In brief: Thief steals stained glass windows, Bible from Spokane church

Spokane police are seeking a thief who made off with five stained glass windows from All Saints Lutheran Church on Sunday.

The windows were specially made for the church in 1911 and are part of a series of eight depicting the life of Jesus.

“They don’t have any value to anybody other than us because they’re part of our history,” Pastor Alan Eschenbacher said. “Those are the kinds of things you really can’t replace. The insurance will take care of the rest of it.”

Church officials believe the thief broke into the church at 314 S. Spruce St. early Sunday morning; they reported the theft around 7:30 a.m. that day.

The windows weigh about 20 pounds each.

The thief also stole four hand-carved, decorative eggs, a sound system and food destined for their food bank.

Eschenbacher’s pulpit Bible, weighing about 25 pounds, also was taken.

“I’m hoping they’re reading it,” he said.

Police estimated damage to the church and the value of the stolen items at more than $6,000.

Rachel Alexander

Phony bomb threat suspect held on bond

A Coeur d’Alene man has been accused of calling in a false bomb threat Friday for Atlas Elementary School.

Jacob R. Moore, 25, was ordered held on $50,000 bond. Officials evacuated the Hayden school at about 1 p.m. Friday. The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office used caller ID to link Moore to the threat. Officers with the North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force already were at his house, attempting to arrest him on an outstanding warrant.

Scott Maben

Deadline adds billions to Hanford cleanup cost

RICHLAND – Cleanup deadlines sought by the state of Washington for the nation’s most polluted nuclear weapons production site would require an extra $18 billion over the next 14 years and should be rejected as too expensive, the federal government said in a court filing.

The U.S. Department of Justice said getting that much money for the project at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation would jeopardize other nuclear cleanup projects across the nation.

The Justice Department and the state of Washington filed documents on Friday in U.S. District Court in the state’s lawsuit seeking a swifter cleanup of Hanford.

The state criticized federal management of Hanford and urged the court to require tight oversight of Hanford’s leak-prone underground waste tanks and construction of a $13 billion vitrification plant – the largest capital construction project in the country – to treat the waste for eventual burial.

Associated Press