Stories by Thomas Clouse for the Spokesman-Review

News > Spokane

Family sues after 85-year-old woman falls in construction zone at care facility

UPDATED: Sat., Dec. 16, 2017

Joyce Davis loved to fly away from Spokane winters and stay with her daughter in California. That’s before the 85-year-old woman walked past an empty nurse’s station, through an unlocked door, and fell earlier this year into a construction pit inside the Providence St. Joseph Care Center.

News > Spokane

Veterans group is accepting food donations for homeless comrades

Fri., Dec. 15, 2017

The Inland Empire Veterans United group is wrapping up its annual food drive and it still needs donations of food that will be given to homeless veterans.

News > Spokane

WSP partners with local cops to boost patrols for holiday safety

Fri., Dec. 15, 2017

It’s the time of year when company dinners, Christmas parties and friends gathering for reunions provide the fuel for good times that sometimes lead to bad decisions which, in turn, transform into instant tragedies.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Feds seize 75 guns and pounds of drugs in raids from North Idaho to Mattawa

UPDATED: Wed., Dec. 13, 2017

Federal agents raided some 15 locations from North Idaho to southern Grant County Wednesday morning and arrested 20 people who have been charged as part of investigation into a conspiracy to distribute drugs.

News > Spokane

WSU shutters Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity following investigation into reports of hazing

UPDATED: Tue., Dec. 12, 2017

The 90-year charter of the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity has been revoked at Washington State University after concerns were raised over hazing, but university officials would not say exactly what occurred that prompted the decision to shutter the fraternity.

News > Spokane

SCC students step up to provide Christmas to family displaced by fire

Mon., Dec. 11, 2017

The eyes of 4-year-old Alizea and 16-month-old Julius flashed fear as they were led Monday into a room of carol-singing Spokane Community College students.

News > Spokane

Children of slain Brenda Thurman settle wrongful death suit against Dwayne Thurman

UPDATED: Mon., Dec. 11, 2017

The children of Brenda Thurman have agreed to settle the wrongful death suit they filed against their adoptive father, Dwayne Thurman, who shot and killed his wife last year in what he has said was an accident. The details of the settlement were not been disclosed.

News > Spokane

Attorneys for tortured combatant seek depositions from Spokane psychologists Mitchell and Jessen

UPDATED: Tue., Nov. 28, 2017

Spokane psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen may not be done talking to attorneys about waterboarding.

News > Spokane

North Spokane man charged with rape, unlawful imprisonment, after online date

UPDATED: Mon., Nov. 27, 2017

A North Spokane County man has been charged with rape and unlawful imprisonment after a woman reported an online date turned violent.

News > Spokane

Convicted Spokane felon faces federal charge of sex trafficking

UPDATED: Fri., Nov. 24, 2017

A convicted felon from Spokane faces a federal charge of sex trafficking after federal agents interviewed two women who claim that the suspect forced them to perform sex acts for money and threatened severe beatings if they did not charge enough for the encounters that he advertised online.

News > Spokane

Photographer sues EWU after hammer throw hits leg

Thu., Nov. 23, 2017

A contract photographer has sued Eastern Washington University after he suffered a serious leg injury in 2015 when a collegiate athlete threw a hammer during a track and field competition and the ball-and-chain struck the photographer in the leg as he was attempting to capture images of the event.

News > Spokane

Appeals court dashes hope for new trials for two Spokane sexual predators

Wed., Nov. 22, 2017

Two sexually violent predators from Spokane may not be getting new court hearings to seek their freedom after appellate judges sided with the state of Washington over when it can submit mental evaluations of the inmates.

News > Spokane

Spokane VA to expand urgent care while scrapping plans to re-open emergency room

Sat., Nov. 18, 2017

Efforts to re-open the emergency room at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center have flatlined and the fate of rural outpatient clinics appear to be sealed.

News > Spokane

Couple sue Spokane Arena over fall at a concert in 2013

Fri., Nov. 17, 2017

Carleen Kenfield went to the Spokane Arena in 2013 hoping to see the Tran-Siberian Orchestra. What she got instead was four years of surgeries, physical therapy and constant pain.

News > Spokane

Feds fine Pasco potato processor $100,000 for employment status discrimination

UPDATED: Thu., Nov. 16, 2017

A Pasco potato processing company has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a Department of Justice investigation into whether it discriminated against immigrants when they ordered workers to verify their employment authorization in violation of federal law.

News > Spokane

Kyle A. Odom sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for shooting Coeur d’Alene pastor

UPDATED: Mon., Nov. 13, 2017

Only through counseling and medication did Kyle A. Odom realize that the Coeur d'Alene pastor he shot six times was not an alien taking over the lives of other humans.

News > Spokane

Trump administration lags behind in appointing U.S. Attorneys for Washington

Sun., Nov. 12, 2017

Some eight months after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked 46 U.S. Attorneys to resign, Washington state still has not had anyone nominated to fill its two top federal prosecutor positions.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Firefighters knock down blaze at 9-unit apartment in Browne’s Addition

UPDATED: Fri., Nov. 10, 2017

Spokane Fire crews responded just after 1 p.m. Friday to a structure fire inside a nine-unit apartment building at 1730 W. Pacific in Spokane’s Browne’s Addition.

News > Spokane

Spokane stylist heading to Cambodia to teach endangered youths a way out of servitude

Fri., Nov. 10, 2017

A Spokane hair stylist is heading to Cambodia in hopes of teaching her trade to youths will give them an avenue out of the sex-slave industry.

News > Spokane

Family feels justice served after Renfro sentenced to death

UPDATED: Mon., Nov. 6, 2017

The family of slain Coeur d’Alene Police Sgt. Greg Moore say death sentence sought as a deterrent to prevent another would-be shooter from firing on police.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Renfro tells jury he accepts his fate, even if it means the death penalty

UPDATED: Fri., Nov. 3, 2017

After weeks of psychological experts, legal arguments and crime-scene photos, the jury for the first time saw the firsthand emotional destruction caused by the decision of Jonathan D. Renfro to fire a hidden gun on May 5, 2015, and shoot Greg Moore in the face.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Spokane County not negligent in freezing death of 84-year-old, jury finds

UPDATED: Fri., Nov. 3, 2017

A jury ruled Thursday that Spokane County was not negligent in the death of an 84-year-old juror, who apparently lost his way and froze to death on the steps of the courthouse in 2007.

News > Spokane

Judge approves settlement to $191 million bankruptcy filed by Spokane doctors

UPDATED: Wed., Nov. 1, 2017

Two Spokane doctors have settled their $191 million bankruptcy, but Drs. Debra and Sajid Ravasia may lose their home in the process.

News > Spokane

Four-month delay in details of plutonium release at Hanford raises questions

UPDATED: Tue., Oct. 31, 2017

The announcement this month that 31 Hanford workers were contaminated from a June 8 incident is raising more questions about how government agencies alert the public about the test results of leaks from one of the world’s most polluted sites.

News > Crime/Public Safety

Potential death penalty for Renfro may trigger decades of costly appeals

Sun., Oct. 29, 2017

If a jury decides this week that Jonathan D. Renfro should receive the death penalty for killing Coeur d’Alene Police Sgt. Greg Moore, many of the jurors will never see their death sentence carried out.

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