In brief: Teens in deadly crash identified
Grant County sheriff’s deputies have identified the two Soap Lake teens involved in fatal car crash Feb. 19.
Authorities responded to the crash on County Road 20-NE near Soap Lake about 5:49 a.m. Sheila Rosenberg, 17, was declared dead at the scene. The other teen, Pavel Turchik, 17, is in critical condition at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, said Sheriff Tom Jones.
Both Rosenberg and Turchik were ejected from the vehicle, a 2001 Pontiac Sunfire, when it left the road and struck a driveway culvert.
Deputies do not know who was driving and are still investigating the crash, Jones said. They believe alcohol and speed were factors, and neither occupant was wearing a seat belt, police said.
Fire destroys storage locker contents
Spokane Valley firefighters responded to a blaze that started in a storage facility about 2:30 p.m. today.
No one was injured in the fire at 19312 E. Nora Lane, but the contents of the storage facility were a total loss, said Bill Clifford, assistant fire marshal with the Spokane Valley Fire Department. The estimated loss is $150,000 or more, he said. The fire caused some of the storage facility’s contents to explode. The storage facility was about 2,100 square feet.
Investigators were still determining the cause of the fire Friday night, but don’t believe it was intentionally set.
Though the fire did not spread to any of the adjacent manufactured homes, two sustained heat damage on the outside, Clifford said.
Steele change of venue denied
A federal judge in Idaho has denied a request to move a murder-for-hire trial to Wyoming.
While Edgar Steele’s case has received media attention, defense lawyers Robert McAllister and Gary Amendola have not shown that the area is “saturated” with prejudicial publicity about the alleged crimes, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled Friday.
If it becomes impossible to find an impartial jury in North Idaho, the trial will be moved to Pocatello or Boise, Winmill said.
Steele, a self-described “attorney for the damned” who defended the Aryan Nations, is accused of hiring a hit man turned FBI informant to kill his wife, Cyndi Steele. Prosecutors say he was involved with another woman overseas.
In a statement, Cyndi Steele says she knew of the woman, who she says was contacted by her husband as part of his work to stop human trafficking.
The trial is set to begin March 7.
Sex offender accused of molesting
A $250,000 arrest warrant has been issued for a registered sex offender accused of molesting a young girl.
Glenn E. Sapp, 51, is wanted on several charges after an acquaintance to whom he sold a computer discovered sexually explicit videos and photos of Sapp and the girl.
Investigators also obtained a memory card from a camera stolen from Sapp’s home in the 10100 block of East Main Avenue that contained 223 photos and 49 videos of a sexually explicit nature.
Sapp is a level 1 sex offender after being convicted in Chelan County in 1999 of possessing child pornography.
Sapp is charged with first-degree child molestation, first-degree child rape, sexual exploitation of a minor and first-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Forum to address civility, democracy
Is civility necessary in a democracy?
Scholars from around the nation will attempt to answer that question and many others at a Spokane forum next week.
The Thomas S. Foley Institute at Washington State University, in partnership with Humanities Washington and the Idaho Humanities Council, will present the forum, “Civility and Democracy in America,” with the support of a $212,000 grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities.
The event will open with a reception at the Davenport Hotel at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, followed by the forum from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday at WSU Spokane, Phase I Classroom Building Auditorium (room 122) on the Riverpoint Campus.
The reception and forum are free.