OLYMPIA, Wash. - Gov. Chris Gregoire has ordered flags at state agencies lowered to half-staff today for an Aberdeen soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Twenty-year-old Pfc. Aaron Fairbairn was killed on the Fourth of July when insurgents attacked a combat outpost.

Fairbairn and 19-year-old Private Justin Casillas of Dunnigan, Calif., died in the attack. Thirteen other soldiers were injured.

Six Tribes in Washington will have improved access to vital water services through $3.9 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's Indian Health Service (IHS) are directing $90 million nationwide in ‘shovel ready' infrastructure projects designed to better protect human and environmental health in Indian Country.

"This infusion of funds is very important for our tribal communities," said Michelle Pirzadeh, EPA's acting Regional Administrator in Seattle.  "This work is part of our commitment and trust responsibility to provide clean drinking water and healthy sanitation to tribal families."

Stories of the Paddle-wheeled riverboat that formerly housed the Emerald Queen Casino are gettting closer to Downtown Aberdeen. Aberdeen Mayor Bill Simpson said that the setup of the casino would mirror the Tacoma setup, with a non-smoking casino, a smoking casino, and a restaurant over the three levels. Simpson says as he understands it the boat would be parked right next to the mothballed Stouffers store near the Chehalis River Bridge.

Simpson told callers to the Coffee Talk program Thursday morning that odds were very good that the project would go through.

A Possible drug deal gone bad in downtown Aberdeen yesterday ended with one man pepper sprayed, two in custody and several leads in an ongoing narcotics investigation
Aberdeen Police Officers were called to the downtown Jack in the Box just before 4:30 Wednesday afternoon regarding a fight, and possible two-vehicle collision.

a blue van was found in the parking lot with damage to the front and rear, as well as a red passenger car with extensive front-end damage. Officers located the driver of the van at the nearby Les Schwab, further investigation yielded reports of a gold-colored passdenger car having fled the scene at a high rate of speed.

OLYMPIA - WSDOT will begin taking construction contractor bids online in September, an effort expected to reduce administrative paperwork and staff time, as well as reduce costs for contractors.  Moving to an online bidding process is also in response to a recommendation in the January 2008 Construction Management/Highway Maintenance Performance Audit.

Accepting and managing the bidding process online provides significant time and cost savings to both agencies and contractors by automating many current manual processes and eliminating the need for contractors to travel to the bid opening location to submit bids in person. Contractors currently submit bids on paper through a hand-delivered sealed bid process.  Online bidding allows contractors to submit sealed, secure bids over the Internet. Contractors have a choice of submitting bids over the Internet, or delivering them to WSDOT on disk with a paper backup.