Region in brief: Envision retracts its legal threat
The group leading an effort to amend Spokane’s city charter says it is unlikely to challenge the city’s decision to ask voters additional questions about its proposal.
Envision Spokane threatened legal action against the City Council last week as members considered adding ballot wording to ask residents if they prefer raising taxes or fees, or cutting services, to pay for the group’s proposed Community Bill of Rights.
Supporters say it would cost the city little or nothing to implement the nine rights. They argue that the council, by adding the two questions, will discourage voters from supporting the charter change.
Council members, who believe the rights will add a financial burden to the budget, revised their questions to ask if taxes or fees should be raised “as needed” and if services should be cut “as needed.”
Victim’s girlfriend sought in stabbing
Police are looking for the girlfriend of a Spokane man they say was stabbed in his neck, face and head Monday.
Roxanne Cloud, 27, is considered a “person of interest” in the stabbing, which was reported to police by the man’s mother, Officer Kevin King said.
Officers responded just after 4 p.m. to the 1400 block of West Boone Avenue, where they found the victim, described by King as uncooperative.
“He had tried to wash off the blood before police arrived,” King said.
Police said the stabbing occurred nearby in the 1100 block of North Walnut Street.
The man denies his girlfriend stabbed him, but police hope to talk to Cloud about what happened.
Officers planned to search the Walnut address Monday night, King said.
Woman to pay fraud restitution
A Spokane woman who defrauded the Idaho Medicaid program of more than $200,000 will spend 2 1/2 years in prison.
Candace J. Elmer, 53, operated a psychosocial rehabilitation center, Behavioral Intervention Services, which illegally billed Medicaid for services Elmer didn’t provide or wasn’t authorized to provide, according to federal court documents.
The fraud began in November 2002, according to court documents. Elmer and her boyfriend, John C. Knudson Jr., were charged in federal court in November 2007. Knudson accepted a plea deal that is sealed in federal court records, but Elmer’s former attorney wrote in court documents that she was upset her sentence was harsher than Knudson’s.
U.S District Judge Edward Lodge ordered Elmer to pay $217,000 in restitution at her sentencing Thursday, which he called a “conservative” estimate of her fraud’s cost, according to a news release.
Man sentenced for child pornography
A former Spokesman-Review employee received a 12-month suspended sentence Monday when he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of possessing child pornography.
Zachary L. Likarich, 31, was charged in 2007 with 21 counts of possessing child pornography that investigators said he obtained while working as an online marketing developer for the company.
Likarich was fired from The Spokesman-Review Jan. 22, 2007, the same day his supervisor and an attorney contacted police after reviewing the contents of a computer that had been assigned to Likarich.
Superior Court Judge Michael Price sentenced Likarich to a 12-month suspended sentence, meaning he won’t serve any time in prison if he completes the conditions imposed by the court.
The sentence also includes three years supervision by the state Department of Corrections, and he must register as a sex offender.
Anglers can pay to fish with two poles
Beginning Saturday, anglers will have the option of using two fishing poles on most of Washington’s 8,000 lakes.
Using two poles will cost $20 extra, or $5 for seniors. Anglers must have a valid recreational fishing license. Revenue generated from the two-pole fees will help pay for the state’s fish hatcheries.
All other fishing regulations, including daily limits, still apply.
About 145 lakes were excluded from the two-pole option, including Amber, Bear, Medical and North Silver lakes in Spokane County. For a complete list of excluded lakes, visit http://wdfw.wa. gov/licensing/twopole/. Rivers, streams and saltwater areas are also excluded.
The Legislature authorized the two-pole program this year. Public comments on the program will be accepted in September.
Olympian’s ride will promote bike trail
North Idaho bicyclists will have a chance to ride with an Olympic gold medalist Saturday and raise money for the North Idaho Centennial Trail system in the process.
Olympian Kristin Armstrong has been traversing the state this summer, participating in Blue Cruise of Idaho, a series of four biking events that promote health and fitness. Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health is the sponsor.
The Coeur d’Alene event follows rides in Twin Falls, Meridian and Pocatello and includes rides of 15, 35 and 62 miles. It starts and ends at North Idaho College, where a wellness fair and bike safety rodeo will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The rides start between 8 and 10:30 a.m. with music and a picnic at the end.
Riders can pre-register for $30 at www.blue cruiseidaho.com/Coeur- dAlene, or can register beginning at 7 a.m. Saturday for $35.
Ex-sheriff may get out of prison soon
A former Idaho sheriff who helped cover up a burglary while still in office could be free in five months.
Former Nez Perce County Sheriff Jim Dorion was sentenced Monday to five years in prison with eligibility for parole after two, but Second District Judge John Stegner retained jurisdiction over the case. That means Dorion will undergo counseling at a corrections center, and the staff there will recommend within 150 days if he should go to prison. Stegner will make the final ruling.
Dorion pleaded guilty in May to one felony charge of accessory to a crime for helping a man responsible for three burglaries elude capture.
He was removed as sheriff by the county last year after disappearing while on a 90-day medical leave.
He was arrested in Louisiana in March.