Spokane snowfall lighter, earlier than predicted
The heavy snow predicted for Friday night and this morning came earlier than expected and fell mostly as rain in Spokane, the National Weather Service said.
“It just came in six hours early,” said Matt Fugazzi, a weather service meteorologist. “It didn’t turn to snow until it was almost over, which explains the anemic amounts we got.”
Less than an inch of snow had fallen at the weather service office west of Spokane by about 10 p.m. and not much more was expected, Fugazzi said.
A heavy snow warning remains in effect for mountain areas of northern Idaho and northeast Washington until 10 a.m. today.
In Washington, 3 to 5 inches of snow are possible in valleys north of Deer Park. The same amount is expected in Idaho north of Sandpoint and east of Pinehurst. Six to 10 inches are forecast for mountains in those areas.
The next significant chance for snow to fall in Spokane is Monday, Fugazzi said.
The rest of the weekend should provide decent conditions for those headed home from Thanksgiving gatherings, Fugazzi said. Some possible exceptions are on the west side of Cascade passes, where drivers could experience locally heavy snowfall.
The Idaho State Police and Washington State Patrol reported no serious snow-related crashes Friday night.
Conference on new energy laws set
The effects of new federal energy legislation on the West will be examined at a conference Dec. 1-2 sponsored by the Center for the New West, featuring top federal officials and industry executives.
The conference, which is open to the public, will be held at the Sun Valley Inn in Sun Valley, Idaho. It will open with a keynote speech from Deputy U.S. Secretary of Energy Clay Sell. U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Congressman Chris Cannon, R-Utah, also will be among the speakers.
“Persons engaged in energy policy and industry will not want to miss this event,” said Ken Burgess, spokesman for the Center for the New West, a nonprofit research group.
To see the full agenda on the Internet or register for the conference, go to www.centerfornewwest.org or call (208) 385-7070.
Judge rules on food stamp cuts
Olympia
A Thurston County judge has ruled that the state Department of Social and Health Services wrongfully reduced food stamps for thousands of elderly or disabled people over a four-month period earlier this year.
The agency must restore $2.7 million in benefits that were withheld from 39,000 people in the Washington State Combined Application Program (WASHCAP), Judge Paula Casey ruled on Nov. 18.
The program, created in 2001, was designed to make it more convenient for disadvantaged, single, elderly and disabled people living on federal income assistance to apply for food stamps.
In 2004, DSHS changed the way benefits were calculated, meaning that on average recipients statewide lost about $17 per month. But in some cases, WASHCAP clients were getting $50 less per month than what was possible in the basic food stamps program.
The agency also kept those who would benefit in the basic program from switching.
DSHS officials argued they were forced to make the changes to meet a deadline to avoid losing funding.
Judge Casey disagreed, writing that “there was nothing in the administrative record for judicial review showing that the Department faced a federal deadline for state receipt of federal funds that required immediate adoption of these two emergency rules.”
Attorneys for the agency said they hadn’t decided on whether they would appeal.
Missing dog found in wreckage
Issaquah, Wash.
When his owner was in a car crash on Interstate 90, Gunner was nowhere to be found. Authorities figured the springer spaniel had been thrown from the back of the pickup.
Turns out, he was there all along. The pooch was discovered in the back of the truck on Friday, a day after it had been towed to a wrecking yard in Issaquah.
“I heard him whimpering, and I could just barely make out an eye and a furry head back there,” Don Larson, a friend of the driver, told KING Television.
Gunner’s owner, Anthony Brusco, 36, of Port Orchard, suffered a broken arm and heel in the crash early Thanksgiving Day and is recovering at Harborview Medical Center. The other driver, Jesse Alan Christensen, 29, of Bellevue, was killed; he was driving the wrong way on the highway’s eastbound lanes.
Gunner was recovering after surgery at Alpine Animal Hospital in Issaquah. Two of Brusco’s other dogs were rescued at the scene of the crash.