The new and highly contagious COVID variant dubbed XBB.1.5 roughly doubled its prevalence in the Midwest over the last week and experts say that growth will likely continue in the weeks ahead. The variant now makes up 43% of cases in the U.S. and more than 14% of cases in the Midwest, climbing in both metrics from 30.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMAQ-TV NBC 5 Chicago

VIDEO/PHOTOS: Two people were killed and a 15-year-old boy was injured in a two-vehicle crash in Tacoma early Wednesday morning. The crash happened just before 4:20 a.m. at the intersection of South 38th Street and Pacific Avenue. The intersection is expected to be closed for several hours. According to Tacoma Police Department (TPD) spokesperson Wendy Haddow, a man was driving northbound on Pacific Avenue when another vehicle traveling eastbound on South 38th Street drove through the intersection “at a high rate of speed” and crashed into the vehicle traveling on Pacific Avenue.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

Two sections of the Methow Wildlife Area in Okanogan County are part of a forest restoration project after approval by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. WDFW Commissioners have approved the Rendezvous - Golden Doe Forest Restoration Project to thin trees on about 464 acres. The department will leave between 20 and 30 of the best available trees per acre, including pine and fir trees.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPQ-AM 101.7 Wenatchee

The Spokane Valley Fire Department (SVFD) will be giving 23 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to local police departments. The AEDs will be distributed among the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department, SVFD and Liberty Lake Police Department through a lend-lease program. The AEDs will be carried in police cars for quick access to people who suffer a sudden cardiac arrest.
- PUB DATE: 1/17/2023 2:02:52 PM - SOURCE: KREM-TV CBS 2 Spokane

Karen Huppertz for the AJC
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(TNS)

The Milton Fire Department recently welcomed its newest, most versatile vehicle in a ceremonial, community “push-in.”

The new five-part “quint” comes equipped with five firefighting tools – a pump, a water tank, a fire hose, ground ladders, and an aerial device that can be extended significantly upward and outward. The $1,175,700 vehicle, produced by Pierce Manufacturing in Appleton, Wisconsin, was publicly unveiled, then ceremonially pushed into Fire Station 44 before later being driven to its permanent home at Station 41 at the intersection of Arnold Mill and Providence roads.

According to a city statement, “Fire Chief Gabe Benmoussa noted this occasion reflected a time when horse-drawn steam fire engines would be disconnected from the horses, then manually pushed back into the station.”

The quint’s aerial ladder can reach up to 110-feet, exceeding the 75-foot ladder extension of the 2007-model quint it is replacing.

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