In brief: CdA taps Arizona officer as its next police chief

The assistant police chief in Mesa, Arizona, has been named the new chief of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.

Lee R. White will assume the post Sept. 2. The Coeur d’Alene City Council voted Tuesday night to offer him the job.

White succeeds Wayne Longo, who retired last fall. Capt. Ron Clark has served as interim chief.

In Mesa, White oversaw the department’s $157 million budget and was responsible for members of the investigations bureau.

“He is a respected police officer with a high degree of integrity and proven leadership,” Coeur d’Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer said in a written statement Thursday.

Scott Maben

Yard debris from storms taken through Sunday

The city of Spokane’s offer to accept debris from recent strong storms free of charge ends Sunday.

Storm waste is accepted at the Waste-to-Energy Plant or the region’s two transfer stations. Waste must be green yard debris, such as branches, and cannot include logs, roofing, vinyl fencing, or other similar materials. Commercial landscaping businesses are not eligible.

Almost 350 people have dropped off more than 85 tons of storm debris, the city reported in a news release. The bulk of that waste was taken to the North County Transfer Station, 22123 N. Elk-Chattaroy Road. The Waste-to-Energy Plant is at 2900 S. Geiger Blvd., and the Valley Transfer Station is at 3941 N. Sullivan Road.

Staff report

State finds traces of PCBs in consumer products

Trace amounts of long-banned PCBs still are found in many consumer products, according to a recent Washington Department of Ecology study.

Polychlorinated biphenyls were present in 49 of 68 products tested by the state, results released Thursday indicated.

The study focused on paper products, paints, dyes, caulking, printer ink and packaging.

PCBs were banned in 1979, but they are often produced as a byproduct of the manufacturing process, Alex Stone, lead chemist on the project, said in a news release. Although concentrations are low, they add up to “significant releases to the environment.”

PCBs are found in almost every body of water in the state. They are high enough in the Spokane River to require a cleanup plan. The toxins affect the immune, reproductive and nervous systems in humans, and hormone regulation. They’ve also been linked to cancer in animals.

The testing will help state agencies comply with a new law requiring them to purchase PCB-free products.

Becky Kramer