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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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John Stucke

John Stucke

Current Position: Asst. Managing Editor (Front Page)

John Stucke joined The Spokesman-Review in 2000. As Metro Editor, he directs local news coverage and oversees newsroom reporters. He has reported on business, health care, bankruptcy and agriculture for the paper.

Email
johnst@spokesman.com
Phone
(509) 459-5419

All Stories

News >  Spokane

Novel procedure lets 14-year-old with heart defect be a kid

Eighth-grader Jason Long gets to be just like the other kids. He can run, play badminton, shoot baskets and have Airsoft fights and target practices with his friends. He is fortunate, recently dodging a third open-heart surgery since he was born 14 years ago with a congenital heart defect.
News >  Spokane

Sex crimes bill stalls in panel

Supporters of a bill to end the statute of limitations for child sex crimes said Tuesday that their efforts are now ensnared in a state Senate committee. The bill, sponsored by Rep. John Ahern, R-Spokane, passed the state House 98-0. Yet supporters can’t get the bill to the full floor of the Senate.
News >  Spokane

Wheat farmers may feel impact

Whether it’s revolution in the Middle East or an earthquake and tsunami in Japan, this year has already been tumultuous for the region’s wheat industry. Japan buys more Washington-grown wheat each year than any other country. The purchases account for up to 950,000 metric tons – or about 20 percent – of the wheat grown in the state, said Tom Mick, chief executive of the Washington Grain Alliance, which markets the region’s wheat crop.
News >  Spokane

Firm fined for accident that cost worker his leg

Washington regulators fined BNP Lentil Co. $2,400, following a gruesome accident last year that tore off a worker’s leg. The Farmington, Wash.-based company paid the fine and made a handful of safety improvements at the request of state workplace safety regulators.
News >  Spokane

Idaho’s urban areas grow

Idaho’s story is that of many states in the Western U.S.: cities and suburbs are growing, small towns are thinning, and the number of Latinos has soared. The Gem State’s population kept booming during the past decade – jumping 21.1 percent to reach 1,587,582, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday.
News >  Spokane

INHS case reaches settlement

Deaconess Medical Center has severed its 17-year partnership stake in Inland Northwest Health Services as part of a lawsuit settlement announced Thursday. The governing board of INHS will now be dominated by Providence Health Care, which operates Sacred Heart Medical Center. Providence will appoint five of the board’s eight members. The remaining three will be appointed by the Empire Health Foundation and must include a member of the Spokane County Medical Society.
News

Deaconess severs ties with INHS

Deaconess Medical Center has severed its 17-year partnership stake in Inland Northwest Health Services (INHS) as part of a lawsuit settlement announced Thursday.
News >  Pacific NW

Census: Dwindling small towns determined to fight extinction

LaCROSSE, Wash. – The worn sign on the road into town reads: “Welcome to LaCrosse. Home of the Tigercats. Population 415.” It was painted a long time ago. Today the town in southwest Whitman County is home to 100 fewer people, according to new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.
News >  Spokane

Counting the costs of care

Spokane County’s hospitals provided $128.1 million in free medical care to the region’s poorest people last year as unemployment, chronic disease and the high cost of health care continue to collide. The total includes $69.6 million in charity care – medical costs that are written off by the hospitals because people can’t afford care, according to financial disclosure forms filed with Washington state. Another $58.5 million is considered bad debt, or unpaid bills that often snare the working poor.
News >  Spokane

2010 census: Spokane still No. 2; Valley makes top 10

Washington’s Hispanic population grew by 70 percent over the last decade, fueling growth from border to border and earning the state another seat in Congress. It’s a trend that held fast for much of the state, from the fast-growing Tri-Cities region to Seattle and Spokane.
News >  Spokane

Empire Health Foundation will distribute funds to combat obesity

The region’s largest charitable foundation plans to spend $800,000 this year fighting obesity and addressing how Eastern Washington can best care for the mentally ill. In addition, the Empire Health Foundation will devote another $800,000 to small grants designed to help nonprofit groups weather the economic downturn.
News >  Spokane

