Explosive device found in truck on ferry

Victoria, B.C.

An apparent pipe bomb was found in the glove box of a Washington state man’s truck on board a U.S. ferry that arrived here Wednesday, a Victoria police spokesman said.

A 39-year-old Issaquah man and his daughter were aboard the ferry Coho that arrived here from Port Angeles, Wash., Canadian Press reported.

Border officers found a copper tube with a fuse attached to it, police spokesman Rick Anthony said.

The device was handed over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police explosives disposal unit in Vancouver. The man faces a charge of possessing an explosive device, police said.

Drivers warned of crackdown locations

Local law enforcement officers are targeting aggressive drivers today and Friday in a joint emphasis patrol involving the Washington State Patrol, Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies, Spokane Police and Cheney Police.

Officers will be looking for speeding, impaired drivers, and those not wearing seat belts. They will be patrolling from marked and unmarked vehicles as well as aircraft.

Early this morning, the patrols will be on Francis, west of Division.

At 10 a.m. officers will move to Highway 2 near Chattaroy, where the WSP will use aircraft to spot traffic law violators and report them to officers on the ground.

In the afternoon, the patrols will be on Market between Wellesley and Illinois avenues.

On Friday, patrols will focus on Sullivan Road between Sprague and Indiana, Interstate 90 near Liberty Lake and Highway 904 near Cheney.

UW lab opposed by Leavenworth council

Leavenworth, Wash.

The Leavenworth City Council has voted down a proposal from the University of Washington to build a $300 million science lab under Mount Cashmere, nine miles west of this Cascade Mountain resort town.

The council voted 7-0 Tuesday, after tallying public opinion from petitions and public testimony, during which 3,205 people spoke against the lab and nine supported it.

The National Science Foundation will narrow a field of eight potential study sites to three later this month, John Wilkerson, a UW physics professor who supports the project, said at the meeting.

Despite the council vote, that list may still include Mount Cashmere.

The lab would conduct research in physics, astrophysics, earth science and geomicrobiology, studying particles from the sun, the formation of minerals and hydrology inside the Earth and microbial life deep underground.

An abandoned gold mine in South Dakota had been the NSF’s preferred site, but flooding there slowed movement on that option. In 2004, the foundation announced plans to reopen the application process.

Mayor Mel Wyles cautioned that while the council took a stand against the lab, they have no official say in whether it is eventually built near Leavenworth. The decision will be made by the federal government, he said.

A final site may not be chosen until 2008.

Wilkerson said county, state and national interests have to be considered along with Leavenworth’s. In January, the Port of Chelan County voted to support the proposal.

At the council meeting, Wyles said the council had been besieged by townspeople over the issue.

“But they listened to you. This council has done what you’ve asked,” Wyles said.

“The council must, in good faith, acknowledge the general will of the community,” Councilman Rob Eaton, a vocal lab supporter, said after the meeting.

“We’ve won a little battle here. But we still have a whole war to fight,” said lab opponent Marshall West of Leavenworth.

Wyoming seeks delisting of gray wolves

Cheyenne, Wyo. The state of Wyoming on Wednesday asked the U.S. Interior Department to remove special federal protection of gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains and allow states to control their numbers and domain.

The petition to remove the wolf from the endangered species list was signed by members of the state Game and Fish Commission and Gov. Dave Freudenthal and filed with Interior Secretary Gale Norton and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“There is unambiguous evidence that the species has met federal recovery goals, and the state of Wyoming has a good plan for managing wolves into perpetuity,” Freudenthal said in a statement. “This petition is about the federal government recognizing those two things and relinquishing control over how wolves in Wyoming are managed.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service has 90 days to review the petition and determine whether delisting the wolf may be warranted. If it does, the federal agency will conduct a more detailed review and then issue a final decision later.

The petition is another move in a legal and bureaucratic struggle between Wyoming and the federal government over management of wolves since they were reintroduced to the northern Rockies 10 years ago.

The animals have flourished and are estimated to number more than 800 in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. However, farmers, ranchers, landowners, outfitters and state officials say the wolves are a growing threat to wildlife, livestock and domestic pets.

The federal government has sought to allow the three states more leeway in managing the wolves in hopes of eventually removing the wolf from Endangered Species Act protection. It approved wolf-management plans offered by Montana and Idaho but rejected Wyoming’s plan because wolves could be shot with few restrictions outside the Yellowstone National Park region.