In brief: Two arrested after gun fired near skate park
Two men were in jail Tuesday after police said they shot at a man near a downtown Spokane skate park.
A witness told police that two men had shot at another man near the park under the freeway, then drove off, said Spokane police spokesman Cpl. Tom Lee.
An officer stopped a car near the Howard Johnson motel on Second Avenue, and Derek L. Wilson, 20, and Sokoto Z. Goff, 26, were arrested. Both are under investigation for suspicion of drive-by shooting and possessing crack cocaine.
Goff also could face a felony firearm-possession charge.
The man who police say was targeted apparently ran, and Lee said that if he calls 911, more charges could be filed against Wilson and Goff.
OLYMPIA
House approves health insurance plan
A measure that would provide health care coverage to thousands more children heads to the desk of Gov. Chris Gregoire, after the state House passed it Tuesday.
The vote was 68-28, with all but eight Republicans voting against the measure. The Senate passed the bill earlier this session and Gregoire is expected to sign it.
An estimated 73,000 children in the state are without insurance, with about two-thirds of those eligible for government help. Lawmakers added enough money to expand state health insurance to about 10,000 kids last session.
The measure passed this session would provide coverage to 38,000 more children in the next two years.
Republicans warned that the bill would not be effective and lead to more large employers not providing health insurance for workers and their families. They also said the bill does not focus on helping the poor and provides coverage to children of illegal immigrants instead of poor adults who are U.S. citizens.
Coeur d’Alene
Kroc Center receives $100,000 donation
The Kroc Community Center got a $100,000 donation from a local development company and now has two-thirds of the $6 million needed.
Dennis Cunningham, a partner in The Crossing LLC, presented Coeur d’Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem and Kroc center representatives with a jumbo-sized check Tuesday afternoon.
Donations to the center totaled $420,000 in the past three weeks, said Megan Beck of the Salvation Army, capital campaign manager for the Kroc Center.
The money raised will join with the more than $60 million awarded to the city last year to start a community center, courtesy of a $1.5 billion endowment McDonald’s heiress Joan Kroc gave to the Salvation Army.
Post Falls
Acquittal sought in hit man case
Attorneys for a Post Falls man who was convicted of trying to hire a hit man to kill his ex-wife are seeking an acquittal.
A federal jury convicted Paul W. Driggers on Feb. 23 in the murder-for-hire plot.
Prosecutors said Driggers plotted to have his ex-wife murdered because he was facing molestation and gun charges and wanted sole custody of his children.
Federal Defender Kathleen Moran is asking that Driggers’ conviction be overturned or a new trial be granted. In court documents filed Friday, Moran said prosecutors failed to prove the case against Driggers.
She said Driggers also objected to the instructions that were given to the jury before deliberations.
Last month’s trial was the second trial for Driggers on the same charge – and the second time a jury returned a guilty verdict against him. A mistrial was declared the first time after jurors inadvertently learned of Driggers’ criminal history during deliberations.
Driggers is set to be sentenced May 21 in Coeur d’Alene.