 5-inch screwdriver that had been shaved into a dagger and found another knife in his backpack.
Deputies searched the area and found two cylinders taped together with fuses wrapped around them. The explosive device was under a fence near traffic and walkers. Deputies say the device could have injured or killed people 10 to 15 feet away.
Heger told deputies they had fallen out of his backpack by accident.
Pass closures will be earlier this week
Rock blasting closures to make way for widening of Interstate 90 east of Snoqualmie Pass have been moved up this week by 30 minutes.
The freeway will close at 7:30 p.m. for an hour tonight through Thursday.
Construction lane closures are also slowing I-90 traffic from the east side of the pass to the vicinity of Cle Elum for about 28 miles.
Grant County facility leaked ammonia
ROYAL CITY, Wash. – An ammonia leak at the Royal Ridge Fruits facility caused the Grant County Sheriff’s Office to order people living nearby to shelter in place.
Sheriff’s spokesman Kyle Foreman said they issued the order about 9:50 a.m. Monday. People within a 1-mile radius of the facility south of Royal City were told to bring family and pets inside, close windows, turn off fans and stay in an interior room.
The order was canceled at 1 p.m. after officials confirmed the risk had passed.
Orca may have ditched fishing lure
FRIDAY HARBOR, Wash. – Federal officials said a killer whale they’ve been monitoring near the San Juan Islands may have gotten rid of the salmon lure that was hanging from its mouth.
The orca, a 12-year-old male known as J-39, was observed to have the lure stuck from its mouth on Aug. 1, and researchers were concerned it might affect its feeding and behavior. NOAA Fisheries provided some additional money to the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor to further track the whale and assess its condition.
In new photos, the shiny, oblong-shaped lure known as a “flasher” is no longer present.