Avista warns against stunts

If you saw “Fear Factor Couples” last night, Avista Corp. has a message for you: Don’t try that at home.

The Spokane-based power company said Monday that contestants on the popular television show were required to stand near an electric power substation and receive a mild “nuisance shock.”

Said Avista in a press release Monday, “there are no ‘nuisance’ shocks. Any contact with electricity … can be deadly.”

Avista also warned Fear Factor-wannabes against entering its fenced substations, which contain equipment that carry lethal electrical currents.

TV viewers “are reminded that these stunts were performed under the close supervision of medical and network staff and should not be imitated under any other circumstances,” the company said.

Fire forces couple from home

A Spokane Valley couple were driven from their home by flames and smoke Monday morning.

The blaze at 8705 E. Alki was reported to Valley Fire minutes after 6 a.m., said Fire Marshal Paul Chase.

“It kind of came at shift change,” he said. “Our battalion chief arrived first and when he got there flames were coming from the bedroom window.”

A woman sleeping in the home awoke to find flames in the bedroom, Chase said. She woke her husband, who tried unsuccessfully to put out the fire. The two escaped before firefighters arrived.

The cause of the fire appeared to be a candle left burning overnight at the foot of the bed, Chase said.

“I really don’t know what woke her up,” he said. “There were no working fire detectors. I think angels helped them.”

The small tea candle had been burning in a metal holder. The couple, whom Chase identified as Greg and Shelly Whitehead, had apparently left it burning on previous occasions and the candle always burned itself out. “This time it didn’t,” Chase said. “It probably caught the bedding on fire.”

A cat, dog and bird also survived the fire. A second bird perished.

The bedroom had significant damage; heat and smoke also damaged other parts of the house. Chase said he wasn’t sure if the home was insured. The Red Cross is assisting the couple.

Workshops will focus on federal grants

Representatives of local government agencies and nonprofit organizations can pick up tips on securing federal grants by attending a series of workshops next week.

Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray will be sending staff members to the workshops to help point out federal grants the agencies or organizations might be eligible to receive, and explain how to apply for that money. A Spokane workshop is scheduled for 9 a.m. Feb. 8, at the Avista Auditorium, 1411 E. Mission, and for 3 p.m. Feb. 8 in Walla Walla, at the Community College’s Center of Enology and Viticulture, 500 Tausick Way.

On Feb. 9, workshops are scheduled at 11 a.m. at Big Bend Community College’s Technology Conference Center in Moses Lake, and at 3 p.m. at Central Washington University’s Mary Grupe Center in Ellensburg.

Superintendent to take questions online

Spokane Public Schools Superintendent Brian Benzel will take questions online during his monthly cyber chat today at noon.

The session goes from noon to 1 p.m. Transcripts of past chats are also posted.

On the first Tuesday of each month, Benzel takes questions submitted by computer. Those who can’t make it to the live chat can see a transcript of questions and responses posted to the district Web site. To join the chat or see the interactions, go to www.spokaneschools.org and click on the “Interview with the Superintendent” link.

Judge revokes release for fugitive

A federal judge on Monday revoked the supervised release of a fugitive who allegedly assaulted Spokane County Jail corrections officers last week after being arrested in Coeur d’Alene.

Jarrod J. Yockey must serve an additional two months in jail, the remaining balance on a two-year term of supervised release he received when he was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He previously served 22 months in prison for prior revocations associated with violating conditions of his release from jail.

“You’ve not been amenable to supervision,” Senior U.S. District Court Judge Frem Nielsen said in revoking Yockey’s release and sending him back to jail.

He also faces possible state charges associated with a fight on Jan. 25 with two jailers. The fight occurred after Yockey allegedly threatened to kill corrections officers, then refused to hang up the telephone.

During the course of the jail fight, one officer was punched in the mouth and head before Yockey was subdued with a Taser, sheriff’s officials said.

Yockey was taken to the jail after being arrested by members of the Eastern Washington Fugitive Task Force, who tracked the 33-year-old fugitive to the Coeur d’Alene home of a female friend.

A warrant for his arrest was issued after he failed to notify federal probation officers of his address and failed to take urinalysis tests in late December. When he finally took a test, it showed he had been using methamphetamine, the court was told.

Couple killed in Belfair home

Belfair, Wash. A man and a woman in their early 20s were found dead Monday in the bedroom of a suburban home in this small Kitsap Peninsula town, the Mason County sheriff’s office reported.

The sheriff’s office did not immediately release the names of the victims.

The cause of death was still under investigation, said Undersheriff Gary J. Crane.

Authorities had no suspects Monday afternoon as investigators entered the home to look for clues after waiting for a search warrant. The sheriff’s office called in the State Patrol Crime Lab to examine the crime scene, Crane said.

There were signs of a forced entry to the home in View Ridge Heights and also indications there had been a struggle inside, he said.

The mother of one of the victims called the sheriff’s office around 10 a.m. Monday to say that she had gone to her son’s residence to check on him and found him dead, Crane said. Deputies later found the female victim.

Lawmakers again propose flood trail

Washington Washington state lawmakers have renewed their push to establish an Ice Age Floods National Geological Trail through portions of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Republican Rep. Doc Hastings introduced similar legislation last year to create a trail that would stretch from Missoula, Mont., to the Willamette Valley in Oregon and tell the story of the Ice Age floods.

The four-state auto route would be managed by the National Park Service and follow the path of the floodwaters through the four states 15,000 years ago.