Chad Sokol

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News >  Spokane

Omak boy, 8, dies after plunge into frigid water

UPDATED: Mon., Dec. 31, 2018

Chanse Tepley and his 6-year-old brother were left unsupervised while playing at a neighbor’s home and wandered into a fenced area near a spillway at Conconully Lake around 2:30 p.m., according to their aunt, Estefania Foreman.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Spokane police investigating suspicious death of 62-year-old man in Sunset Hill area

UPDATED: Sun., Dec. 30, 2018

Officers found Richard White’s body facedown on the floor of his kitchen, with a pool of blood under his torso. His housemate “either truly believed, or acted like, he did not know that White was deceased,” according to a search warrant application filed this week in Spokane County Superior Court.

News >  Washington

Moses Lake man caught with bomb-making materials said he wanted to ‘prove a point,’ court records say

UPDATED: Fri., Dec. 28, 2018

Ryan S. Palmer, 39, allegedly told investigators he had toyed with the idea of blowing up an agricultural chemical plant where he used to work – just to “prove a point” – and invoked the name of the Oklahoma City bomber. A detective wrote that Palmer “had everything needed to make a functional fertilizer bomb.”

News >  Spokane

Yakima man hit, killed by truck after car breaks down on Interstate 90

UPDATED: Fri., Dec. 28, 2018

Thomas B. Whitlock, 31, was standing in a westbound lane of the freeway next to his own vehicle, which had broken down about 7 miles east of the town of George, according to the Washington State Patrol.

News >  Spokane

‘Suspicious device’ found near Moses Lake manufacturing facility

UPDATED: Thu., Dec. 27, 2018

The Grant County Sheriff’s Office said a “suspicious device” was found in a car Thursday afternoon near a manufacturing facility in Moses Lake. In a pair of alerts around 4 p.m., the sheriff’s office said a bomb squad was en route from Richland after the device was found during a routine traffic stop outside the perimeter fence of the REC Silicon facility.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Medical examiner identifies man killed by train near downtown Spokane; death ruled an accident

UPDATED: Thu., Dec. 27, 2018

The Spokane County Medical Examiner has identified a man who was hit and killed by a train in Browne’s Addition Christmas evening as 31-year-old Ryan E. Poyner.

News >  Spokane

Driver injured after semitruck fails to stop at traffic light in Spokane Valley

UPDATED: Wed., Dec. 26, 2018

An 89-year-old driver was injured Wednesday afternoon when a semitruck failed to stop at an intersection in Spokane Valley, according to Trooper Jeff Sevigney of the Washington State Patrol.

News >  Spokane

KXLY picking up Ben Shapiro’s conservative radio show

UPDATED: Wed., Feb. 20, 2019

KXLY has announced plans to air Ben Shapiro’s syndicated radio show, a month after the conservative political commentator was barred from speaking at Gonzaga University.

News >  Spokane

Sather Gowdy founded a nonprofit, Heal Spokane, despite busy schedule as Gonzaga law student

UPDATED: Tue., Dec. 25, 2018

Gowdy didn’t think volunteering project would catch on. But in the past year, he’s won accolades for his work and spoken at dozens of local schools. He still tries to do an act of service every day, even when he’s swamped with homework. “I’ve never regretted it after I’ve done it,” he said. “It’s like exercising.”

News >  Spokane

Syfy kills ‘Z Nation’ after five seasons; fans demand afterlife for zombie show on Netflix

UPDATED: Mon., Dec. 24, 2018

“Z Nation,” the zombie apocalypse show filmed in and around Spokane, won’t be renewed for a sixth season on the cable channel Syfy.

News >  Spokane

Two Jesuit vice presidents resign from Gonzaga following reports about how leaders handled abusive priests on campus

UPDATED: Fri., Dec. 21, 2018

The Revs. Frank Case and Pat Lee have resigned as vice presidents of Gonzaga University amid questions about the handling of sexual abuse allegations against other clergy.

News >  Spokane

Indictment says two former employees embezzled at least $800,000 from Silverwood Theme Park

UPDATED: Wed., Feb. 20, 2019

Silverwood’s former accounting manager, Melissa K. Foeller, and former Chief Financial Officer Christopher A. Wyatt each face five counts of grand theft.

