Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Kootenai County gets federal grant

Compiled from staff and wire reports The Spokesman-Review

Kootenai County recently got a $62,698 federal grant to supplement emergency food and shelter programs.

A local board will decide how to award the money to local food and shelter programs. The deadline for public and private agencies to apply for the emergency food and shelter program funds is Jan. 10.

A national board overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency chose Kootenai County for the grant. The national board includes representatives from the Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Council of Jewish Federations, Catholic Charities USA, National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA and United Way of America.

For more information about the grant applications, call Lorraine Gilbert or Jeff Conway at United Way, (208) 667-8112.

Teacher’s bail set at $750,000

Olympia A Superior Court judge set bail at $750,000 Thursday for a Canadian teacher accused of videotaping high school wrestlers while they showered.

Chi Yung Luu, 29, of Delta, British Columbia, remained in the Thurston County Jail for investigation of 15 counts of voyeurism. He had not been formally charged.

Prosecutors said Luu was a schoolteacher in British Columbia. Police said investigators found videotapes in his car from swimming and wrestling events around the region.

Luu was arrested Wednesday during the Tumwater Invitational tournament, which attracted wrestlers from 13 Western Washington schools.

Police were called after an athlete noticed a man with a camera, which apparently was concealed in a towel, Lt. Don Stevens told The Olympian newspaper. Two coaches detained the man until officers arrived, police said.

Lake Tahoe jet crash investigation begins

Truckee, Calif. Federal investigators began their probe Thursday into the crash of a private business jet heading from Idaho to California that went down in a fiery crash as it tried to land at an airport north of Lake Tahoe, killing both occupants.

Placer County Sheriff Edward N. Bonner said the victims had been tentatively identified, but positive identification was awaiting forensic testing.

The twin-engine Learjet 35 had taken off from Twin Falls, Idaho, and was scheduled to pick up two passengers at Truckee Tahoe Airport, said Bruce Nelson, a Federal Aviation Administration operations officer in Los Angeles.

The passengers were waiting in a car for the plane to arrive when it went down.

The plane attempted to land during a rainy Sierra storm, with winds of 23 mph and gusts hitting more than 40 mph, officials said. The airport had issued a warning on its Web page saying pilots might encounter “turbulence, downdrafts and wind shear.”

Five injured in fire at rooming house

Seattle Fire ripped through a two-story rooming house in Seattle’s University District on Thursday, forcing at least one resident to jump out a window to escape the flames.

Five people, including one firefighter, were injured, said Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick.

The fire began in the basement and was ruled accidental, but the exact cause remained under investigation, Fitzpatrick said Thursday evening. Damage to the structure and contents has been estimated at $375,000, she said.