In brief: Washington man wins 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, Wash., 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, was on hand at the announcement to find out he won a $20,000 car. Mike and Patty Robb, of Spokane Valley, won a $10,000 boat package. Ruth Wollweber, of Ford, Wash., won a $3,500 travel package, while Gordon White, of Post Falls, claimed a $2,000 shopping spree.

This year, an additional 500 tickets, for a total of 5,000, were offered for sale because of the growing popularity of the raffle, said Stacy Hudson, NIC public relations specialist.

This was the 13th consecutive year that the raffle has sold out.

The raffle brought in $200,000 in proceeds for foundation efforts. More than $1.8 million has been generated over the years to support student needs and programs at the college.

– Sam Taylor

Inland Northwest

Storms cause power outages

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 quickly 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 and Howard streets.

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 briefly lost power.

The National Weather Service reported that the storm also blew down a 40-foot barn in Grant County.

Dime-size hail also pelted the county and the storm peeled paint from homes, according to the NWS report.

– Benjamin Shors