Jonathan Brunt

Federal inmates housed in Kennewick because of overcrowding in the Spokane County Jail could be shipped back to Spokane under new proposals to expand Geiger Corrections Center. The West Plains detention center run by Spokane County is considering adding 128 beds. County jail inmates would then be shifted to the West Plains, making space for federal inmates in the jail.

Police are investigating a Spokane mother and father in connection with last month's death of their 5-month-old baby. The baby girl was found dead by her parents on July 5 in their east Spokane apartment at 2712 E. South Riverton. Responders found blood coming from the baby's mouth and an unknown substance coming from her ear, according to search warrant documents released this week.

Investigators continued searching on Wednesday for a woman who abandoned a baby in a bathroom stall at a highway rest area. The baby, which was between three and five pounds, was found dead about 4:15 p.m. Tuesday in a woman's bathroom at the westbound Interstate 90 rest stop near Sprague, Wash..

A 26-year-old man has been arrested in the alleged kidnapping and rape of a woman taken from a Spokane Valley bar early Saturday. Investigators believe Gary Wayne Austin, 26, robbed the Corner Club Tavern at Park Road and Trent Avenue about 2:15 a.m. and abducted and raped a bar employee who was at the business alone.

POMEROY, Wash. – Fire managers were optimistic Friday about the progress they've made against the School fire, which has burned 75 square miles in southeastern Washington. But in the evening came the wind, and it was unclear what effect it had on the blaze. Power to the nearest town, Pomeroy, and the fire camp – which is serving more than 1,700 personnel – was lost as a storm barreled through, and officials there were not reachable by phone.

A Spokane woman was critically injured early Friday in an apartment fire in north Spokane. Firefighters who arrived at the Colton Place Apartments, 6109 North Colton, about 3 a.m. found the 41-year-old woman in her bathroom, said Lt. Chris Phillips, a Spokane Fire Department investigator. When she was carried outside, she had a pulse but was not breathing. Neighbors said her name is Debbie Woodruff.

A brush fire consumed thousands of acres of land Thursday in Lincoln County, browning the sky and forcing a few evacuations, but burning only a small trailer and a couple of outbuildings, said Rod Heimbigner of the Bureau of Land Management. The fire started at a camp site on private land along Wall Lake, about 15 miles southwest of Davenport, Wash., on Wednesday morning, said Craig Moeller, assistant fire chief of Lincoln County Fire District 6. Crews initially had the fire under control by nightfall Wednesday but were called back about 10 a.m. Thursday when it flared up.

A Spokane woman has been accused of participating in a November killing. Abigail M. Meckle went before a judge this week to face several charges in connection with the Nov. 16 shooting of Jim Johnston, 40, at an apartment at 1281/2 N. Division St.

Spokane police attempting to interview a man accused of raping a teen found him in bed with another girl. Franklin A. Hicks, 23, was booked into the Spokane County Jail this week on a count of third-degree child rape. The 14-year-old girl that police found in his house denied that they had sexual contact, court records say. No charges have been filed in connection with her, but an officer removed her from his home.

A 12-year-old girl was found late Wednesday with stab wounds "all over" her body, said Shoshone County Sheriff Chuck Reynalds. Deputies were searching for the girl's father, who was recently released from a Colorado prison on a rape charge.

For the second time this month, Spokane firefighters have doused arson fires on Beacon Hill. Crews were called to the hill, north of Minnehaha Park and east of Esmeralda Golf Course, about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. They found four small fires; the largest was about 8 square feet, said Fire Investigator Lt. Chris Phillips.

A Spokane man is in jail for allegedly fondling a woman as she was getting into a car July 4 in the West Central neighborhood. The man, Mark Tillman Dayman, faces a count of forcible indecent liberties. He is expected to appear in Spokane County Superior Court later this week. In a jailhouse interview, Dayman said he was high on methamphetamine on July 4 and doesn't remember the incident.

Three companies have taken over the clients of a company that lost its right to care for people with mental disabilities in the wake of a financial scandal. Midstream Inc., which provided in-home care for 26 people in the Spokane area, lost its certification and contract with the Department of Social and Health Services last week.

Part of Spokane history was erased Wednesday in a small fire that consumed about 700 historical images in the basement of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. The images, taken by prolific Spokane photographer Charles A. Libby or his son in the early part of the 20th century, were in a cold storage area in the museum's basement. Libby operated a photography studio in Spokane for 60 years starting in 1901.

Spokane has the highest crime rate among the state's 10 biggest cities for the first time in the 23 years that the data has been compiled. Last year, Spokane suffered about 97 crimes for every 1,000 residents, according to the preliminary Crime in Washington Annual Report. The rate is up from just under 87 crimes for every 1,000 residents in 2003.

A Spokane County Jail inmate facing charges of failing to register as a sex offender has been accused of raping one of his cellmates. Marcus E. Hardin, 33, faces a second-degree rape charge in connection with the alleged assault of an 18-year-old inmate.