In brief: Two survive crash into moving train
Two men suffered minor injuries after their 1997 Ford pickup slid into a moving train in Post Falls on Tuesday morning.
The men had been strangers just minutes before – one had run out of gas, and the other had given him a lift to a service station as a favor.
Liberty Lake resident Joseph French picked up Tod Rushing, of Spirit Lake, after Rushing had run out of gas on Idaho Road just south of Prairie Avenue.
During the drive back to Rushing’s vehicle, French apparently didn’t see the stop sign on the icy road or the train just south of Prairie Avenue until it was too late, Rushing said.
“We were busy talking. … He noticed it late and slammed on his brakes,” Rushing said. “We slammed right into the side of the train and it just spun us off.”
French was cited for driving too fast for conditions.
The 10:45 a.m. collision left Rushing with a head cut.
“I’m more worried about the driver, because he’s pretty shook up,” Rushing said.”
The Union Pacific train was from Spokane. Three men were aboard, but none was hurt.
– Meghann M. Cuniff
Spokane
City not charged for consulting work
Spokane city officials said on Tuesday the city is apparently not going to be charged for private consulting work used by Mayor Dennis Hession to explain the need for a $260,000 efficiency study.
Hession last month said he expected the city to be charged about $2,000 or less for work by the public affairs firm, the Gallatin Group, but now the company has told the city it will not charge for the service, said city spokeswoman Marlene Feist.
Jeffrey Bell, a partner in the group and a consultant who helped Hession, said in a letter to The Spokesman-Review, “We are not charging the city for our time on this project.”
The project involved what Hession called “strategic communication” to employees and the public about results of a wide-ranging efficiency study by Matrix Consulting Group of Palo Alto, Calif., which calls for cutting as many as 100 city jobs.
The Gallatin Group previously charged $1,375 for consulting work last September when Deputy Mayor Jack Lynch went on an unexplained paid medical leave. Lynch went back on medical leave indefinitely at the start of this year.
– Mike Prager