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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Jonathan Brunt

Jonathan Brunt

Current Position: Asst. Managing Editor (Govt)

Jonathan Brunt joined The Spokesman-Review in 2004. He is the government editor. He previously was a reporter who covered Spokane City Hall, Spokane County government and public safety.

Email
jonathanb@spokesman.com
Phone
(509) 459-5442

All Stories

News >  Spokane

Police warn of identity theft scam

Police believe a con artist has targeted widows in an attempt to get personal identification information and use it to commit fraud. A woman whose husband died last month recently received a call from a person claiming to be from an area hospital, said Spokane Police fraud detective Stacey Carr at a press conference Wednesday. The caller said she needed the woman's husband's birthday and Social Security number for insurance paperwork.
News >  Spokane

Florida crash ends life of generosity

Before Steve Heitner died of cancer last year, he and his wife, Kathy, talked about taking a trip to Florida with their kids and grandchildren. After he died, Kathy Heitner saved money and spent several weeks planning that trip, which was under way last week when a car crash killed Heitner and sent seven of her family members, all from Spokane, to a Tampa hospital.
News >  Spokane

Orthodox prepare for Easter

Late tonight, worshippers of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church will celebrate the holiest moment in Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus. "The faith is not just a religion. It's a reflection of what God is, and what God is, is love," said lifelong Holy Trinity member Nick Damascus. "God didn't send his own son to be butchered. He was offering the gift of salvation."
News >  Spokane

Police arrest four in series of robberies

Police apprehended four people Thursday whom they believe are responsible for a series of violent robberies of homes in Spokane and Kootenai counties. "The community is significantly safer than it was two days ago," said Al Odenthal, Spokane's deputy police chief.
News >  Spokane

Shooting victim dies from wounds

The teenager shot Wednesday in a north Spokane alley has died. Police have not identified the teen, but neighbors said he was Frank Silva, a former student at Holmes Elementary and Glover Middle schools.
News >  Spokane

Teenager clings to life after shooting

A teenager was clinging to life Wednesday night after he was shot in broad daylight Wednesday in a north Spokane neighborhood. The victim, who was not identified by police, was with a man and another teen in an alley behind 2410 W. Boone Ave. when an argument arose, Spokane police Chief Roger Bragdon said.
News >  Spokane

Workers get help off tall building

Hanging outside one of Spokane's tallest buildings wasn't scary, just boring, said two workers who spent much of Tuesday afternoon contemplating how to make it to the roof after an equipment failure left them stranded. The men were on a platform about 1 p.m. preparing Metropolitan Financial Center's exterior for a chemical wash when they noticed they could no longer move the stage along the building. They were stuck next to the structure's south side, about 15 feet from the top.
News >  Spokane

Third worker accused of theft from casino

A third North Side casino employee in less than two weeks has been arrested on charges of stealing money from the business. More than $235,000 has been stolen from Classic Rock Casino at Lilac Lanes, 1112 E. Magnesium Road, since 2003 in separate incidents, according to police and Washington State Gambling Commission reports.
News >  Spokane

Stabbing suspect says he”s sorry, felt threatened

A Spokane man charged with attempted first-degree murder said Monday that he felt threatened when he stabbed another man who is now hospitalized. "I am sorry for what I did. I'm mostly sorry for the kid that was stabbed," said Jason D. Flett, 18. "It was self-defense, but I'm just sorry about it."
News >  Spokane

Car crashes into north Spokane bank

A north Spokane bank briefly turned into a car showroom Saturday afternoon, when a wayward Honda Civic smashed through the front wall and came to rest in the midst of demolished office space. The driver walked away uninjured despite the destruction that surrounded him inside US Bank, 102 W. Indiana Ave.
News >  Spokane

Teen arrested over alleged threat

A former Ferris High School student is under arrest after allegedly threatening to go to the school and kill people if his friend, who was arrested last month in connection with an attempted murder case, is given a lengthy prison term. The 15-year-old was booked into Juvenile Detention on a felony count of harassment. He is friends with Jacob Carr, 14, who is accused of taking a gun to Ferris High School on March 24 with the intention of killing his former teacher, Michelle Klein-Coles, and himself. He faces a count of first-degree attempted murder.
News >  Spokane

