A two-story tall newcomer is stirring up curiosity along one of Lakewood’s busiest streets.<p/>Passers-by at Northwest Taxidermy Training might have noticed a giraffe greeting customers in front of the building.

You could call the late President Ronald Reagan the patron saint of the modern conservative movement, as often as his name is invoked and lauded by right-leaning political pundits.
<p/>But for the past several months, our 40th president&rsquo;s son has been carving out a growing niche on the radio by trying to discredit that same conservative movement. </p>

Russell Investments CEO Andrew Doman might be the most-watched man in downtown Tacoma these days.
<p/>He&rsquo;s been at the helm of the company for just six months, but in that time Russell has laid off about 400 of its approximately 2,000 workers, reorganized its approach to client services and set a firm timeline for making a decision on where its headquarters will be located.</p>

The Washington State Department of Transportation is preparing to auction off surplus buildings including twenty-two ski cabins in Glacier.<p/>On Monday, August 17, WSDOT will open the twenty-two cabins, a lodge and a manufactured home for public viewing. Minimum bids are $10. The auction begins promptly at 10 a.m. Wednesday, August 19.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Salem police say a Dallas family that was kidnapped from a Salem shopping mall last week has been found safe in California.<p/>Lt. Jim Anglemier says 37-year-old Ricardo Toro Nunez kidnapped his ex-wife, two daughters and 1-year-old grandson Wednesday and talked about taking them to Mexico.

The Washington State Patrol is investigating the death of a Tacoma man, 50, who was killed while walking across a southbound lane of Interstate 5 in Seattle.<p/>A 2006 Dodge Charger struck the pedestrian Saturday night just north of Interstate 90.

A two-story tall newcomer is stirring up curiosity along one of Lakewood’s busiest streets. Passers-by to Northwest Taxidermy Training might have noticed a giraffe – that’s right, a giraffe – greeting customers in front of the building.

Iran on Sunday put on trial 25 more activists and opposition supporters, including a Jewish teenager, for their alleged involvement in the turmoil following the recent presidential election.<p/>Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has attempted to paint those who took to the streets after the June election to protest his disputed victory as agents of foreign enemies seeking to topple the country's Islamic system.

Pierce County residents can start signing up this week if they want to be notified when a registered sex offender moves into their neighborhood, near their child&rsquo;s day care or favorite park or close to their work place.
<p/>Offender Watch, a computer system that sends out e-mail alerts to those who sign up, is expected to be up and running Monday in Pierce County. Work to connect the county to the statewide database was scheduled to be completed over the weekend.</p>

WASHINGTON &ndash; Using sophisticated seismometers and GPS devices, scientists have been able to track minute movements along two massive tectonic plates colliding 25 miles or so underneath Washington state&rsquo;s Puget Sound basin. Their early findings suggest that a mega-earthquake could strike closer to the Seattle-Tacoma area, home to some 3.6 million people, than was thought earlier.
<p/>The deep tremors, which humans can&rsquo;t feel, occur routinely every 15 months or so and can continue for more than two weeks before they die back to undetectable levels.</p>