Washington | featured news

LA CENTER — Throughout the season, Daven Harmeling makes an effort to remind Bryson Metz how important he is to the team.
To Harmeling, and his King’s Way Christian boys basketball players, they want to make sure their freshman point guard hears those words.
“All my teammates and coaches tell me, ‘you belong here,’ ” Metz said.

Hockinson girls basketball coach Damon Roche knew the importance of his team’s matchup Wednesday against R.A. Long, calling it a must-win against the 2A Greater St. Helens League’s second-place team in order to keep the Hawks playoff hopes alive, but made sure his team didn’t focus solely on the overall result.

NEW YORK — The U.S. General Services Agency ignored a constitutional ban on extra government benefits to the president when it allowed Donald Trump to continue leasing federal property for his luxury hotel in Washington, the agency’s watchdog said Wednesday.

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE
BOYS BASKETBALL
Mark Morris at Washougal, 7 p.m.
Ridgefield at Columbia River, 7 p.m.
Hockinson at R.A. Long, 7 p.m.
Castle Rock at Columbia-White Salmon, 7 p.m.
Washington School for Deaf at Naselle, 7 p.m.
Firm Foundation at Columbia Adventist, 7 p.m.
GIRLS BASKETBALL

White sturgeon retention is closed from Buoy 10 upstream to Bonneville Dam, and in The Dalles Pool but remains an option for catch-and-release fishing.
Bonneville and John Day pools are open to the retention of white sturgeon until quotas are reached (under permanent regulations). Anglers are advised to check weather conditions before driving to the gorge.

Clamming at Kalaloch is shut down
Due to the federal shutdown, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has rescinded three razor clam digs at Kalaloch beach that were set to occur Saturday through Monday.

BELGRADE, Serbia — A Serbian appeals court has acquitted the suspects in the 2008 rioting and torching of the U.S. embassy in Belgrade after a rally against Kosovo’s declaration of independence.
The Appeals Court of Belgrade said Wednesday it has overturned suspended prison sentences for four suspects and confirmed an earlier acquittal of three more people by a lower court. The court says prosecutors have failed to provide enough evidence to back the indictment.

SEATTLE — Kerry Hayes needed a heart. So he took a risk.
Last month, the 49-year-old Anacortes man became the first person in the Pacific Northwest to purposely receive a heart transplant from a donor infected with hepatitis C and then be cured of the disease.
Hayes was born with a heart murmur, which was caused by an issue with his aortic valve. As he aged, the valve continued to weaken until he required open-heart surgery at age 28. Hayes has gone through four more surgeries in the past four years and has had an artificial heart for the past year and a half.