Jonathan Brunt

The family of a man who was strangled in the Spokane County Jail filed a $5.65 million civil rights lawsuit against the county Tuesday in federal court. Christopher L. Rentz, 21, died Oct. 2 after he was beaten with a broom, cut on his neck with a razor and strangled with a bed sheet while in a dormitory cell at the Spokane County Jail.

Voters in two North Idaho school districts approved levies Tuesday that will maintain their current tax rates. With Tuesday's votes, the Post Falls and Lake Pend Oreille districts will receive increases in the amount of taxes they generate. However, because of rising property values and population increases, tax rates will remain level.

The Cusick School District levy vote may not be on the same scale as the recent gubernatorial race, but it may end with about as many twists. The levy was failing, then passing and now – almost two weeks after ballots had to be in the mail – it has failed.

Spokane Police say four people arrested Thursday repeatedly threatened a Ferris High School student when he refused to buy them beer and later to give them money. In a press conference on Friday, Deputy Police Chief Al Odenthal said the case involved much more than bullying.

Police have recovered hundreds of baseball bats taken from property where a Spokane Valley warehouse burned on Thanksgiving. The fire, which was in the 2200 block of North Locust Road, destroyed a warehouse used by three business, including Brett Brothers Bat Co. The business designs and sells wooden baseball bats.

A change made at Geiger Corrections Center in an attempt to end hanky-panky will create more vacancies for inmates there and at the Spokane County Jail. Female inmates at Geiger were moved to a nearby building Saturday to prevent sexual encounters among the residents, said Leon Long, who has led the center since August.

The outcome of the Cusick School District operating levy may rest with seven votes locked in a safe. At the end of the first count of votes Tuesday night, the levy that would raise $325,000 a year for two years needed 14 more yes votes to pass.

Spokane County has agreed to pay $250,000 to the estate and daughter of an inmate who died after spending a week at Spokane County Jail and Geiger Corrections Center without being allowed to take her blood-thinning medicine. Venus Elder, 39, was booked into the jail Feb. 16, 2004, on charges that included possession of drug paraphernalia. Elder's daughter, Krystal Elder, brought her blood-thinning medicine, warfarin, to the jail the next day. But Venus Elder was not allowed to take the prescription until Feb. 23, 2004, after she had been transferred to Geiger.

The summer, er, winter sun has done in another Inland Northwest ski resort for the season. Forty-nine Degrees North Mountain Resort near Chewelah will offer its last day of skiing today.

High temperatures and low snowfall have cooked the slopes at Schweitzer Mountain Resort, where officials announced Thursday that this weekend will be the end of the ski season – the shortest in its 41 years of operation. "We had some higher temperatures this week, and it pretty much did us in," said Schweitzer spokeswoman Lisa Gerber.

Police have a message for visitors in town today through Saturday for the State B Basketball Tournament: Lock your car doors and hide your valuables. Car prowling spiked two years ago near the Spokane Arena during the State B, said Spokane police Lt. Dave McGovern, who is spearheading efforts to increase the police presence for the games.

Proponents of a dance recently forced to relocate from Ferris High School told the Spokane Public Schools board Wednesday that the decision sent a message that gay and lesbian students aren't supported by the district. On Feb. 10, the district informed the organizers of the Gayest Valentine's Dance, which was scheduled for the following day, that Ferris could not host the event. Superintendent Brian Benzel said the dance's age limits of 14 to 22 caused safety concerns.

A man was arrested early Tuesday after aiming a semi-automatic pistol at officers who were following him on foot, Spokane Valley Police reported. The chase started after Ronald D. Baker, 31, was pulled over near Broadway Avenue and McDonald Road about 2:40 a.m. in connection with an attempted theft that occurred nearby, said police spokesman Dave Reagan.

A man was jailed Wednesday in connection with a December stabbing death in northwest Spokane that police had first described as an act of self-defense. Family members of Justin Snyder, 17, expressed relief that someone has been charged with his death.

DEER PARK – Levi Morgan had a grin that brought joy to others, the kind of smile that people who gathered in his honor said they would never forget. About 400 people congregated Saturday night in light rain at Perrins Field to remember the Deer Park High School sophomore who talked about going to Harvard. Morgan died Friday in a one-car accident north of the town.

Two faculty leaders issued a statement this week proposing that a controversial professor whose appearance at Eastern Washington University was canceled still be allowed to address the campus. Citing security concerns, Eastern President Stephen Jordan last week canceled an April 5 speech by University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill.

They couldn't understand much of what they were hearing, but the three voices from half a world away were a relief for a family from Ione, Wash. Dianne and Les Allert and their daughter, Rachea Allert, were vacationing on Phuket Island in Thailand on Dec. 26 when the deadly Asian tsunami hit, killing as many people as there are in Spokane. On Wednesday, the family talked by phone to three Starbucks employees, including one whom they believe saved their lives.