In brief: Airborne trampoline clips power to 11,000

Thousands of Avista customers in North Spokane lost power about 4 p.m. Saturday after a trampoline blew onto an electrical substation that serves that area, according to Avista officials.

At one point, about 11,000 people were without power, said Communications Manager Debbie Simock. At 10 p.m. 48 were still without power, but Simock said all customers would have power by 11 p.m.

Scattered showers and lightning hit areas around Spokane and Coeur d’Alene Saturday evening and likely caused the gust that picked up the trampoline.

The storms stretched from West Plains all the way out to north Coeur d’Alene and up to Bayview and Sandpoint.

Bloomsday runners need not despair, however; today is still expected to be clear and dry as a high-pressure ridge enters the area.

“We’re not expecting much in the way of showers or thunderstorms,” meteorologist Steven Van Horn said of the Bloomsday forecast.

The next chance for precipitation is on Monday.

Chelsea Bannach

Animal shelter seeks to replace medicine

A refrigerator at the Kootenai Humane Society in Hayden was accidentally left open recently, causing a number of expensive veterinary medicines to spoil.

The nonprofit organization is asking for the public’s help replacing the expensive medicines, including rabies vaccines and other dog and cat vaccines.

“These are expensive to replace, and we have no choice but to replace them,” Executive Director Rondi Renaldo said in an email.

The Kootenai Humane Society houses about 80 dogs and 120 cats and cannot wait to replace the medicine, Renaldo said.

All donations are tax-deductible. To make a donation, call (208) 699-4844.

Chelsea Bannach