Region in brief: Man may have talked about crash earlier

The man accused of driving his mother’s sport utility vehicle into the Spokane County Jail garage door talked about planning a similar incident days earlier, according to court documents.

Dustin P. Leeds, 31, told a resident at Oak Hill, a group home for people with mental illness, “that he was going to steal his mother’s car and drive it into the courthouse.”

On Sunday, police say, Leeds drove a Lincoln Navigator through a parking lot, over a curb and around a barrier protecting an overhead door leading to the jail booking area.

Leeds told a deputy that he drove the Navigator into the jail “because everyone was crazy and he wanted someone to listen to him,” according to a court documents.

Leeds remained in jail Monday after appearing in Spokane County Superior Court via video on charges of car theft, malicious mischief and reckless endangerment.

Ski resort schedules weekend reopening

Lookout Pass, which opened for the ski and snowboarding season over the weekend, will close during the week and reopen Friday for the weekend.

The resort’s regular Thursday through Monday operations will commence on Thanksgiving, a Lookout Pass news release said.

When it opened Friday, Lookout became the first of the five Inland Northwest resorts to launch its season. Other resorts also anticipate earlier than normal opening days, managers said.

Microsoft co-founder treated for lymphoma

SEATTLE – Microsoft Corp. co-founder and billionaire investor Paul Allen has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and is undergoing chemotherapy.

In a memo sent to employees, Jody Allen, Paul Allen’s sister and the CEO of his investment firm Vulcan Inc., said the 56-year-old received the diagnosis early this month. According to the memo, Paul Allen has diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a relatively common form of lymphoma.

Allen battled another form of immune system cancer, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, more than 20 years ago and survived. The CEO wrote that Allen “is optimistic he can beat this, too.”

Allen founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, a high school friend and fellow computer enthusiast, in 1975. He served as the company’s executive vice president of research and new product development until 1983, when he left to focus on his health.

Allen remained a major shareholder and member of the board, and went on to invest broadly in technology, real estate, sports and the arts.

Allen also bought football’s Seattle Seahawks and basketball’s Portland Trailblazers, and he is part owner of the Seattle Sounders FC, a major league soccer team. At last count, Allen’s net worth totaled about $11.5 billion, making him the 17th richest person in the world according to Forbes’ September 2009 tally.

Volunteer searchers helped find hurt hiker

Volunteer searchers are being credited for locating a missing hiker early Sunday after she injured her ankle along a Riverside State Park trail.

Toni Sneva was found about 4 a.m. Sunday after she failed to show up for a hockey game in Spokane on Saturday night, police said.

Family members called the Spokane Police Department, and officers checked locations where she might have gone. A friend found her vehicle near Nine Mile Falls Dam.

A search over three square miles included a sheriff’s helicopter, 30 volunteers, the American Red Cross, medical personnel and Liberty Lake police. A school at Nine Mile was used as a command post.

Sneva, who was wearing lightweight clothing, had injured her ankle and couldn’t walk. Her cell phone could not make a connection.

Beating suspects in jail after attack outside bar

Two Post Falls men are in Kootenai County Jail today after being arrested in connection with a beating and robbery outside a bar in Post Falls last week.

Jacobe J. Blake and Michael A. Butts were arrested Thursday and have been booked on charges of aggravated battery and robbery. In addition, Butts was charged with felony drug possession after officers found a plastic bag in his wallet containing methamphetamine, Post Falls police said Monday.

They are being held on $100,000 bond.

Sgt. Dave Beck said in a news release that the robbery victim at Bob’s 21 Club, 212 E. Seltice Way, was seeking a ride home from two men when they severely beat him and robbed him of $160.