In brief: Memorial service will honor homeless
This year, 23 homeless people died in Spokane County. Three were stabbed, shot or beaten to death, but most died of diseases left untreated or from exposure to heat or cold.
Advocates for homeless persons plan to memorialize those who have died during a service at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Denny Murphy Clinic, 1001 W. Second Ave. It’s part of a national effort called the National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Service.
“This service has been held nationally for the last seven years. This will be our second annual experience” in Spokane, said Bella Marsh-Monet, public relations coordinator for the clinic. “We’ll have a full military honor guard there, and we’ll release balloons in memory of the homeless we don’t know about.”
The hourlong program also features speeches and music.
– Pia K. Hansen
Boise
State plans to cancel ISAT for ninth-graders
Idaho’s State Board of Education has called a special meeting this afternoon to formally cancel the ninth-grade Idaho Standards Achievement Test.
The board earlier announced it was canceling the test, now required of all students in grades three through 10, due to budget problems. The announcement came after the board discussed the matter in a closed meeting in apparent violation of the Idaho Open Meeting Law. The Spokesman-Review filed a complaint with the Idaho Attorney General’s office over the incident; that office is investigating.
On Wednesday, the Idaho Allied Dailies, an association of 16 daily newspapers, filed a similar complaint.
The board’s agenda for today’s meeting, which was announced late Wednesday afternoon, includes amending its $22 million contract with a testing firm and waiving the rule that requires ninth-grade ISAT testing.
– Betsy Z. Russell
Spokane County
Three people killed in two crashes
Three people were killed in two separate auto accidents Wednesday, including a 7-year-old girl who was thrown from an SUV as it tumbled out of control off a slushy road near Cheney.
The youngster, whose name was unavailable, was in a Dodge Durango driven by her mother, 31-year-old Sarah L. Maez, who survived the crash along with two other children. The SUV was northbound in the 10600 block of Andrus about noon when it lost control and rolled over on a wet, slushy downhill curve, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
Elsewhere, two people were killed about 1 a.m. when their Porsche 944 crossed the centerlane and crashed head-on into a Subaru near the intersection of U.S. Highway 2 and Spotted Road.
Kristin Alise Langley, 40, and Lawrence Charles Dusek, 29, were killed, authorities said. Emily Jean Chapman, 23, who was driving a 1994 Subaru Legacy, was injured.
– Staff reports