Newsstand pricing to increase Sept. 1
Due to rising production costs, The Spokesman-Review is raising newsstand prices on Sundays and, in some areas, daily.
The increase, effective Sept. 1, will not affect home-delivery and online prices, according to Shaun O’L. Higgins, the newspaper’s director of sales and marketing.
Higgins announced Wednesday that Sunday editions will cost $2 at newsstands, up from $1.50.
Outside Spokane, Kootenai, Whitman and Latah counties, the daily newsstand price will increase from 50 cents to 75 cents. The price will remain unchanged in areas where the newspaper already sells for 75 cents.
The increases were sparked by rising gasoline and labor costs associated with newspaper production and delivery, Higgins said.
Prices for home delivery will not change.
About 1,200 subscribers who receive the newspaper by mail – mostly businesses and libraries – will see a rate increase, due to recent postal increases. That change will take effect with new subscriptions and renewals, Higgins said.
Bridgeport, Wash.
WSP identifies crash victims
The Washington State Patrol has released the names of three people involved in Monday’s fiery fatality crash north of Bridgeport, Wash.
Bridgeport resident Jose Hernandez Hernandez, 16, died after the 1991 Ford Explorer he was driving crossed the centerline of state Route 173 and crashed head-on into a southbound 1994 Dodge motor home, according to a WSP report. The Ford caught on fire.
The German driver of the motor home, 60-year-old Bodo A. Kratz, also died at the scene. Bodo’s passenger, Geb H. Kratz, 51, was taken to Okanogan-Douglas District Hospital in Brewster to be treated for a head laceration, the report states. Her condition was unavailable late Wednesday.
Geb Kratz is also from Germany.
Victoria, B.C.
Polygamists will not face charges
No charges will be filed against members of a British Columbia polygamist community, but the province may determine the validity of the law against multiple marriages by referring it to the British Columbia Court of Appeal, provincial Attorney General Wally Oppal said Wednesday.
Oppal said he has reviewed a report by special prosecutor Richard Peck and agrees no charges should proceed against members of a fundamentalist Mormon sect in Bountiful, British Columbia.
He said the government could find no witnesses on the sexual assault allegations because investigators were told that all consented to the acts that took place.
More serious allegations of sexual exploitation of young women also could not be substantiated, Oppal said.
He said he was surprised by the number of young women who told the police that they were the aggressors and wanted to have sex with the older men.
Oppal says Peck has recommended referring the case to the Court of Appeal to determine the validity of the province’s polygamy law. He said it is an issue that relates to the equality of women and that he personally believes the law against multiple marriages is valid.
Fort Benton, Mont.
Inquest planned in teen’s death
A coroner’s inquest is scheduled here on Aug. 22 in the death of a Havre teen, who was shot after allegedly firing a shotgun at two law enforcement officers during a chase.
Fergus County Coroner Dick Brown is conducting the inquest, which is required by law when law enforcement officers are involved in a fatal shooting.
Mark A. Keeley, 13, was suspected of driving off without paying for gasoline in Chester late on April 21. Officers used stop sticks to puncture the car’s tires near Fort Benton, Chouteau County Sheriff Vern Burdick said at the time. He said the boy then fired a gun, striking the deputy’s patrol car, and continued driving south on Montana 223.
Just north of Fort Benton, the driver fired multiple rounds at a sheriff’s deputy and a Montana Highway Patrol officer, who both returned fire, Burdick said.
Mike Batista, administrator for the state Division of Criminal Investigation, said the officers were justified in shooting the boy.
“They did what they had to do based on their training and based on the situation they encountered,” Batista said four days after the shooting.
The inquest will be open to the public, Brown said.
La Center, Wash.
Alligator moved from pond
They don’t know how a 3-foot-long alligator got into a pond at La Center, but neighbors were glad to see it go.
Clark County Animal Control says the gator was removed by a team of animal control officers with help from the Bonneville Power Administration, which owns the land near a transmission line.
The alligator is now in the custody of the Southwest Washington Humane Society.
Richland
Contract extended for Richland lab
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s management and operating contract, scheduled to expire next month, will be extended for as long as two more years, the Department of Energy said Wednesday.
The department said in February it planned to seek competitive bids for the contract to manage the PNNL, a national science laboratory managed and operated since its start in 1965 by Battelle Memorial Institute, a nonprofit group based in Columbus, Ohio.
Battelle’s current contract was to expire Sept. 30.
The Energy Department said the extension will provide for continued operation of PNNL by Battelle while the details for competitive bids to manage and operate the government-owned laboratory are completed.
Staff and wire reports