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News >  Pacific NW

Washington public lands chief says Malden blaze highlights need for more firefighting resources

UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 10, 2020

Washington Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz visited local leaders in the burned town of Malden on Wednesday, saying the wildfire that raged through the area on Monday should be a wake-up call to Washingtonians.

News >  Pacific NW

‘It happened so fast’: Malden, Pine City residents describe fleeing Monday’s inferno

UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 2, 2021

MALDEN, Washington – In the good old days of the 1950s and ’60s, when the little town of Malden still had a train depot, a school, a bank, a tavern and a dry goods store, Bob Law and his friends looked forward to cold winters and snow-covered streets.

News >  Real Estate

Fire rages through Malden, leaving much of the small farming town in ruins

UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 2, 2021

Numerous buildings and homes in the town of Malden in northern Whitman County were destroyed Monday as a wildfire raged through the town.

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News >  Pacific NW

Fire burns hundreds of acres near Colfax, prompts evacuations

UPDATED: Tue., Sept. 8, 2020

The fire started at about 10:40 a.m. and was threatening crops, city residents and infrastructure and the Port of Whitman airport. The state fire marshal's office reported the fire had burned between 500 and 1,000 acres. Level 3 evacuation orders – meaning "Get out now" – were in effect.

News >  Pacific NW

More than 60,000 lose power in Inland Northwest

UPDATED: Mon., Sept. 7, 2020

Strong winds toppled trees, knocked out power and carried smoke and dust from Central Washington wildfires on Labor Day.

News >  Pacific NW

Stevens County commissioners ask prosecutor for immunity while clock ticks on government decisions

UPDATED: Tue., Sept. 8, 2020

An attorney wrote that "time is of the essence" as the commissioners are afraid to perform official duties under the threat of criminal prosecution, leaving important functions of county government in limbo and threatening "catastrophic harm to the people of Stevens County."

News >  Education

Students return to Whitworth campus, hoping to avoid COVID-19 in close living quarters

UPDATED: Sat., Sept. 5, 2020

Hundreds of masked freshmen, some accompanied by their parents or other helpers, hauled their belongings into their dorm rooms in staggered shifts on Friday to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Lawsuit says Spokane County juvenile detention staff broke handcuffed teen’s leg

UPDATED: Fri., Sept. 4, 2020

"The punishment for drinking on your 15th birthday is not walking with a limp for the rest of your life," said an attorney for the boy's family.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Prosecutors drop charge against Stevens County man who allegedly tried to kill neighbor

UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 3, 2020

Ralph Roberts, who struggles to walk and breathe without an oxygen tank, claimed John L. Price Jr. and Price's teenage son had accompanied him into the woods and left him there, forcing him to survive off pond water for more than two days.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Colville man arrested after deputies find $100,000 in stolen vehicles, machinery

UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 3, 2020

Deputies also found 150 marijuana plants, three bins containing 15 pounds of processed marijuana and evidence of methamphetamine use while searching the property at 1994 Clugston Onion Creek Road, northeast of Kettle Falls, according to court records and the Stevens County Sheriff's Office.

News >  Pacific NW

‘Bereft of leadership,’ Stevens County can’t make budget decisions or dispense CARES Act aid

UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 3, 2020

A legal and political stalemate in Stevens County has interrupted some functions of county government and held up hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal coronavirus assistance, including some destined for local businesses. The problem stems from a year and a half of litigation between the county prosecutor and the county commissioners.

News >  Pacific NW

Ecology Department seeks comment on disposal plan for toxic firefighting foam

UPDATED: Tue., Sept. 1, 2020

Under the plan, an Ecology Department contractor, Clean Harbors Inc., would collect stockpiles of the foam from fire departments and state agencies and ship it to an incineration facility in Aragonite, Utah, about 50 miles west of Salt Lake City.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Argument leads to fatal shooting Monday near Spokane Valley

UPDATED: Mon., Aug. 31, 2020

A man shot and killed another man during an argument Monday evening in a sparsely populated neighborhood near the Dishman Hills Natural Area, KHQ reported.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Prosecutor says Kalispel officer was justified in June shooting at Northern Quest

