Council OKs RPS insurance settlement
Another chapter of the River Park Square financing fiasco ended Monday when the Spokane City Council unanimously approved a settlement with the insurance company of the mall’s former management company.
The City Council voted to put most of the $950,000 settlement in reserves to help improve the city’s bond rating.
In the mid-1990s, the city entered into a partnership with the downtown shopping center to expand the mall’s garage. The mall is owned by the Cowles Company, which also owns The Spokesman-Review. The deal unraveled because parking fees couldn’t cover the bonds that paid for construction.
The city sued the mall and the mall’s management firm, RWR Management Inc., as part of the dispute. In 2004, the city and the management firm agreed to settle, as long as RWR’s insurance company, St. Paul Fire and Marine, covered the claim.
– Jonathan Brunt
COLFAX
14-year-old rescued after falling into well
A 14-year-old boy was rescued about 90 minutes after falling into an abandoned well.
The teen, whose name was not released, was playing with friends near the old Colfax Hospital when he stepped on some old wood covering the well opening, Colfax Fire Department Chief Jim Krouse said.
He fell 30 to 40 feet down the brick-lined shaft, which is three feet in diameter.
“He tried to slow his fall by bracing against the wall and that broke his fall” about 15 feet above the water, Krouse said.
The boy’s companions called for help.
Firefighters lowered a sling to keep the boy from falling farther. Then a firefighter went into the well to secure the boy and both were pulled to safety.
The teen was treated at Whitman Hospital on Sunday, officials said.
– Associated Press
Coeur d’Alene
Ex-congressional aide asks college for refund
A former congressional aide is asking that North Idaho College refund her class fees, saying her English 102 instructor never missed a chance to bash Republicans.
Linda Cook, a former aide to the late Idaho Congressman Helen Chenoweth, withdrew last week from the class taught by part-time instructor Jessica Bryan. She wants her $379 back.
NIC spokesman Kent Propst said the college will determine if a refund is warranted.
Among other things, Cook wrote in a letter to NIC officials, Bryan told the class that the death penalty should be used on anyone who votes Republican.
Bryan doesn’t deny making such statements facetiously, to make students think critically.
Bryan said Cook always made her opinions clear during class discussions. In fact, Bryan said, she read to the class part of an essay Cook wrote supporting a plan to boost the number of troops in Iraq.
“I didn’t agree with it, but it was so well-written,” Bryan said.
– Meghann M. Cuniff