Idaho customers’ Avista rates to rise
A collection of four rate adjustments will have Idaho customers of Avista Utilities paying an average of 1.5 percent more per month for electricity and 1.2 percent more for natural gas this fall, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission announced Friday.
Two of the adjustments will increase rates and two will lower them, resulting in the final numbers. The adjustments are effective Aug. 1.
The average residential electric customer, using about 1,000 kilowatt hours per month, will see their monthly electric bill rise by 98 cents, to $80.90, the commission said in a news release. The average gas customer who uses 65 therms per month will see their monthly bill rise by 91 cents, to $73.88.
Driver killed on Maple Street
A man in his 50s died Friday after veering off a busy road in his car, driving into a yard and smashing into a tree a northwest Spokane neighborhood.
The man, who was not identified, was northbound on Maple Street about 4 p.m., when his white sedan left the roadway to the left, between Longfellow and Heroy avenues, said Spokane police Officer Brian Eckersley.
The car drove onto the sidewalk and through a yard before striking a tree. The man was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Eckersley said.
It is unclear why the man left the roadway, officials said.
Video shows men robbing store
Two men smashed through the door of a Spokane Valley convenience store Friday, stealing beer and cigarettes and leaving blood on the broken glass and floor.
Valley police found packs of Marlboro cigarettes scattered outside the Tesoro gas station at 14704 E. Sprague about 12:38 a.m. after responding to an alarm.
Surveillance video shows two men in their early 20s smashing the glass with a rock and grabbing beer and cigarettes, police said.
The first man was described as white, 6 feet tall and 160 pounds with short brown hair, according to police. He wore a green shirt with white stars and dark shorts.
The second man was white, about 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds, police said. He had black hair and a goatee and wore green plaid shorts, black shoes and a gray baseball cap.
Officials seize Indian artifacts
TACOMA – Officers from the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have seized scores of artifacts from an antique dealer in Tacoma because they believe the items were stolen.
Tribal police Lt. Todd Wescott said authorities have a suspect and they expect him to turn himself in soon.
The items were scheduled to go on auction. The auctioneer, Alan Gorsuch of Sanford & Son Antiques, said he believed he bought the baskets, photographs and other Native American items from a representative of the owner, 88-year-old Ramona Hawthorne, who is the daughter of a Puyallup tribe leader from a century ago.
The News Tribune of Tacoma reports Gorsuch said he bought the items from the son of Hawthorne’s legal guardians.