In brief: Fatal car roll by river not discovered for hours
Investigators believe a fatal car accident discovered in the 25800 block of East River Road near Stateline at 4 p.m. Thursday actually occurred around 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
A 911 caller reported seeing a car about 150 feet down an embankment on the north side of the Spokane River and what appeared to be a body near the car. It appears that the driver was heading east when the car went down the embankment and rolled multiple times, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The woman was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected.
The woman’s identity will be released by the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office after an autopsy.
Legislators visit MAC for town hall meetings
The Museum of Arts and Culture will be a busy place this weekend for Spokane residents who want to ask their legislators what’s happening in Olympia.
As the 2014 session nears the two-thirds mark, legislators from the 3rd and 6th districts have town hall meetings Saturday at the MAC, 2316 W. First Ave.
Sen. Andy Billig and Rep. Marcus Riccelli, both Democrats, will have a meeting there from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Their district includes downtown, Browne’s Addition, the lower South Hill and neighborhoods as far north as Hillyard.
Sen. Mike Baumgartner and Reps. Kevin Parker and Jeff Holy, all Republicans, will be in the same location from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Their district includes parts of northwest and south Spokane, the West Plains, Cheney and Airway Heights.
Fund to help family routed by blaze
A fund has been set up to benefit Pete and Rachelle Flatt, whose home was significantly damaged in a fire Tuesday night in Spokane Valley’s Ponderosa neighborhood.
Pete Flatt is a firefighter with District 8 and was on duty across town when the fire broke out. Flatt called his wife a hero after she saved their three children from the burning home.
The International Association of Firefighters Local 3711 has set up a fund at Spokane Teachers Credit Union. People can make donations at any STCU branch by mentioning the Flatt Fire Family Fund. Donations of clothing or toys for their children can be dropped off at District 8’s Station 84 at 4410 S. Bates Road. The couple have a 6-year-old boy, a 3-year-old girl and a 15-month-old girl.
Center issues warning for Cascades avalanches
WENATCHEE – Numerous avalanches, observed from afar, were reported in north central Washington in the past day, prompting the Northwest Avalanche Center in Seattle to issue an avalanche warning for the eastern slopes of the Cascades.
“Another 10 to 15 inches of new snow since Tuesday has added enough additional loading to trigger a widespread natural avalanche cycle,” center officials said in a press release.
Trained observers witnessed avalanches near Blewett Pass, up the Icicle River drainage and near Washington Pass, officials said.
“Avalanches were large and potentially destructive, running long distances on a variety of aspects,” according to the press release. “The current, very dangerous avalanche conditions are unusual for our area, and we are not recommending travel in avalanche terrain until conditions improve.”
No reports of injuries were reported.
Hanford firings trigger call for investigation
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wants an investigation into the treatment of whistleblowers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, after two were fired in the past five months after raising safety concerns about the construction of a $13 billion plant to treat the site’s most dangerous radioactive wastes.
Wyden’s office said Thursday that he will ask the Government Accountability Office to investigate both any pattern of contractor retaliation against whistleblowers and the U.S. Department of Energy’s lack of response to those actions.
“The decision to fire yet another Hanford whistleblower shows that nothing has changed at the Energy Department when it comes to stifling dissent,” Wyden said in a news release this week.
The goal of an investigation is to “personally hold accountable DOE officials for the unchecked retaliation against whistleblowers who have revealed major, legitimate risks to public safety,” said Wyden, long a critic of Hanford operations.
Donna Busche, manager of environmental and nuclear safety at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, was fired Tuesday morning by URS Corp. Walter Tamosaitis, who also worked at the Waste Treatment Plant construction site and raised safety concerns about the plant, was fired by URS in October. URS Corp. said Busche was fired for reasons unrelated to the safety concerns.
The safety concerns raised by the whistleblowers had helped lead to a halt of construction at the plant.