Northwest briefly: ‘Growing Pains’ actor Andrew Koenig found dead

VANCOUVER, B.C. — Vancouver police say “Growing Pains” actor Andrew Koenig has been found dead.

At a press conference in the downtown park where his body was found, police said foul play was not suspected, but would not release a cause of death because the coroner is still investigating.

The actor’s father, Walter Koenig, said his son “took his own life.” Walter Koenig played Pavel Chekov on the original “Star Trek” TV series.

Friends found the body at around noon Thursday in a heavily wooded area about 100 feet from a popular foot path.

Koenig, 41, was visiting friends in Vancouver when he went missing more than a week ago. The Venice, Calif., native had a recurring role on the 1980s sitcom as Boner, a pal of star Kirk Cameron’s character, Mike.

Seattle: Mayor may meet with Ballmer

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has sent a letter to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer asking for a town hall meeting at the company’s campus in Redmond. McGinn wants to talk about their differences over a new Highway 520 floating bridge design. Microsoft took out a full page ad in The Seattle Times on Tuesday urging transportation planners to move ahead with a new six-lane bridge. McGinn wants planners to reconsider a four-lane option, with two bus lanes for transit. Experts say the 47-year-old bridge across Lake Washington between Seattle and Bellevue needs replacing and could collapse in an earthquake. The replacement will cost more than $4 billion. The commuters who use the bridge each day include 5,000 Microsoft employees.

Man allegedly sold counterfeit software

A 44-year-old Battle Ground man accused of selling counterfeit Microsoft software over the Internet for 10 years has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Seattle. Wayne Shu was charged Thursday with six counts of mail fraud, trafficking in counterfeit goods and trafficking in illicit labels.

The prosecution says the sales continued even after Microsoft Corp. sent Shu multiple cease-and-desist letters.

Prosecutors allege Shu owned and operated companies under such names as Micro Sharp, Micro Sharp Technologies, Microsharp.com and Meet Your Price. The indictment seeks the forfeiture of $1.7 million, Shu’s home and luxury car. Conviction for mail fraud is punishable by a maximum 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Crackdown on panhandling urged

Seattle City Councilman Tim Burgess has called for a crackdown on panhandling near ATMs and parking meters to make people feel safer on the streets. In a speech Wednesday to the Downtown Seattle Association, Burgess also called for more police foot patrols to deal with open-air drug trafficking and robberies. The Seattle Times reported aggressive panhandling is already illegal but the new ordinance would prohibit specific behavior. Violators would be fined $50.

Tacoma: Body, car found in retention pond

The Washington State Patrol says it appears a car was traveling at a high rate of speed when it left an Interstate 5 off-ramp at Tacoma and crashed into a retention pond, killing the driver. Washington State Patrol Trooper Brandy Kessler said it was not clear how long the car had been in the water before it was noticed about 7 a.m. Thursday, upside down in water at the 38th Street exit. When the car was pulled out by the Tacoma Fire Department, authorities found the body of a man in his 20s. Troopers say it appears he was driving in the right I-5 lane when it turned into an exit-only lane. As the exit ramp curved, the car hit a berm, crashed through a yellow sign and flew over a fence into the pond.

Port Angeles: Road reopens Saturday

Olympic National Park says Hurricane Ridge Road will reopen Saturday, a week earlier than expected. The road has been closed for repair since a Jan. 18 landslide took out a 100-foot section of roadway. The park is waiving entrance fees this weekend to Hurricane Ridge.

Longview: Killer pleads guilty

A Longview man who admitted killing his ex-girlfriend’s mother and wounding her father pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder. Twenty-one-year-old Anthony Michael James Scott faces more than 40 years in prison when he is sentenced March 3 in Cowlitz County Superior Court.

He shot Kathleen and Robert Tubbs in October of 2008. The Daily News of Longview reports that with Wednesday’s plea Scott avoided a possible life sentence that would have gone with a conviction on an aggravated murder charge.

After the shooting, Scott left his ex-girlfriend a voicemail saying, “Hope you like the gift.”

Tacoma: Guns labeled ‘toys’ seized

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have seized a shipment of 30 guns that arrived by ocean container in Tacoma in a shipment described only as “toys and parts.”

In a statement Wednesday, Customs officers say the rifles were of the same size, weight and look as an M-4 automatic rifle, a weapon used by the U.S. military. They bore no serial numbers as a genuine gun would, but also lacked the orange-blaze tip that is required of all imported toy guns.

Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents determined that the rifles as shipped from Taiwan were tooled to shoot plastic balls. However ATF says a relatively quick retooling could allow them to fire live ammunition.

The guns valued at nearly $10,000 have been turned over to ATF and will be destroyed.

