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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Becky Kramer

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News >  Idaho

Smelter funding beach cleanup

A Canadian smelter has agreed to clean up a beach near Northport, Wash., that’s become a symbol for a century’s worth of pollution dumped into the Columbia River. Black Sand Beach takes its name from the slag generated by Teck Resources Ltd.’s smelter in Trail, B.C. A thick deposit of the glassy, granular pollutant covers the popular swimming beach.
News >  Idaho

Gray wolf pack is state’s second

Acting on a tip from loggers, wild-life biologists have confirmed the presence of a wolf pack with pups in northeast Pend Oreille County. At sunrise Friday, Scott Fisher played digital recordings of howling in the remote territory where the wolves had been spotted. An adult wolf howled back, and at least three yappy pups chimed in.
News >  Spokane

State may have second wolf pack

Acting on a tip from loggers, wildlife biologists have confirmed the presence of a wolf pack with pups in northeast Pend Oreille County. At sunrise Friday, Scott Fisher played digital recordings of howling in the remote territory where the wolves had been spotted. An adult wolf howled back, and at least three yappy pups chimed in.
News >  Idaho

Milfoil attacked in St. Joe River

Decked out in diver’s gear, Glenn Edwards submerged for a search-and-destroy mission Friday. His target: Eurasian milfoil. The invasive aquatic weed has gained a toehold in the St. Joe River, a tributary of Lake Coeur d’Alene. To keep the milfoil from invading new territory downstream, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe hired divers to suction it off the river bottom.
News >  Idaho

Posh condos seek buyers to match

With the push of a button, 36-foot-long glass walls retracted from a luxury condo overlooking Lake Coeur d’Alene. Mike DeLong, sales director for The Terraces, stepped out onto a deck outfitted with its own kitchen. The furnished unit – featuring custom sofas and original art – costs nearly $6 million.
News >  Idaho

Golf course building topped with grasses, wildflowers

WORLEY, Idaho – When the wind blows at Circling Raven Golf Course, it rustles through prairie grasses growing on the roof of the Stensgar Pavilion. This bit of man-made habitat is so convincing that a killdeer has moved in. Visitors who climb a ladder to get a better view of the Idaho fescue and blue bunch grass on the roof also see the killdeer faking a broken wing, the bird’s maneuver to lead potential predators from her nest.
News >  Idaho

Spirited CdA band hard to match

Who says that marching bands and stodgy uniforms go together? For 32 years, the Perfection-Nots have entertained crowds at Coeur d’Alene’s Fourth of July parade with rousing patriotic songs and outrageous attire.
News >  Spokane

200 gather for Tea Party, Part II

About 200 local residents celebrated Independence Day by attending a Tea Party rally at Plantes Ferry Park. Speakers denounced the federal government’s economic policies and growing deficit. The proposed “Community Bill of Rights,” backed by Envision Spokane, also came under attack.
News >  Idaho

Mismatched marching band a perfect fit

Who says that marching bands and stodgy uniforms go together? For 32 years, the Perfection-Nots have entertained crowds at Coeur d’Alene’s Fourth of July parade with rousing patriotic songs and outrageous attire.
News >  Idaho

Colvilles to fund hatchery for year

The Colville Confederated Tribes will pay $108,000 to keep a state hatchery in northeast Washington open for the next 12 months. The Colville Fish Hatchery raises rainbow trout and kokanee salmon for recreational fishing at 72 lakes and streams in Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties. The hatchery was targeted for closure as part of budget cuts at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
News >  Idaho

Idaho seizes Iraqi dinars in investment scheme case

The state of Idaho has seized about $1 million worth of Iraqi dinars purchased in a Coeur d’Alene man’s investment scheme. Jack Lee Smiley purportedly promised to turn a $1,000 investment into a $1 million windfall for investors who’d give him money to buy up Iraqi dinars. He told investors the dinars would increase in value when a new currency – backed by the United States, England and Israel and tied to oil contracts – was issued in late 2007, court records said.
News >  Idaho

W. Central Spokane yards retested for asbestos

Yards near W.R. Grace’s former Zonolite factory in Spokane are being retested for asbestos with new technology that can detect the cancer-causing fibers at ever lower levels. For Kandi Smith, that meant watching two men in white hazmat suits and respirators dig 30 soil samples from her lawn Tuesday morning. Cars driving past the house slowed, as drivers gawked at the scene.
News >  Spokane

EPA retests Spokane yards for asbestos

Yards near W.R. Grace’s former Zonolite factory in Spokane are being retested for asbestos with new technology that can detect the cancer-causing fibers at ever lower levels.
News >  Idaho

Fish pose whitewater park hurdle

A white-water park planned near downtown Spokane has some anglers worried about the park’s possible effect on the river’s native redband trout population. Redbands – named for a stripe that glows brick red during spawning season – are prized by anglers for their fighting attitude at the end of a fishing line. Despite years of catch-and-release regulations, redbands are in decline in the Spokane River.
News >  Spokane

White-water park could affect fish

A white-water park planned near downtown Spokane has some anglers worried about the park’s possible effect on the river’s native redband trout population.
News >  Spokane

Misguided rescues disturb wildlife

Wildlife rehabilitator Marilyn Omlor works with youngsters needlessly separated from their mothers. They’re victims of a crime, she said: fawn-napping. Each June, multiple fawns end up at Ponti Veterinary Clinic in Otis Orchards, where Omlor is employed. Some are truly orphaned, but most were plucked from the woods by well-intentioned people who don’t realize that deer hide their fawns and leave the area to browse for hours at a time.
News >  Idaho

Midnite Mine still a threat

Members of the Spokane Tribe of Indians shouldn’t hunt, fish or gather medicinal plants near a defunct uranium mine on their reservation, according to a recent public health assessment. Radioactive materials and heavy metals from the 350-acre Midnite Mine are leaching into Blue Creek, a tributary of the Spokane River.
News >  Idaho

Amid health problems, some Northport residents look to Canadian smelter

NORTHPORT, Wash. – Julie Sowards’ best childhood memories are tied to the Columbia River. Leaning on a cane at the river’s edge, the 52-year-old Northport woman recalled how spring floods created the “pothole,” a swimming spot for local kids, in a sunken meadow on her parents’ ranch. Sowards and her siblings scouted for arrowheads on the Columbia’s banks. From sun-warmed rocks, they watched sturgeon in deep pools near the shore.