Thomas Clouse

State Senate hopeful Mike Padden, a former Spokane County District Court judge, is trying to head off a potential campaign issue. At Padden’s request, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct has issued a statement confirming that it examined complaints about Padden’s 1999 selection of a former client as the official collection agency for District Court but found nothing to support an ethics violation. The commission typically acknowledges complaints only if it disciplines or sanctions a judge.

No one has lost more from the August shooting that killed a Spokane Valley pastor than Imogene Creach. The widow of 74-year-old Wayne Scott Creach stood among family members Wednesday as they implored Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich to prohibit the parking of unmarked patrol cars on private property.

The family of a Spokane Valley pastor killed in a police confrontation outside his home called on Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich today to voluntarily prohibit the parking of unmarked patrol cars on private property.

A bank robber dubbed the “Bad Hair Bandit” has been linked to as many as 15 holdups across Puget Sound and Eastern Washington, authorities said. The robber, whose trademark disguise includes what detectives describe as “hyper ugly wigs,” struck Monday in north Spokane. Deputies were dispatched at 12:17 p.m. to the Chase bank branch at 822 W. Francis Ave. after employees said a woman entered the building and demanded money while implying that she had a weapon, sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan said.

A suspected bank robber dubbed the “Bad Hair Bandit” is being sought for a heist today at a North Spokane bank and may be involved in as many as 14 other similar recent crimes, authorities said.

Federal agents raided several medical marijuana dispensaries in Spokane this afternoon. THC Pharmacy, 1108 S. Perry St., was shut down by agents, who positioned Spokane Police outside to block the entrance.

The man who boasted online about taking part in racist protests of taco-trucks in Coeur d’Alene and now faces an illegal weapons charge was the victim of government entrapment, his brother says.

Domestic terrorism suspect Kevin W. Harpham faces a minimum of 30 years in prison if convicted of two new charges added last week in what prosecutors have called a thwarted attempt to bomb the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Unity March in downtown Spokane. Harpham, 36, appeared Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno, where he pleaded not guilty to the new federal grand jury indictment on charges of committing a hate crime and using a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. A trial has already been set for May 31 on the previous charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and possession of an unregistered destructive device in connection with a bomb found along the planned route of the march on Jan. 17.