Washington
Washington State Patrol increases patrols on I-5, warns drivers after series of armed carjackings – The B-Town (Burien) Blog
In response to a recent series of armed carjackings along I-5, the Washington State Patrol (WSP) announced this week that they will increase their presence on the freeway, and urged drivers to be vigilant and aware of this dangerous criminal activity.
The most recent incident occurred on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, when a driver was carjacked near the South 320th exit in Federal Way. According to WSP, the victim’s vehicle was bumped from behind by a white SUV. Both vehicles pulled to the shoulder, at which point three suspects wearing ski masks exited the SUV, pointed firearms at the victim, and stole their wallet, phone, and vehicle. The suspects, described as young Black males, fled the scene after throwing the victim’s belongings into nearby bushes.
Two additional carjackings occurred early on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, under similar circumstances:
- Shortly after midnight, a white SUV bumped a vehicle near Fife. After pulling over to the shoulder, 6-7 Black males wearing ski masks approached the victim. The victim was punched, and his car was stolen. The victim was able to track the stolen vehicle on his phone after the suspects tossed the phone from the vehicle. The vehicle was then located in Federal Way and pursued to Martin Luther King Blvd. One male suspect was arrested, and two females were released to family members.
- Shortly after 1 a.m., another car was bumped by a white SUV. Much like before, the victims were robbed at gunpoint. Later, one of the victim’s credit cards was attempted to be used at a McDonalds on South 320th. The manager of the restaurant was able to provide a vehicle description that matched one of the earlier stolen vehicles.
Troopers said that carjackings in our area are extremely rare but they do sometimes occur. While the vast majority of minor collisions are simple fender-benders caused by an inattentive driver, the traveling public needs to be aware and wary of any similar scenario where they are bumped by another vehicle and then multiple or masked people emerge from the causing vehicle.
“We recommend that anyone involved in a minor collision involving a white SUV, immediately report it to 911,” WSP said. “Move out of traffic flow to a safe location but do not pin yourself in. Given recent events, be vigilant on who and how many persons get out from the causing vehicle. If the situation seems at all suspicious, be prepared to quickly leave the area and not engage with individuals from the causing vehicle.”
WSP says that you should drive to a well-lit and safe public place like a local police station. If you find yourself in this scenario, call 911 with updates as you are safely able to do so.
“While a white SUV is linked to each of the three situations outlined above, this type of crime could be perpetrated by any vehicle. Any similarly suspicious behavior with any vehicle or number or description of suspicious parties should be treated with great caution. If the situation turns out to be a common and innocent minor collision, law enforcement will be able to sort things out quickly and both parties will be on their way after the normal exchange of information.”
The Washington State Patrol and our partners in local law enforcement are committed to finding the perpetrators of this serious and dangerous criminal behavior and bringing them to justice.
“The public’s awareness, reasoned caution, and fast information sharing will help us in this important work.”
WSP Contact Information:
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Washington
World War I memorial unveiled in Washington, D.C.
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Washington
Design of D.C. Memorial for Slain Journalists Is Unveiled
The Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation has unveiled its design on Monday for a National Mall monument honoring journalists killed in their line of duty, representing the first memorial for slain journalists on federal grounds.
The Washington D.C. monument, projected to open in 2028, is made up of various cast glass blocks that form a path to the memorial’s center, which culminates in a cylindrical space that includes the text of the First Amendment. The purpose, architect John Ronan said, was to mimic both the transparency journalism provides and the disparate parts that make up a complete story.
“It’s a journey of discovery that unfolds slowly, space by space, like a journalist’s story unfolds line by line,” Ronan told The Daily Beast. “The idea is to cast the visitor in the role of an investigative journalist, pursuing truth wherever it leads.”
The design was completed by Ronan’s Chicago-based firm, which was selected earlier this year after a yearlong process led by Pulitzer-Prize winning architecture critic Paul Goldberger. The design will be presented to the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts on Thursday for review, and the National Capital Planning Commission will review it next month.
The love for journalism is reflected through each element of the memorial’s open-air design. Ronan incorporated a classroom space for planned programming on the importance of journalism, and there will be a space reserved for broadcast journalists to do their live shots. Many of the glass slabs will also include quotes related to journalism or said by journalists themselves.
Even the memorial’s location—situated on one-third of an acre between Independence and Maryland avenues and Third Street SW with a direct view of the U.S. Capitol dome—is meant to reflect how journalism is interwoven into U.S. history.
The road to getting the memorial going was almost miraculous amid the hyperpartisanship—and sunken trust in the media—begetting the U.S. The Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation was formed in June 2019 by former U.S. representative and ex-Tribune Broadcasting Company CEO David Dreier, a Republican, to celebrate the journalists who were killed at the Capital Gazette newsroom in Maryland in 2018.
The foundation was memorialized by Congress in 2020 after it passed a bill letting the group build a memorial on federal lands—though it cannot receive federal funds. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law in December 2020.
It’s that bipartisan spirit, foundation president Barbara Cochran said, that emphasizes the memorial’s importance and its place on federal land.
“These stories, I think, underscore both the important job that journalists are doing and the risks that they face,” Cochran said. “You know, it’s not just in war zones, or covering corruption, covering autocrats and authoritarian regimes, and even just covering their community news in a place like Annapolis, Maryland, where journalists can encounter danger. So I think that those stories really resonate with people.”
Still, even those noble ideas can still risk inducing partisan attacks. GOP politicians have assailed U.S. journalists over their coverage of the 2024 presidential election, with lawmakers like Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene resorting to dubious documents to attack ABC over their debate.
One of their safeguards, Cochran said, is their advisory board. The group is composed of reporters and editors from a wide swath of publications, including everyone from former New York Times and Washington Post executive editors Dean Baquet and Marty Baron to Fox News anchor Bret Baier to Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy.
“When I asked people to be on the board of advisors, it was an immediate yes in almost all instances,” Cochran said.”I think journalists especially are acutely aware of the dangers and the threats, and they recognized immediately how important it is to have this.”
It’s why such fears of partisan attacks don’t worry Cochran as much.
“There will always be criticism of individual journalists, individual news organizations,” Cochran said, but she cited Thomas Jefferson’s love for newspapers as an example of press rising above partisanship.
“He preferred a society with free journalism, with free press,” she said. “And I think officials really do feel that.”
(Note: The Daily Beast’s Chief Content Officer Joanna Coles is on the foundation’s board of advisers.)
Washington
Traffic at George Washington Bridge facing major delays for morning rush after equipment malfunction
NEW YORK — Traffic at the George Washington Bridge is facing major delays for the Tuesday morning commute.
Delays are now just under an hour to get through the toll plaza after overnight construction had three lanes closed. All lanes have since reopened, but traffic is backed up onto I-95, Rt. 46 and Rt. 4.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said paving equipment malfunctioned, so crews were delayed reopening the road in time for the morning rush.
Drivers heading into Manhattan should use the Holland or Lincoln tunnels instead.
The construction and overnight lane closures have been going on for several months. A fuel spill on the Cross Bronx Expressway also made for a messy commute on the bridge earlier this month.
The GWB stretches across the Hudson River, connecting Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan to Fort Lee in Bergen County, New Jersey. The suspension bridge has an upper and lower deck, with a total of 14 lanes.
Stick with CBS News New York for the latest updates on this developing story.
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