Coming up on your local news, more unsettling news tonight about the Virginia Tech mass
murderer.
He tells the world why he was angry.
And local college students work to bridge the racial gap across America.
We're not expecting to see any more rain this week, but we do have some very cold temperatures.
Your forecast is next.
Plus, people voice their concerns on improvements that need to be made to Washington State Parks.
Good evening.
I'm Donna Wu.
Stacey Vasco has the night off.
Thank you for staying up with us tonight.
There's more unsettling news tonight about the Virginia Tech mass murderer.
On the day of the massacre, 23-year-old Cho Sung-hee mailed a package to NBC headquarters
in New York.
NBC immediately turned the contents over to authorities to be examined and analyzed.
ABC's Maya Kuliki reports from Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech government's Sung-hee Cho sent a package to NBC in New York.
Its contents, as shown on NBC, include photos, a long angry letter, and a video confession.
When the time came, I did it.
This may be a very new critical component of this investigation.
We're in the process right now of attempting to analyze and evaluate its worth.
Cho apparently went to the post office in the two hours between the shootings at the
dorm in the classrooms.
More details of Cho's troubled life were revealed earlier in the day.
In 2005, two female students accused him of harassment, but no charges were filed.
Campus police were alerted that Cho might be suicidal.
A temporary detention order was obtained.
A judge noted that Cho was, quote, mentally ill and in need of hospitalization and presents
an imminent danger to self or others as a result of mental illness.
Cho returned to Virginia Tech.
This English professor found his writings very disturbing.
I did call on several occasions again and said, you know, this young man does seem to
be troubled and I really, and I would have used stronger language than that.
And I would have appreciated a more bold response.
The school insisted there was nothing they could do.
The letter included in the package that Cho sent to NBC expresses hatred for rich people
and elitists.
In Blacksburg, Virginia, Maya Kulicki, ABC News.
If you're wondering how the rampage at Virginia Tech might affect safety in our area, the
Yakima Police Department has a message for you.
Changes are in the works.
Just like at Virginia Tech, a call to Yakima's 911 doesn't usually bring special operations
officers.
Today, Captain Rod Light tells us he wants to give first responders the power to act
like a SWAT team the minute they get on the scene.
As you know, any time an incident like this takes place, the first people that are going
to be on the scene are the patrol officers that are on the street.
It's very important that we provide them with a higher level of training.
YPD already has plans in place with all schools in our area for isolating and evacuating a
crisis and the state superintendent's office has a school mapping plan in place.
It'll give emergency responders and school officials digital maps and photographs of
every school in the state and should be completed in two years.
And a campus scare in Portland today on the Lewis and Clark College campus, police arrest
a young man wearing what looked like an ammunition belt, but it turned out that the belt was
made of spent ammunition.
Someone called campus security and the school sent out an email to students and staff right
away warning them to be on the lookout.
Locking down the campus wasn't necessary because the student was located quickly by campus
security.
The crime apprehension team arrest two people in Kennewick for selling narcotics.
Kat spent the last couple of weeks investigating reported criminal activity at the Chieftain
Motel.
During the investigation, Kat was able to purchase narcotics from Penny Shandy and Casey
Titus.
The two people are in jail for delivering of a controlled substance, possession of meth
and drug paraphernalia.
A house fire spreads through a garage in Yakima tonight because of high winds.
It happened in the 1400 block of West Lincoln Avenue.
Fire completely destroyed a garage like structure just behind the house.
The high winds increase the flames and threaten to spread the fire.
The main house sustained significant damage to the back area and its roof.
No one was at home at the time.
Losses are estimated at $20,000.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
A chemist who analyzed sediment samples in support of cleanup at Hanford is accusing
his former laboratory of falsifying data.
The information is in an affidavit supporting a search warrant that federal authorities
used last week to raid the laboratory of imagery northwest.
The test in question relates to a potentially cancer-causing agent that was used as a corrosion
inhibitor in nuclear reactors at Hanford.
A former chemist at the laboratory says the test didn't work, but supervisors turned
over the results to a Hanford subcontractor anyway.
The company is now reviewing the claims.
Federal authorities are expanding their search for the source of a mercury spill that left
one teenager seriously ill.
Cleanup efforts continue today and crew leaders say the mercury spread to another home next
door.
They say two other boys say they were also playing with the mercury that poisoned 16-year-old
Fabian Flores.
He's recovering at a Seattle hospital.
Investigators are still trying to determine how the teen got a hold of it.
Human Life of Washington says the Supreme Court's ruling to uphold the ban of partial
birth abortion is the first step in dismantling the charade of Roe v. Wade.
Once the ban takes effect, some doctors and Planned Parenthood clinics will not be allowed
to perform late-term abortions.
Planned Parenthood of Central Washington is not affected by this landmark decision.
The local clinic only offers abortions up to 13.6 weeks of pregnancy.
Planned Parenthood is calling the ban disrespectful.
The fact that the Supreme Court, the government, is making these choices for women rather than
a licensed professional and the woman herself really speaks volumes about what our rights
are in this country.
Allegard says Planned Parenthood has done studies to make sure late-term abortion is
safe and she says it is.
Students at WSU Tri-Cities want to close the gap among races.
They heard from a man today who can be considered one of the state's leading experts.
Local news reporter Hao Kuang joins us with the story.
Hao?
You know, we're talking about the executive director of Washington's Human Rights Commission
and he says that Washington has one of the toughest anti-discrimination statutes in the
entire country.
Mark Brenman has a job that affects every person in Washington.
He runs the state's Human Rights Commission, making sure everyone is free from discrimination
due to race, color, gender, age or disability.
Discrimination does continue to exist, that it's a live issue, that it resonates with
current happenings and that people can do something about it.
He was invited to speak by a new student group at WSU Tri-Cities called Hear Here.
The students want to increase communication among races, believing that talking is the
best way to understanding.
We can build upon the community here at WSU Tri-Cities and we can talk, we need to talk
about contemporary and social issues that are of importance at a local, national and
international stage.
This type of informal interactions where we got both the school, state agencies and students
involved, so there's a generational togetherness there and just keep talking, keep understanding
that you make a difference.
The state's Human Rights Commission has offices in Olympia, Seattle, Vancouver, Spokane and
Yakima.
Due to the population growth in southeastern Washington, Brenman hopes to open an office
in the Tri-Cities.
Brenman says incidents like the Don Imus case shows we still have a long way to go to end
discrimination.
I'm glad that he's lost his job.
I don't think people like that ought to be rewarded for the hateful speech that they
use.
The state's Human Rights Commission investigates about a thousand complaints each year.
They range from job discrimination to real estate transactions to credit applications.
Christina?
Thanks, Howe.
The state's Human Rights Commission also offers training and education programs to prevent
discrimination in the workplace.
A proposed feedlot in Weenis is no longer a reality.
A group of residents appealed a proposal which prompted the future operator to back out.
The feedlot would have been built on the 126 acre parcel at North Weenis and Rodman Roads.
The Yakima County Planning Department approved the feedlot saying it would not pose a threat
to the environment or residents living nearby.
But those against it argue the county didn't consider noise and air pollution and failed
to look into the environmental impacts.
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