Chad Sokol

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News >  Crime/Public Safety

WSU, Pullman police sergeants under investigation for sexual misconduct

UPDATED: Thu., April 19, 2018

Two police sergeants are under investigation after an 18-year-old Washington State University student claimed she was sexually assaulted by a law enforcement officer.

News >  Spokane

Houses ravaged by fire in Spokane, Colbert

Mon., April 16, 2018

Two Spokane-area homes were ravaged by unrelated fires Monday morning.

News >  Spokane

Coeur d’Alene police release sketch of sexual assault suspect

UPDATED: Mon., April 16, 2018

A week after a woman reported she was sexually assaulted at knifepoint, Coeur d’Alene police are asking for help in identifying her attacker.

News >  Spokane

Highway in Pend Oreille County closed due to water runoff

UPDATED: Mon., April 16, 2018

State officials closed a highway in Pend Oreille County because of water runoff that submerged the roadway Monday morning.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Crash west of Ritzville kills two people from Spokane

UPDATED: Mon., April 16, 2018

Two people from Spokane were killed Monday morning when their car veered off Interstate 90 and came to rest on a crossroad in Adams County, according to the Washington State Patrol.

News >  Education

Whitworth University getting $3 million to fund ‘dean of spiritual life’ position

UPDATED: Fri., April 13, 2018

Two alumni have pledged to give $3 million to Whitworth University to fund an administrative position overseeing the Presbyterian school’s campus ministry programs.

News >  Spokane

Spokane woman wins $25,000 from Publishers Clearing House

Fri., April 13, 2018

No matter how many times she entered the sweepstakes, hoping to win a big sum of money, few of Vicki Greif’s family members thought she had a real chance of winning.

News >  Education

North Idaho College adopts program to make transferring credits easier

UPDATED: Thu., April 12, 2018

North Idaho College has adopted a program that helps students transfer to other schools without losing credits or repeating courses, a common problem that deters many students from finishing their degrees.

News >  WA Government

Congressional candidate plans shooting event; underdog Senate challengers speak in Spokane

UPDATED: Thu., April 12, 2018

“Come on out, bring your firearms and your family and let’s talk of freedom and have a blast shooting some targets,” Jered Bonneau wrote in Facebook promotion for his “Shooting with the Candidate” event, which features a photo of the bearded 31-year-old posing with a Kalashnikov rifle in a room draped with “Don’t Tread on Me” flags.

News >  Spokane

Neighbors of Fairchild Air Force Base sue makers of toxic fire retardant, including 3M Co.

UPDATED: Wed., April 11, 2018

The plaintiffs claim they have suffered from an array of serious health problems caused by the water contamination, which resulted from decades of foam runoff from a training site on the air base. Some also claim the pollution has diminished their property values.

News >  Spokane

Davenport Hotel doorman John Reed dies after 75-year career

UPDATED: Wed., April 11, 2018

John Reed, the dapper doorman who greeted generations of visitors to the historic Davenport Hotel during an astonishing 75-year career, has died at age 88.

News >  Spokane

Spokane police say man shot, killed woman during domestic dispute

UPDATED: Tue., April 10, 2018

A 49-year-old man is suspected of killing a woman Saturday evening during a domestic dispute in their bedroom in Spokane’s East Central neighborhood.

News >  Spokane

Deputies catch Geiger Corrections Center inmate who walked away from work detail

UPDATED: Mon., April 9, 2018

Keith A. Smith, 42, was arrested Friday night after a brief pursuit in a residential area in Mead, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. He had been at large since March 29, when he walked away from a supervised work crew near Market Street and Hawthorne Road.

News >  Spokane

A battle of cosmic proportions: WSU, biotech firm sue each other over new apple variety

Sun., April 8, 2018

With millions of trees already planted across the state, the outcomes of the dueling lawsuits seem unlikely to affect consumer availability of the Cosmic Crisp, a flavor-packed hybrid between the Honeycrisp and Enterprise varieties.

News >  Education

WSU launches two-year program for students with autism, Down syndrome

Sat., April 7, 2018

A new program at Washington State University aims to provide job opportunities and an authentic college experience for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities such as autism and Down syndrome. The two-year program is called ROAR – an acronym that stands for responsibility, opportunity, advocacy and respect – and applications are currently being accepted for the first class of four students.

News >  Pacific NW

Gary Lee Yarbrough, onetime bodyguard of Aryan Nations founder, dies in prison

UPDATED: Fri., April 6, 2018

A radical racist who once served as the personal bodyguard of Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler has died. Gary Lee Yarbrough, who later joined a neo-Nazi splinter group known as The Order, died of liver cancer early Monday in a hospice center in Pueblo, Colorado, according to his wife, Susan Hillman Yarbrough. He was 62.

News >  Education

Concern, condemnation after SFCC student newspaper reports on Pitcher scandal disappear

Thu., April 5, 2018

The editor of the student newspaper at Spokane Falls Community College, and a journalism instructor who serves as the paper’s adviser, believe someone may have stolen 400 copies from the racks this week to hide coverage of a sex scandal within the school’s administration.

News >  Spokane

Tarana Burke and Ronan Farrow, leaders of the #MeToo movement, to speak at Gonzaga

UPDATED: Wed., April 11, 2018

Tarana Burke, a New York social activist who coined the phrase “Me too,” and Ronan Farrow, an investigative journalist who helped expose decades of alleged sexual predation by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, are scheduled to speak at Gonzaga University on April 20.

News >  Spokane

Three finalists named in SCC presidential search

UPDATED: Tue., April 3, 2018

Three finalists have been named in the search for a new president of Spokane Community College.

News >  Spokane

Man falls through bathroom floor in ‘nuisance’ house in West Central neighborhood

UPDATED: Mon., April 2, 2018

As police arrived to drive out the occupants of a so-called “nuisance” house in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood, a man fell through the bathroom floor and had to be rescued from a crawl space, officials said.

News >  Spokane

Little Caesars gives away free pizza after UMBC’s upset victory over Virginia

Mon., April 2, 2018

Little Caesars locations across the country, including several in Spokane, doled out free pizza combos Monday as part of a March Madness promotion that hinged on an unlikely victory in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

News >  Spokane

Judge permanently blocks release of unredacted records on SFCC’s Darren Pitcher

Fri., March 30, 2018

A judge signed an order Friday permanently barring the Community Colleges of Spokane from releasing unredacted records of the sexual harassment investigation that led Darren Pitcher to resign as acting president of Spokane Falls Community College.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Deputies searching for Geiger Corrections Center inmate who walked away from work detail

UPDATED: Fri., March 30, 2018

Deputies are searching for a Geiger Corrections Center inmate who walked away from his assigned work detail Thursday afternoon.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Man, 75, dies after experiencing medical problem, crashes SUV near Medical Lake

UPDATED: Fri., March 30, 2018

A 75-year-old man died Thursday after he experienced a medical issue and his SUV veered off a highway near Medical Lake, according to the Washington State Patrol.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Attorney claims Spokane County deputy showed up at wrong house, pointed gun at his wife

UPDATED: Thu., March 29, 2018

A local attorney is suing the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, alleging a deputy pointed a gun at his wife while responding to the wrong address for a home burglary alarm two years ago.