SEATTLE - The noise around the health reform debate is becoming so loud that some are afraid it will drown out the truth. Laura Dean Freidrich, director of education and advocacy at the organization Protestants for the Common Good, says many people can't figure out whether proposed legislation would be good for their families or not. That's because, she says, it seems like most of the media coverage around the country has been focused on protests and ugly accusations.



"I think the danger is that we won't make a good decision because we get focused on the conflict rather than focused on what the actual facts are."

Long Beach, WA - Coast Guard crews responded to a boat fire approximately 10 miles from the coast of Long Beach, Wash.,  Monday.

Coast Guard Group/Air Station Astoria received a call at 4 p.m. from a crewman aboard the 60-foot fishing vessel Portlock reporting that the vessel was on fire.



The two crewmembers aboard Portlock were able to relay coordinates to a Coast Guard watchstander before abandoning ship into a liferaft.

The Coast Guard Cutter Active, homeported in Port Angeles, Wash., was eight miles from the burning vessel and was diverted to assist.  Additionally, Air Station Astoria launched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and Station Cape Disappointment, Wash., launched a 47-foot motor lifeboat crew to assist.

Grays Harbor County, WA - The Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Department has identified the man fatally shot at Lake Wynooche as 25 year old Weston Wolff of Olympia. Grays Harbor County Under Sheriff Rick Scott says that based on collected evidence and statements, the incident appears to be an act of self defense.

Scott told KBKW News that the homicide investigation continues, however the County Prosecutors Office is not requesting an arrest at this point and that the department is not releasing information on the person of interest in the investigation "They are awaiting our completed investigation, before they make the legal determination as to to whether this was justifiable or not."

County deputies arrived on the scene around 2 o'clock Saturday morning, and investigated well into Saturday afternoon Scott said there are some details of the incident still under investigation, and that many details that led up to the shooting early Saturday morning will not be released until the Prosecutors office has made a ruling.

Montesano, WA - A Raymond Man was arrested for Possible DUI and Possession of Marijuana Friday Afternoon after attempting to elude the arresting officer on Highway 12.

Washington State Patrol Trooper Stewart Intercepted the vehicle on State Route 107, failing to yield to the officer, 51 year old James Deward Melton turned Eastbound onto  Highway 12 in Montesano, striking the guardrail, then accelerated to a high rate of speed. The 1998 Lincoln Town car eventually pulled over, almost half way to Elma.

Melton was arrested for Driving Under the Influence and Resisting Arrest, two firearms and an undisclosed amount of marijuana were also recovered from the vehicle.

OLYMPIA - Two sections of the lower Snake River in southeast Washington will open for fall chinook salmon fishing Sept. 1 with some changes from last year's season, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced today.

A good return of upriver bright chinook this year will allow the department to open the fishery on marked, hatchery-reared fish, said Glen Mendel, district fish biologist for WDFW.  

The hatchery chinook fishery, which is not listed in WDFW's Fishing in Washington sportfishing rules pamphlet, is scheduled to remain open through Oct. 15, but could close earlier if the allowable incidental impact to wild chinook is reached. The fishery is allowed under a federal permit that prescribes strict limits on the incidental catch of wild salmon protected under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).