Bellevue News

Seattlepi.com's Casey McNerthney reports the Dick's Drive-In voting fiasco has been straightened out - but now the company wants fans to send them 20-second video pitches showing why their neighborhood should get the new drive-in restaurant.

Videos can be submitted this week through YouTube and the company's Facebook page. The top three will receive Dick's prize packages and the winner will receive $100 in gift certificates.

Read more at Seattlepi.com.

As of Friday morning, the north end is leading with 45 percent, the south end has 29 percent and the Eastside has 24 percent of the 72,000+ votes. 

Redmond and Bellevue police are searching for this man who robbed a Bank of America at 2245 Bel Red Road around 11:15 a.m. today.

The robber did not show a gun or suggest he had one before he ran off.

Jim Bove with the Redmond Police Department says a similar bank robbery occurred in Redmond on Friday, August 27 when US Bank in the 15000 block of NE 24th Street was robbed in similar fashion. The suspect in the first robbery passed a note to the teller demanding money and then left with an undisclosed amount of cash. 

If you recognize the man pictured above call police immediately.

A Bellevue man admits he imported Chinese honey with false paper work to avoid high import fees.

Chung Po Liu, 69, pleaded guilty last week to federal charges of illegally importing Chinese honey. At the same time 11 individuals and six companies were indicted in Chicago for conspiring to illegally import more than $40 million in Chinese honey. 

Following a federal investigation of honey imports to the U.S., Liu was charged in May 2009. Prosecutors say Liu submitted false paperwork claiming that the honey had been produced in Thailand or the Philippines to avoid high import fees.  One of the shipments included honey tainted with an antibiotic banned in U.S. food. 

Liu pleaded guilty on August 26 to the felony ‘entry of goods by means of false statements’ and the misdemeanor ‘introduction of adulterated food into interstate commerce.’

Imagine if you could not be with your family on Christmas. For many Americans, this holiday is one of the most special days of the year. It would be tragic if you could not safely leave your home and be with your loved ones. Next week, when Islam’s holy season of Ramadan comes to a close, Muslim’s across the country may be hesitant, or even fearful, to celebrate one of their most precious days of the year, the annual "feast of fast breaking" holiday Eid ul-Fitr. That’s because this year, the Eid could fall on September 11.

Muslim leaders are hoping to educate the public so that their holiday is not considered a celebration of the World Trade Center attacks.

"We are concerned for people's safety," said Arsalan Bukhari, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations here in Washington. "We have nothing to do with 9/11, we have condemned those attacks. But we also understand that it's a day of mourning for all Americans."

Bukhari says he has seen an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment since the debate began over a mosque near Ground Zero in New York. Just recently, a mosque in Kirkland, the Ithna-asheri Muslim Association of the Northwest (IMAN), received mail saying “No mosque in Kirkland.”  

“We’re seeing opposition from New York reverberating across the country,” Bukhari said.

Aziz Junejo, a spokesperson for the Muslim community in Seattle and Seattle Times columnist, told me “no question,” there has been a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment across the country. He mentioned the church in Gainesville, Florida that has vowed to burn copies of the Quran on September 11 this year and the mosque in California where a sign was found reading “No temple for the god of terrorism at Ground Zero.”

“Muslims are concerned about how they should act (on the Eid),” said Junejo. “Everyone is being vigilant. We (are living in) a dangerous environment right now.”