Street projects to delay traffic
Several construction projects will impact Spokane traffic in the coming days.
McClellan Street is closed through this afternoon from 6th Avenue to 7th Avenue for a sewer project.
Fourth Avenue will also be closed today in Browne’s Addition from Hemlock Street to Spruce Street for other sewer work.
And downtown signal timing testing announced earlier in the week is being extended through Thursday morning.
The early morning tests from 4-6 a.m. are in preparation for the upcoming Interstate 90 viaduct repair project which starts on May 15. Signal cycle times will be increased to accommodate more traffic.
Washington state
Patrol conducting air brake checks
Truckers had better be ready to stop today, and to stop well.
The Washington State Patrol is conducting its annual “Operation Air Brake” emphasis, checking commercial vehicles’ air brakes across the state.
Last year the State Patrol inspected more than 9,300 air brakes and found that 6.2 percent were not operating properly.
Officers in all 50 states, Canada and Mexico are also scheduled to participate in Operation Air Brake.
Coeur d’Alene
Dinner to benefit cancer patient
A benefit dinner is planned for Sunday to help pay for Hayden artist George Docherty’s cancer treatment. Docherty has crafted theatrical makeup for the Lake City Playhouse and held readings for children.
Docherty, 51, a compliance officer with the state of Idaho, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in December. Family said he has had surgery to remove a portion of the tumor and continues to have chemotherapy to tackle the aggressive cancer.
Catered by Joey’s Smokin’ BBQ, the dinner will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Lake City Senior Center, 1916 N. Lakewood Drive, Coeur d’Alene. The band Ten Second Tom will play blues.
The event will include a raffle and silent auction, with proceeds going toward cancer treatment, future surgeries and daily care. Admission is by donation.
For more information, contact Joy French at (208) 664-9503 or Elizabeth Keen at (208) 623-6274. Contributions may also be made to the George Docherty Medical Fund at any branch of Mountain West Bank.
Tibetan nuns plan 2 different talks
Tibetan Buddhist nuns will give two very different public talks at North Idaho College. One is about persecution; the other is about peace. On Saturday at 2 p.m., the Venerable Lobsand Dechen and Elizabeth Napper will speak about nuns who face imprisonment and torture by the Chinese government in Tibet and flee to neighboring India.
The women are co-directors of the Tibetan Nuns Project, founded in 1987 to provide humanitarian aid to refugee nuns.
For more information, call (208) 769-3355.
On May 12 at 7 p.m., the Venerable Thubten Chodron will speak about how to contribute to a more peaceful world by dealing with anger in the right way and developing compassion. Workshops on those issues will be held the following day. Chodron, a nun since 1977, has practiced under the guidance of the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan masters in India and Nepal. In 2003, she founded one of the few Buddhist monasteries in the United States: Sravasti Abbey near Newport, Wash. For more information, about that talk, call (208) 769-3397.
Both events will be in the Molstead Library on NIC’s Coeur d’Alene campus.