In brief: Storms cut power to 1,000 city homes
Gusting winds from a thunderstorm caused power outages in Eastern Washington and North Idaho early Wednesday night.
The storm cut power to about 1,000 homes in Spokane and a small number of customers in Idaho, according to Hugh Imhof, a spokesman for Avista Utilities. Avista has about 330,000 electricity customers in the two states.
Imhof said crews were working to restore power.
Winds, which gusted more than 50 mph, knocked a tree onto North Monroe Street in Spokane, temporarily closing the road. No one was injured. Elsewhere in the city, a tree came crashing down onto a house at Wellesley Avenue and Howard Street.
The storm followed lightning strikes early Wednesday morning that left 250 homes without power. The power was restored to the homes by 9 a.m. Wednesday, Imhof said.
In Wednesday’s storm, the lightning cut power to about 130 homes in the Post Falls area. About 60 homes in both Spokane and Sandpoint also lost power briefly.
– Benjamin Shors
Spokane
Company hired to clean old industrial land
Spokane has selected URS Corp. to assist in the “brownfield” cleanup of former rail and industrial land in the University District west of downtown.
URS is being hired to assess the need for cleanup at three or more priority sites and develop a cleanup action plan for at least one of those sites. The work is being paid with a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Development of a University District west of Division Street is considered a key element to economic growth in the urban core and is being guided by a strategic master plan, according to John Pilcher, the city’s economic development director. Ensuring sites are free from contamination is a first step in redevelopment of old industrial land.
– Mike Prager
Coeur d’Alene
Greenacres man wins NIC’s custom house
An estimated 2,500 people came to North Idaho College’s Edminster Student Union Building in Coeur d’Alene on Wednesday evening to find out that Jim Wilharm had won a $250,000 custom house built by students in NIC’s carpentry program.
Wilharm, who lives in Greenacres, was one of 5,000 people who purchased raffle tickets for the NIC Foundation’s 13th Annual Really Big Raffle drawing, which includes nearly $300,000 in prizes.
David Davis, of Coeur d’Alene, he won a $20,000 car. Mike and Patty Robb, of Spokane Valley, won a $10,000 boat package.
– Sam Taylor