Spokane: 2 bars cited for fatal crash

The state Liquor Control Board has cited two Spokane bars in connection with a drunken driving crash in December that killed three people. Officials said the driver responsible for the head-on collision was over-served at the downtown bars — The Lions Lair and the BLVD. Officials want the BLVD’s liquor license suspended for 30 days, and they want either a five-day suspension or a fine against the Lion’s Lair. Investigators said 22-year-old Sterling Kruger of Davenport was under the influence of alcohol when he drove west in the eastbound lanes of I-90 in Spokane. Kruger and two people in the other car were killed in the Dec. 17 crash.

4 arrested in Pullman theft spree

Officers in Spokane County and Pullman believe they have caught people responsible for stealing cars and property on the Washington State University campus.

Two men and two woman were arrested Tuesday in Spokane and deputies recovered more than 100 items of property, including a laptop computer that had been taken Tuesday morning in a car prowl in Pullman.

KHQ reported a Spokane County deputy broke the case when he stopped to help a disabled car and found there was an arrest warrant for the driver. That led to the arrest of others who are suspected of trading stolen property for drugs.

Longview: Students rally for principal

Several dozen students, parents and teachers demonstrated outside the Monticello Middle School in Longview Wednesday in a “March for Marshall.” They protested the forced removal of Principal Bill Marshall. The school district is removing the principal under pressure from federal officials who threaten to withhold money unless the district takes steps to improve test scores at the low-performing school. Marshall is 59 and has been a Longview educator for 37 years, the last eight at Monticello. He said he’ll take early retirement.

Stevenson: Skier beating sentence

A father and son convicted of beating and robbing a cross-country skier in southwest Washington have been sentenced in Stevenson.

The Vancouver Columbian reported 34-year-old Michael Collins was sentenced Thursday to 24 years in prison. He was convicted Wednesday in Skamania County Superior Court of robbery and attempted murder.

His son, 17-year-old Teven Collins, was sentenced to eight years. He pleaded guilty to attempted murder in a plea deal and testified against his father.

The two had been camping when they decided to attack Robert Tracey of Washougal on Feb. 9, 2009. He was found by hikers.

The Collins were arrested in March in Mexico after they were featured on an episode of “America’s Most Wanted.”

Yakima: EPA begins groundwater sampling

The Environmental Protection Agency is beginning to sample groundwater in the lower Yakima Valley this week to find the source of contamination.

Residents there have been complaining about nitrate and bacterial pollution in private wells. Many believe the problem is chiefly caused by the application of dairy manure and commercial fertilizer to crops.

Tom Eaton, director of EPA’s operations in Washington, said the agency is assembling all available information to identify possible sources of contamination and has started a sampling program.

EPA has been working with several state agencies over the past year to compile a report on the problem first reported by the Yakima Herald-Republic newspaper.

Richland: Civic leaders sue over Yucca decision

Three civic leaders in south-central Washington are challenging the federal government’s decision to abandon Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository.

President Obama has said he doesn’t see the Nevada site as a workable option for storing spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. He has asked a commission to recommend alternatives.

Bob Ferguson, Bill Lampson and Gary Petersen filed a lawsuit in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. on Thursday. They say the decision to terminate the project violates the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.

They are concerned that waste at the Hanford nuclear reservation that was to be disposed of at Yucca Mountain could be permanently stranded at Hanford and derail environmental cleanup there.

Washington, D.C.: Dicks cleared in ethics probe

The House ethics committee has ended an investigation of five lawmakers who steered government money and contracts to favored companies and also got campaign contributions from them. The panel says it found no violation of House rules.

A copy of the letters and an accompanying report were obtained by The Associated Press. All five members — four Democrats and one Republican — are or were senior members of the House Appropriations Committee.

The most prominent of the five was late Congressman John Murtha, the former chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee who died earlier this month. The other four lawmakers who were investigated are Reps. Norman Dicks, D-Wash.; Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., and C.W. “Bill” Young, R-Fla.

Rep. Charles Rangel, the most powerful tax-writing lawmaker in Congress and a 40-year veteran of Capitol Hill, acknowledged Thursday that an ethics panel has accused him of accepting corporate money for Caribbean trips in violation of House rules.

Wenatchee: Slain teen was at boat ramp on day she vanished

Police investigating the murder of a 17-year-old girl say she was at a Wenatchee boat launch on Feb. 9, the day she disappeared.

Capt. Doug Jones said Thursday that investigators believe Mackenzie Cowell was likely at the Wenatchee Riverfront Park boat ramp area shortly after she left a beauty school class. Her body was found Feb. 13 along the Columbia River at Crescent Bar.

In a statement, Jones said members of the police task force investigating the death don’t know why she was there or whom she might have met.

Police also released the type of phone she carried — an LG EnV2. It was not in her car when it was found in Pitcher Canyon and was not on her body.

Jones says police have no suspects.

The new information on Cowell came as nearly 2,000 people gathered Thursday in Wenatchee for a public memorial service.

From Herald news services