Longview: A packed service at the Journey Seventh-day Adventist Church of more than 500 in Kelso memorialized Gilberto Bernal, one of the 11 workers killed by a chemical tank implosion at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview last Tuesday. At the memorial, held a day after the Cowlitz County coroner publicly identified the workers, friends and family described Bernal as a dedicated father, a volunteer, and a skilled handyman.
Environmental Impacts: The implosion at the Nippon plant released 900,000 gallons of the caustic white liquor into the environment. The fish are dying. On Friday, the Washington Department of Ecology had collected 23 dead fish near the mill. By Sunday, they’d recorded nearly 2,000 in ditches and sloughs in West Longview. Authorities expect the number to grow.
Weather: Today is mostly sunny with a high of 72. We’ll hit a high near 82 tomorrow, and sink down into the 60s over the course of the week.
Israel-Hezbollah War: Israel captured the medieval mountaintop Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon Sunday. The incursion occurred during a “ceasefire” with Lebanon that Israel has repeatedly violated and amid the first direct talks between the two countries in decades. Beaufort Castle, known in Arabic as Qalaat al-Shaqif, was built during the Crusades and was an Israeli military base during Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon. The castle’s capture is the deepest incursion into Lebanon since Israel withdrew its troops in 2000.
US-Iran War: Early this morning, the US said it had hit Iranian drone control sites in Goruk, Iran, and Qeshm Island in “self-defense” over the weekend. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted an air base used for a US attack on Iran, without identifying the base. The strikes pushed up the price of oil. “Iran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the U.S.A. and those that are with us,” President Donald Trump said on Truth Social early Monday. Iran says it will not engage in any more peace talks with the US until Israel stops its operations in Lebanon and Gaza.
Local Gas: The average price of gas in the Seattle area fell by about 4 cents per gallon last week and is sitting at $5.89 a gallon as of this morning. On account of the war, the meager consumer gains are not expected to last.
Cancer News: In a 500-person medical trial, an experimental daily pill to treat pancreatic cancer from drugmaker Revolution reduced the risk of death by 60 percent compared with chemotherapy and allowed patients of the deadly cancer to resume activities they’d abandoned. A small 157-person drug trial of a new personalized mRNA vaccine for melanoma, when combined with the immunotherapy drug Keytruda, found that 68 percent of patients remained cancer-free, a 49 percent reduction of risk compared with Keytruda alone.
Crying: After a Sunday crash with an SUV on I-5, an overturned semi spilled milk all over an on-ramp in Tumwater. The driver of the SUV, a 26-year-old woman, was arrested on suspicion of DUI and charged with vehicular assault and felony hit and run. She should’ve stuck to milk.
Sound on the Sound: It’s the 75th anniversary of Washington State Ferries and the agency is celebrating this month by making commutes louder with four live on deck DJ sets.
Who and Why? Those are the main questions for police in New York City are investigating the dozen “unauthorized individuals” emerging from manholes in Brooklyn. “To anyone tempted to explore these spaces: it is not worth your life. If you see someone entering a manhole, call 911 immediately.” A tip for the cops, start looking into anyone named after the Four Masters of the Renaissance.
Speaking of Man Holes: Happy Pride!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5aZJBLAu1E&themeRefresh=1
