Stories by Thomas Clouse for the Spokesman-Review

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.

News > Washington

Tiny town of Mesa ordered to pay $175,000 to former mayor over records dispute

Fri., June 15, 2018

In a war of words, or a legal battle over a lack of them, the tiny town of Mesa, Washington, was ordered Thursday to fork over $175,000 to its former mayor following a 16-year legal battle that started with a revoked building permit.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Medical expert for the defense testifies in Khaleel trial, says short fall could have fractured 5-year-old boy’s skull

UPDATED: Wed., June 13, 2018

A day after the jury viewed gruesome photos of a 5-year-old’s fractured skull, the defense attorney for accused killer Cynthia L. Khaleel brought his own medical expert to suggest that the blow that ended the troubled boy’s life could have come from a short fall.

News > Spokane

Medical examiner describes 5-year-old’s fractured skull as one of the worst he’s seen

UPDATED: Tue., June 12, 2018

The cellphone video shows all the children in Cynthia Khaleel’s home sitting in front of plates of food, laughing and dancing on demand. Only hours later, 5-year-old Gary Blanton III would be rushed to a hospital on April 17, 2015, with a skull so broken that doctors knew right away they couldn’t save him.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Hanford whistleblower case settles for $5.5 million in total fines

UPDATED: Sat., June 9, 2018

Eight years ago, Salina Savage took on government contractors who had used a shell company to prevent legitimate businesses from receiving lucrative jobs at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The Richland-based whistleblower’s case finally settled this week, generating more than $5.5 million in fines against the company and a total of $690,000 paid to Savage for alerting the government to the swindle.

News > Business

Federal judge in Spokane dismisses suit seeking to reinstate country-of-origin labels on imported meat

Thu., June 7, 2018

Where’s the beef from? It will remain a mystery. A federal judge in Spokane this week dismissed a lawsuit filed by domestic livestock producers who were attempting to erase a 2016 decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to stop labeling the country-of-origin on beef and pork imports.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Trial opens against aunt charged with killing 5-year-old Chattaroy boy

UPDATED: Wed., June 6, 2018

Five-year-old Gary Blanton III either accidentally fell from his brother’s crib and fractured his skull, or the boy became the assault victim of a frustrated aunt whose nerves snapped as she tried her best to play the role of a “super mom.”

News > Spokane

Benefits “flip-flopping” by the VA may earn former deputy new fraud trial

Mon., June 4, 2018

A former Spokane County sheriff’s deputy may get a new trial after one of the federal agencies he was convicted of defrauding somehow didn’t keep up on current events and restored his full benefits some four months after he was found guilty at a public trial.

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