In brief: Sweepers on I-90 don’t give peas a chance
A semitruck’s lost load of legumes stopped traffic on westbound Interstate 90 Friday afternoon.
The truck hauling dried peas lost multiple boxes on the roadway just east of the Freya Street overpass at about 3 p.m., according to a news release. The peas covered two lanes of traffic.
Washington State Patrol street sweepers were summoned and the roads were soon clear, according to a news release.
Night blaze damages Spokane Valley church
A fire damaged the outside and attic of a Spokane Valley church Friday night.
The blaze appeared to start outside the building and spread to the attic at Berean Bible Church, 10910 E. Boone Ave., said Andy Hail, deputy operations chief of the Spokane Valley Fire Department. No one was in the building.
There was no obvious sign of foul play, he said.
Damage was confined to an overflow area, so regular services in the main auditorium likely will be unaffected, Hail said.
New strike date given in hospitals dispute
Unionized nurses and health care workers are threatening a one-day strike of Deaconess and Valley hospitals Dec. 4 unless a new labor agreement is reached.
The sides have been negotiating for much of the year.
Service Employees International Union 1199NW announced the potential strike deadline in its latest push to increase staffing levels at the two hospitals.
The hospitals, both owned by Community Health Systems Inc., have said they have contingency plans to keep the hospitals open in case of a strike.
Chase leads to arrest in burglary, car thefts
Authorities have arrested a man suspected of burglarizing a Spokane Valley home while the homeowners slept inside, then separately stealing two cars.
Washington State Patrol stopped Matthew Horpel, 26, on Thursday, according to a news release. As the trooper approached the vehicle, Horpel sped away, leading WSP on a short pursuit before he was taken into custody.
Horpel had a driver’s license belonging to the female victim of a burglary near the 3700 block of South Ridgeway Drive, the release said. Horpel told detectives Friday that he entered the home Wednesday through unlocked garage doors and stole a telescope and a purse as well as two laptop computers, according to the news release.
He also told a Spokane County sheriff’s detective that he stole the residents’ car, later giving it to Woodrow Bearchild, 28, and Alisa Adams, 33, according to the news release. Later in the Garland district, he stole a Mazda MX3 he said was running and unattended, he told detectives.
Spokane police found Bearchild and Adams driving the stolen vehicle near Carlisle Avenue and Hamilton Street and arrested them.
Pediatric clinic to join Providence Health Care
A Spokane Valley pediatric clinic will join Providence Health Care’s network of providers next year.
Valley Young People’s Clinic, with its six pediatricians and three nurse practitioners, will join Providence Medical Group, a physician services wing of the massive organization that also owns Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Holy Family Hospital. The change is effective Jan. 1, according to a Providence news release.
The clinic has offices in Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake and has been treating children for more than 36 years, the release said.
Judy Felgenhauer, a pediatric oncologist and clinical lead for PMG Pediatrics, calls the clinic a “vital new partner for Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital” in the release.
Many providers over the past few years have affiliated either with Providence or its competitor, Community Health Systems, owner of Deaconess and Valley hospitals.