Verner selects three for court

Two public defenders and a district court commissioner are Mayor Mary Verner’s choices to lead the city’s new independent municipal court.

Verner announced Monday that she selected Spokane County District Court Commissioner Brad Chinn, city of Spokane public defender Mary Carol Logan, and federal public defender Tracey Staab for the city’s three open judgeships.

City Council will have the final say and is expected to vote Jan. 2 – the day the court opens.

Earlier this month, the council voted to separate its municipal court from the county’s district court. Appointees will need to run for election in November. The city plans to hire two court commissioners.

Fire leaves two homeless

A fire in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood Monday left two people homeless, but no one was injured.

The Spokane Fire Department responded at 5:07 p.m. to a reported house fire at 1523 W. Gardner Ave. and found fire on the main floor of a single-family home, Battalion Chief Mike Inman said in a news release.

Firefighters were quickly able to knock down the fire in the home. The homeowners were not home at the time, Inman said. However, the blaze killed one of the family cats.

Two adults were displaced by the fire and Red Cross personnel were called to assist, Inman said.

The house suffered heavy smoke and heat damage. The cause remained under investigation.

Fire crews had to dig out the nearest fire hydrant.

Colfax

Porn actor receives life term

The pornographic film actor known as Jack Venice was given a life sentence for raping a woman at a Washington State University sorority.

Under the sentence he received Friday in Whitman County Superior Court, the 26-year-old native of Houston, Christopher Jack Reid, will be eligible for parole in nine years. Reid was convicted in October of second-degree rape and three burglary counts.

Radio station KRPL reported that Reid told the court he was sorry for what happened to the victim but maintained innocence. His lawyer plans to appeal.

Prosecutors say Reid and a WSU student got drunk and broke into several sororities in search of women to co-star in sex videos.

Olympia

Weather affects jobless claims

As if the economy weren’t bad enough, weather in Seattle and Spokane is keeping most state employees away from two call centers that would normally handle unemployment claims.

As a result, officials at the Employment Security Department do not expect the two call centers to be fully staffed to take unemployment claims until weather conditions improve and employees are safely able to travel to work.

The claims normally are processed by phone from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

However, until the offices are fully staffed, Washington residents have the option of filing unemployment claims online at www.esd.wa.gov.