The Seattle Times

In 2002, Joseph Anthony Davis held up a 7-Eleven in Bremerton, Wash., with two plastic toy guns.

Nine years later, he sat in his SeaTac, Wash., apartment to plan a terrorist attack with machine guns and grenades against a Seattle military recruiting station, according to tape recordings made by an informant.

On June 22, federal officials arrested Davis, now known as Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, as they once again unraveled an alleged plot developed not in some distant al-Qaida haven but by what appear to be homegrown radicals embracing a militant Islamic doctrine.

Terrorism analysts say such individuals have been involved in many of the Islamic terrorism cases prosecuted by the Justice Department in recent years.

And they caution that the United States is in a period of heightened risk for such plots, fueled by a combustible mix that includes graphic images of civilians killed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the upcoming 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and, perhaps most important, the U.S. special-operations team's killing of Osama bin Laden.

SEATTLE -- The man accused of plotting a terrorist assault on a Seattle military recruiting station was shopping for guns and grenades while dodging creditors and drumming up clients for his cleaning and detailing business.

Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, also known as Joseph Anthony Davis, 33, was so broke that he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last month, reporting $1 in his checking account. His major asset: a 17-year-old Honda with 162,000 miles.

They looked at the rings of thousands of ancient trees in the mountains above the most important rivers in the West.

What they found may influence how water gets used from Arizona to Canada -- and particularly in the Columbia River basin.

Despite odd years like this one, researchers have long reported declines in the mountain snows that power Western rivers. But a group of scientists recently said they now also know this: Those declines are virtually unprecedented throughout most of the last millennium.

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and University of Washington measured tree-ring growth from forests that included 800-year-old trees. They learned that snowpack reductions in the late 20th and early 21st centuries were unlike any other period dating to at least the year 1200, according to new research published in the journal Science.

All of us wish that the great athletes could be eternal. That Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer could mount charges at this week's U.S. Open. That Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe could play at least one more Wimbledon final.

The back end of a cow provides the front end of the green-energy business that Kevin Maas is slowly expanding in Western Washington and Oregon.

With missionary zeal, he and his brother Daryl build modest electricity-producing projects that help family-owned dairy farms preserve their key role in the agricultural ecosystem.

Their company, Farm Power, turns manure into electricity, fertilizer and bacteria-free animal bedding. The technology is fairly simple.

CENTERVILLE, Wash. -- Even after a year, and more than a half-dozen memorial services, Barbie Coleman often feels like her husband is still alive. She pictures him returning to their house east of Yelm, Wash., telling fresh tales of life with his Special Forces team like he had so many times before.

"Always, in the back of my mind, I think he's coming home," said Barbie Coleman, who first began dating her husband at Goldendale High School in Klickitat County. "I just can't think of myself as a widow."

Master Sgt. Mark Coleman died May 2, 2010, at age 40. The leader of a 12-man team, Coleman in his last minutes of life ordered younger soldiers back to a safe distance as he located a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- My ears were ringing.

This struck me as odd, but only in retrospect.

After all, I wasn't at Rogers Arena, where more than 18,000 fans screamed themselves hoarse during Game 1 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final between the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins.