Firefighter cleared of wrongdoing
Spokane police on Monday cleared a city firefighter of criminal wrongdoing for having consensual sex at the city’s fire station in the Indian Trail neighborhood Friday.
The firefighter remained on paid leave Monday pending an internal investigation into the appropriateness of his behavior while on duty, according to a city news release. No names were released Monday.
Mayor Dennis Hession said the firefighter met his 17-year-old companion through the Internet. The companion told police investigators she was not raped.
Police learned of the incident through a friend of the companion’s, Hession said.
– Mike Prager
City Council OKs funds for shot at ‘09 skating
The Spokane City Council on Monday voted to spend $75,000 in promotional money over three years if the city wins its bid to bring the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships to Spokane. The city is already hosting the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
The council also voted against a resolution asking Mayor Dennis Hession to reconsider the removal of nearly two dozen mature trees in a planned reconstruction of Bernard Street from 14th to 29th avenues.
Hession said he is working with property owners on Bernard to build support for a local improvement district in which the owners and the city would team up to pay for new trees and sidewalks separately from a voter-approved street improvement measure. Residents are invited to an open house at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Downtown Library to learn more about the street plan.
– Mike Prager
No one injured in North Side house fire
An attic fire displaced two adults and two children about 7:15 a.m. Monday in Spokane, but no one was injured.
Fire Department Battalion Chief Joel Fielder said it took 25 firefighters about 30 minutes to control the fire at 5118 N. Martin. The cause was under investigation.
– John Craig
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Discounts considered for border passes
A new passport requirement for those crossing the U.S.-Canadian border may be eased with a family discount-card program and a day-pass option, authorities said Monday.
Such options are welcomed by towns and cities along the border, where folks chafe at the notion they will someday need a $97 passport or a $50 ID card to cross, but the day-pass proposal worries those seeking tighter security to deter terrorists.
Lawmakers along the border have been pushing the Homeland Security and State departments for months to come up with a cheaper, quicker alternative to the passport requirement, which is to go into effect in 2008 under a new law called the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.
The two departments are working together on the travel initiative program passed by Congress as a post-Sept. 11 security measure.
Associated Press