SEATTLE Ellie the Laborador mix works in the criminal justice system. But far from sniffing out drugs or tracking down bad guys, Ellie's just there to share a little love.

OLYMPIA, Wash. Washington state officials are ready to verify signatures for the only initiative that might appear on this fall's ballot.

SUN VALLEY, Idaho Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt can't wait for the Internet search leader's free operating system to debut next year.

KENNEWICK, Wash. A woman who bred fluffy white American Eskimo dogs that authorities say were confined in filthy conditions has pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty charges.

CLE ELUM, Wash. A Seattle-area company hopes to build one of the world's largest solar power plants near Cle Elum in Eastern Washington.

BOISE, Idaho An Oregon bank has abandoned its demand that the golf course at Idaho's Tamarack Resort be sold to satisfy an outstanding $3.5 million loan.

SAN ANTONIO The Shriners will continue treating children in all 22 cities where they operate hospitals, but some of the facilities may be downgraded to outpatient surgical centers and the sale or lease of real estate will be explored, the nonprofit's new CEO said Thursday.

SEATTLE This spring's swine flu outbreak hasn't gone away in Washington state despite the summer weather, but health officials have a new challenge to focus on: preparing for next fall's flu season, Washington Health Secretary Mary Selecky said Thursday.

MARBLEMOUNT, Wash. A climber rescued by helicopter after spending four nights stranded in the North Cascades said Thursday that he was looking forward to brushing his teeth.

OLYMPIA, Wash. Gov. Chris Gregoire has ordered flags at state agencies lowered to half-staff Friday for an Aberdeen soldier killed in Afghanistan.

SEATTLE University of Washington scientists say Western Washington appears poised for an extremely dry summer.

BOSTON Logan International Airport is testing a specialized radar system the Air Force uses to protect its fighters and NASA uses to guard its $2 billion shuttles, as it considers stepping up its efforts at preventing collisions between birds and airplanes.

TACOMA, Wash. A federal court judge has upheld an arrangement between Washington state and the Squaxin Island Tribe that allows cigarette sales at Frank's Landing, a small Indian community between Fort Lewis and Olympia.

SUN VALLEY, Idaho The escalating tension between Google and Microsoft didn't prevent the companies' chairmen from sharing a moment of levity Thursday at an exclusive media conference in the Idaho mountains.

SEATTLE Regence BlueShield, Washington state's largest provider of individual health care insurance, is raising premiums for 135,000 individual plan members in the state by an average of 17 percent on Aug. 1.

OLYMPIA, Wash. A man suspected of stealing aluminum auto wheels from a rural business wasn't guilty of a criminal break-in because the property wasn't fenced on all sides, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

PUYALLUP, Wash. The old wooden roller coaster at the Puyallup Fair and Events Center has remained largely the same since it was built in 1935.

FRANKLIN, Tenn. Washington Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth has pleaded no contest to a reckless driving charge in Tennessee and will be on probation for three months.

YAKIMA, Wash. There will be fighting in the streets Friday night in Yakima.

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. The first home has been completed in a $170 million upgrade of housing at Fairchild Air Force Base west of Spokane.

VANCOUVER, Wash. The Clark County sheriff's office says a man suspected of four pharmacy robberies since April is in custody.

OLYMPIA, Wash. Librarians at public libraries in Washington are available for online chats to recommend a book, locate a reference or answer a question.

YAKIMA, Wash. An autopsy indicates a 2-year-old boy who died Friday at his home in Grandview may have had an infection.

OLYMPIA, Wash. Health care costs will be going up in January for state employees, teachers and retirees.

AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. A fire has caused extensive damage to an Airway Heights motel.

SNOHOMISH, Wash. A Snohomish County sheriff's deputy and his prisoner are expected to fully recover from injuries they suffered in a collision that killed the other driver on Highway 2 near Snohomish.

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. A second body has been found at a University Place house fire that officials are investigating as arson.

SAN ANTONIO The Shriners are wrapping up their annual meeting in San Antonio and are expected to announce changes to their children's hospitals.

OLYMPIA, Wash. No winning tickets were sold for the Washington State Lottery's $3.9 million Lotto jackpot or the $220,000 Hit 5 cashpot Wednesday night, so prizes will increase to $4.2 million in Lotto and $280,000 in Hit 5.

SEATTLE The King County sheriff's office says a Woodinville, Wash., man killed by a sheriff's deputy during a domestic-violence call was not holding a knife when he was shot.

MARYSVILLE, Wash. A 70-year-old man has been arrested after a 63-year-old woman was shot in her Marysville, Wash., home in front of her three daughters and two visiting friends.

BREMERTON, Wash. Charles Horton has been named president and publisher of the Kitsap Sun.

TWISP, Wash. A Gig Harbor couple escaped injury when lightning struck a tree and traveled through the car they were sitting in to wait out the storm.

A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., has dismissed the timber industry's lawsuit challenging threatened species protection for the marbled murrelet, a seabird that nests in old growth trees.

BOISE, Idaho Energy efficiency, water and invasive species will be high on the discussion list starting next week in Boise, when the Pacific Northwest Economic Region confab between U.S. and Canadian businesses and governments meets in Idaho's capital.

BOISE, Idaho The University of Idaho refuses to release identities of those investigating whether the head of its Caine Veterinary Teaching and Research Center in Caldwell suppressed a 1994 study on bighorn sheep deaths.

MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. Roger Goodell has reached the summit of Mount Rainier.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to take a new look at how much habitat needs to be protected for the bull trout - in the latest Obama administration rollback of Bush administration reductions in the Endangered Species Act protections for fish and wildlife.

SEATTLE A Burien teen accused of using a pit bull dog as a weapon was ordered held after a prosecutor called her a threat to the community.

SEATTLE The small cottage of a Seattle woman who refused to sell to developers for $1 million was purchased by a motivational speaker with a federal crime conviction a year after her death, the latest episode of a strange and inspiring story.

NEW YORK Amazon.com Inc. cut the price of its Kindle electronic reading device to $299 on Wednesday in an effort to attract more bookworms and make the gadget a mainstream hit.

OLYMPIA, Wash. A federal judge overreached when he sided with religious-freedom arguments to block Washington state's rules mandating the sale of "morning-after" birth control, appeals judges said Wednesday.

BREMERTON, Wash. The Navy says the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis will return at 7 a.m. Friday to Bremerton.

OLYMPIA, Wash. A Washington state tree farm has agreed to create and enhance habitat for northern spotted owls and marbled murrelets on thousands of acres of forest land it owns in Lewis and Skamania counties.

SEATTLE A judge in Seattle has been asked to halt cuts to a health care program for disabled adults living in Washington state-sponsored homes.

TACOMA, Wash. Eleven-year-old Drew Pepin of Tacoma will have the coolest response ever when people ask what he did over summer vacation. He met President Barack Obama.

YAKIMA, Wash. The Bureau of Reclamation says irrigators in central Washington's Yakima Valley should expect a near normal water supply this summer.

SEATTLE The family of a veteran who committed suicide at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Seattle has settled a lawsuit against the government for $700,000.

SEATTLE Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels gave the city's highest-paid executive the maximum $40,000 bonus this year.

KITTERY, Maine Navy Capt. Bryant Fuller has been tapped to serve as the next commander of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The Navy said Wednesday the change of command will take place this fall.