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

In brief: West Side ice cave collapse kills one, injures four

From Staff And Wire Reports

GRANITE FALLS, Wash. – A partial ice cave collapse in northwest Washington killed one person and injured four others Monday evening, a Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman said.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said late Monday that the person who was killed remained buried under the debris at the popular Big Four Ice Caves east of Granite Falls.

All victims were believed accounted for.

Three of the injured, including a 25-year-old man in critical condition, were airlifted to a Seattle trauma center. Also airlifted to Harborview Medical Center were a seriously injured 35-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman in satisfactory condition, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said.

A fourth person, a young girl, was sent to an Everett hospital, the Daily Herald of Everett reported.

The U.S. Forest Service warned hikers in May that the ice caves were in their “most dangerous state” due to unseasonably warm weather. The caves about 70 miles northeast of Seattle are a popular hiking destination in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Greensferry work will close I-90 lanes

Concrete pours for the new Greensferry overpass in Post Falls will result in lane closures on Interstate 90 Wednesday and Friday.

The eastbound right lane will be closed Wednesday from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. On Friday, both eastbound and westbound traffic will encounter lane closures between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. Crews that day will close the westbound right lane first, then the westbound left lane and finally the eastbound left lane.

The Post Falls Urban Renewal Agency is funding the $15 million project. The overpass will have two lanes in each direction, a center-turn lane, bicycle lanes and sidewalks on both sides connecting to Centennial Park. Ralph Wadsworth Construction, of Draper, Utah, is building the structure.

Woman found guilty after death of falcon

An Idaho woman was found guilty of pursuing a protected bird after her attempt to save a duck from a hunter’s falcon ended with the death of both birds.

A Kootenai County jury found 60-year-old Patti MacDonald guilty of the misdemeanor charge and not guilty of a second misdemeanor of beating or harassing an animal, the Coeur d’Alene Press reported.

“We fought the good fight and got our story out there,” Scott Dinger, owner of the falcon, said after the verdict Thursday.

He said he was about 500 yards away when the 8-year-old falcon named Hornet made a successful attack on Jan. 7 and landed with the duck. He said he was approaching the spot and saw a red Jeep Wrangler pull up to the side of the road. He said Hornet flew away but appeared injured.

Dinger said the woman told him she beat the bird, which had been with humans since the day it was hatched.

In court, prosecutors argued that MacDonald fractured Hornet’s skull trying to save a mallard.

MacDonald testified in her defense and discounted reports that she told others she beat the falcon with a beaded scarf, saying she doesn’t own one.

MacDonald could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine at her sentencing July 28.