UPDATED: Mon., Aug. 31, 2020

The Spokane County Prosecutor's Office says a Kalispel tribal police office officer was justified when he shot at a fleeing suspect in the parking lot of Northern Quest Resort & Casino in June.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Domestic violence suspect arrested after five-hour standoff at Spokane motel

UPDATED: Mon., Aug. 31, 2020

Spokane police arrested a domestic violence suspect Monday morning after a five-hour standoff in which he barricaded himself in a motel room on Sunset Hill.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

WSP investigation finds DOC likely could not have prevented Airway Heights prison killing

UPDATED: Tue., Sept. 1, 2020

Shane Goldsby, 25, faces a first-degree murder charge for beating 70-year-old Robert Munger to death in a common area of the Airway Heights Corrections Center on June 2. Goldsby, who was captured on surveillance video punching, kicking and stomping on Munger's head, has said he did it because Munger abused his younger sister.

News >  Education

Whitworth, Gonzaga presidents say campus reopenings are delicate balancing act

UPDATED: Sun., Aug. 30, 2020

"Both Gonzaga and Whitworth enroll very bright students, but our students come from very diverse backgrounds. And what we learned in the spring was that many of our students simply were not able to succeed to the extent that they were capable, because we were in an online format," Whitworth President Beck Taylor said in an interview.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Priest River killer abducted man for help moving woman’s body, records say

UPDATED: Wed., Aug. 26, 2020

Bradley M. Leader, 67, was arrested on Friday after a man flagged down a Priest River police sergeant and said Leader had kidnapped him the previous day, according to Bonner County court records. The man reported he had known Leader for 20 years, and Leader forced him to help move the body of 66-year-old Eveline Pederson.

News >  Pacific NW

Stevens County prosecutor asks judge for restraining order against commissioners

UPDATED: Mon., Aug. 24, 2020

Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen last week said the commissioners – Steve Parker, Wes McCart and Don Dashiell – would be committing a gross misdemeanor if they continue conducting county business. On Monday, Rasmussen sent a letter to all county employees declaring "the board of county commissioners no longer has legal authority." The commissioners and their attorneys have disputed that.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Man accused of kidnapping, murder after woman’s body found near Priest River

UPDATED: Wed., Aug. 26, 2020

An investigation led detectives to arrest 67-year-old Bradley Leader, who had been living on the same property as the victim, Eveline Pederson, and her longtime partner, according to the Bonner County Sheriff's Office.

News >  Pacific NW

Stevens County commissioner candidates wonder how lawsuit might influence November election

UPDATED: Tue., Aug. 25, 2020

Two candidates expressed uncertainty about the path to the November general election, only 10 weeks away. While the county prosecutor asserts that all three commissioners have been legally ejected from office after a judge's ruling, county and state officials are mulling whether the local Republican Party and the governor must start a process to appoint short-term replacements.

News >  Pacific NW

Prosecutor says Stevens County commissioners ejected from office after lawsuit finds they misspent money for the homeless

UPDATED: Mon., Aug. 24, 2020

The commissioners' attorney, meanwhile, disputes that they must be ejected from office and says the prosecutor has threatened to have the commissioners arrested if they continue showing up for work.

News >  Education

Investigation finds no evidence of gender discrimination against former WSU provost

UPDATED: Wed., Aug. 19, 2020

An investigation by an outside lawyer has found no evidence of gender discrimination against the former provost and executive vice president of Washington State University, who served in that position for less than two months last fall.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Semitruck rolls over, loses load on I-90 near Wallace

UPDATED: Tue., Aug. 18, 2020

A semitruck rolled over on Interstate 90 near Wallace, Idaho, on Monday evening, dropping a 52,000-pound refrigerant tank in the roadway, according to the Idaho State Patrol.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Spokane police say drunken driver threatened officer with ‘finger gun’ before arrest

UPDATED: Mon., Aug. 17, 2020

Charles Lebret, 52, was booked into the Spokane County Jail on charges of reckless driving and driving under the influence.