Schools to check visitors against sex offender lists
Coeur d’Alene’s 10 elementary schools will begin checking visitors and volunteers against sex offender registries from 42 states beginning this fall.
The Coeur d’Alene School Board on Monday approved the purchase of software for each of the district’s elementary schools, Business Manager Steve Briggs said. Raptor Technologies has offered to donate the software for Fernan Elementary, the school that kidnapping victims Shasta and Dylan Groene attended last year.
Dylan’s body was found not long after his sister was discovered at a Coeur d’Alene restaurant with registered sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III.
Visitors to Coeur d’Alene’s elementaries will have to present ID, which will be scanned. The visitor’s birth date and name will be checked against sex offender registries. If a visitor’s information matches that of a registered sex offender, an alert will automatically be sent to school administrators or law enforcement.
The Lakeland and Post Falls school districts recently purchased the same software. Start-up costs are $1,800 per school. Each subsequent year, schools have to pay $432 to continue using the software.
Prosecutor appeals order to release hundreds of e-mails
Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas has appealed a District Judge’s decision that the public has a right to read hundreds of e-mails sent between him and former juvenile drug court program coordinator Marina Kalani.
Although District Judge John R. Stegner ruled July 1 that the public has a right to read the e-mails, he also ordered that the messages would not be released until the Idaho Supreme Court rules on the issue.
Cowles Publishing Co., which owns The Spokesman-Review, filed suit against the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners seeking access to the e-mails earlier this year. The commissioners did release some e-mails and released other heavily redacted e-mails.
Douglas was Kalani’s supervisor, and all the e-mails were reviewed by commissioners following the collapse of the Juvenile Education and Training Court, which was administered by Kalani.
Kalani resigned from her position in March and two days later received a $70,000 settlement from the county’s insurer.
After Cowles filed suit to gain access to the e-mails, Douglas and Kalani intervened in the lawsuit to keep the e-mails private. The county’s insurer also has intervened in the interest of keeping details of the settlement agreement private.
Kootenai sewer district wins grant to evaluate its system
The Kootenai-Ponderay Sewer District won a $43,560 state grant to evaluate its wastewater system.
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality awarded the grant Tuesday. The district will use the money to plan a way to upgrade the wastewater system so it meets state permit conditions. It will also allow the district to develop a 20-year master plan.
For more information, call DEQ at (208) 373-0502.
Traffic delays expected on 2nd near Thor and Freya streets
Expect traffic tie-ups today on Second Avenue near Thor and Freya in Spokane.
Crews will be paving in the area, and lane restrictions are planned for both Second and Fifth Avenues. The restrictions will last from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Hours for lifeguards reduced at Coeur d’Alene City Beach
Lifeguards at Coeur d’Alene’s City Beach will have abbreviated hours this weekend.
The city Parks and Recreation Department said many of the lifeguards are returning to college and aren’t available to patrol the popular downtown beach.
Lifeguards will man the towers from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
For more information, call 769-2250.
Patrol to be watching students heading toward WSU and UI
College students better mind their driving this weekend.
The Washington State Patrol is conducting emphasis patrols Friday through Sunday in anticipation of students heading to Washington State University and the University of Idaho.
And don’t expect the patrols only on Highway 195. Troopers from Ritzville, Kennewick, Moses Lake and Ephrata will also be on the lookout. They’ll be watching Interstate 90 and Highways 195, 395 and 26 from the air, on motorcycles and in unmarked vehicles.
The Washington State Department of Transportation will also be assisting drivers if their vehicles break down.
In addition to heavy student traffic, motorists should also be aware of a motorcycle rally planned this weekend in Rosalia.
Search continues for mother of infant found dead at rest stop
Investigators continued searching on Wednesday for a woman who abandoned a baby in a bathroom stall at a highway rest area.
The baby, which was between three and five pounds, was found dead about 4:15 p.m. Tuesday in a woman’s bathroom at the westbound Interstate 90 rest stop near Sprague, Wash..
Preliminary results of an autopsy performed Wednesday by the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office did not answer if the baby was stillborn or alive at birth, said Lincoln County Sheriff John Coley. The baby was about a month from full-term, said Undersheriff Wade Magers.
Magers called the case “a heinous situation that we’re trying to get to the bottom of.” A woman who found the baby told investigators that she saw a woman who might have been the mother leaving the restroom, Magers said. She was described as in her early 20s, tall and thin with blond hair. She was wrapped in a large beach towel that said “Hawaii.”
Magers asked that anyone with information call the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office at (509) 725-3501.
In Washington it is illegal to abandon a baby, unless handed to staff at a hospital or fire station.