Stories by Thomas Clouse for the Spokesman-Review

News > Spokane

Engine dead 500 feet above treeline, veteran Fire Boss pilot survives forced landing

UPDATED: Thu., Aug. 16, 2018

First came a loud bang Tuesday and the aircraft’s single engine was dead. The fire boss pilot had 500 feet of elevation and 15 seconds to figure out a place to land with nothing but forested mountains below him.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Family feared that man killed at Coeur d’Alene bank branch would ‘escalate’

UPDATED: Tue., Aug. 14, 2018

Long before he brought a gun to the same Global Credit Union in Coeur d’Alene where he had worked just two months prior, Joshua R. Martz had been stalking his ex-wife and making her fear that he was going to “escalate,” court records show.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Fourth suspect charged in 2015 killing of Bret Snow

UPDATED: Fri., Aug. 10, 2018

Spokane County sheriff’s investigators on Friday announced that they are pursuing first-degree murder charges against a fourth suspect they believe helped kill Brett Snow, who disappeared in December 2015 and whose remains have never been found.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Sheriff candidate wins legal fight to avoid permanent protection order sought by ex-wife

UPDATED: Thu., Aug. 9, 2018

A conspiracy theorist and candidate for Spokane County Sheriff has won his latest round to avoid a permanent protection order in a legal case brought by his ex-wife.

News > WA Government

McMorris Rodgers, Rep. Mike Conaway meet with farmers, call for action on trade

Thu., Aug. 9, 2018

Just hours after votes were counted her closest election to date, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers hosted a breakfast Wednesday featuring a powerful Republican from Texas and a score of farm officials worried about the uncertainty rocking Washington agriculture.

News > Washington

Farmers voice concerns about trade war during visit by Senator Murray

Wed., Aug. 8, 2018

From apples to bank loans to the unloading of grain trucks, representatives from the region’s agricultural sector voiced concerns to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Wednesday in a frank discussion on the trade war and its impacts on Washington growers.

News > Spokane

Hanford contractor agrees to pay fine for accepting illegal kickbacks

UPDATED: Mon., Aug. 6, 2018

The Chief Financial Officer of one of the prime contractors at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation has agreed to pay $124,440 to resolve allegations that he accepted more than $40,000 in illegal kickbacks for awarding a contract to the Lockheed Martin Corporation.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Evacuations ordered for residents near Silver Lake fire along I-90

UPDATED: Mon., Aug. 6, 2018

A fast-moving brush fire quickly grew to 100 acres and its smoke forced brief closures on Interstate 90 in both directions near the Cheney exit as fire officials called for the evacuations of up to 100 nearby homes.

News > Agriculture

Farmers bear burden of making Washington king of the cherry

UPDATED: Sun., Aug. 5, 2018

WENATCHEE – Convoys of headlights looked like glowworms in the predawn darkness as the migrant workforce pushed aging vehicles more than 1,500 feet up switchback roads to the hilltop orchards for the last-great push to finish harvesting the nation’s largest cherry crop.

News > Spokane

Trump’s financial aid offer to farmers criticized as tax-funded ‘welfare’

UPDATED: Tue., July 24, 2018

A crisis of falling prices caused by retaliatory tariffs on American agricultural products prompted the Trump Administration Tuesday to make $12 billion aid package available for farmers hardest hit by the ongoing trade war.

News > Spokane

Canadian and U.S. agriculture officials say keep NAFTA, punt on tariffs

Mon., July 23, 2018

Canadian and U.S. agriculture officials agreed Monday to push the Trump administration to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement and “reconsider” the tariffs that they said are threatening to kill markets for farmers in both countries.

News > Spokane

Controversy, conflict no strangers to sheriff candidate Scott Maclay

Sun., July 22, 2018

The man seeking to unseat Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich claims that he helped bring down the Aryan Nations, was a member of the sheriff’s dive team and was the leading real estate agent in Spokane Valley for two decades. Court records and long-time acquaintances tell a different story.

