Did you miss your news last week? Here’s a selection of the week’s top news items from across Snohomish County as they appeared in The Herald. For the full stories, go to www.heraldnet.com.
How a lender rose and fell: The company that Layne Sapp built over 23 years thrived and finally died by the subprime loan.
Mountlake Terrace-based MILA, which grew quickly on the strength of the subprime mortgage lending business, had seen new loan requests slow dramatically. The closure of other lenders and the headlines about a meltdown in the subprime home loan industry made the company’s financiers nervous.
Sapp decided it was time to pull the plug.
On April 20, MILA’s remaining 300 employees found out by e-mail that their jobs were gone.
Eric Fetters
Monday, May 14
Stamp prices go up today: Starting today, it will cost more to mail letters and packages, but that’s not the only change.
You can buy the Forever Stamp for 41 cents, the new price for a first-class letter of up to 1 ounce. There is no price printed on the stamp, and it can be used at any time to mail a first-class letter, regardless of future stamp price increases. It also now costs more to process a larger piece of mail.
Mike Benbow
Tuesday, May 15
Motorcycle use is up and so are fatal accidents: More motorcyclists died on Washington roads last year than ever before, according to a recently released state study.
The rise in fatalities – 82 in 2006 – was pinned to the rise in popularity of motorcycles as gas prices climb.
A lack of training on how to ride motorcycles is also linked to the death toll. More than one-third of motorcycle riders killed in Washington between 1993 and 2004 didn’t have a proper driver’s license, the state found.
Lukas Velush
Stilly leader’s smoke shop raided: Federal agents raided the Blue Stilly Smoke Shop on Tuesday, part of an investigation into alleged untaxed cigarette sales by tribal members in Washington and Oregon. The shop is on property owned by the Stillaguamish Indian Tribe, but it is operated privately by the tribe’s executive director, Eddie Goodridge Jr.
Jackson Holtz and Krista Kapralos
Mukilteo teenager says gang beat him: A 15-year-old boy was severely beaten Tuesday in front of a large group of students across from Kamiak High School, and detectives say they are investigating the possibility the attack was gang-related.
Zaiah Boone, a Kamiak freshman, said he was beaten in the back of a car by three older boys who had red flags wrapped around their fists. The attack occurred just after school let out for the day.
Diana Hefley and Jackson Holtz
Cops end biker’s 140-mph thrill ride: It is the sort of thing the Washington State Patrol hopes it doesn’t see again – particularly when out trying to reduce motorcycle deaths statewide.
On Tuesday, flashing police lights didn’t slow a 21-year-old Mukilteo man as he raced down I-405 near Bothell on his shiny blue motorcycle.
With a turn of the wrist, he powered his Suzuki and took off, reportedly reaching speeds close to 140 mph.
Jackson Holtz
Japan rejects 767 tanker: A fully built Boeing 767 refueling tanker remains parked at an airfield, waiting to be delivered.
But Boeing’s customer, Japan, won’t take the tanker as is. And Boeing officials aren’t saying why exactly.
A recently published article in a defense journal suggests that Boeing has hit a snag in convincing Japan that its first 767 tanker meets the necessary standards and certifications.
Michelle Dunlop
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