In brief: Passenger dies in rollover
A 46-year-old Coeur d’Alene man was killed in a rollover accident on Interstate 90 early Sunday.
The Idaho State Police said Anthony W. Heinig was a passenger in a Subaru Legacy driven by Anthony Cardwell, 26, also of Coeur d’Alene.
The car was eastbound on I-90 at milepost 30 when it went out of control and rolled. Neither Heinig nor Cardwell was wearing a seat belt, and both were ejected from the car.
The cause of the accident is under investigation, ISP said.
Spokane
Blaze damages auto repair shop
Fire damaged a north Spokane auto repair shop early Sunday.
Cause of the 6:26 a.m. blaze at Golden Rule Brakes, 625 N. Monroe St., was under investigation by the Spokane Fire Department. No injuries were reported, but the blaze caused an estimated $20,000 damage before being extinguished.
Firefighters could see smoke coming from the roof when they arrived at the scene. Holes had to be cut in the roof to ventilate heat and toxic gases that had built up inside the building, Battalion Chief Ken Kirsch said in a news release. Crews had the blaze under control within 30 minutes.
Most of the fire damage was confined to a room at the east end of the building, but smoke and water damage is more widespread, officials said.
Thirty-three firefighters and 11 trucks battled the blaze.
Tacoma
3 snowboarders’ bodies found
Searchers have found the bodies of three snowboarders missing since early December in the Cascades near Crystal Mountain, a ski area northeast of Mount Rainier in the Cascade Range.
Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer tells the New Tribune of Tacoma that friends of the three took advantage of melting snow and searched Saturday in the area where they disappeared.
Law enforcement officials planned to airlift the bodies from the remote site Sunday.
The three missing men were 26-year-old Kevin Carter, 29-year-old Devlin Williams, and 41-year-old Phillip Hollins, all of the Seattle area.
Autopsies have not been performed, but searchers theorize the three were killed by an avalanche. Heavy, wet snow caused dozens of avalanches in the area last year.
Search teams covered the area without success for a week after the victims disappeared, but Troyer said avalanches covered up much of the terrain, and further searches posed dangers to the search parties.
Idaho Falls
Boy Scout molester out of prison
A former eastern Idaho Boy Scout camp counselor who acknowledged molesting at least two dozen youngsters since 1988 was released from prison earlier this month and is living in Boise.
Bradley Stowell, 36, served three years of his 2- to 14-year-sentence after being sent back to prison in 2005 for a probation violation.
He was originally arrested July 11, 1997 at Camp Little Lemhi in Swan Valley after two brothers filed complaints.
Stowell’s molestations have had far-reaching effects, with the state Legislature passing several laws championed by the family of the abused brothers, Adam and Ben Steed, to boost sentences and expand victims’ rights. The former head of the Grand Teton Council resigned in 2006 after criticism he ignored warnings about abuse in Stowell’s past and acted too late.
The Idaho Commission on Pardons and Parole signed off on Stowell’s release June 2.
Puyallup, Wash.
Red light cameras catch 2,165
The City of Puyallup has issued 2,165 tickets to people who ran red lights in May. The tickets are for violations caught on camera.
Because each tickets includes a fine of $124, the total amount owed to the city is $268,460. But Puyallup officials don’t expect the red-light cameras to be a money maker over time. Acting city attorney Cheryl Carlson says the red-light camera program is expected to break even over time.
About $30,000 of the ticket fees will pay the private contractor that runs the automated cameras. Other fines will go down after court hearings. And city officials expect to issue fewer tickets as drivers get used to the cameras.
From staff and wire reports