News >  Spokane

Spokane Catholic Diocese says bishop wasn’t told about 7 accused priests at Gonzaga University

UPDATED: Fri., Dec. 21, 2018

The Catholic Diocese of Spokane weighed in Thursday on recent controversy over the housing of sexually abusive priests at Gonzaga University, expressing concern that some accused priests may have been allowed to wander the campus unsupervised despite “safety plans” requiring chaperones.

News >  Spokane

Gonzaga Prep points out error in Jesuit list of accused priests

UPDATED: Wed., Dec. 19, 2018

The president of Gonzaga Prep says a widely circulated list of priests accused of sexual abuse contains at least one inaccuracy about a priest who worked at the Catholic school for 45 years.

News >  Spokane

Woman accused of stabbing boyfriend with broken knife in Logan neighborhood

UPDATED: Wed., Dec. 19, 2018

Spokane police said a woman was arrested Tuesday night after she stabbed her boyfriend and locked herself in a home with four small children.

News >  Spokane

Jesuits pledge to stop sending accused priests to Gonzaga

UPDATED: Tue., Dec. 18, 2018

Jesuit leaders promised Tuesday they will never again send a priest to live at Gonzaga University if they are aware of any “credible allegation” that the priest has sexually abused a minor.

News >  Spokane

Sheriff’s office identifies man found dead near Hayden Walmart

UPDATED: Tue., Dec. 18, 2018

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office has released the name of a man who was found dead Monday morning in a wooded area near the Walmart in Hayden.

News >  Spokane

‘Pure fiction’: Spokane Valley City Council is not voting on 51st state idea

UPDATED: Tue., Dec. 18, 2018

A longtime columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer apologized Tuesday for a story that falsely claimed the Spokane Valley City Council was planning to vote on a resolution in support of state Rep. Matt Shea’s proposal to turn Eastern Washington into a 51st state.

News >  Spokane

Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh responds to report on Jesuits sending abusive priests to live on campus

UPDATED: Tue., Dec. 18, 2018

Gonzaga University’s president responded late Monday to an investigative report detailing how Jesuit priests accused of sexually abusing children were sent to live in a retirement home on the school’s campus in downtown Spokane.

News >  Spokane

Body found in wooded area near Hayden Walmart

UPDATED: Mon., Dec. 17, 2018

Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies discovered a body Monday morning in a wooded area near the Walmart in Hayden.

News >  Spokane

Lawsuit alleges EWU Police Department prevented officer from pumping milk for her new baby

UPDATED: Sun., Dec. 16, 2018

A former Eastern Washington University police officer is suing the school, alleging supervisors discriminated against her and violated federal law by imposing restrictions that made it impossible for her to pump milk for her baby.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

1-year-old survives fatal crash after being ejected in car seat

UPDATED: Fri., Dec. 14, 2018

A 1-year-old girl survived with only bumps and bruises after her car seat was ejected during a fatal crash near Loon Lake.

News >  Spokane

Spokane County commissioners open union contract negotiations to the public

UPDATED: Tue., Dec. 11, 2018

The move means members of the public and media will be able to witness the collective bargaining process in real time, even though state law allows that process to take place in private meetings. “Salaries are our largest cost, and the citizens ought to know how we’re negotiating contracts and how we’re trying to represent the best interests of both the taxpayers and our employees,” Commissioner Al French said.

News >  Spokane

Second judge recuses himself from Spokane County cat pee case as scholar argues sealed records violate First Amendment

UPDATED: Tue., Dec. 11, 2018

Judge Gary Libey had been expected to decide whether to unseal records in the case, in which Michael Price, the presiding judge in Spokane County Superior Court, sued a cat owner, Jennifer Tanaka-Fees, who lived behind him on the South Hill.

News >  Spokane

Demonstrators, including Councilwoman Kate Burke, chain themselves together to protest removal of City Hall homeless camp

UPDATED: Sat., Dec. 8, 2018

The demonstration – which drew a large crowd as well as onlookers from the nearby ice-skating ribbon in Riverfront Park – was an attempt to stop police from clearing out the tent encampment at City Hall where dozens of homeless people have been sleeping for weeks.