NEWS BRIEFS: Delays set for state Highway 112 during construction … and other items

SEKIU — Utility crews working for Clallam County Public Works will perform routine maintenance on about 10 manholes along three miles of state Highway 112 over six days from Friday through July 31.

The work will occur just west of Kalawah Street.

During those six days, flaggers will control one-way alternating traffic between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Travelers are advised to expect delays.

Video removed

BELLEVUE — A Seattle-area company has removed a school shooting video game from its online platform following widespread backlash.

The “Active Shooter” video game was pulled days before it was to be released on the video game marketplace Steam.

Valve Corp. as Steam’s parent company said Tuesday that it was removing the computer video game because the developer was a “troll with a history of customer abuse.”

The game was developed by Revived Games, published by Acid and led by a person named Ata Berdiyev. Valve spokesman Doug Lombardi said Berdiyev had previously been kicked off the platform under a different business name.

The game allows players to re-create school shootings by stalking school hallways and racking up kills.

It was condemned by the parents of students killed during a Florida school shooting in February.

The Seattle Times reported that an online petition urging Valve to pull the game before its scheduled June 6 release had more than 100,000 signatures.

Valve is a privately held company which has developed popular games such as “Dota 2” and “Half-Life.”

Release Lolita

SEATTLE — Lummi Nation tribal members traveled to Miami to call for the release of a whale that was taken from the Salish Sea 47 years ago.

The Seattle Times reported Tuesday that the orca, Lolita, has been captive at the Miami Seaquarium since being taken from her family in Penn Cove. About a third of the southern-resident population was taken from Puget Sound and sent to theme parks all over the world during the 1960s and 1970s.

The newspaper reported that the critically endangered southern-resident orca population has never recovered from the loss.

The Lummi Nation has launched a campaign to bring the whale back home to retire her to a netted cove on Orcas Island. So far, the Seaquarium has refused to engage with the Lummi Nation on the proposal.

Teen volunteers sought for summer reading programs

The North Olympic Library System seeks teen volunteers for its branches across the North Olympic Peninsula in preparation of the system’s annual Summer Reading Program.

Youth in or entering ninth through 12th grades can serve as a team leader. Applications for the position are due Friday.

Teens involved as leaders in the program will help coordinate program events and mentor younger teens.

Additionally, teens entering seventh through 12th grades can apply to be a special event volunteer.

Special event applications are due Monday, June 18.

Volunteers will sign people up for the Summer Reading Challenge and assist with reading program events.

Volunteers will receive free Summer Reading Program T-shirt and snacks throughout the program.

To obtain an application, visit www.nols.org/summer-teen-volunteers, email youth@nols.org, or contact a nearby NOLS branch location.

Libraries are at 16990 state Highway 112, Clallam Bay; 171 S. Forks Ave., Forks; 2210 S. Peabody St., Port Angeles; and 630 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim.

OMC worker receives promotion

PORT ANGELES — Patti Haught, an 11-year employee of Olympic Medical Center, has been promoted to director of the patient experience program.

“Patti has worked tremendously hard to advance our patient experience program as manager over the past few years, and we look forward to having her direct this program in an effort to improve our satisfaction scores and find opportunities to meaningfully engage with our patients,” Jennifer Burkhardt, chief human resources officer and general counsel, said in a news release.

Haught also recently earned the credential of Certified Patient Experience Professional (CPXP) by the Patient Experience Institute.

The certification signifies that recipients possess the qualities of a leader who influences the systems, processes and behaviors that cultivate consistently positive experiences with knowledge and practical experience necessary to pass a rigorous examination, according to the release.

She must recertify every three years.

Haught began working at Olympic Medical Home Health in 2007, then joining the hospital’s patient relations team in 2010.

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