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Sandi Doughton

As personnel hang around the rescue helicopter and apparatus behind them, William Hickman, 13, left, his little brother Patrick, 9, and his mother, Heather Hickman field questions from news crews at Snohomish County Volunteer Search & Rescue in Snohomish, Wash., Monday May 21, 2012 following a harrowing rescue of young William from a ledge near the top of 270-foot Wallace Falls Sunday. (AP Photo/The Herald, Dan Bates)

7th-grader rescued from ledge of 270-foot waterfall

Jennifer Sullivan, Sandi Doughton The Seattle Times

Last updated Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - 10:23am

SEATTLE -- The 13-year-old Burien, Wash., boy who was rescued Sunday from a ledge just feet from 270-foot Wallace Falls said that he's fortunate he walked away from the ordeal with little more than cuts and scrapes on his feet.

"I feel lucky I got through it all," William Hickman said Monday from his home. "I think the rescuers should feel like heroes; they saved me. I'm lucky to be alive."

Rescue, National Read more Comments

Bird songs help science understand human learning

Sandi Doughton The Seattle Times

Last updated Monday, May 21, 2012 - 4:50pm

SEATTLE -- Why wasn't this intruder getting the message?

The lord of the manor had warned him repeatedly to back off, with threatening gestures and loud admonitions. But the trespasser just sat there -- singing.

Features, Birds, Rsearch Read more Comments

Central Washington University geologist Tim Melbourne points out locations of GPS monitors in the Ellensburg, Washington-based PANGA network. (Steve Ringman/Seattle Times/MCT)

Scientists track motions of shifting plates using GPS

Sandi Doughton, The Seattle Times

Last updated Monday, June 6, 2011 - 4:07pm

SEATTLE -- The Pacific Northwest is a restless place.

The ground is being shoved by tectonic plates. Snow-capped volcanoes inflate and deflate in concert with the creep of molten rock. Coastlines bulge as tension builds on an offshore fault very like the one that snapped in Japan March 11.

Scientists now can track these minuscule motions as they happen, thanks to an expanded network of GPS sensors that covers the region like a blanket and beams back data almost instantly.

Earthquake, GPS, Science, National Read more Comments