In brief: Panhandle Health District offering first wave of flu shots

The Panhandle Health District is offering flu vaccines for children and older adults at two clinics in Hayden next week.

Children can receive the vaccine on Thursday from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., and people older than 64 can receive a high-dose vaccine on Friday from 1:30 to 4 p.m. at the PHD office, 8500 N. Atlas Road.

The regular adult vaccine will not be available at the Hayden location this year but is offered at pharmacies throughout the area and PHD locations in Benewah, Bonner, Shoshone and Boundary counties.

Flu shots for children cost $10. The high-dose vaccine, which is designed to create stronger immune response than the regular adult vaccine, costs $55. Cash, checks, Medicaid and Medicare Part B are accepted.

Special clinics for flu vaccine will continue through October, the first month of flu season. After October, the health district will provide flu vaccine by appointment.

Transient carrying machete arrested for alleged attack

A man wielding a machete attacked several people Friday night in Coeur d’Alene, police say.

Police responded to a 10:30 p.m. report of a fight involving a machete at 710 N. 21st St., a news release from the Coeur d’Alene Police Department said.

When they arrived, the man with the machete was gone, but subsequent calls reported a man waving a machete on the 2100 block of Front Street. The attacker had held the machete to the throat of one man and chased another man with it, the release said.

Officers swept the area, and using a stun gun they apprehended a suspect, Kenneth “Randy” Randal Smith, 38, in the area of 23rd Street and Mullan Avenue.

Smith, a transient, is in Kootenai County Jail awaiting charges including felony aggravated battery, felony aggravated assault, resisting an officer, malicious injury to property and driving under the influence.