27-year-old killed when train hits him in Seattle

Seattle

A man was killed Wednesday when a train hit him near Seattle's Carkeek Park.

The 27-year-old man was struck at 6:47 p.m. in the 800 block of Northwest Carkeek Park Road, on train tracks that border the park, according to Seattle police. He was killed instantly.

It isn't clear why the man was on the tracks or whether he was alone when he was struck. His identity hasn't been released.

Police didn't say whether the train was hauling freight or was a passenger train.

Everett

Man gets 34 years for killing student

A 20-year-old Seattle man convicted of shooting and killing a University of Puget Sound student in September 2006 was sentenced Wednesday to 34 years in prison.

Noel Caldellis was convicted Dec. 11 of first-degree murder with a firearm and two counts of second-degree assault with a firearm.

Jay Clements, a 21-year-old University of Puget Sound senior, was trying to break up a fight at a party in Brier when he was killed, according to police.

"I'm very happy we were able to provide them some sense of justice," Snohomish County Deputy Prosecutor Matt Hunter said after the sentencing.

Kent

Man apparently stabbed to death

Kent police are investigating the apparent slaying of a man whose body was found Wednesday morning near the parking lot of an apartment complex in the West Hill neighborhood.

A man who lives at the Skyline Park Apartments, in the 22100 block of Military Road South, dialed 911 at 7:01 a.m. to report seeing a body in shrubs near the parking lot, said police spokesman Paul Petersen. Officers said they found the body of a white man in his 20s who appeared to have been stabbed to death.

The man has not been identified, Petersen said. The area where the body was found was cordoned off while police investigated.

Police said there had been a party Tuesday night, about 100 feet from where the body was found. Investigators are looking into whether the victim had attended the party.

"This is right in front of the apartment building next to their parking lot. If he had been there before dark last night, he would have been seen," Petersen said.

Seattle

Hospital building named for Maleng

The new inpatient building at Harborview Medical Center has been named after the late King County prosecuting attorney, Norm Maleng.

The Metropolitan King County Council named the building Monday at the request of Harborview's board of trustees. Trustees suggested the name to recognize the support Maleng and his wife, Judy, gave to the hospital after their daughter Karen was treated there following a sledding accident in 1989. Karen died of injuries at the hospital.

The Malengs spoke publicly of the Harborview trauma center's work and the help hospital staff members provide to grieving relatives.

This is the second building in the county to be named for the prosecutor since his death last May. The County Council last year renamed the Regional Justice Center in Kent for Maleng.

Seattle

UW wins award for civic programs

The University of Washington's Seattle campus has been chosen by the Corporation for National and Community Services for a President's Higher Education Community Service award for programs that aid disadvantaged youths.

UW officials said the award is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for commitment to service programs and civic engagement. The UW's Bothell campus received honor-roll recognition.

At the Seattle campus, the school was lauded for a number of tutoring programs, and programs for homeless youths.

Seattle

Historic Seattle names new head

Kathleen Brooker, formerly head of a Denver nonprofit preservation-advocacy organization, has been named executive director for Historic Seattle after a three-month nationwide search.

She was president and chief executive officer of Historic Denver Inc. for 15 years.

Historic Seattle, headquartered on First Hill, is a local membership organization dedicated to preservation of historic buildings, landscaping and architectural artifacts.

Brooker, who will be the local organization's fourth executive director, also has experience as deputy state preservation officer for the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office and as executive director for the Lowell, Mass., Historic Board. She succeeds retired Executive Director John Chaney. Michael Herschensohn has been serving as interim executive director.

Seattle

City is relay point for 1929 postcard

The message on the postcard to a "Miss Margaret McDonald" was short. Its path to the intended address was much longer.

Nearly 79 years after it was sent, a postcard of Yellowstone National Park's Tower Falls arrived in a Boston mailbox recently with the one-word message, "Greetings."

Its intended recipient had long since left the Victorian on Sparhawk Street, and the sender was not identified by name.

Michael Cioffi was shocked to find the card dated June 1929 in his mail. He says the McDonald family owned his house for generations, but he doesn't think there is anyone left in the family to claim the postcard.

A U.S. Postal Service spokesman says it's impossible to know what happened with the card. It somehow got into the mail and was sent with a 1-cent stamp from Seattle earlier this year.

Seattle Times staff and news services