Thomas Clouse

It took a Spokane jury about an hour today to decide in favor of Rosauers Supermarkets in a lawsuit brought by a family who claimed their 11-year-old daughter was unlawfully detained by employees of the grocery store chain who accused her of being a prostitute.

Just as his murder trial was set to begin, Matthew R. Jones pleaded guilty in connection with a shooting on Halloween night that killed a 22-year-old man who was trying to break up a fight outside The Blvd Tavern in downtown Spokane.

A former employee of The Spokesman-Review and his attorney have reached an agreement in principle with prosecutors to plead guilty to several charges of possession of child pornography.

The last of three defendants was sentenced today to serve more than 41 years in prison for a robbery and drive-by shooting that all three suspects and a key witness claim they didn’t commit.

Tears streamed down the face of defense attorney David Partovi as his client, 22-year-old Tyler W. Gassman, cried today and listened to his sister plead for justice. “I don’t know what to say,” Partovi told Superior Court Judge Michael Price after his client was ordered to serve nearly 26 years in prison. “I just want the record to reflect and mankind to know that this is the worst thing I’ve ever seen come out of the courts. For the first time in my entire career, I’m ashamed to be an officer of this court.”

About a dozen candidates for local offices waited Monday morning for the door of the Spokane County Election’s Office to open to officially launch their campaigns. By the end of the day, By the end of the day, 56 candidates had filed for offices including small-town mayors and council members, judges, school boards and fire commissioners.

While spring still has 20 or so days left, it appears summer has arrived for the foreseeable future. Unseasonably hot temperatures are expected to continue all week in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene with highs hovering at or above 80 degrees and lows in the low 50s, according to the National Weather Service.

The Bonner County Sherriff’s Office and emergency personnel have found the body of an adult male in the Pend Oreille River near Johnson Creek. Lt. Doug Harris said the body was spotted about 9:15 a.m. just off the north shore of the river at mile post 19 on U.S. Highway 2. An employee with the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad spotted the body and called dispatchers.

Edward A. Saner admitted Tuesday to committing seven pharmacy robberies in the Inland Northwest. Creative detective work helped crack the case.

Spokane Valley man convicted of raping and imprisoning prostitutes.

A former attendant at Lakeland Village is on trial in Spokane for allegedly leaving a developmentally disabled woman in a bathtub, where she drowned.

A judge today denied a request for a new trial in a case that resulted in the convictions of three suspects, an $8,000 sanction against prosecutors and allegations of misconduct against attorneys on both sides.

A federal judge has ruled in favor of Spokane County in a suit brought by a man who claimed that sheriff’s deputies beat him inside a Spokane Valley bar in 2003. U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle dismissed all of the claims made by Douglas L. Myser, essentially saying the case had no merit.

Spokane police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said Wednesday that she decided against asking prosecutors to consider misdemeanor charges against former Officer Jay Olsen for trying to talk to a judge about his case.

A registered sex offender for years has terrorized prostitutes, according to court records, by forcing them to appease him in strange ways knowing they probably wouldn’t go to police.

A missing salesman called Ferry County officials this morning to let them know that he is fine after an encounter with a stubborn snow berm.

The region’s balmy weather has created enough snowmelt that the National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for the Coeur d’Alene River near Cataldo.

For the first time in the protracted Hanford downwinders lawsuit, the lead lawyer for government contractors said Tuesday his companies are ready to offer cash settlements to a few of the thousands of people who believe their illnesses were caused by radiation releases. U.S. District Judge William F. Nielsen hosted more than a dozen attorneys in Spokane for a status conference on the 18-year-old downwinders lawsuit, which has cost taxpayers more than $57 million to defend.

For the first time in the protracted Hanford downwinders lawsuit, the lead lawyer for government contractors said Tuesday his companies are ready to offer cash settlements to a few of the thousands of people who believe their illnesses were caused by radiation releases.

Jurors will continue this morning deliberating whether a Spokane man was justified for twice shooting another man during a heated dispute in 2007 or whether he should go to prison for murder.

The assault conviction of an armed man shot in the face by Spokane police during a May 1, 2007 shootout has been upheld by the state Appeals Court. But the court, in a ruling issued today, reversed on technical grounds a conviction on a companion charge of unlawfully possessing a firearm.