In brief: Valley councilman resigns for new job

Spokane Valley City Councilman Steve Taylor will resign June 30 to become city administrator of Connell, Wash.

Taylor, 33, has been on the council since Spokane Valley became a city in 2003.

He said he was laid off last month as vice president of corporate development for HuntMountain Resources, a Liberty Lake precious-metals exploration company.

Connell, population 3,190, is about 37 miles north of the Tri-Cities. Under the city’s strong-mayor form of government, Taylor will answer to Mayor Gary Walton.

Taylor has also worked as the government affairs director for the Spokane Home Builders Association and a field representative for U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt.

John Craig

Whitworth to offer classes at Riverpoint

Whitworth University announced Wednesday that it will begin offering courses in Spokane’s University District east of downtown next fall.

The private university in north Spokane will offer a bachelor’s degree in organizational management and general education courses on the second floor of the Sirti Building, 665 N. Riverpoint Blvd.

The courses will be offered in an accelerated format geared toward nontraditional students who want to attend classes at night.

“Offering courses in the University District will give working adults access to our student-centered, high-quality academic programs closer to their homes or workplaces,” said Terry Ratcliff, Whitworth’s dean of continuing studies.

From staff reports

Reward offered for robbery arrest

The company that makes OxyContin is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in Tuesday’s gunpoint robbery at a north Spokane Walgreens.

Surveillance photos released Wednesday show a young man in a blue and white hat walking into the pharmacy at 2105 E. Wellesley Ave. about 5:02 p.m.

Police say the man pointed a handgun at an employee and left with OxyContin. The man in the photos had black hair and black goatee and wore dark pants, white tennis shoes and a dark, unzipped jacket.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (509) 327-5111 or submit tips online at www.crimestoppers inlandnorthwest.org.

Meghann M. Cuniff

Comments accepted on proposed MLK Way

The Spokane Plan Commission is accepting public comments about a proposal to name the planned extension of Riverside Avenue east of downtown Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

The city has debated several proposals to name streets after King over the past two decades. Those efforts have failed, in part, because of opposition from businesses that argued they would be harmed by having to change addresses.

But supporters hope that because the new plan would name a new street, opposition will be light. The extension would connect the downtown Riverside, which won’t be renamed, to Trent Avenue via a route that would go under the Hamilton Street bridge.

Comments can be e-mailed to Tami Palmquist at tpalmquist@ spokanecity.org until June 26.

From staff reports