News > Agriculture

Farmers fear impacts of trade war, but hold back from blaming Trump

Sun., July 15, 2018

Cody Miller, 21, has been riding in combines since he was four months old. He might be about to experience his first trade war.

News > Idaho

Liquor officials raid two Coeur d’Alene businesses, seize beer and wine

UPDATED: Thu., July 12, 2018

Detectives raided two Coeur d’Alene businesses and seized dozens of cases of wine and four kegs of beer earlier this week amid allegations the products had not been sold through a wholesale distributor, which is required under Idaho law.

News > Spokane

Spokane County sheriff’s candidate vows to handle ‘growing Muslim problem’

UPDATED: Wed., July 11, 2018

A candidate for Spokane County sheriff is calling for the 24-hour monitoring of Muslims and says the Muslim religion is “the only real problem in Spokane County.”

News > Spokane

Spokane Valley man gets 15 years for child pornography blackmail scheme

UPDATED: Wed., July 11, 2018

A Spokane Valley man was sentenced this week to serve 15 years in federal prison after he previously pleaded guilty to posing as a teenager to convince other teens to provide nude photographs that he then used as blackmail to obtain more.

News > Crime/Public Safety

“Operation Hopscotch” nets 62 arrests in Grant, Chelan and Douglas counties

Mon., July 2, 2018

An operation involving federal and Washington law enforcement has led to the arrest of 62 “violent offenders” on mostly state charges as part of an effort called “Operation Hopscotch” in Grant, Douglas and Chelan counties.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Federal judge throws out benefits theft conviction against former Spokane County deputy

UPDATED: Thu., June 28, 2018

A federal judge has thrown out a jury’s guilty verdict against a former Spokane County deputy and has dismissed the criminal case against him after ruling that prosecutors failed to provide sufficient evidence despite the jury’s decision.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Spokane dentist faces federal charges for distribution of prescription drugs

UPDATED: Wed., June 27, 2018

A longtime Spokane dentist, who last year saved the life of a man who had suffered a partially severed leg in a crash, has been named in a 31-count federal indictment charging him with conspiracy and distribution of prescription drugs during a three-year period ending in 2017.

Sports > WSU football

WSU quarterback Tyler Hilinski suffered from CTE when he killed himself

UPDATED: Tue., June 26, 2018

Tyler Hilinski cemented his place in Washington State lore in September with a 22-yard touchdown pass to Jamal Morrow in double overtime to claim a 47-44 win over Boise State.

News > Spokane

Red Pill Expo kicks off with a tribute to LaVoy Finicum

Fri., June 22, 2018

The Red Pill Expo kicked off Thursday night with a multipart documentary on the life, thoughts and actions of LaVoy Finicum that culminated with his shooting after he fled in 2016 from the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.

News > Spokane

Red Pill Expo brings leading contrarians to Spokane

UPDATED: Thu., June 21, 2018

An event that falls somewhere between the 2016 Oregon standoff and the movie “Matrix” kicks off Thursday at the Spokane Convention Center with the premier of a movie honoring slain rancher LaVoy Finicum.

News > Spokane

Jury acquits Chattaroy woman of killing 5-year-old nephew

UPDATED: Tue., June 19, 2018

After being freed from three years of living as the accused killer of a boy she rescued from a life of foster homes, Cynthia L. Khaleel sat at the court table Tuesday and sobbed.

News > Spokane

Jury deciding whether Chattaroy woman was a supermom who killed child under pressure

UPDATED: Mon., June 18, 2018

Cynthia L. Khaleel was either a “supermom” who lost her temper and did something to fracture the skull of her adoptive nephew; or she was wrongfully charged with murder for a tragic accident that killed a 5-year-old boy.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Accused mother testifies she didn’t cause fractured skull that killed boy

UPDATED: Fri., June 15, 2018

So many things about the two-week long murder trial of a Chattaroy woman didn’t fit the stereotypical image of a suspect with a long criminal history fighting for freedom after some terrible event.

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