In brief: Health district official gets salary increase
Spokane Regional Health District Administrator Torney Smith will receive a $600 a month salary boost until the agency hires a new health officer.
Board members approved the salary increase for Smith, who has assumed the non-medical duties of the health officer since the dismissal last fall of Dr. Kim Thorburn.
The increase is allowed under district policy that grants temporary increases to employees who assume duties of higher-paid staffers. Smith did not request the raise; it was proposed by members of the human resources staff.
Mary Verner, chairwoman of the board, said that Smith deserved the pay boost after eight months of increased workload. She noted that health district policies prevent retroactive compensation.
“You have stepped up selflessly. We’ve watched you work yourself 20 hours a day,” Verner said. “I wish that we could make it retro, and I wish that we could make it more.”
Smith’s normal salary is about $90,000 a year.
The health district has hired a Dallas-based search firm to seek candidates for the health officer post. Smith estimated the group could produce a pool of qualified applicants in three or four months.
– JoNel Aleccia
Boy, 13, missing after NorthTown mall trip
Spokane police are looking for a 13-year-old boy who went to NorthTown Mall with an adult friend Thursday evening and hasn’t been seen since.
Jalen D. Brown was last seen at 6 p.m. Thursday when he went to the mall with Tony Williams. Brown’s family knows Williams but expected him to bring Brown home that night.
The two drove to the mall in a red, 1999 Monte Carlo.
Brown is black, 5-foot-9, 130 pounds. He was wearing jeans and Dwayne Wade Converse sneakers.
According to police, Brown is not in an emergency situation, but they and his family would like to find him.
Anyone with information about Brown’s whereabouts is asked to call the police at (509) 532-9266 or 911.
– Staff reports
Idaho
Three women infected with West Nile virus
Three more Idaho residents have been infected with West Nile virus, bringing the confirmed human cases to 11 in the state this year.
A Custer County woman and a Twin Falls County woman, both over 60 years old, and a Gem County woman in her teens are the latest to test positive for West Nile, which is usually spread through the bite of an infected mosquito. All three women are recovering.
Eleven Idaho counties have reported West Nile activity so far this year. Last year, the virus was discovered in 38 counties, infecting 1,000 people and contributing to the deaths of 23 people.
Idaho led the nation in West Nile human infections, accounting for almost one-quarter of all human-infection reports.
North Idaho has had no confirmed human infections this year. Last year, two North Idaho residents contracted the virus, including one person who received it in another state.
– Staff reports