The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
51°F
Current Conditions
Few clouds
View complete weather report
Subscribe now

Scott Maben

This individual is no longer an employee with The Spokesman-Review.

All Stories

News >  Spokane

BIA backs proposed casino

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is ignoring local government opposition to a plan by the Spokane Tribe of Indians to build a casino near Fairchild Air Force Base, says a group trying to stop the project. The BIA selected the tribe’s proposed West Plains casino and mixed-use development as its preferred alternative in a final environmental impact statement released this week.
News >  Spokane

Riders at Silverwood may wonder which way is up

Silverwood Theme Park is adding a rotating, swinging behemoth of a thrill ride that will test riders’ courage and stomach strength, as well as a far gentler ride for kids and families. The park near Athol, Idaho, will spend $2.2 million on the new attractions and expects to have them up and running at the start of the upcoming season.
News >  Idaho

New thrill ride set to open at Silverwood

Silverwood Theme Park is adding a rotating, swinging behemoth of a thrill ride that will test riders’ fortitude, as well as a far gentler ride for kids and families.
News >  Idaho

Crowd in Coeur d’Alene roused for gun rights

A crowd of more than 1,000, many of them armed with rifles and pistols, rallied in support of gun-owner rights Saturday outside a Coeur d’Alene sporting goods store. It was a strong show of support for the Second Amendment on a cold and sunny day, and it came in response to sweeping new gun control proposals by the Obama administration following the Newtown, Conn., elementary school massacre last month.
News >  Idaho

North Idaho ventures aim to fill recycling void

Mom-and-pop startups in North Idaho are aspiring to divert some of the thousands of tons of glass bottles dumped into landfills each year. Glass recycled in Spokane County is hauled to Seattle to make new bottles, but in the Panhandle of Idaho bottles and jars remain a part of the waste stream.
News >  Spokane

Sheriff shares spotlight as he pins on new badge

Ben Wolfinger took the oath as Kootenai County’s new top cop Monday, but he shared the spotlight with Boston Wolfinger, his 5-week-old grandson whose tiny outfit declared, “New sheriff in town.” The first grandchild for Wolfinger and his wife, Mary, marked a peak in a rollercoaster year for the 30-year veteran of the sheriff’s department.
News >  Marijuana

Interstate 90 a major route for traffickers heading east

The buds are potent and fresh, packed gingerly in heat-sealed bags to preserve their form and flavor – and throw off the drug dogs. These aren’t the dense bricks of Mexican pot moving up from the border. This is superior Northwest marijuana that fetches top dollar in the Midwest and Eastern states.
News >  Spokane

CdA Tribe elder kept stories alive

Clifford J. SiJohn, a Coeur d’Alene Tribe elder active in preserving the tribe’s customs and cultural heritage, died Christmas Eve in Coeur d’Alene. He was 67. His Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. today at the Rose Creek Longhouse in Worley, Idaho, and he will buried at the DeSmet Mission Cemetery.
News >  Spokane

State’s basic wage rises

The minimum wage in Washington will go up to $9.19 an hour on Jan. 1, keeping the state ahead of all others and nearly $2 above the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Idaho’s minimum wage will remain unchanged at $7.25 an hour, which is just over $15,000 a year for a full-time employee. It also falls within the federal definition of poverty for a two-person household.
News

Coeur d’Alene tribal elder SiJohn dies

Clifford J. SiJohn, a Coeur d’Alene Tribe elder active in preserving the tribe’s customs and cultural heritage, died Christmas Eve in Coeur d’Alene. He was 67.
News >  Spokane

Avista rates to rise next week

Avista Corp. will raise electric and gas rates in Washington in the new year and again in 2014 under an agreement with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. Following months of negotiations between the Spokane-based utility and state regulators, Avista customers will pay 2 percent more for electricity and 3.7 percent more for natural gas beginning next Tuesday, New Year’s Day.
News >  Spokane

A whole new person

A 12-year-old boy in southwest Afghanistan is attending school, playing soccer and helping around his home with the aid of a prosthetic leg he received this year during a three-month stay in the Inland Northwest. Rahim – his full name and hometown are not revealed – was reunited with his family in late August after spending the summer with a Coeur d’Alene host family.
News >  Spokane

Call centers still humming along

For a room where hundreds may be on the phone at once, it’s surprisingly serene on the floor of the US Bank Service Center in Coeur d’Alene. Seated here in a labyrinth of beige cubicles are the people on the other end of the line when you call about that credit card balance. The Inland Northwest is home to more than 20 call centers, with a total employment averaging about 3,000 this year in Kootenai and Spokane counties.
News >  Spokane

Marine pursuing fresh look at war

The stench of burning military waste in Iraq and Afghanistan – poisonous pollutants suspected of causing serious health problems for returning soldiers – has influenced a Coeur d’Alene man’s decision to pursue a career in environmental contamination. Jacob Odekirk, 24, is a Marine Corps combat veteran who was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and 2009 for a total of 14 months. He is one of thousands of service members exposed to the acrid smoke from open-air burn pits and left wondering if they’ll get sick from it one day.
News >  Spokane

Idaho jobless rate below 7 percent

Idaho’s unemployment rate continued to fall in November, dropping below 7 percent for the first time in 3  1/2 years as employers maintained payrolls at a stronger pace than normal for the month. In North Idaho, where joblessness has remained higher than the statewide average, the seasonally adjusted rate fell in every county last month. It stood at 8.1 percent in Kootenai County, which is down from almost 10 percent a year ago, the Idaho Department of Labor reported Friday.
News >  Spokane

School, police officials in area say proposal needs more discussion

Police and school officials across the Inland Northwest reacted cautiously to the idea of armed officers in every school, saying they’ll watch how the proposal plays out in Congress but warning that solutions to school violence are more complex. “It sort of takes my breath away,” said Coeur d’Alene School District Superintendent Hazel Bauman. “And yet, to some extent in our secondary schools we’re already doing that.”
News >  Business

Unemployment rate dips below 7% in Idaho

Idaho’s unemployment rate continued to fall in November, dropping below 7 percent for the first time in 3½ years as employers maintained payrolls at a stronger pace than normal for the month.
News >  Business

CdA Mines may move to Chicago

Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp., a North Idaho institution for more than eight decades, may move its headquarters to Chicago. Company officials broke the news Thursday to employees in the Coeur d’Alene office. It was unclear how many local jobs would disappear with such a move.
News >  Spokane

Rumored threat closes 3 N. Idaho school districts

Rumors of a school shooting plot prompted three school districts to cancel classes today for about 20,000 students in Kootenai County. Although police have not verified a real threat of violence, the persistent rumors rattled many students and parents, and attendance has dropped all week, officials said.