(Olympia, WA) Hundreds of Correctional Employees from across the State will converge on Olympia for a Day of Action! on Thursday, December 9 to demand safety, dignity, and respect for Washington State prison workers and their families.

Correctional Employees and their supporters will assemble at Sylvester Park in Olympia at 10:30 A.M. on December 9th and march to the State Capitol steps where they will hold a noontime rally.

Speakers at the event will include Correctional Employees, State Legislators and Teamsters leaders, who will address the critical safety issues confronting prison workers. Over 500 prison workers from 13 facilities across the State have registered to attend the Day of Action!  Buses to the event are departing from Walla Walla, Spokane, the Tri-Cities, Monroe, Clark County, and Clallam Bay.  

ABERDEEN, Wash. - The Grays Harbor-based tall ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain are auctioning life-changing sailing experiences aboard the vessels as holiday gift alternatives. The ships are participating this month in the American Sail Training Association’s Tall Ships® Adventure auction, which is raising money for expansion of national sail training and living maritime history programs. Funds raised in the auction by Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain will also support local tall ship operations. The vessels are owned and operated by the Aberdeen-based Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority.

More than a dozen North American tall ships, including USS Constellation, Pride of Baltimore II, and Port Townsend-based Adventuress, are participating in the online-only event. Many of these vessels, including Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain, specialize in training young people about life through work aboard ocean-going sailing ships. They are offering single-day and multi-day passenger excursions.

SEATTLE – The clock starts today for three prequalified teams who want to design and build the new SR 520 floating bridge, estimated to cost $600 million to $750 million. The new bridge will replace the existing vulnerable floating bridge with a six-lane facility that will help improve travel between Seattle and Redmond.

The teams have until spring 2011 to submit their bids and proposals for the new floating bridge. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will review the proposals and select the winning design-build team in mid-2011. Construction will begin in 2012, and the new bridge will open by the end of 2014.

The prequalified teams are Flatiron-Skanska-Traylor Joint Venture, SR 520 Corridor Constructors (Walsh Construction Company, PCL Construction Services and Weeks Marine) and Kiewit-General-Manson Joint Venture. WSDOT selected teams based on statements of qualification submitted in October.

Drivers can be ticketed with a $124 loss of load infraction or be cited criminally if their loss of load causes injury or property damage.  In November alone the Washington State Patrol Bellevue communications center took 514 reports of debris blocking the road in King County.  That’s 514 times that a trooper’s assistance is requested to check on something blocking the roadway that may be a danger to traffic.  Many of those reports are caused by items falling off of vehicles as they travel down the road. 

Debris in the road can cause collisions and serious injuries to anyone in the area as vehicles attempt not to hit, or be hit by the debris.  Even smaller items, like a bag will cause drivers to brake or swerve to avoid it. 

Aside from the danger, these types of reports keep troopers from other duties and can be avoided by better securing a load.  A driver can be ticketed any time a load, or its cover, is not secure enough to prevent the covering from becoming loose, detached or a hazard in any way. 

In December the number of debris reports often rise with many reports of Christmas trees on the roadway.  Remember to secure anything you transport in or on your vehicle so that it does not end up in the road.  For more information on how to prevent escape of a load refer to the Washington State Patrol web site link.   http://www.wsp.wa.gov/traveler/loadloss.htm

ASTORIA, Ore. – The Coast Guard Cutter Alert will return to its homeport of Astoria, Monday, after a successful deployment involving the capture of eight suspected drug smugglers and their cargoes of cocaine.

The crew of the Alert and an embarked Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter stopped two suspected drug smuggling vessels during a patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Central America this month.  Approximately half a ton of cocaine was recovered and eight suspected smugglers were turned over to partner-nation law enforcement authorities in the region. 

On Nov. 06 the crew of a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft crew patrolling in the area spotted a suspicious boat in international waters approximately 225 miles off the coast of El Salvador.