Breakfast to support leaders
The 45th annual Greater Spokane Leadership Prayer Breakfast is scheduled for 7 a.m. Friday at the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Spokane.
This year’s keynote speaker will be Aaron Haskins, former basketball player for Washington State University who’s now the executive director of the Coalition for Community Development and Renewal in Seattle.
Sponsored by the nonprofit Leadership Northwest, the annual event is a way for the community to thank local leaders and support them through prayer. Last year, the breakfast drew a record turnout of more than 800 people.
In addition to Haskins, other program participants include Lilac Queen Zanie McMillan, Rep. Cathy McMorris and radio host Laurie Roth.
Cost is $25, or $225 for a table of 10. For more information, call Stephy Nobles-Beans at Whitworth College, (509) 777-4568 or sbeans@whitworth.edu.
Olympia
State to cooperate with Australia
Washington and Australia’s second-largest state, Queensland, will work together to promote the buildup of a lucrative biomedical industry, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Tuesday.
Gregoire, reporting from her meetings with top government, university and industry leaders in the Queensland capital city of Brisbane, said the two “brain power” states aim to be at the cutting edge of biomedical research and development.
Gregoire has made the life sciences a signature issue, hoping to create thousands of high-paying jobs as well as medical breakthroughs. Queensland has good ideas on how to recoup research costs through commercial applications such as new vaccines, she said.
Gregoire and Queensland Premier Peter Beattie signed a memorandum agreeing that their universities and research institutes would work closely. Queensland will send a fulltime liaison to Seattle.
YAKIMA
Shooting case ends in mistrial
A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday after a jury deadlocked in the attempted-murder trial of Michael “Cowboy Mike” Braae, accused of shooting his girlfriend in the head.
After three days of deliberations, jurors told Yakima County Superior Court Judge James C. Lust they were unable to reach a verdict in the much-delayed trial.
Yakima County prosecutors said they planned to announce a decision today on whether they would seek a retrial or send Braae to another county for prosecution.
Since his arrest in 2001, investigators have linked Braae, 47, to the deaths or disappearances of at least four women in the Pacific Northwest.
The trial in Yakima focused on the shooting of Marchelle Morgan, who was left for dead on a country road south of Union Gap on July 14, 2001. A passerby found her, her head drenched in blood.
Morgan was ruled incompetent to testify because of a brain injury from the shooting that has affected her memory and speech.