SEATTLE – A man who shot and killed a Farwest cab driver in SeaTac before setting fire to the taxi has been convicted of aggravated murder and arson.

The King County prosecutor’s office says 19-year-old Earnest Lenell Collins of Seattle will automatically receive a life term with parole when he is sentenced May 9 in King County Superior Court. The jury returned with the verdict Friday.

Prosecutors say robbery was the apparent motive for the July 17 killing of the Farwest Taxi driver, Jagit Singh. He was shot twice in the head and his cab was set afire.

Collins fled and was arrested in Chicago.

SOURCE:

• Seattle P-I

SEATAC – Three passengers on a flight between Amsterdam to SeaTac Airport may have been exposed to measles in late March.

Health officials say a woman on the flight has a confirmed case of the disease, and now they are contacting passengers who sat near her.

The Northwest Airlines flight 33 came from the Netherlands to Sea-Tac on March 26, and arrived in Washington at about 3:25 p.m. The woman - who is in her 20s - then flew from Seattle to Portland on Horizon Airlines Flight 2243, which departed from Seattle at 5 p.m.

Health officials say passengers who were on her flight or in the airport at that time should be alert for symptoms and contact health providers if they become ill.

Measles is a highly infectious illness that causes rash, fever, cough, and red, watery eyes.

SOURCE:

• KING-TV

SEATAC –A United Airlines jet landed safely at SeaTac Airport after its crew reported possible hydraulic problems Monday afternoon.

Just before 4pm, an Airbus A-320 touched down with an “absolutely perfect landing,” according to a witness.

The aircraft, flying in from Dulles Airport, called in with a possible hydraulic failure and the pilot was apparently very careful with the landing gear as the plane landed, the witness said.

Firefighters met the plane on a taxiway, and a tow vehicle pulled it away.

“All in all, (it was) a nice piece of flying, but it looks like it was a bad indicator rather than an actual problem,” the witness said.

SOURCE:

• KIRO-TV

SEATAC – A Kent woman is in serious condition after being shot on State Route 518 in SeaTac Tuesday night.

The King County Sheriff’s office says the 34-year-old woman was driving westbound on SR-518, between I-5 and SeaTac International Airport and Burien, when someone fired several shots at her car, striking her once.

At least two shots were fired from a car that drove up beside her about 10:40 p.m. She pulled off the road near the light rail station at South 154th Street and International Boulevard, where police found her. She was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where she was in serious condition.

Detectives had little information about the suspect but did not think the shooting was random, sheriff’s Sgt. John Urquhart said.

The woman had no idea why someone would want to shoot her, but told police that her home in Kent had been shot up a few weeks ago, the Sheriff’s Office reported.

No arrests and no specific description of the suspect vehicle.

SOURCE:

• Seattle P-I

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SEATAC – The Port of Seattle is preparing to move ahead with a $413 million rental car center at Sea-Tac Airport. It’s the next big project after last week’s port commissioner decision to lift a moratorium on major contracts.

The commissioners say the port has made reforms recommended in a critical state audit that found it mismanaged projects.

SOURCE:

• Tacoma News-Tribune

SeaTac-area husband and father Nicholas Francisco is still missing, but his wife has put up a website with some more info:

Alert: Although Nicholas’s car was recovered, there is one item that is missing that, if found, could greatly help the effort to locate Nicholas: his laptop computer.

Nicholas wore his computer like a wedding ring—he took it with him everywhere and was never without it. It was not recovered when the car was. It is a Macbook Pro 15 inch glossy. The serial number is YD6217LKVWW.

If you locate this, please call 911!

• Nicholas’s car was recovered at the Heritage Condos on South 340th Street at about 10:20 a.m on Feburary 18th. If you or someone you know saw someone driving his car in that area from the 13th to the 18th please call 911 or email the webmaster of this site.
• Again there is a $15,000 reward for information leading to his location.

SEATAC – Two teenaged burglary suspects eluded authorities this afternoon after a SWAT team stormed a house and found nobody inside.

The standoff started as a burglary call around 3:30 p.m. in the 3000 block of South 146th Street in SeaTac.

A King County Sheriff’s spokesperson says three teens broke into a home, possibly unaware that there were people inside. The people inside got out.

One of the suspects ran out of the house where he was caught by sheriff’s deputies.

A SWAT team was called in and surrounded the home. Just before 5 p.m., a flash-bang grenade was fired into the home and SWAT moved in, but the suspects had already gone.

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SOURCE:

• KING-TV

SEATAC – A small fire erupted in a baggage handling “tug” at SeaTac Airport today, but was quickly put out by firefighters.

A Sea-Tac webcam showed smoke coming from a spot just outside the airport’s North Terminal as firefighters sprayed water and foam on the tug’s engine compartment.

An airport spokesman said there was no effect on airport operations or flights, and no one was injured.

SOURCE:

• KIRO-TV

We here at the SeaTac Blog are as sick and tired of these ding-dang traffic construction nightmares as you are, so we’re passing along this critical, headache-avoidance advisory:

Avoid driving I-5 Southbound near Southcenter this weekend!

Crews will conduct a rolling slowdown on southbound I-5 near S. 178th Street at 3 a.m. this Sunday morning, March 2nd to install the replacement bridge girder.

S. 178th Street over I-5 has been narrowed back to one lane of alternating traffic using a smart signal that detects traffic back-ups and automatically adjusts signal timing to ease congestion.

S. 178th Street over I-5 will also be completely closed Saturday night from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. the following morning.

On Dec. 13, 2006 a truck struck the S. 178th street overpass. The impact damaged a girder underneath the structure. Bridge inspectors found the bridge safe for drivers but decided to restrict traffic to prevent more damage to the girder.

Crews must replace the girder to return traffic to normal on this highly traveled overpass between Tukwila and SeaTac.

Crews will replace the damaged girder under the S. 178th street overpass. The bridge deck will also be repaired.

Completing repairs will return the overpass to normal capacity for drivers traveling between SeaTac and Tukwila.

Replacing the girder will ensure that the overpass remains safe for drivers on S. 178th and on I-5 in the future.

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SOURCE:

• DOT website

SEATAC – When you hear the phrase “entertainment district” what do you usually think of?

Downtown Seattle?

Las Vegas?

How about SeaTac?

The city of SeaTac has just announced that it plans to create an “entertainment district” that would include retail, dining and entertainment facets.

The city has hired Heartland LLC, a Seattle real estate consultant, to devise a strategy for the district.

The area that SeaTac officials have targeted is around the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Sound Transit light rail station now under construction at International Boulevard and South 176th Street, which is scheduled to open at the end of next year.

The district would target airport travelers and workers, city officials said.

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SOURCE:

• Puget Sound Business Journal