In brief: Mayoral candidates to debate at forum

Spokane voters can get an early look at their choices for mayor tonight at a candidate forum focused on issues concerning environmentally friendly businesses.

Four of the five candidates for mayor will be at the forum sponsored by Sustainable Resources INW, a nonprofit that assists businesses to make changes to save money while helping the environment, said Susanne Croft, executive director of the organization.

Incumbent Mary Verner, David Condon, Mike Noder and Barbara Lampert will participate. Robert Kroboth has said he won’t participate in any candidate debate.

Croft, who worked as Verner’s sustainability coordinator in 2008, will moderate the debate.

The hourlong forum will start at 6 p.m. at the Community Building, 35 W. Main Ave.

Jonathan Brunt

Schools chief recall effort comes up short

BOISE – An effort to recall Idaho’s Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna over his controversial school-reform legislation has failed, with backers falling well short of the 158,000-plus signatures needed by Monday to force a special election in August.

Morgan Hill, campaign manager, said, “It’s not that we didn’t have support for it. I think that people all over the state were looking to sign a recall petition. But a lot of people didn’t have access to us; they didn’t know about it.”

Luna, in a statement, said the legislation “has always been about reforming education so we can educate more students at a higher level with limited resources. Opponents of the laws have tried to make it personal.”

The laws still are targeted for possible repeal in a referendum in November 2012; that signature drive succeeded.

Betsy Z. Russell

Surveillance video leads to arrest

A suspect in a burglary at a Spokane law office Monday was identified after police recognized him while reviewing surveillance video.

Brian Farrell Jones Jr., 31, was booked into jail for the burglary at Keith Douglass & Associates, 1321 W. Broadway Ave.

Police responded to an alarm just after 3 a.m. and obtained the video surveillance.

Officers contacted Jones at his apartment, where they recovered items stolen in the burglary, according to Spokane police.

Jones was arrested in April for a burglary at the Spokane Club, but the charge was dismissed. Now he’s back in jail on a new charge of second-degree burglary.

Meghann M. Cuniff