Manuel Valdes

STEVENS PASS, Wash. -- Three skiers were killed Sunday when an avalanche swept them far down an out-of-bounds canyon at a popular resort, but a fourth skier caught up in the slide was saved by a safety device, authorities said.

SEATTLE -- A Pacific Northwest storm that brought snow, ice and powerful winds left a mess of fallen trees and power lines Friday as tens of thousands of residents already without power faced the prospect of a cold, dark weekend and flooding became a top region-wide concern.

While temperatures warmed and the icy, snowy conditions abated in western Washington and Oregon, slick roads and fast-melting snow brought challenges for road workers, city officials and rescue crews. The region also faces more rain as swelling rivers lead to the worst flooding some Oregon counties have seen in more than a decade.

SEATTLE -- Fabio Heuring was standing outside a Seattle nightclub on a Saturday night and smoking cigarettes with a friend when a man bolting from a bouncer ran into them. The enraged man ripped off his shirt in the middle of the street and prepared to give Heuring's buddy a beating.

Just then, in swooped a bizarre sight: a self-proclaimed superhero in a black mask and matching muscle-suit. He doused the aggressor with pepper spray, much to Heuring's shocked relief.

A couple hours later, though, the superhero ended up in jail for investigation of assault after using those tactics on another group of clubgoers, sending pangs of anxiety through the small, eccentric and mostly anonymous community of masked crime-fighters across the U.S.

SEATTLE -- A high school football referees association is suing Washington state youth athletic governing bodies over the use of pink whistles for a cancer charity.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in King County Superior Court alleges that the Washington Officials Association and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association infringed on the First Amendment rights of the referees after they were barred from using pink whistles during a breast cancer awareness campaign in 2010 and disciplined for speaking out against the decision.

"It's frustrating when you try to something positive for the community and this much controversy surrounds it," said Pacific Northwest Football Officials Association president Jeff Mattson. "There shouldn't be any controversy at all."

According to Mattson, referees of the Pacific Northwest Football Officials Association decided to use pink whistles last year to show support for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. He said that the uniform code did not specify what color the whistles needed to be.