In brief: Labrador opted out of Boehner event
Idaho GOP Congressman Raul Labrador is disputing published reports that he wasn’t invited to a fundraiser for House Speaker John Boehner set for Friday in Coeur d’Alene. “I was invited four weeks ago,” Labrador said. “They keep inviting me, they keep wanting me to go, but just, for me it was a bad weekend.”
He said he made a flight reservation just in case he was able to make it to the event in his district with the country’s top Republican.
The fundraiser had originally been planned for Pullman but was moved to Coeur d’Alene.
Eastern Washington’s U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the third-ranking Republican in the House, is attending to help raise funds for GOP candidates.
The law enforcement officers involved in the fatal shooting of a Montana motorist near Lookout Pass last week have been identified as Shoshone County Deputy Adam Durflinger and Idaho State Trooper Todd McDevitt.
Both men have been interviewed as part of the ongoing investigation. McDevitt has been with the Idaho State Police for a decade. Durflinger has been with Shoshone County for a year.
Alexander L. Mandarino, 26, of Whitefish, Mont., was shot and killed during a struggle over a gun June 12, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, which is handling the investigation.
Around noon that day, Durflinger went to check on the welfare of a motorist parked in an eastbound turnout about 2 miles west of the Idaho-Montana border. McDevitt stopped to assist.
Men held, accused of hitting patrol cars
Spokane police arrested two men suspected of stealing a car and using it to ram a police car near the corner of Mission Avenue and Hamilton Street on Tuesday night.
Police found Douglas J. Farmer, aka Daniel J. Maddock, 23, driving a stolen white 1996 Acura Integra. When officers attempted to block the car, Farmer panicked, according to a police report. He accelerated and collided with a patrol car head-on in an attempt to flee. He then accelerated backward, nearly hitting an officer but instead crashing into an unmarked patrol car.
Farmer accelerated again, this time hitting a bystander’s truck. He then accelerated one final time and slammed into a patrol car. Farmer fled on foot while his passenger, Brandon Mellon, 23, stayed inside the vehicle.
Mellon told officers he “sort of” knows Farmer from prison about seven years ago. Mellon referred to Farmer as “Tweak.”
Farmer’s bail is set at $50,000. He has 14 felony convictions. Mellon has nine.
Police have suspect in bank robbery
Spokane police announced they caught a bank robber Wednesday – a man named Lucky Guzman who’s already sitting in the local jail on drug charges.
The 29-year-old now is suspected in the April holdup at Wells Fargo on 2910 E. 30th Ave.
Police said they used tips and witnesses to search Guzman’s home and found evidence linking him to the crime.
Police investigate report of explosives
Spokane police closed a nine-block radius around East Sprague Avenue on Wednesday after someone reported a home in the area may have explosives inside.
At about 5:40 p.m., police responded to a call that there was dynamite in a home on the 1800 block of East First Avenue.
Sgt. Dean Sprague said officers knew of at least one small explosive in the home. Officers called the Explosive Disposal Unit to investigate.
Sprague said the occupants of the home cooperated when officers arrived.
Comments sought on mining cleanup
Mining waste in the Coeur d’Alene Basin affects more than people: Heavy metals in the environment have also taken a toll on plants, fish and other wildlife.
Local residents can have a voice in shaping cleanup projects specifically aimed at restoring the basin’s natural resources. Public meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, at the Best Western Coeur d’Alene Inn, 506 W. Appleway, Coeur d’Alene; and June 27, at the Rose Creek Longhouse in Worley. Both meetings run from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The Coeur d’Alene Basin Natural Resources Trustees will accept comments through Aug. 12. They can be submitted to www.restorationpartnership.org or sent to: Restoration Partnership, 424 Sherman Ave., Suite 306, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814.
The natural resource trustees include three federal agencies, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the state of Idaho.