Today in Local Arson News...

Seriously, we're surprised the local news stations have not created special icons to attach to all of their recent environmentally-motivated arson stories. Usually, if an event has gone on this long or had this much prominent news coverage in Seattle, local newscasters have given it some sort of pet-name by now.

We nickname our windstorms, snowstorms, local scandals, and minor earthquakes. And they all come complete with their own graphics. (Our personal favorite? "The Sinatra Storm"--a windstorm in the mid-'90s that happened to fall on Frank Sinatra's birthday.) Certainly, a spate of arsons set by radical environmentalists should get either a cool graphic or nickname to go along with their stories.

While we're contemplating pointless gimmick names for serious crimes, a verdict has been reached in the University of Washington arson case. Late yesterday afternoon, a Tacoma jury came back with two guilty verdicts against Briana Waters. Waters was convicted of being the look-out in a 2001 arson on the UW Center for Urban Horticulture. The arson is alleged to have been carried out by the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). Several other members involved in the fire have been prosecuted and sentenced, though Waters was the only defendant to stand trial. She is set to be sentenced on May 30th; her lawyers plan to appeal the verdict. She is facing between five and 20 years.

On the same day, FBI agents finished searching the site of this week's arson on three suburban homes. Agents are remaining tight-lipped on anything they've discovered at the scene. The FBI is also quick to point out that cases like these take time to solve. The evidence they've cited to back up this claim? The Briana Waters verdict, which came nearly seven years after the incident of which she's just been convicted.

Arson Reward Sticker Courtesy of the City of Defiance, OH.