Just about the same time the sun showed up, the power went out, spoiling Memorial Day fun for many Tacoma residents.

A “major equipment failure” at a Tacoma Public Utilities substation cut power to some 10,000 homes and businesses in the city’s Westgate neighborhood and surrounding areas in the city’s North and West ends for about four hours this afternoon.

Crews restored the electricity by about 5 p.m., utilities spokeswoman Chris Gleason said.

They were still trying to sort out what caused the outage, but there was some thought it might have been the result of a mylar balloon striking …

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Tacoma police detained several teenagers after gunshots were fired at a Central Tacoma home Sunday evening.

A caller reported seven shots fired at a house on the 1300 block of South Prospect Street around 6:45 p.m., according to scanner chatter. Police spotted a teenage boy in a white tank top running into the house with a black rifle.

No one was injured, and officers recovered BB guns from the scene, police spokesman Mark Fulghum said. The teens might have been target shooting, he added.

UPDATE: Two adults were arrested, according to Fulghum. A 67-year-old man was placed into …

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The U.S. District Court in Seattle sentenced a 54-year-old man to four years in prison for identity theft. According to the release, Maxie Moore, 54, was trying to avoid having to register as a sex offender. He was using the identity of an inmate he came in contact with while doing time at the SeaTac Federal Detention Center.

According to court documents, Moore had been arrested in the past for the sexual abuse of girls. It was stated that he sought out women with young daughters on online sites such as Craigslist.

Read the complete press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Friday:

Calling the defendant “a huge danger to the community,” U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton sentenced MAXIE MOORE, 54, most recently of Kirkland, Washington, to four years in prison and three years of supervised release for Aggravated Identity Theft, Unlawful Production of an Identification Document and Social Security Number Fraud. MOORE was arrested outside his Kirkland residence on September 4, 2008, by the Pacific Northwest Fugitive Task Force. MOORE was using the name and identity information of an inmate who had been housed with him in the federal prison system. MOORE had failed to show up at a Tacoma half-way house where he was supposed to complete his sentence, instead absconding in April 2008. By adopting the other identity MOORE avoided registering as a sex offender.

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The U.S. District Court in Seattle sentenced a 40-year-old Cuban national to 16 years in prison for cocaine drug trafficking and firearm violations. Leonel Marin-Torres was arrested March of 2009 after threatening a woman at the Franklin Apartments in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle.

Read the complete press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Friday:

LEONEL MARIN-TORRES, 40, a Cuban national living in Seattle, Washington, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 16 years in prison and 8 years of supervised release for possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute, carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime and being a felon in possession of a firearm. MARIN-TORRES was arrested March 25, 2009, and was convicted following a jury trial March 2, 2010. At sentencing Chief U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik told him, “The jury had overwhelming evidence of your guilt. The jury made the right decision.”

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The U.S. District Court in Seattle sentenced a 61-year-old California man to four years in prison on Thursday for identity theft and bank fraud.

The defendant, Armon Leon Maiden, arranged travel to the Northwest in November of 2008 for a group of co-conspirators who attempted to steal money from bank accounts using false identities and phony checks.

Read the complete press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Friday:

ARMON LEON MAIDEN, 61, of Inglewood, California, was sentenced late yesterday to four years in prison and four years of supervised release for Aggravated Identity Theft and Bank Fraud. MAIDEN led a bank fraud ring that traveled to Seattle in November 2008, to steal from individual bank accounts. At sentencing U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly said the crime is serious and is an “invasion of privacy and dignity of the victims. … You clearly knew what you were doing and you organized others to help you.”

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Food left on a stove sparked a fire this afternoon at the Auburn Kinder Care Learning Center, 2916 Auburn Way South.

All children were accounted for following the fire, which began about 4:30 p.m. No one was injured, according the Valley Regional Fire Authority.

“Valley Regional Fire Authority firefighters arrived at the childcare facility within three minutes and found that Kinder Care staff members had partially extinguished the fire,” according to a news release. “Crews entered the building, doused the remaining flames, ensured the fire had not extended into the ceiling or walls, and used high pressure fans to remove …

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Fire caused nearly $90,000 in damage to a Bonney Lake duplex Friday morning, East Pierce Fire & Rescue reported.

The blaze broke out about 9:30 a.m. in one unit of the single-story duplex in the 19600 block of 94th Street East.

Firefighters arrived to find smoke coming from the roof and a bedroom window, according to a news release. 

No one was home at the time, and no injuries were reported.

Investigators were trying to determine the cause. The blaze began near a wall heater, the news release stated.

The family living in the unit just moved in Thursday, a …

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A former Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier today was sentenced to 11 years to life in prison for raping one woman and attempting to rape another in Parkland last year.

Nathan Ryan Smith, 31, pleaded guilty in March to one count of second-degree rape, one count of attempted second-degree rape and one count of first-degree arson.

Prosecutors said he bound the women and choked them into unconsciousness before sexually assaulting one and attempting to do so to the other on separate occasions in January 2009. 

The second woman managed to escape Smith’s home despite being bound and gagged and …

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