Thomas Clouse

A program by the city of Spokane seeking volunteers to root out code violators among their neighbors has brought criticism, with some comparing the effort to Big Brother. City representatives have begun attending neighborhood meetings, passing out information seeking people willing to spend about four hours a week as “Citizen Code Enforcement Volunteers.” Such volunteers, the materials say, will be “the eyes on the streets for Code Enforcement Officers,” who investigate a wide range of neighborhood complaints including junk vehicles and illegal dumping.

A shooting that left a man dead outside a downtown Spokane hotel last month appears to have been the result of an attempted drug robbery, according to newly filed court records. Spokane Police officials previously named Kevin M. Heaton, 35, as the person suspected of shooting 33-year-old Paul A. Haney, who was found dead Sept. 13 outside the Days Inn, 120 W. Third Ave.

Spokane police have arrested a man suspected of shooting his girlfriend in the face last week.

Friedlund's antics at an end

Federal prosecutors asked a federal judge late today to sentence former Spokane police Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. to 10 years in federal prison for using excessive force on Otto Zehm and lying to investigators about the confrontation.

The Kettle Falls man convicted of stealing nearly $1 million from the 105-year-old woman in his care was sentenced today to the maximum 10 years that he could have received.

A Stevens County jury on Thursday convicted a caretaker of raiding nearly $1 million from the retirement fund of a Kettle Falls woman who was then 105 years old. The jury deadlocked, however, on the charge of criminal mistreatment of the woman, Frances Swan, who was found in May 2011 living in squalid conditions and asking for food.

The California man who prosecutors said helped plan the 2007 murder of Dale Stark pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder just days before his retrial was set to start. A jury in May deadlocked 11-1 to convict Brian L. Moore, 46, on charges of first-degree murder by accomplice and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Moore was charged with helping Shellye Stark plan and carry out the Dec. 9, 2007, shooting death of her estranged husband, Dale R. Stark, in his South Hill home.

The California man who prosecutors say helped plan the 2007 murder of Dale Stark, pleaded guilty today to second-degree murder just days before his retrial was set to start.

Standing before a judge Tuesday for the second time as a convicted killer, Shellye Stark received less than half her original 51-year sentence for shooting her husband in 2007. Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen instead sentenced Stark to 25 years for the killing, the least amount of time she could mete out under the state’s mandatory sentencing laws.

Standing before a judge Tuesday for the second time as a convicted killer, Shellye Stark received less than half her original 51-year sentence for shooting her husband in 2007.