Local news coverage for Spokane and the Inland Northwest

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Ambassadors Group to lay off 60

Feb. 26, 2015 Ambassadors Group, the educational travel company that operates the People to People program, will lay off 60 people. 21
Family mourns victim of Pasco police shooting

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A1 PASCO – A weeping Agapita Montes-Rivera, mother of the man shot dead by Pasco police officers about two weeks ago, led a funeral procession almost 100 strong out of the … 88
Kettle Falls Five reduced to three

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A1 The Kettle Falls Five marijuana collective has been reduced to three this week after one of the defendants in the federal criminal case cut an eleventh-hour plea deal with prosecutors. … 54
Drone a disturbance during Lake Coeur d’Alene rescue

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A1 Police were trying to persuade a suicidal man to come out of the frigid lake near the Coeur d’Alene Resort earlier this month when overhead a small drone darted about, … 46
Hauser corn maze fined in teen worker’s death

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A1 The Incredible Corn Maze in Hauser has been fined $14,000 by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for the death last October of a Spokane Valley teenage worker who … 16
Spokane pair suspected of forcing girl into prostitution

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A5 A Spokane pair is suspected of forcing a 16-year-old girl into prostitution. An investigation into human trafficking has been underway for weeks, said Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Detective Damon Simmons. 25
Doug Clark: Couple in troubled water over disputed bridge toll

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A5 I cracked this caper five minutes after saying howdy to Dennis and Shirley Wendlandt in the front yard of their pink cinderblock home in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood. And I’m … 10
Plane that crashed in Spokane may have used wrong fuel, report says

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A5 Inspectors who responded to the scene of a single-engine plane crash Sunday were concerned the plane may have been flying with the wrong type of fuel, according to a report … 10
Post Falls to vote on school levy, bond

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A5 Population growth in Post Falls was putting pressure on its schools a decade ago, but officials held off asking voters for help when the economy soured and was slow to … 3
Jim Kershner’s This Day in History

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A5 From our archives, 100 years ago Hundreds of attendees at the Northwest Miner’s Congress in Spokane were treated to an evening of robust “pioneer entertainment” at the “miner’s smoker” at …
Spokane Valley apartment fire leaves one man with minor burns

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A6 A two-alarm apartment fire in Spokane Valley sent one man to the hospital with minor burns Wednesday afternoon. The Spokane Valley Fire Department was alerted to the fire at 12623 …
In brief: Mail carrier assaulted outside Spokane apartment

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A6 Witnesses told police that a mail carrier was brutally assaulted as he was delivering the mail to an apartment complex just south of downtown Spokane on Tuesday. The mail carrier … 5
Washington records

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A6 Spokane County Marriage licenses
Former NIC administrator asks for lower bail

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A6 A former North Idaho College administrator in jail on charges of soliciting sex from students in exchange for scholarship money wants his bail lowered. Joseph M. Bekken, who was fired …
Avista’s 2014 earnings up 73 percent

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A7 Last year was a busy one for Avista Corp. The Spokane-based utility celebrated its 125th anniversary, bought an electric utility in Alaska and sold off a subsidiary. 20
Wayward tropical fish found in Oregon crab pot

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A10 GRANTS PASS, Ore. – A fish normally found in the ocean off Japan and other tropical waters has turned up alive in a crab pot hauled up by a fisherman …
Other police-involved deaths in Tri-Cities

Feb. 26, 2015 on Page A10 Antonio Zambrano-Montes was the fifth man shot and killed by police in the Tri-Cities area since June. Here are the other officer-involved shooting deaths: • Aaron T. Wright , 32, … 3
Two-alarm fire rips through Spokane Valley apartments

Feb. 25, 2015 A two-alarm apartment fire in Spokane Valley sent one man to the hospital with minor burns Wednesday afternoon. The Spokane Valley Fire Department was alerted to the fire at 12623 …
Man killed by Pasco police hit “five or six” times

Feb. 25, 2015 Pasco police fired 17 shots during their fatal encounter with Antonio Zambrano-Montes, according to preliminary autopsy results released during a news conference Wednesday. 40
Concerns over wrong fuel in plane crash

Feb. 25, 2015 Inspectors who responded to the scene of a single-engine plane crash Sunday were concerned the plane may have been flying with the wrong type of fuel, according to a report … 37
Avista reports higher 2014 earnings

Feb. 25, 2015 Last year was a busy one for Avista Corp. The Spokane-based utility celebrated its 125th anniversary, bought an electric utility in Alaska and sold off a subsidiary. Those transactions are … 34
First ‘Flash-Bach’ concert today at noon

Feb. 25, 2015 World-renowned cellist Zuill Bailey will play a free “Flash-Bach” concert at noon today in the River Park Square atrium. The event is one of six concerts planned in surprise locations … 1
Expansion puts Spokane Convention Center in running for biggest events

Feb. 25, 2015 on Page A1 The Spokane Convention Center threw open its doors Tuesday to a newly expanded facility that takes greater advantage of its location next to the Spokane River. A grand opening celebration … 48
Shawn Vestal: Too quick to mock lawmaker for anatomy query

Feb. 25, 2015 on Page A5 As someone who initially gloried in the apparent idiocy of Vito Barbieri and his tiny-camera question, I think it might be time for a second opinion: Vito was wronged. Barbieri … 118
Coeur d’Alene School District voters to decide on two-year levy

Feb. 25, 2015 on Page A5 At Lakes Magnet Middle School north of downtown Coeur d’Alene, a small room inside the main office is piled high with obsolete textbooks. A larger room one floor up is … 2
Vinegar Flats businesses burglarized back to back

Feb. 25, 2015 on Page A5 When she first learned thieves broke into Chaps Diner and Bakery, manager Megan Shaw was shocked. “It’s emotional. It just feels like such a big hit,” she said. 29
In brief: Canadian pilot in Spokane plane crash dies

Feb. 25, 2015 on Page A5 Michael Clements, the Canadian pilot of a single-engine plane that crashed Sunday east of downtown Spokane, has died. Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center confirmed Clements’ death Tuesday. He had been … 1
Jim Kershner’s This Day in History

Feb. 25, 2015 on Page A5 From our archives, 100 years ago The final report of a special state Senate investigative committee harshly criticized a construction decision made at the Medical Lake insane asylum, as Eastern …
Washington lawmaker calls for focus on nuclear energy

Feb. 25, 2015 on Page A6 OLYMPIA – The state should embrace nuclear energy by investing in small reactors that can fit on a train or semitruck, a Tri-Cities legislator says. Sen. Sharon Brown, R-Kennewick, is … 4
Washington Senate honors early Civil Air Patrol members

Feb. 25, 2015 on Page A6 OLYMPIA – Richard Hagmann was working at a war production plant in his native Los Angeles in 1941 when a friend of a friend told him about a new group …