In brief: Holiday affects several services
Today’s Presidents Day holiday will affect the following services:
• Federal, state and most local government offices will be closed. City of Spokane offices will be open.
• Post offices will be closed.
• Many banks are closed.
• Parking meters in downtown Spokane don’t need to be plugged.
• All Spokane County Library District facilities will be closed, as will those in Coeur d’Alene and Kootenai County. Spokane Public Library branches will operate on their normal schedule.
• Most state-run liquor stores will be open normal hours in Washington and Idaho.
• Riverfront Park attractions will be open.
• Garbage service will not be affected.
• Tuesday is the next furlough day for state employees. Most state agencies will be closed to reduce budget shortfalls.
Second megaload held up for a day
LEWISTON – The second of four oversize loads of ConocoPhillips oil refinery equipment making its way across Idaho on U.S. Highway 12 remained stationary for a day so crews could perform routine maintenance.
The shipment remained near Kooskia but was expected to start moving again late Sunday on a 30-mile leg that will end sometime this morning, according to the Idaho Department of Transportation.
Boy flies off sled, fatally hit by car
SNOQUALMIE PASS, Wash. – A 7-year-old Kent boy died Saturday after he flew off his sled into a roadway and was struck by a passing car.
Lt. Scott Martin of the Washington State Patrol said the accident occurred Saturday afternoon at the Hyak Sno-Park at Snoqualmie Pass.
Jacob D. Ponce-Espinoza was sledding down a hill but wasn’t able to stop before entering traffic on state Route 906. A Bellevue man driving a Toyota Camry struck the child, the Seattle Times reported.
The boy was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and died at about 4 p.m.
Woman suspected of kidnapping girls
Thirty-five-year-old Emily Ward, of Coeur d’Alene, was taken into custody Thursday, the Coeur d’Alene Press reported.
Rathdrum police Chief Kevin Fuhr said Ward on Tuesday went to Lakeland Junior High and ordered the girls into her car after finding out the girls knew her children.
Police questioned Ward on Wednesday after she was seen driving near an elementary school, and she received a warning for trespassing.
She was taken into custody Thursday after Kootenai County prosecutors reviewed the case.
Missing dog found 715 miles away
TACOMA – A 2-year-old dog that disappeared near Sacramento, Calif., has been reunited with his owner after turning up 715 miles away near Tacoma.
Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County’s Marguerite Richmond said the owner was overjoyed when he picked up Bear on Saturday morning.
Bryan Rapozo, of Rio Linda, Calif., told the News Tribune of Tacoma his dog disappeared Tuesday afternoon.
A woman found the 20-pound Patterdale terrier roaming in Lakewood, Wash., and turned him in Thursday to the Humane Society. The agency was able to scan Bear’s microchip and track down his owner.
Agency officials say the dog probably traveled the distance in somebody’s vehicle.