In brief: Robber gets cash at Thor Street store
Spokane police are looking for the man who robbed a gas station in East Central Spokane early Tuesday morning.
The robber entered the Tesoro station at 228 S. Thor St. about 12:15 a.m. He was armed with a knife and demanded cash from the clerk, police said in a news release. The clerk complied and the robber fled on foot.
The man was described as a skinny black male, about 5 feet 3 inches tall. He was wearing a black hooded coat, according to a video surveillance picture.
Police ask anyone with information on the robbery to call (509) 456-2233.
Forest Service fined over ammonia leak
The U.S. Forest Service has agreed to pay a $15,000 penalty for the delayed reporting of an anhydrous ammonia leak at its Coeur d’Alene nursery.
A leak was detected in the large refrigeration units used for storing seeds and nursery stock on Aug. 11, 2013. An estimated 1,600 pounds of ammonia leaked from the unit, but the spill wasn’t reported to the Environmental Protection Agency until two weeks later, according to a consent decree signed by the agencies.
Jason Kirchner, a Forest Service spokesman, said the delay occurred because the nursery staff didn’t immediately realize the size of the ammonia leak. They called a refrigeration expert, who diagnosed it as a small leak and didn’t come out to check the unit for two weeks.
The nursery grows seedlings for federal agencies in Montana, central Oregon and parts of Idaho, Washington and South Dakota.
Driver seriously hurt in I-90 rollover
A West Side man was seriously injured in a single-vehicle rollover crash Friday on Interstate 90 near Salnave Road.
The crash occurred just before 5:30 a.m. west of the Salnave exit, according to a news release from the Washington State Patrol.
Thomas J. Tuttle, 64, of Auburn, was headed east towing a trailer when he fell asleep at the wheel and drifted left off the highway, the WSP said. He overcorrected, went off the road to the right and rolled.
Tuttle was transported to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.
The WSP said he is expected to be charged with negligent driving.
Events push learning after high school
More than 50 representatives from colleges, the military and scholarship foundations will offer workshops and events to Spokane-area students next week with the goal of interesting them in furthering their education.
Excelerate Success is hosting the Spokane T-2-4 Circuit. Most events will be held at local high schools.
“It’s really more about motivating younger and younger students to start thinking about a pathway to education after high school,” said Excelerate Success Executive Director Amy McGreevy.
The weeklong event targets the 42 percent of Spokane-area students who graduated in 2015 and didn’t attend some sort of secondary education, according to a news release.
Although sessions during the day are closed, the evening presentations are open to the public, McGreevy said. She said there will be raffles with a grand prize of an Apple iPod mini.
For more information see exceleratesuccess.org.
LC students to pay for college courses
A change to state funding for programs allowing high school students to earn college credit means Lewis and Clark High School students will have to pay for College in the High School course credits, while their counterparts throughout the district don’t. Initially, district officials said Lewis and Clark students’ course fees might be paid by the $23,000 Academic Acceleration fund. However, district spokesman Kevin Morrison said a $5.6 million budget shortfall announced last week has put that decision on hold.
“No decision has been made on that just because we’re looking at bigger ticket items,” he said.
Post Falls man faces reduced charge
STANLEY, N.D. – Prosecutors have reduced an attempted murder charge against an Idaho man accused of stabbing an Alaska man in the North Dakota oil patch.
Travis Barnes, 31, of Post Falls, pleaded not guilty Thursday to aggravated assault, KXMC-TV reported.
Barnes is accused of stabbing 23-year-old John Daly, of Wasilla, Alaska, three times during an altercation in June at the White Earth Rodeo Grounds near Stanley.