Crash kills five Lapwai residents
Five residents of Lapwai, Idaho, were killed Saturday when their car slammed into a semitruck going the opposite direction.
The accident occurred about 8:40 a.m. when a 2004 Toyota Camry, westbound on State Route 124 just east of the Tri-Cities near Burbank, went into the eastbound lanes and collided with a Peterbilt, the Washington State Patrol reported.
Killed were: Nellie Axtell, 63, the driver; Patricia Higheagle, 67; Cindy L. Wilson, 36; Aaron Broncheau, 3; and Alec T. Reuben, 12.
The semi driver, Sean P. Farrell, 22, of Kennewick, was not injured.
The victims were related, and were part of a family caravan of vehicles headed to a service in White Swan for a relative who died about a year ago, said Trooper David Kaiser.
The cause of the accident was under investigation, Kaiser said.
North Idaho
Jobs picture improves again
North Idaho’s unemployment rate dropped in May, mirroring a trend toward steady job growth across the state, according to the Commerce and Labor Department.
Five counties of North Idaho saw unemployment decline from 3.3 percent in April to 2.8 percent last month. That continued a drop from May 2006 when unemployment in North Idaho stood at 4.1 percent. The counties are Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Kootenai and Shoshone.
Statewide, Idaho had a 2.3 percent unemployment rate with 737,800 employed workers in May compared with an unemployment rate of 3.3 percent with 733,500 people holding jobs in April.
Kootenai and Bonner counties had the best employment numbers in North Idaho last month with 2.6 percent unemployment rates. They were followed by Benewah County at 3.5 percent; Shoshone County, 4.2 percent; and Boundary County, 4.7 percent.
In Shoshone County, the employment picture improved with the addition of 70 workers at Dave Smith Motors as well as increases in jobs in mining, construction, tourism and retail with the opening of a Wal-Mart store.
Boise
Not guilty plea entered in murder
John Delling pleaded not guilty Monday in the April shooting death of Bradley Morse.
Fourth District Judge Deborah Bail entered the not guilty pleas on Delling’s behalf to charges of first-degree murder, using a firearm in the commission of a felony and grand theft, the Idaho Statesman reported.
The 21-year-old former Boise resident is accused in two fatal shootings in Idaho as well as the wounding of a University of Arizona student in Tucson.
Morse’s body was found April 3 in a Boise city park. Delling is scheduled to stand trial in that case in April 2008; if convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison. In the grand theft charge, Delling is accused of taking Morse’s car after the shooting.
Delling is also charged with first-degree murder in Latah County for the March 31 shooting death of University of Idaho student David Boss in Moscow. Delling has not yet appeared in court on that charge.
Delling is a suspect in the March 20 shooting that injured University of Arizona student Jacob Thompson.
Spokane
Former S-R worker faces porn counts
A former Spokesman-Review employee is facing 21 counts of possession of child pornography following a police investigation, officials confirmed Monday.
Zachary Lee Likarich, 29, is out of jail on bail pending a court hearing, said Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Ed Hay.
According to a search warrant, numerous sexually explicit photographs and movies of children as young as 5 were found on a computer Likarich had been assigned as a marketing Web developer at the newspaper.
Likarich was hired as a graphic designer at The Spokesman-Review in October 2005. He transferred to the online marketing department in January 2006. He was fired Jan. 22 of this year when the pornography was discovered.
Body in river had Washington ID
A body discovered in the Spokane River by a hiker Monday morning is believed to be that of a 36-year-old Spokane-area man who has been missing for several weeks.
The man carried a Washington driver’s license, said Spokane Police Officer Bill Hager, but the body was so badly decomposed that officials must check dental records to confirm his identity. Hager says the death does not appear to involve foul play.
The hiker discovered the body lodged under a tree trunk.
Heat wave ends with storms
The brief heat wave came to an end Monday night as thunderstorms rolled through the region. Coeur d’Alene was hit by a storm that had a lot of rain and lightning, but not much hail. Other parts of Kootenai County were hit as well, as were Lincoln and Stevens counties in Washington, said Laurie Nisbet, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Spokane.
Spokane escaped the bulk of the storms.
Lightning sparked several small fires in Stevens County, but none was serious, a county fire dispatcher said.
A Coeur d’Alene dispatcher said there were several reports of power outages late Monday.
Today’s forecast calls for a high of 61 in Spokane and 60 in Coeur d’Alene, and rain in both cities.
– From staff and wire reports