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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Police investigate North Side house

Police are investigating the owner of a north Spokane home after finding more than 100 marijuana plants growing in his house.

According to a search warrant filed Nov. 14, officers visited the property on the 5400 block of North Lee Street on Nov. 6 after two girls living there reported to the Spokane Fire Department that they were afraid to go home because they felt the house was an unsafe environment. The girls told officers there was a large marijuana grow in the house.

When contacted by police, the home’s owner told officers he had a medical marijuana card that allowed him to possess up to 15 mature plants. He said the other plants in the house were not mature, so he believed he was complying with state law, according to police.

Browne’s Addition leaf removal starts

City street crews will remove leaves in Browne’s Addition today and Wednesday beginning at 9 a.m.

Neighborbood residents must move their cars or risk having them towed.

Today’s leaf pickup route will be the north/south route including the area south of Riverside Avenue and north of Second Avenue/Sunset Boulevard.

The Wednesday schedule includes the east/west route, which is west of Maple Street and east of Coeur d’Alene Street.

Carbon cap, tax report sent to Inslee

SEATTLE – A panel convened by Gov. Jay Inslee to study how to put a price on carbon pollution says there are advantages to two approaches – a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade program – but did not recommend a specific approach in a report presented to the governor on Monday.

Inslee has been exploring a market-based system to limit heat-trapping greenhouse gases that are blamed for warming the planet, and plans to present a proposal to the Legislature next year.

Such a system could generate about $1 billion in annual revenues, depending on numerous factors, according to Chris Davis, the governor’s policy adviser on carbon markets.

The governor has suggested using that money to help pay for court-ordered education mandates or fix transportation problems. The state could reduce carbon pollution, while having the side benefit of generating revenues that could be used for transportation, schools and other issues, Inslee said earlier this month.

On Monday, the governor accepted the report and said the price of doing nothing on climate change would be enormous.

Police overwhelmed by video requests

BREMERTON – Police in Poulsbo and Bremerton could abandon officer body cameras because their departments lack the manpower to edit all the video sought in public records requests.

Poulsbo Chief Al Townsend said a request for the 1,100 hours of video in the program’s first six months could take years to review with the limited staff time available.

“We would have to hire somebody to handle the video requests, and that’s not going to fly in our little department,” he said.

An officer must review video before it’s released.

“We don’t want to put people’s private lives out there,” Townsend said. “I can’t in good conscience give out footage that shows people in their homes.”

A request for video from police agencies across Washington asks that it be uploaded to YouTube to show the public how officers operate, the Kitsap Sun reported.

As it stands, if footage is not part of a criminal or civil court case, it must be released.

Wildlife groups sue over lynx habitat

BILLINGS – Wildlife advocates sued the federal government Monday after it declined to designate some areas in the West as critical habitat for the imperiled Canada lynx.

Separate lawsuits were filed over the issue in U.S. District Court in Missoula by two coalitions of advocacy groups.

They assert that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service improperly excluded the southern Rocky Mountains of New Mexico and Colorado from 39,000 square miles of protected habitat for the elusive, forest-dwelling wild cat.

The lawsuits also say the agency left out important habitat in portions of Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.

The plaintiffs asked the court to strike down the government’s September finding and send the issue back to federal wildlife officials for reconsideration.

Police identify man who killed student

McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Authorities have tentatively identified a man who fatally stabbed a Linfield College football player in the chest at a convenience store near the Oregon college campus over the weekend.

The Yamhill County District Attorney’s office said Monday the assailant is 33-year-old Joventino Bermudez Arenas, of McMinnville.

Authorities said Arenas stabbed 20-year-old Parker Moore, a Woodinville, Washington, native, at a 7-Eleven just after 11 p.m. Saturday.

Police shot and killed Arenas when he returned to the store and confronted officers with a knife. Investigators said the stabbing appears to be random.