In brief: 50-acre fire burns near Bayview
A new fire was reported near Bayview, Idaho, Tuesday evening close to where the Cape Horn fire burned more than 1,000 acres and destroyed half a dozen homes last month.
The Three Sisters fire was about 50 acres Tuesday evening and was burning just northwest of the Cape Horn fire boundary, said Gary Weber of the Idaho Department of Lands. Several aircraft dumped water on the fire before nightfall.
No homes were threatened. Weber said the fire appears to be heading toward Lake Pend Oreille and the area previously burned in the Cape Horn fire.
“We’ll have people out there all night,” he said.
Man survives jump off Monroe bridge
A man jumped from the Monroe Street Bridge and survived Tuesday afternoon, apparently plunging into deep water below Spokane Falls before being pulled onto the rocks by a Spokane police officer.
Bystanders said the man was standing on the east side of the bridge, and passing drivers stopped to try talking him down. Ignoring their pleas, he climbed onto the railing and jumped, bystanders said.
The call came in shortly before 2 p.m. A police officer climbed onto the rocks below the falls and threw the man a tether, which he grabbed. The man was pulled to the edge of the rocks and could be seen from the bridge moving his arms. Paramedics laid him on a raft with a neck brace and floated him to a more accessible part of the riverbank under the bridge. He then was loaded onto an ambulance and taken to a local hospital.
Officer Teresa Fuller, a police spokeswoman, said the man broke several bones and is expected to survive.
UW adds doctors to Spokane school
The University of Washington has added eight more physicians to the faculty of its expanding Spokane medical school operations.
All are Spokane-area doctors, the university said, and bring to 20 the number of physicians holding faculty positions with the program, which trains doctors from five states. Another 40 family physicians have volunteered to be mentors to the medical students and 360 throughout Eastern Washington are teaching clinical clerkships and electives.
The expansion is part of a major push to use health sciences to help boost and diversify Spokane’s economy.
In addition to the UW program, state lawmakers also authorized Washington State University to begin establishing its own medical school in Spokane, which is expected to begin enrolling students in 2017.
YWCA announces women honorees
The YWCA of Spokane announced the winners of its Women of Achievement awards Tuesday. The six will be honored at the YWCA annual luncheon Oct. 1 at the Spokane Convention Center. They are:
• Arts & Culture: Louise Kodis, a nationally recognized artist
• Business & Industry: Janet Schmidlkofer, CEO of K&N Electric
• Carl J. Maxey Racial & Social Justice Award: JoAnn Kauffman, president of Kauffman & Associates
• Community Enhancement: Marty Dickinson, executive vice president of Umpqua Bank
• Education: Asa Bradley, physics professor at Spokane Falls Community College
• Science, Technology & Environment: Peggy Currie, chief nursing officer, Providence Health Care
The YWCA of Spokane has honored women annually for 33 years to help raise the profile of women leaders in the community, according to a news release.
Author Cheryl Strayed, whose book “Wild” was a New York Times bestseller, is the keynote speaker this year. For information on the luncheon, visit www.ywcaspokane.org.