Chad Sokol

Officers responded at about 5:30 a.m. Thursday to a report of shots fired at a four-unit apartment building at 2928 E. Diamond Ave. In one unit, they found a dead woman and an infant who appeared unharmed, police said.

Spokane Valley Mayor Rod Higgins has continued to defend state Rep. Matt Shea after an investigation found the lawmaker engaged in domestic terrorism, even as other Republicans have called on Shea to resign.

The change would take effect after the Department of Corrections’ contract with the county ends on Dec. 31. The change would not apply to anyone arrested on new charges, said Mike Sparber, director of Spokane County Detention Services.

Scott M. White shot and killed Michael “Topher” Clark on Feb. 24 in the parking lot of The Tipsy Pine, a bar in Hayden. Clark, 45, gained notoriety in the early 2000s for his role in a Canadian marijuana smuggling ring that inspired the movie “Kid Cannabis.”

The Whitman County coroner confirmed Monday that Samuel Martinez, a 19-year-old Washington State University freshman, died of acute alcohol intoxication during a party at his fraternity house last month. Coroner Annie Pillers also determined Martinez’s death on Nov. 12 was an accident, despite questions raised about the time it took his peers to call 911.

“I have repeatedly condemned extremism, no matter its source, and have made clear the violence it inspires has no place here in Eastern Washington,” the congresswoman said in a statement.

Former state Rep. Leonard Christian, a Republican, announced Friday he intends to challenge state Rep. Matt Shea in the 2020 election, a day after House GOP leaders expelled Shea from their caucus over an investigation that found he took part in domestic terrorism.

The findings of the four-month investigation are detailed in a 108-page report that was delivered to rank-and-file members of the House on Thursday. Leaders of both parties called for Shea’s resignation and said the findings had been forwarded to the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office. “He absolutely should resign,” said Republican Minority Leader J.T. Wilcox, of Yelm. “His role as a House Republican is over.”

In a unanimous opinion issued last week, the high court’s nine justices sided with Stevens County Superior Court judges who sought to preside over preliminary hearings in cases that were originally filed in District Court. Such hearings often determine whether a defendant will be let out of jail while awaiting trial.

Feagan, 61, announced her candidacy on Monday, just days before the expected release of an investigative report detailing Shea’s interactions with far-right activists and determining, officially, whether the six-term GOP lawmaker has promoted or engaged in political violence.

Daybreak, which was founded in Spokane in 1978, says its financial situation follows the troubled expansion of its treatment facility in the Vancouver area. Now the organization is seeking loans and donations to continue providing services on both sides of the state. “The idea that Spokane youth, and youth across the state, will not have access to our services quite literally is a life-or-death situation that we are dealing with,” a spokeswoman said.

Colleges and universities across the United States are bracing for an “enrollment cliff” in about five years – the result of a downturn in birth rates after the Great Recession. Washington and Idaho are expected to fare well compared to other states, though schools in the region are rethinking their recruitment strategies.

The family evacuated after noticing the fire, but the dog died and its body was recovered by firefighters, according to the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department. The family’s cat also went missing.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said it began investigating Mark S. Hoffmeister in mid-September after receiving an anonymous tip “regarding sexual abuse of a young female.” Now, the sheriff’s office said, Hoffmeister is suspected in sexual assaults dating back to the mid-1990s.

The Pend Oreille County commissioners voted unanimously Monday to shoot down the proposed comprehensive plan amendment, which would redesignate some 65% of land in the county from “public land” to “rural land,” opening the door to industrial development.

Tragedy struck the Groene family in May 2005, when serial killer Joseph Duncan III broke into the Coeur d’Alene home where three of Groene’s children were living with their mother and her boyfriend.

The medical examiner’s office identified the man as Ronald J. Wittkopf, 55.

The fires were small but diverted firefighters and resources from two much larger blazes that erupted on the same day in Spokane and Valleyford, destroying homes, crops and other property.

The fate of five old Victorian houses in Spokane’s West Central Neighborhood has been decided after years of efforts to transform them into affordable housing units.

Eastern Washington and North Idaho are expected to receive light snow on Sunday, which could lead to slick conditions on Interstate 90 and other highways as many return home from an extended Thanksgiving weekend.

It was still a few degrees below freezing when runners began darting through the park on Thursday morning, hats shaped like turkeys and pumpkin pies bobbing on their heads.