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Legislature ready to take up transportation - again BY BRANDON MACZ BELLEVUE REPORTER
Washington House Transportation Commission Chairwoman Judy Clibborn says passing a transportation package this year will be up to Senate Republicans, but there is at least consensus on funding mechanisms for "mega projects" among party lines. Eastside lawmakers said Tuesday they expect to be out of Olympia within 60 days after the state Legislature convenes next week, and the major topic of debate will likely continue to be a state transportation
package Gov. Jay think we need to Inslee had hoped have something to have passed last come from the year. Senate that we "The problem can negotiate in a was that we had more traditional one side of the way." House that had a The contenJudy Clibborn Steve Litzow Rodney Tom voted position," tious issue of said Clibborn, Dtolling the I-90 Mercer Island, "and we didn't have a voted bridge to pay for completion of SR 520 position on the (Majority Coalition Cauappears dead, Clibborn said. Instead, a macus) side and we were unable to figure out jority of state lawmakers favor an 11.5-cent what the votes would be in the Senate. … I increase in the gas tax to be phased in over
the next 12 years to generate nearly $12 billion in additional revenue, she said. Sen. Steve Litzow, R-Mercer Island, said while the state Senate hasn't fully dealt with the issue of getting a transportation package rolled out, a proposed gas tax is getting favor. He said the problem within the House is "posturing" over public transportation funding. Clibborn said many lawmakers within the coalition caucus are from rural districts SEE TRANSPORTATION, 13
Inquest into SWAT shooting now set for March BY BRANDON MACZ BELLEVUE REPORTER
suspect’s hand and an unidentified shopper came in and punched the suspect. This caused the three male suspects in the parking lot to attack the Good Samaritan shopper, who fought them until they fled the scene. The police have provided video stills and descriptions of the three men and two
A number of requests by the attorney for the family of Russell Smith were rejected Friday (Jan. 3) ahead of scheduling an inquest hearing to determine if Bellevue SWAT members were justified in shooting the 51-year-old Seattle man to death in March 2012. The last-minute inclusion of an attorney for Smith’s family had already pushed back the hearing, which is now tentatively set to start March 3. Smith was shot inside his Mercedes Benz on the early morning of March 22, 2013, after Bellevue SWAT members approached his vehicle on the 5000 block of 43rd Avenue South in Seattle to serve an arrest warrant and search his property. He was suspected of at least three robberies in Bellevue and two in Seattle going back to November 2012. The Seattle laborer is alleged to have backed out of his driveway, striking a pickup, before accelerating forward at several SWAT members who fired on him after they reported fearing for their safety. Three officers collectively fired 21 times and Smith was hit eight times, one bullet entering his brain. King County Executive Dow Constantine ordered an inquest into the shooting back in June. The hearing before a six-member jury was set to start in early December. However it was pushed back after Smith’s family retained an attorney. Under the law, the family’s attorney, Fred Diamondstone, will be allowed to cross-examine witnesses
SEE SUSPECTS, 12
SEE SHOOTING, 12
Surveillance video shows three of five people who police suspect tried to rob customers as they were leaving the Kelsey Creek Walmart store or in the shopping center’s parking lot. COURTESY PHOTOS
Police seek suspects in attempted robbery at Kelsey Creek Walmart BY BRANDON MACZ BELLEVUE REPORTER
Bellevue Police are seeking the public’s help in identifying five suspects believed to have been the same people who attempted to rob Walmart customers in the parking lot of the store’s Kelsey Creek location on Jan. 2. One suspect, a black man in his late teens to early 20s, is alleged to have grabbed a shopper as he was about to
enter the store and was shoved back. Two shoppers in their late 50s to early 60s were also accosted while exiting the store, police report, with a second suspect fitting a similar description as the first alleged to have tried to steal a necklace from one of their necks. He is alleged to have tried to grab the second woman’s purse and then her necklace, causing her to fall to the ground. She reported biting the
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