In brief: Listeria scare prompts recall

Foster Farms is recalling nearly 40,000 pounds of frozen, pre-cooked chicken strips due to possible Listeria contamination, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday.

The 3.5-pound bags of frozen “Chicken Breast Grilled Strips” were shipped to California, Texas, Utah and Washington.

The bags affected by the recall are stamped with the number P-33901 and a “best by” date of 08-05-15.

The USDA’s food safety and inspection service has not received any reports of illness associated with the product, a news release said.

Food contaminated by Listeria monocytogenes can cause a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, persons with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women and their newborns, the release said. People in those higher-risk categories who experience flulike symptoms within two months after eating the potentially contaminated food should seek medical care, it said.

For information, call (800) 338-8051.

Car crashes into Dartford Creek

A woman was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center Thursday evening after her car landed upside down in Dartford Creek, which flows into the Little Spokane River.

The 40-year-old woman was driving north when her car smashed through the guardrail and ended up in the creek, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Deputy Craig Chamberlin said.

“Somebody heard the actual crash and called 911,” Spokane County Fire District 4 Capt. Megan Hill said. “She was unresponsive when we first got there.”

The crash occurred in the 15700 block of North Dartford Drive.

Firefighters removed the woman from her car, which was in about a foot of water, Hill said. Paramedics were able to revive the woman before she was taken to the hospital. No information was immediately available on her condition.

Jury talk gets conviction tossed

The Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a convicted sex offender is entitled to another trial on a 2006 murder conviction because jurors were quizzed behind closed doors on experience with sex crimes.

Courts of appeal have already reversed the first-degree murder conviction for Brian W. Frawley, who is imprisoned at the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton. A Spokane jury convicted Frawley in March 2006 of murdering Margaret Cordova, whose remains were found in 2004.

But members of that jury were asked about their history with sexual violence in a judge’s chambers, a practice that was standard around the time of Frawley’s conviction but has since been deemed a violation of a defendant’s constitutional right to a public trial. No new court date has been set for Frawley.

In March, John Lipinski pleaded guilty to manslaughter after a 2006 murder conviction obtained in Spokane was thrown out for similar reasons. He was given credit for time served and released for his role in Melissa Salvidar’s death and the death of her unborn child.

Woman accused of knife threat

An 18-year-old Spokane woman was arrested in the Lake City High School parking lot around 1 p.m. Thursday after she was accused of stabbing the seat of a car with a knife during an argument.

Morgan M. Wozniak is in the Kootenai County Jail facing charges of aggravated assault, possession of a weapon on school grounds and malicious injury to property.

The other woman involved in the argument told police that she agreed to meet Wozniak at the parking lot in order to give back something that belonged to Wozniak, according to a police news release.

Neither Wozniak nor the other woman are students at the school, 6101 N. Ramsey Road in Coeur d’Alene.

The victim said she was seated in her car when Wozniak threatened her with a steak knife and then stabbed her seat with it. Witnesses said Wozniak’s father intervened to stop the fight and took the knife away.

Neighborhood hosts craft show

The Emerson/Garfield Farmers’ Market, 806 W. Knox Ave., will present a craft and art show today during its regular market hours, 3 to 7 p.m.

More than 20 vendors will be at the market, selling art, custom jewelry, gently used clothing, aprons, handbags, health and beauty items, sweaters and scarves, duct-tape wallets and more.

For more information, visit the Emerson/Garfield Neighborhood website at http://emersongarfield.org/.

Grant to mitigate military cuts

OLYMPIA – The U.S. Department of Defense is giving a $4.3 million grant to Washington in an effort to address the potential statewide economic effects of planned defense spending cuts, including planned personnel cuts at Joint Base Lewis McChord.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced the grant Thursday, and his office said the money is matched by more than $500,000 in state and local dollars through the Washington Military Alliance.

The Army is studying the effects of force reductions at bases around the country. The review assumes a loss of about 16,000 soldiers and civilian workers at Lewis-McChord from the base’s peak staffing level in 2011. Lewis-McChord personnel have already been reduced by about 5,400.

Officials say the federal grant will be used to create a plan to minimize the effects of the downsizing on regional businesses and communities.

Ferry ramps being smoothed

SEATTLE – Workers have started smoothing out the ramps on the newest Washington state ferry, the Tokitae, where some long cars would scrape where the ramps angle into the upper deck.

Ferry officials told the Daily Herald the $66,000 repair would be done at night to keep the ferry in service on the Mukilteo-Clinton route.

The state has received three claims for scraping damage since the Tokitae went into service at the end of June.

The state is in the process of building two more 144-car vessels. Officials say they will have smoother ramps.

Tree crushes, kills logger

COYLE, Wash. – Jefferson County authorities say a young logger died after he was crushed by a tree Thursday afternoon.

The Peninsula Daily News reports that East Jefferson Fire-Rescue crews found the man dead when they were called to a site near the small Hood Canal community of Coyle.

Fire spokeswoman Keppie Keppinger said they administered CPR but the man could not be revived. She said the victim was a timber faller in his 20s.

The man was not immediately identified pending notification of relatives.

Entry free on Public Lands Day

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. – Entrance fees will be waived at Yellowstone National Park and at Montana’s Glacier National Park on Saturday to celebrate National Public Lands Day.

The National Park Service also is waiving commercial tour entrance fees and transportation entrance fees. Other fees such as reservations, camping, tours, concession and fees collected by third parties are not included.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service also will be waiving fees Saturday.

Organizers say National Public Lands Day is the largest single-day volunteer effort for public lands in the United States.