In brief: Drug Court wins $975,000 grant

Spokane County’s Drug Court has been awarded a grant of nearly $1 million to handle 80 more participants over three years.

Drug Court will receive $975,000 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, county spokeswoman Martha Lou Wheatley-Billeter said in a news release.

Drug Court is designed to put offenders into a diversion program that provides them with tools to beat their drug habits, preventing further crime and expensive jail stays. The goal of the grant is to improve treatment and completion rates, the release said.

Thomas Clouse

Nine stolen vehicles found, man arrested

Spokane police recovered nine stolen vehicles Monday and charged one man with 14 felonies.

Hector Martinez, 31, was charged with 10 counts of theft of a motor vehicle and four counts of first-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission. Police said the 14 vehicles were all stolen this month.

Officers saw Martinez driving a green 1997 Acura Integra in northeast Spokane, where several cars were recently reported stolen. He dropped off property at a house and then parked the vehicle a few blocks away, the release said. Police arrested Martinez after he fled on foot.

The owner of the vehicle was unaware it had been stolen from a parking lot at 777 E. Magnesium Road, where officers also located a stolen red 1990 Acura Integra.

“For the rest of the day officers were tracking down stolen cars spread throughout the city,” the release said. The end total was five Acuras and four Hondas that officers recovered and returned to owners.

Jennifer Pignolet

Carriage rides start Friday downtown

Traditional holiday horse-and-carriage rides in downtown Spokane will begin Friday.

The free rides, sponsored by Spokane Teachers Credit Union, will be offered Fridays from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., according to an STCU news release. Saturdays and Sundays they’ll run from noon to 5 p.m., leaving from the corner of Wall Street and Main Avenue.

Free carriage rides will begin Dec. 1 in downtown Coeur d’Alene and will leave from First Street and Sherman Avenue on Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m.

The rides will continue through Dec. 23.

Staff report