FAA bill touted as local job generator

The U.S. Senate’s newly passed bill to modernize airports is being hailed a jobs measure that could create 2,200 jobs in Spokane County over six years. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the new chairwoman of the Senate’s aviation subcommittee, met with local politicians and business people Sunday morning in Spokane to laud the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill. The $34.5 billion spending package allows airports to tap about $8 billion in user fees captured by the sale of every airline ticket to repave runways, upgrade hangars and buildings, and make other improvements.
News >  Spokane

Priest meets paratrooper who liberated his town during WWII

Lying in a hospital bed, his heart failing, Allan Wood met a priest. The two were sharing a room at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center when Wood discerned the priest’s Dutch accent. They struck up a conversation, and soon these two men, ages 89 and 88, uncovered a shared experience from decades ago that molded their lives.
News >  Spokane

Bank sues developer Chesrown over loans for Lake CdA development

Mountain West Bank has filed a $12 million breach of contract lawsuit against Marshall Chesrown, whose luxury home and golf course projects in the region have been foiled by economic collapse. It’s the latest round of financial troubles for Chesrown to end up in court. The suit centers on a series of loans related to his Ridge at Sun Up Bay development on the west shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene, said his attorney, Barry Davidson.
News >  Business

Rockwood to open two new clinics

Rockwood Clinic is opening a primary care center in fast-growing Airway Heights. The new clinic will include three providers – including at least one physician – among a total staff of around nine, said Jill Fix, a Rockwood spokeswoman.
News >  Spokane

Expected slow melt, rain should help crops, forecaster says

Keep your hat and gloves at the ready because cold weather will linger across the Inland Northwest throughout the rest of this winter and into spring. Art Douglas, who farmers call “The Weatherman,” meted out his chilly forecast Tuesday. It included adequate rainfall that should help deliver another good wheat crop.
News >  Spokane

Unrest in Egypt concerns Washington wheat farmers

The political unrest gripping Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries has wheat farmers half a world away in Washington worried. Egypt is the world’s largest wheat buyer, securing enough grain to feed its 80 million people.
News >  Spokane

Doctor-hospital fight roils Washington farming town

RITZVILLE, Wash. – The tiny hospital in this farming town and its two homegrown doctors are splitting up, a move that’s stirring up the community, scuttling plans for a new multimillion-dollar hospital and sparking fears that medical care may collapse in a few years. More than 300 people jammed a meeting Thursday night to support Dr. Charles “Marty” Sackmann and Dr. Valerie Eckley.
News >  Spokane

State regulator wants to limit health-plan rate increases

Washington state’s top insurance regulator seeks new authority to limit health-insurance rate increases among the largest carriers and make insurance rates open to public review. Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler announced a package of legislative proposals Thursday.
News >  Spokane

FBI says motivational speaker built business on lies

The FBI arrested a man who once worked as a clinical educator at a Spokane hospital, accusing him of fabricating his life’s story with tales of military valor and family tragedy, and then committing mail fraud by profiting on the lies. William G. Hillar, 66, worked at Inland Northwest Health Services from September 1994 to July 1997. Before that he worked for other Spokane businesses including Metropolitan Mortgage and Securities Co.
News >  Spokane

Sheriff critical; S-R stands behind story

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich confirmed Wednesday for the second time in two days that chemicals were mixed with shrapnel in a bomb that was placed along the Unity March route in downtown Spokane on Jan. 17. The sheriff has criticized a front-page story published in the Wednesday edition of The Spokesman-Review, but stopped short of seeking a correction.
News >  Spokane

Editors stand by S-R bomb story

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich confirmed Wednesday for the second time in two days that chemicals were mixed with shrapnel in a bomb that was placed along the Unity March route in downtown Spokane on Jan. 17. The sheriff has criticized a front-page story published Wednesday in The Spokesman-Review but stopped short of seeking a correction.