Meeting tonight for development use

A community meeting on a 77-acre mixed-use development just north of the Spokane River is being held tonight in the auditorium of the West Central Community Center, 1603 N. Belt.

The 7 p.m. meeting was organized by Marshall Chesrown, the developer of Kendall Yards, a phased project on former railroad land west of Monroe Street and north of Ohio Avenue.

Kendall Yards is expected to become an “urban village” with about 2,500 residences, including single-family and multi-family units, over the next 15 to 20 years. Commercial uses are also being proposed.

Tonight’s meeting will offer information and discussion of traffic, environmental and development issues. The applicant on the project is Riverfront Properties LLC, of Coeur d’Alene, and the agent is Tom Reese, of Spokane.

Idaho Guard members will train in Texas

More than 200 members of an Idaho National Guard helicopter battalion are deploying this week for eventual service in Afghanistan, the Guard announced Monday.

The 1-183 Aviation Battalion, based in Boise, will depart today for Fort Hood, Texas, where its members will train for four months before deploying to Afghanistan in February with 16 Apache helicopters, according to Lt. Col. Stephanie Dowling, an Idaho National Guard spokeswoman.

It will be the second time in three years members of the 1-183rd have been deployed overseas, having served eight months in Bosnia as part of Operation Noble Eagle in 2002 and 2003.

Seafood diners likely contracted E. coli

Bend, Ore. At least 18 people who became sick after dining at a Bend seafood restaurant appear to have been infected by E. coli.

The outbreak at McGrath’s Fish House one week ago is being investigated by the Deschutes County Public Health Department. The department’s lab has confirmed two cases of E. coli stemming from meals at the restaurant; another 16 diners are showing symptoms typical of an E. coli infection.

Five restaurant workers have also reported symptoms, health officials said.

Jim Marshall, vice chairman and director of operations for McGrath’s, said the restaurant, which is based in Salem, requires workers to wear gloves while handling food and has a hand-washing policy in place.

“All of those checks and balances and safeguards are built inside the company,” Marshall said. “It is just so unfortunate.”

Symptoms of E. coli infection include bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramping, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The symptoms usually disappear within five to 10 days without treatment.

B.C. teachers union votes to end strike

Vancouver, B.C.

Students across British Columbia returned to school Monday after teachers voted to end an illegal strike that kept them out of class for two weeks.

After the B.C. Teachers Federation was fined $500,000 by the B.C. Supreme Court for going on strike illegally, teachers voted 77 percent in favor of returning to work under a deal reached through mediator Vince Ready that will see the province increase funding to deal with learning conditions, including class sizes.

The province’s 38,000 teachers began the strike Oct. 7.

Federation President Jinny Sims said that by striking, teachers asserted their right to strike in the face of legislation that declared them an essential service.

“We knew we were in civil disobedience, and we made some gains,” she said. “We not only took our bargaining rights, but we exercised them for two weeks despite all the commitments of the government that students were not going to be out of school for one day.”

Sims said the union has also made class size an issue that must be dealt with.

Teachers were demanding a 15 percent wage increase as well as limits on class size and improved bargaining rights.

Education Minister Shirley Bond said class size and composition are issues the government is willing to discuss with teachers.

“There are lots of issues we want to talk to classroom teachers about, things like healthy and safe schools,” Bond said after the vote Sunday.

Tickets now on sale for fashion fund-raisers

Tickets are now on sale for the Kootenai Medical Center’s Festival of Trees fashion shows.

This year’s shows will include more than 60 models and more than 20 local stores featuring a variety of apparel ranging from ski suits to evening attire.

The Luncheon Fashion Show, sponsored by the American Institute of Clinical Massage, is from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and the Dinner Fashion Show, sponsored by FirstBank Northwest, is from 6 to 8:30 p.m., both on Nov. 28 at the Coeur d’Alene Resort.

Tickets, which are $50 each, can be bought at KMC in Classroom 3.

All proceeds from the 17th annual Festival of Trees will benefit the North Idaho Cancer Center, a service of KMC.

WWII airman flown to Hawaii for identification

Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii A body believed to be that of a World War II airman, found frozen in the Sierra Nevada, arrived Monday in Hawaii for identification, officials said.

The body in an Army uniform was discovered earlier this month mostly encased in a glacier in Kings Canyon National Park. It had been thawing since last week at the coroner’s office in Fresno County.

The body was flown out of Travis Air Force Base to Hickam Air Force Base on Oahu. The examination, which will take several weeks at least, will be done by the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command.

An identification could solve part of a decades-old mystery – the disappearance of a navigational training plane that left a Sacramento airfield in November 1942 carrying a crew of four on a routine flight.

The pilot was 2nd Lt. William A Gamber, 23, of Fayette, Ohio. The three aviation cadets aboard were John Mortenson, 25, of Moscow, Idaho; Ernest Munn, 23, of St. Clairsville, Ohio; and Leo M. Mustonen, 22, of Brainerd, Minn.

Hawk biologist studies misshapen birds’ beaks

Bow, Wash. A hawk biologist in this small Skagit County town is trying to find out why so many hawks in the area are developing misshapen beaks.

Bud Anderson has been examining the problem since 1996 when he first discovered a dead red-tailed hawk with an overgrown beak.

Since then, Anderson says he’s recorded 86 hawks with misshapen beaks, 77 of them red-tailed hawks. All the recorded instances of the problem have been along the West Coast, the Bellingham Herald reported.

In each case, something caused the beak to grow out of control, cross or split, Anderson said. The bills are often discolored and flaky, and the condition often kills the hawks because they are unable to eat properly.

Based in Ferndale, the Sardis Raptor Center has treated three hawks for the condition so far this year. Workers at the 16-year-old center said they expect to see more cases when winter arrives.

“When we get them in, they’re actually starving to death,” center director Sharon Wolters told the Herald. The center first noticed the beak problem four years ago, she said.

When hawks arrive at the center, they’re fed, treated with antibiotics and have their bills filed back into shape. Center workers have successfully treated each long-billed bird they rescued, Wolters said, and then released it. The center also does blood work on the birds to see if there is a disease or disorder causing the bill problem.

“We tried to cover all our bases that we think of,” Wolters said.