In brief: Brent Regan joins CdA school board
The Coeur d’Alene School Board has appointed a medical device engineer and entrepreneur to fill a vacancy on the five-member board.
Brent Regan is founder and president of Regan Designs, which specializes in electromechanical products for the medical, aerospace and other industries.
Regan has been active with local conservative causes, including Tea Party Patriots of North Idaho and opposition to federally mandated health care exchanges. He also was an advocate of an effort earlier this year to place on the ballot a recall vote for Coeur d’Alene’s mayor and half of the City Council – an effort that fell short of the needed number of resident signatures.
Regan is married with three children and has lived in Idaho since 1999. He replaces Trustee Jim Purtee, who recently resigned because of a health issue.
Theft suspects arrested in cabin
A man wanted on theft charges in Minnesota was caught over the weekend by Pend Oreille County authorities after he was found hiding in a cabin near Bead Lake with his girlfriend, according to a Pend Oreille County sheriff’s news release.
Deputies learned last week Justin L. Feldt, 32, and Jessie A. Pechia, 26, were possibly on their way to Bead Lake, about 10 miles north of Newport, Wash. Deputies found an abandoned vehicle that matched his vehicle’s description and began canvassing nearby summer homes.
They also learned a small rowboat had been stolen nearby and they believed it was used to visit the other side of the lake only accessible by boat or an all-terrain vehicle, according to the news release.
Deputies borrowed an ATV from Idaho authorities and drove it to the lake cabin, where they found Feldt and Pechia. They were arrested Saturday on local burglary, firearm, theft and obstruction charges and the additional out-of-state warrants from Minnesota.
Passenger train delay extended by slide
EVERETT – Freight train traffic has resumed on a stretch of rail south of Everett that was hit by a mudslide that derailed a freight train. However, a fresh mudslide has extended a moratorium on passenger train traffic in the area.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman Gus Melonas said freight traffic restarted late Tuesday afternoon after crews worked through the night to rerail one of the derailed freight cars.
Melonas said another slide hit shortly before 6 a.m. Tuesday in the same area. That means a 48-hour safety moratorium for Amtrak and Sound Transit Sounder passenger trains has been extended until Thursday morning. The moratorium affects passenger train traffic between Seattle and Everett.