Pierce County law enforcement officers will be out looking for drunken drivers during a special emphasis along Highway 410 tonight.

The emphasis patrol along the highway between Sumner and Buckley begins at 8 p.m. and will last into early Sunday, the Tacoma-Pierce County DUI Task Force reported.

Organizers picked this weekend because of the potential that people will be drinking at Halloween-themed parties, then driving home.

As part of the emphasis, agents with the state Liquor Control Board will be checking area bars and taverns to make sure they are complying with alcohol laws.

Officers

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Gault Middle School students will be out Saturday painting over graffiti that’s plagued buildngs in their neighborhood.

The paint over is part of the students’ GREAT project. Tacoma police officers are teaching Gang Resistance Education And Training to the city’s middle and elementary schools.

As part of the course, students pick a community project.

The Gault students plan to meet at 8 a.m. at the Tacoma police Sector 4 substation, then head into the neighborhood with their brushes and painting supplies.

Local gangs have been in the news of late.

We’ve had three shootings in 16 days this month that left two young fathers dead in Lakewood.

Also in Lakewood, there was a shooting in the Tillicum neighborhood that left one seriously injured.

And then yesterday, three people were injured outside McCabe’s American Music Cafe.

Investigators have said the shootings are either gang motivated or involve people with gang ties.

So what are the cops going about it?

In Lakewood, the police department’s gang unit has been out in uniform and plainclothes

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Pierce County prosecutors charged three men suspected of stealing a teenager’s car with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree robbery Thursday.

Rocky William Payment, 22, and Dustin Michael Tappe, 20, pleaded not guilty during a brief court hearing. Judge Vicki Hogan ordered Payment and Tappe jailed in lieu of $150,000 and $75,000 bail respectively.

A third man, 28-year-old Jacob Lawrence Simpson, refused to attend court Thursday, and his arraignment was rescheduled for today.

He also is charged with first-degree kidnapping, first-degree robbery and an additional charge of attempting to elude a police officer.

Payment and Simpson

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Local blogger, Kevin Fretias, has a post on his blog about yesterday’s shooting at McCabe’s American Music Cafe.

The post includes a message from the nightclub’s manager and some great crime scene photos.

Here’s the Longview Daily News’ story on the testimony from Thursday.

The driver whom Frederick Russell passed moments before crashing into a car and killing three WSU students was on the witness stand Thursday and was intensely questioned by defense attorneys about inconsistencies in his statements.

There’s a natural gas leak in the 3500 block of South Pine Street. A line was disrupted during construction in the area.

The street has been closed off to traffic.

The location of the leak is near the Tacoma Police Department headquarters.

Sources tell Lights & Sirens that natural gas odor is inside the building. An optional exacuation is in place.

More testimony Wednesday on Frederick Russell’s day before a deadly crash along the Pullman-Moscow Highway that killed three WSU students.

According to the testimony, Russell had been drinking but he wasn’t staggering around.

Here’s the story in The Daily News in Longview.