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News >  Spokane

Verner says Spokane would pay its share upon joining SCRAPS

Spokane doesn’t expect to burden its neighbors if it joins a regional animal control coalition, Mayor Mary Verner said Friday. “There is no intention that we will be subsidized,” Verner said at a meeting of the Spokane Regional Council of Governments.
News >  Spokane

Rail tracks removed from Fairchild base

Spokane County’s long-running Geiger Spur railroad realignment project is about to pull into the station. Crews are removing a little over two miles of abandoned tracks from Fairchild Air Force Base in the final leg of a journey that began more than eight years ago.
News >  Spokane

Harpham admits guilt in bomb plot

Kevin William Harpham sounded meek Wednesday when he stood before a federal judge and admitted a racist attempt to bomb Spokane’s Martin Luther King Jr. march. “Yes, your honor,” Harpham said without a trace of defiance, convinced prosecutors could prove the charges against him.
News >  Spokane

Big Rock purchase allows for parking

County commissioners enthusiastically agreed Tuesday to buy Big Rock and build a parking lot. The deal to acquire the popular rock-climbing and hiking area and make it publicly accessible reflected years of effort by the Dishman Hills Natural Area Association and the county parks staff.
News >  Spokane

County edits shelter proposal

A proposal to build a new regional animal shelter will be a ballot “measure,” not a “proposition,” in the Nov. 8 general election. Spokane County commissioners approved a new designation Tuesday to distinguish their property tax levy from Spokane’s citizen-proposed Proposition 1.
News >  Spokane

Harpham expected to accept plea deal in MLK bombing

Domestic terrorism suspect Kevin W. Harpham, accused of building and planting a backpack bomb along the route of Spokane’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Unity March, is expected to accept a plea bargain today. Harpham is scheduled for a change of plea hearing this morning in U.S. District Court. He previously had pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his trial was scheduled to begin Monday.
News >  Spokane

Ben Burr Road at issue again

On Sept. 13, Spokane County commissioners will reprise a 2007 public hearing on closing a section of Ben Burr Road to accommodate development. The proposal by Dave Black Properties faced strong neighborhood opposition four years ago, and commissioners unanimously rejected it.
News >  Spokane

County, Valley look at Spokane-less deals

Spokane County and Spokane Valley officials wondered Wednesday what their kennel would look like with only two big dogs. They agreed it’s time to start planning a solid-waste system that doesn’t include the city of Spokane, but stopped short of scuttling a ballot measure to build a regional animal shelter.
News >  Spokane

County advances on animal control

County commissioners began coaxing the final pieces of regional animal-control jigsaw puzzle into place Tuesday. “I’m headed toward being favorable,” Commissioner Mark Richard said of a plan that would give the city of Spokane a financial incentive to join a regional operation in new quarters.
News >  Spokane

Cuts in projects lead to layoffs

The Spokane County Engineering and Roads Department laid off 13 engineering technicians Tuesday for lack of work. Perhaps three more professional staff layoffs were pending, subject to discussions with union officials, county Engineer Bob Brueggeman said.
News >  Spokane

Copters come to hiker’s aid

A Spokane-area man who broke his leg Saturday on a rugged Colville National Forest trail partially set his own leg and got a two-helicopter rescue with help from ham radio operators. Anthony Beam was airlifted to Spokane when a MedStar helicopter touched down in a cramped landing zone on a rocky mud flat about 20 miles northwest of Kettle Falls.
A&E >  Entertainment

Waste disposal costs to rise

Revisions in the contract for operating Spokane’s garbage incinerator would contribute to a proposed 10.2 percent increase in countywide garbage disposal costs. County commissioners directed their staff Wednesday to take a hard look at a suggested $10-a-ton increase in disposal costs, from $98 to $108. But they leaned toward approval of a three-year extension of Wheelabrator Spokane’s contract to operate the Waste-to-Energy Plant.
News >  Spokane

Bicycle helmet support resounding

Support for a bicycle helmet law in unincorporated Spokane County was overwhelming at a public hearing Tuesday evening. Several of some two dozen people who addressed county commissioners offered personal examples of the power of helmets to save lives.
News >  Spokane

Boat company supervisor sentenced for stealing 180 tons of aluminum

COLVILLE – A trusted supervisor whose thefts nearly bankrupted a Colville boat manufacturer was sentenced Monday to six years in prison – two years more than a deputy prosecutor recommended. Stevens County Superior Court Judge Al Nielson said Chris Boring was “remorseless and relentless” in his theft of 360,799 pounds of aluminum sheet from his employer, Hewes Marine.
News >  Spokane

Aluminum thief “remorseless,” judge says

COLVILLE – A trusted supervisor whose thefts nearly bankrupted a Colville boat manufacturer was sentenced Monday to six years in prison – two years more than a deputy prosecutor recommended. Stevens County Superior Court Judge Al Nielson said Chris Boring was “remorseless and relentless” in his theft of 360,799 pounds of aluminum sheet from his employer, Hewes Marine.
News >  Spokane

Spokane County may require helmets

Spokane County commissioners will take testimony Tuesday on a proposal to require helmet use on just about anything that has wheels and isn’t a car. The proposed ordinance would apply to bicycles with or without electric motors, even if their wheels are only 11 inches in diameter, and to tricycles with a 20-inch or larger wheel.
News >  Spokane

Vacant judge’s seat draws 18 hopefuls

Eighteen lawyers want a vacant Spokane County District Court judge’s seat – so many that interviews will be shortened. The opening was created July 1 when Judge Richard White retired after 20 years on the bench.
News >  Spokane

County puts shelter on ballot

Voters will decide this fall whether to replace the overcrowded, awkwardly located Spokane County animal shelter. Divided county commissioners decided Tuesday to place a nine-year property tax levy on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
News >  Spokane

Commission puts animal shelter levy on November ballot

Voters will decide this fall whether to replace the overcrowded, awkwardly located Spokane County animal shelter. Divided county commissioners decided Tuesday to place a nine-year property tax levy on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
News >  Spokane

Postcard-only policy at jail ends

A postcards-only policy for mail to Spokane County jail inmates has been lifted. Envelopes are OK again. Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said the change took effect this week when a federal judge approved a settlement between the county and Prison Legal News – an arm of the nonprofit Human Rights Defense Center.
News >  Washington Voices

Groups propose plans for abandoned rail line

A proposed bicycle-pedestrian trail through Spokane Valley has given Cinderella slippers to a little-known, county-owned railroad right of way. For years, Spokane County’s Great Northern right of way has taken a back seat to its better-known Milwaukee Road corridor.
News >  Spokane

Metal thefts nearly sink Colville boat firm

A Colville boat factory nearly went out of business when a trusted supervisor sold an estimated $556,000 worth of stolen aluminum to a Spokane scrap metal dealer. It took more than three years to catch the thief because he was in charge of the Hewes Marine Co. investigation.