Mostly sunny after morning fog - high 61
Making headlines around the Northwest:
- State Patrol Trooper Missing in North Cascades
- Driver Commits Suicide at Issaquah Traffic Stop
- State Government Preps for Shutdown as Budget Talks Stall
- No Word From Iran on Missing Former P-I Reporter
Search Continues for Missing Trooper in North Cascades
Weather permitting, a helicopter will take ground searchers into the North Cascades on Tuesday to look for an off-duty Washington State Patrol trooper missing on a hike.
KIRO-TV reports searchers have a destinationbecause Daniel Anderson sent his coordinates Sunday with an emergency signal.
The 46-year-old Marysville man started off Friday snowshoeing with friends but was on his own when he signaled for help in the Lyman Lakes area. Searchers with the Snohomish and Chelan county sheriff's offices have responded.
The patrol says Anderson has been a trooper for 21 years and works as out of the Marysville office as a motorcycle trooper. He is described as an avid hiker who is well prepared with food, clothing and equipment.
Driver kills self at Issaquah traffic stop
The Washington State Patrol says a driver shot and killed herself after a trooper pulled her over on Interstate 90 early Tuesday at Issaquah.
Patrol spokesman Cliff Pratt told KOMO Radio the trooper stopped the car on suspicion of drunken driving. The patrol had been notified by the woman's concerned sisters who were following her.
Pratt says the trooper witnessed the suicide as he approached the car. The woman is described as a 24-year-old from Bothell who was a veteran of the Iraq war.
Washington Preps for July Shutdown as Budget Talks Stall
Top state officials have started preparing for a July government shutdown as lawmakers struggle to reach a budget compromise.
Governor Chris Gregoire says she held talks Monday with cabinet and financial management leaders about what would happen if there's no spending plan by the time a new budget cycle begins in July. She says she's been discouraged by a lack of progress in budget negotiations in the Legislature and can't recall a time that things have been so bogged down.
Office of Financial Management Director Marty Brown says a shutdown has never occurred in Washington state but would likely close all but some public safety and Constitutionally-required operations.
Brown says lawmakers passed a budget on the last day of June in 1991.
Iran Offers No Word on Missing Reporter
Iran said today (Tuesday) that a missing Al-Jazeera reporter attempted to enter Syria last month with an expired Iranian passport and without proper press clearance, but offered no details on whether she is being held in Iran.
The comments by Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, were the first public remarks by an Iranian official about Dorothy Parvaz, who was last seen leaving Qatar on April 29 for Damascus to cover the country's anti-governing uprising. Syrian authorities said Parvaz was sent to Iran shortly after her arrival, but her whereabouts remain unknown.
Parvaz previously worked as a reporter and columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
