Washington

Washington Police are closing in on what they believe is the body of a suspected shooter who gunned down a national park ranger yesterday.

The Associated Press reported today that Mount Rainier National Park was closed while nearly 200 law enforcement officials scoured the wilderness for Benjamin Colton Barnes. Barnes, a 24-year-old Iraq War veteran, allegedly entered the park yesterday morning and sped past a checkpoint where park officials ensure vehicles entering it have tire chains for snow. Two park rangers tried stopping him, only for Barnes to allegedly shoot Ranger Margaret Anderson and flee into the park.

Kevin Bacher, a parks spokesman, told AP that police helped lock down the park last night so that authorities could search for Barnes. The park housed 125 people in its visitor center basement, he added, only for police to escort them to safety earlier this morning. As an extra precaution, he said police were traveling to the park's most remote areas and warning travelers that an armed and dangerous shooter was in the area. more >>

According to Jennifer Fox, a protestor in the Occupy Seattle movement, she was pepper sprayed and kicked in the stomach during the Nov. 15 conflict with riot police that caused her to miscarry.

“I was standing in the middle of the crowd when the police started moving in," said Fox to The Stranger, "I was screaming, 'I am pregnant, I am pregnant. Let me through. I am trying to get out.'"

Instead of letting her leave, Fox said police kicked her squarely in the abdomen. more >>

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is joining the search for Sky Metalwala, a 2-year-old boy who was taken from a parked car in Bellevue, Wash., Sunday as his mother bought gas.

The boy, described as wearing a dark green hooded sweatshirt and blue and gray-striped pants when his mother last saw him, is of Caucasian and Indian descent and has dark hair and brown eyes.

Search dogs, local police and 50 emergency responders searched the area Sunday after the disappearance was reported at 9:50 a.m., but they had to halt efforts at 6 p.m. when temperatures dropped and it became too dark. more >>

Traditional marriage groups are appealing a federal judge’s decision in Washington State, arguing that it will encourage discrimination against and harassment of citizens who oppose same-sex marriage by national and local gay rights pressure organizations.

The groups want to keep confidential the names of traditional marriage supporters who participated in a gay rights battle two years ago, arguing that disclosing the names of petition signers will open these individuals up to harassment from gay rights groups who are demanding disclosure.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle of Tacoma denied a motion by Protect Marriage Washington calling for the names of petition signers to be kept from groups such as KnowThyNeighbor.org and WhoSigned.org which plan to post the names on a searchable website. KnowThyNeighbor.org is a national organization committed to bringing pressure on traditional marriage supporters by identifying individuals and encouraging protests against them. more >>

Amanda Knox’s murder acquittal has garnered enormous media attention, with many networks vying for her first television interview – which could sell for an astonishing $10 million.

Gogerty Marriott, a leading Seattle PR firm, has been hired to handle the bids for Amanda Knox’s exclusive interview, the Telegraph has reported.

ABC’s Diane Sawyer and Elizabeth Vargas, anchors for “World News” and “20/20,” respectively, are said to be the frontrunners in the interview “chase.” more >>

Perhaps provoked by news that Rob Bell, pastor of a different church with a similar name, would be leaving the church he founded 12 years ago, Mark Driscoll, leader of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, has informed congregants this week that he has no plans to leave the church he started 15 years ago.

The comments published on his website Monday, Oct. 3, references the 15th anniversary of Mars Hill Church's founding and comes on the heels of the announcement that Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan, would be leaving his church.

In his 15-point notice, titled "A Long Letter from Pastor Mark to Mars Hill Church," Driscoll shared thoughts that came to mind in consideration of his church turning 15 years old. more >>