Not all on list bought degrees

A database list of almost 10,000 individuals associated with “Operation Gold Seal” includes names of 27 people who didn’t necessarily buy degrees but were associated in other capacities with the investigation of a Spokane-based diploma mill, sources said Tuesday.

The 27 names are included in a master list obtained by The Spokesman-Review and published on the newspaper’s Web site, spokesmanreview.com.

The 27 individuals include people who may have been given degrees by the diploma mill operators, had other business dealings with them, or are U.S. government employees or Liberian government officials who assisted in the investigation, sources said.

They are not accused of criminal conduct and should not be considered as confirmed buyers of degrees, sources said.

The names are: Melinda Adkins; Alick Lawrence Chambers; Domah Cooper; Theresa Dunaway; Craig Fullerton; Shirley George; Dale Gough; Karen Joy Grammar; John Grant; Kanika Grant; Bob Guidon; Jennifer L. Jacobi; Roy E. Jensen; Jayne W. Johnson; Michael Johnson; Nancy Keteku; Ernest Kiazolu; Aaron Kollie; Richard S. Montgomery; Dante Paradiso; Suzanne Petrucci; Rocky Pool; Christina Porche; Nancy M. Porinchok; Alexander H.N. Wallace; Steve Wise; and Peggy Zabriski.

Woman won’t be charged in killing

A self-described prostitute from Spokane will not be charged for fatally stabbing a man she said attacked her near Hayden Lake in early May.

Deputies found David Lynn Foreman, 41, dead in a mud puddle near the gravel pit on Hayden Creek Road on May 8 after a woman called to say she’d been raped but was able to fight off her attacker with a knife.

Kootenai County prosecutors concluded last week the woman stabbed Foreman in self-defense. The woman told authorities the two met when Foreman picked her up on Sprague Avenue where she often meets “dates,” the report states. “Foreman would not let her out of the truck. Foreman drove her up there (Hayden Lake) and told her he was going to kill her. She fought him and took the knife away from him, breaking it off in his throat.

“Foreman also told her he’d killed seven other women,” the report states.

The Sheriff’s Department found no evidence to support the claim, said Capt. Ben Wolfinger.

Spokane

Group Health will treat skaters

Star USA, promoter of the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, said Tuesday that Group Health again will be the official medical sponsor of the event.

“We are ecstatic that Group Health jumped at the chance to do this again,” said Toby Steward, who runs Star USA with his wife, Barb Beddor.

Group Health physicians Ed Reisman and Alisa Hideg will oversee the care of 1,500 athletes expected to compete.

Reisman, who’ll be medical director, is a family physician and traveling doctor with the U.S. Figure Skating Team. He competed in figure skating as a teenager.

Hideg, who’ll be assistant medical director of the championships, also is a family physician and a regular skater. Doctors, nurses and trainers from local hospitals and other clinics as well as programs at local colleges will be part of the staff as well.

Shootings possibly related to gangs

Two weekend drive-by shootings in Spokane may have been gang-related, and police agencies are asking anyone with information to come forward.

The first shooting occurred just before 3 a.m. Saturday near Sprague Avenue and Stevens Street in downtown Spokane, according to the Spokane Violent Crimes Gang Enforcement Team, composed of investigators from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, Spokane Police Department, Washington State Patrol, Department of Corrections, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the FBI.

Less than eight hours later, at 10:43 a.m., another shooting occurred in the area of 3100 E. Marietta. No details on the shootings were available.

Anyone with information is asked to call (509) 625-GANG.

Malott, Wash.

Dog on walk finds body near river

A dog walking with his owner sniffed out a body along the Okanogan River bank near Malott on Monday afternoon, officials said today.

The body, which has not been identified, was suspended in tall brush when the dog found him, said Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers.

“We know he’s been in the water awhile based on the condition of the body and where he was located,” Rogers said. “We figure he went in the water in May or June when the river was running high.”

An autopsy is planned today, the sheriff said. Authorities have no indication of the man’s identity. Pullman

WSU student has rubella

A Washington State University student from China has been diagnosed with rubella.

Whitman County Health Department officials said the 18-year-old student attended intensive language classes from July 7 to July 21 at the Pullman campus. As part of a public health alert, the department is notifying those who were in close proximity to the student.

Rubella, also called German measles, is a viral illness. Symptoms include a red rash beginning on the face and spreading across the body. Low-grade fevers, aching joints and swollen lymph glands, particularly those behind the ears, also are common.

The rash lasts up to three days. There is no treatment. Rubella has been nearly eliminated in the United States through childhood vaccinations, but the disease does occur in other parts of the world.

The illness is highly contagious and cause for concern among pregnant women.

People worried they might have been exposed are encouraged to call their health care providers, rather than risk exposing people in clinics or emergency rooms.

Kootenai County

Officials report finding rabid bats

Two rabid bats have been discovered in Kootenai County.

The bats were found in Post Falls and Dalton Gardens earlier this month.

Cynthia Taggart, of the Panhandle Health District, said no one was bitten, but both bats were taken to the state lab in Boise for testing.

Last year about a dozen rabid bats were reported in Idaho, authorities say.

Emily Simnitt, of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said rabies is contagious and can be fatal to humans and animals. Anyone coming into contact with a bat should seek medical attention immediately, although Simnitt added that “most bats are safe, they don’t have rabies.”

Boise

Idaho chief justice has lymphoma

Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice Dan Eismann has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a cancer that the Veterans Administration considers a service-connected illness in Vietnam veterans resulting from exposure to Agent Orange.

Eismann, 61, has started chemotherapy, but his doctors say his prognosis is “very good” and a full recovery is expected. He’ll continue to serve as chief justice and will hear a full caseload.

Eismann was elected to the Supreme Court in 2000 and unopposed for re-election in 2006. He served two tours of duty in Vietnam, where he was a crew chief/door gunner on a Huey helicopter gunship and awarded two purple hearts and three medals for heroism. Eismann was voted chief justice by the other members of the court in 2007.