Council sets guide for grant distribution
Spokane City Council members are hoping to avoid what has become an annual fight over the allocation of nearly $800,000 in grant money to community agencies.
On Monday at the Northeast Community Center, council members unanimously established priorities for making the grant allocations and gave the volunteer Human Services Advisory Board more say in how the money is spent.
Earlier this year, the council faced controversy over reduction or elimination of grants to several agencies, including the Community Health Association of Spokane, which sought $225,000 for health care programs, and YWCA, which asked for $60,000 for its Homeless Children’s Educational Resource Program. The council later restored some of the funding.
Councilman Brad Stark said Monday’s changes will end what he described as a “come-one, come-all” approach.
Under the resolution, agencies must submit a proposal to the city’s Human Services Department that meets one of three general priorities: end homelessness, improve access to all types of human services, and improve physical and mental health for residents.
– Mike Prager
spokane county
Today is deadline to vote in primary
Today is the last day for Washington voters to cast a ballot in the primary election.
Ballots must be postmarked by today if they are returned by mail, or dropped off at voter service centers set up by county elections offices. In Spokane County, those service centers are:
•County Elections Office, 1033 W. Gardner Ave.
•North Spokane Library, 44 E. Hawthorne Ave.
•St. Mark’s Church, 316 E. 24th Ave.
•Spokane Valley CenterPlace, 2426 N. Discovery Place.
•St. Anne’s Church, 712 E. Lake, Medical Lake.
Results will be posted at www.spokesmanreview.com beginning about 8 p.m.
– Jim Camden
Kootenai county
Police say pickup hit moving train; 2 dead
The bodies of two people were discovered Monday in a pickup near a Hayden Avenue train crossing, according to Idaho State Police.
Investigators said it appears the 1989 Mazda ran into the moving train at a crossing on Hayden Avenue, just west of Highway 41.
The passenger was identified as 29-year-old Jesse Neff, of Pinehurst. Authorities had yet to notify the driver’s family and had not released the victim’s name Monday evening.
Investigators believe the crash happened late Sunday or early Monday. Idaho State Police Capt. Wayne Longo said the pickup was forced about 100 feet into a farmer’s field.
The pickup stayed on its wheels and the damaged front end wasn’t facing the freeway, Longo said. To passing drivers, Longo said, it might have looked like it was parked in the field.
Longo said even the train crew apparently did not know the wreck had occurred.
– Taryn Brodwater