Stories by Thomas Clouse for the Spokesman-Review

News > Crime/Public Safety

Wilbur man gets 11 years in federal prison for stalking woman with GPS devices

UPDATED: Thu., May 23, 2019

A convicted felon from Wilbur has been sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to illegally possessing firearms and placing GPS devices on his former lover’s vehicles to stalk her.

News > Pacific NW

Mexico tariff pull back boosts Washington apple industry prospects

Thu., May 23, 2019

After a full year of uncertainty surrounding Washington's signature crop, growers finally got a container ship of good news this week as Mexico officials announced that they had eliminated their 20% tariff on imports of apples.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Child abuse trial begins in case of Spokane baby who suffered bleeding on brain

UPDATED: Tue., May 21, 2019

Attorneys delivered differing accounts Tuesday about how a Spokane infant suffered bleeding on the brain in 2017 that will impair him for the rest of his life, including vision problems.

News > Spokane

Spokane psychologists Mitchell and Jessen called to testify about ‘torture’ techniques in 9/11 tribunals

UPDATED: Mon., May 20, 2019

Two Spokane psychologists, who designed the “enhanced interrogation” techniques that a federal judge later said constituted torture, could publicly testify for the first time after they have been summoned before a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the trial of five men charged with helping to plan and assist in the 9/11 attacks.

News > Spokane

Cloudburst ruptures Spokesman-Review drain pipe and floods pressroom with thousands of gallons of water

UPDATED: Fri., May 17, 2019

The cloudburst Thursday afternoon that turned Spokane’s downtown streets into gushing rivers, also created havoc at the massive presses that print The Spokesman-Review newspaper.

News > Spokane

Defense says FBI analysis finds no evidence Spokane man threatened Lewis and Clark High students

UPDATED: Thu., May 16, 2019

The more investigators dig into the electronic devices used by alleged cyberstalker Ryan B. Lee, the less incriminating evidence they find, according to court records and testimony.

News > Spokane

Jury exonerates drug dealer in 2017 drive-by killing of Spokane man

UPDATED: Wed., May 15, 2019

A Spokane County jury on Wednesday exonerated an admitted drug dealer of the drive-by shooting death of a Spokane man, who was found hours after he was gunned down in 2017 in a neighborhood near NorthTown Mall.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Former Ferris assistant football coach indicted on federal sex trafficking charges

UPDATED: Tue., May 14, 2019

While he was originally arrested last year on state charges, federal prosecutors have now charged a former Ferris high school coach in a six-count indictment on charges involving sex trafficking, enticing and production of child pornography.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Key witness to 2017 killing in Spokane contradicts taped statements to police

UPDATED: Thu., May 9, 2019

Summoned from prison to testify about his interactions with a man accused of gunning down a Spokane man in 2017, Christopher A. Burdick had several memory lapses on the witness stand Thursday when asked about statements he previously gave police about that shooting.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Spokane toddler fighting for life while babysitter’s husband faces first-degree assault charge

Wed., May 8, 2019

Doctors have been fighting for nine days to save the life of an 18-month-old Spokane boy who suffered a lacerated liver so severe that a physician told the mother it was on the scale of injury suffered from a fall from a two-story building or a serious vehicle collision.

News > Spokane

Murder trial begins for felon accused of gunning down man in north Spokane

UPDATED: Wed., May 8, 2019

An altercation over a girl in 2008 apparently stewed for nine years before a man shot and killed a Spokane man in 2017, a prosecutor said in court Monday.

News > Spokane

Trump nominates William Hyslop to return as Eastern Washington’s top federal prosecutor

UPDATED: Tue., May 7, 2019

It set a record for the longest wait, but President Donald Trump has finally nominated a candidate to become the next U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. And the name is a familiar one.

News > Spokane

Federal judge in Yakima halts Trump administration rule barring abortion referrals

UPDATED: Thu., April 25, 2019

Prompted by a Washington attorney general lawsuit, a federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration’s gag rule that would have barred providers, such as Planned Parenthood, from giving pregnant women information about family planning services, including abortions.

News > Spokane

9th Circuit reinstates lawsuit challenging government’s wolf killing program in Idaho

UPDATED: Tue., April 23, 2019

A panel of federal appellate judges on Tuesday reinstated a lawsuit filed in 2016 by five conservation groups who are challenging how government employees target predators, including killing wolves.

News > Spokane

New evidence prompts mistrial in murder trial of Spokane man

UPDATED: Fri., April 19, 2019

The discovery of new evidence appears to be the reason that a defense attorney called for a mistrial earlier this month in the first-degree murder case against a Spokane man charged with the 2016 killing of the nephew of U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.

News > Spokane

Spokane judge sentences woman to 31 years for Bret Snow killing

UPDATED: Fri., April 19, 2019

A judge found no mercy Friday for the “dangerous” woman convicted of ordering the beating that caused the death of a 32-year-old Bret R. Snow, whose battered body has never been found.

News > Spokane

Gonzaga student’s homework assignment leads to legal battle for new murder trial

Fri., April 19, 2019

A homework assignment for a Gonzaga University student to attend a recent murder trial transformed into a legal fight for a new trial after a judicial assistant accused the student, and her friends, of doing drugs in court and then tried to get them arrested.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Sandpoint homicide suspect appears in court weeks after sitting in jail on unrelated charges

UPDATED: Tue., April 16, 2019

A man in custody since March on allegations of giving false information to police has been officially charged in connection with the shooting death of 26-year-old Robert H. Wohali.

News > Health

Stem cell therapy clinics are big business in Spokane area, but are desperate patients being sold snake oil?

UPDATED: Mon., April 15, 2019

Stem Cell Centers CEO Travis Autor insists that his stem cell therapy works and claims to have treated between 8,000 and 10,000 patients in clinics like the one in Coeur d’Alene. A doctor at the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington calls people like Autor “charlatans.”

News > Crime/Public Safety

Coeur d’Alene judge gives Spokane man 30 days for lewd conduct with 15-year-old girl

UPDATED: Fri., April 12, 2019

A 20-year-old Spokane man, who faced up to life in prison for having sex with a 15-year-old girl in a Coeur d’Alene public bathroom, was instead sentenced last week to 30 days in jail.

News > Spokane

Murder trial of man charged with killing U.S. senator’s nephew declared mistrial

UPDATED: Fri., April 12, 2019

On the second day of testimony, a mistrial was declared in the first-degree murder trial of John A. Radavich.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Spokane man gets 3 years in federal prison in Idaho sex sting

UPDATED: Wed., April 10, 2019

A Spokane man was sentenced this week to three years in federal prison after he was convicted for traveling to Idaho with intent to engage with sex with a minor.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Murder trial for killing of Sen. Jon Tester’s nephew begins in Spokane

UPDATED: Wed., April 10, 2019

After crawling into the bed with her dad, as she often did, the 8-year-old girl awoke to the sound of her father screaming. She looked up to see an unknown man dressed in black plunging a sword into her father inside their home near Spangle, south of Spokane, according to records and court testimony.

News > Spokane

Cold February puts Washington wheat farmers a month behind

Mon., April 8, 2019

During most years, many area farmers put in their spring wheat crop about the same time area high schools begin chasing championship dreams at the State B tournament. However, the snow and cold of February has mostly kept tractors out of the field at the same time turbulent market forces remain unresolved.

News > Spokane

February snow pushes back opening at several area golf courses

UPDATED: Fri., April 5, 2019

Ever since Billy Bomar purchased the Prairie Falls Golf Club in 2014, he’s made it a habit to rib his former colleagues in Alaska about how early in the year he gets to open his golf course in Post Falls. Not this year.

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