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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 17, 2013)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM A PRIL 17, 2012 S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON V OLUME XXXV, N O . 28 25 CENTS For The Skanner news alerts Text "NEWS" to 503-715-0890 or scan this QR code C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW YOUTH OF THE YEAR CIA Has The Most Fake IDs Legislative effort tries to limit the practice in law enforcement See MATH on page 3 See FAKE ID on page 3 PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Steers, the district’s assessment coordinator. More are still strug- gling to meet the writing or reading requirements. “I would say 90 percent of them are really trying,’’ she said. ``They’re sweating bul- lets.’’ The district has an assessment intervention specialist at most of its high schools and these stu- dents are getting help, Seers said, including getting extra assistance from teachers and taking special classes. OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A Washing- ton Department of Licensing program that supplied fake licenses for undercover offi- cers issued the most fake IDs to the Central Intelligence Agency and Defense Depart- ment, the Kitsap Sun reported. In response to a public records request, the department last month showed the newspa- per and public radio’s Northwest News Net- work a list of agencies issued confidential licenses since 2007. The CIA topped the list with 288, followed by the Defense Depart- ment with 198, then followed mostly by police agencies in the state, such as the Kit- sap County sheriff’s office and Bremerton Police Department, the Kitsap Sun reported Monday. But, when the department released the list Friday by email, it lumped together all fed- eral law enforcement agencies without nam- ing them, saying that’s classified. ``A lot of information that was compiled should not have been discussed,’’ DOL spokesman Brad Benfield said, citing a nondisclosure agreement some DOL employees signed with the U.S. govern- ment. “We simply can’t talk about it anymore without further putting ourselves in legal jeopardy,’’ Benfield said Monday. The category of all federal law enforce- ment agencies accounted for 595 licenses, or 53 percent of the 1,121 issued. The CIA refused to comment to the Kitsap Sun. The Defense Department would ``not characterize or otherwise discuss our partic- ipation in this program,’’ spokesman Lt. Col. Tom Crosson said. “Naval Criminal Investigative Service does use a few confidential licenses for undercover purposes,’’ NCIS spokesman Ed Buice said. ``Beyond that it would be coun- terproductive for us to comment in any greater detail.’’ The program was secret until the paper’s public records request prompted the Depart- ment of Licensing to request legislation to Yerenia Urbina accepted the Youth Volunteers of the Year Award from Mothers for Police Accountability for the organization Rainier Transit Justice Youth at the 16th Annual Paul Robeson Peace and Justice Awards Celebration Saturday, April 13, at the Central Area Senior Center. The annual event honors people and organizations in the community who exemplify the ideals of peace, justice and unity that Paul Robeson fought for. Chaos Over Math Requirement Thousands may not graduate because of newest standardized test By Donna Gordon Blankinship Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) Thousands of high school students in Wash- ington’s Class of 2013 don’t know yet if they will get a diplo- ma later this spring because they have not yet met the state’s newest graduation requirement: a math exam. Most of their fellow seniors have met their requirements: 77.5 percent of this year’s sen- ior class have passed three statewide tests, are in line to earn all their credits, and are ready to complete a senior proj- ect and write a plan for what they want to do after high school. Those percentages look good, considering Washington’s on-time graduation rate has hovered just below 80 percent for the past few years. But about 16,000 students across the state don’t yet know if they will need a cap and gown in a couple of months. The class of 2013 is the first expected to pass either an alge- INDEX News .....................2,3,6 Calendar ....................2 Opinion .......................4 Bids/Classifieds............7 bra or geometry test to graduate, although high school students have been taking statewide math exams for years. About 8,000 students in the class of 2013 have not yet ful- filled the math testing require- ment and another 4,300 have not met any of the state testing requirements for reading, writ- ing or math. About 3,800 still need to pass one or two tests. Nearly 80 students in Seattle Public Schools are in danger of not graduating, just because of the new math test, said Nancy Judge Backs Law Over Mentally Ill Doctors, not judges, should decide whether patients are released TACOMA, Wash. (AP) A Pierce County Superior Court judge is backing the current state law on when the mentally ill should be released from Western State Hospital in Lakewood. While reversing a March 13 ruling by a court commissioner in a case concerning two women committed to Western State more than two dozen times, Judge Jerry Costello said Friday he agrees that with the state law that says doctors, not judges should make commitment decisions, The News Tribune reported in Saturday’s news- paper. Recently, both women were released despite court orders to detain them. One woman, 27, is a convicted sex offender, and has been institutionalized in various settings since the age of 14. The hospital released her eight days after a court order involuntarily committed her for 90 days. A day later, she assaulted staff mem- bers at an assisted-living facility. The other woman, 44, is prone to self- mutilation, including stabbing herself in the abdomen and swallowing razor blades. The hospital released her in January, two months before the expiration of a 180-day commit- See LAW on page 3
