California

Activist David Bale dies

David Bale, an activist and the husband of feminist writer Gloria Steinem, has died at age 62.

Bale, the father of actor Christian Bale, died Tuesday of brain lymphoma at Santa Monica Healthcare Center, where he had been residing since November.

Born in South Africa, Bale grew up in Egypt, England and the Channel Islands. He worked as a commercial pilot, with the hope of providing aid to needy communities in Africa.

He married Steinem in 2000 in a Cherokee ceremony in Oklahoma. It was his third marriage.

Bale was a board member of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and World Education Inc., a creator of adult learning programs in developing countries. He also was an active supporter of the annual Genesis Awards, presented to news and entertainment media for championing animal issues.

Seattle

Oil spill threatens wetlands

A pristine, 400-acre marine estuary on Suquamish tribal land on the Kitsap Peninsula has been badly fouled by oil drifting across Puget Sound after a 4,800-gallon marine-fuel spill near Richmond Beach.

Oil-blackened Dungeness crab lay heaped on a beach used by the tribe for sacred gatherings and family picnics. Frantic efforts to hold a protective boom in place around the mouth of a freshwater lagoon failed when high tides, whipped by rising southerly winds, washed the heavy fuel oil over the boom.

The oil spilled into Puget Sound after a refueling barge was overfilled early Tuesday at a ChevronTexaco fuel-transfer terminal at Point Wells.

Although the amount spilled was relatively small, the state Department of Ecology called it significant because of the fragile marine ecosystem in Puget Sound.

South Carolina

Two tickets split lottery prize

Two winning tickets were sold in South Carolina and Pennsylvania for Wednesday night’s drawing for a $221.5 million Powerball lottery prize.

The winning Powerball ticket in South Carolina was sold in Clover, a small town near the North Carolina line. Pennsylvania’s winning Powerball ticket was sold in York County, about 80 miles west of Philadelphia.

The winning Powerball tickets matched the numbers five, seven, 18, 28 and 35. The Powerball number was 1.