Grant writer charged with theft

A Colbert man who works as a professional grant writer is facing charges that he stole thousands of dollars from a nonprofit organization that hired him to raise money. Samuel Mahaffy, 52, is accused of stealing $26,000 from Spokane-based Center for Justice, which provides legal assistance to the poor and works on civil rights, environmental and other issues. The money was given to Mahaffy in 2002 to be used as a matching fund for a grant that would have enabled the organization to hire another attorney, according to a police investigation detailed in court documents.
News >  Spokane

All that studying finally paying off

The Spokane Scholars Foundation gave out more money Thursday evening than Bob Barker on an average episode of "The Price is Right." But there was no screaming, jumping up and down or chest thumping when those judged as the best scholars in Spokane County were announced at a banquet at the Spokane Convention Center (maybe because most said the money would be funding college tuition, not a wild game show-style shopping spree).
News >  Spokane

Former CEDU employees seek lost wages

A lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday alleges that hundreds of former CEDU Educational Services employees are owed health care and 60 days of wages. CEDU, which operated schools for children with behavioral problems, announced last month that it was going out of business immediately, causing the closure of its four programs in North Idaho and the loss of 300 Idaho jobs. Nationwide, about 300 CEDU students, including those in Idaho, were sent home.
News >  Spokane

Man faces arson charge in fire at home he shares

A man was arrested early Saturday on charges that he tried to set fire to the northwest Spokane home where he lives with his girlfriend and their two children. Police say the man, Gregory Brimer, also is a suspect in two fires that caused severe damage to two garages in the same vicinity. No one was injured in any of the blazes.
News >  Spokane

Family says teen fun-loving, jovial

The mother of the teenager accused of attempting to kill a Ferris High School teacher last month says the profile of her son painted by police and media reports is not the fun-loving boy she knows. "Jacob and I are pretty close. When I get home from work he's always there and he's always, 'I love you, mom,' and, 'Hi mom,' " Audrey Schmidt said. "He just adds to my life so much. He just puts so much humor into our lives. He's always goofing around and making people laugh."
News >  Spokane

Sisters say they weren’t raped

Charges were dropped Friday against a man accused last week of pretending to be a police officer and raping adult twin sisters. Preston R. Tensley, 34, had been charged March 25 with two counts each of first-degree rape and first-degree kidnapping, and one count each of first-degree burglary and first-degree criminal impersonation.
News >  Spokane

100 firefighters battle warehouse blaze

About 100 firefighters battled a spectacular blaze that destroyed a straw warehouse in the farming community of Rockford on Thursday night. The fire was in a Seeds Inc. warehouse that stored bagged bluegrass straw, but the massive effort kept it from reaching the business' seed processing plant, said Kevin Miller, deputy fire marshal for the Spokane Valley Fire Department, one of many agencies that assisted in the effort.
News >  Spokane

Jailed 10 days after charges dropped, man sues city, cops

A Spokane man was kept in jail for 10 days in 2003 after a charge against him was dropped, according to court records. "The hardest part was sitting in there knowing that I had things that had to be taken care of," said Chester A. Lenocker Jr. "I was kind of getting anxiety going through that."
News >  Spokane

Teen brings gun to Ferris High

A 14-year-old boy went to Ferris High School on Thursday with a loaded gun and came within 6 feet of a teacher whom he planned to kill, police said. The freshman, who was expelled from the school in January for writing a threatening e-mail to the teacher, told police that this week's school shooting in Minnesota partly motivated him to go to Ferris intent on murder, Sgt. Joe Peterson said at a press conference Friday night.
News >  Spokane

Women say fake officer raped them

Spokane police have arrested a man they believe raped two women after gaining entry into their North Side residence by pretending to be a police officer. The victims told investigators that their attacker came to their door about 10 p.m. Monday and said he was a Spokane police officer. He showed them a wallet with a silver badge and an identification card that said Spokane Police Department, according to court records.
News >  Spokane

Lawsuit filed over jail death

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.
News >  Spokane

School districts OK tax levies

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.
News >  Spokane

Leaping dogs make a splash at show

Go ahead and jump, the song said over the loudspeaker. But not all the canines who participated in the DockDogs jumping contest Saturday at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center were heeding Van Halen's or their masters' commands to leap into the pool.
News >  Spokane

Cusick schools vote falls on last ballot

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.