In brief
Airway heights Inmate dies following assault
An inmate at Airway Heights Corrections Center has died following an assault earlier this week, officials said.
Stanley Hunter, 55, was attacked on Tuesday and taken to Deaconess Medical Center, said Risa Klemme, spokeswoman for the corrections facility. He died on Wednesday.
A shift lieutenant at the facility said he was not certain why Hunter was imprisoned but said another inmate was responsible for the attack. An investigation is under way.
– Staff reports
spokane
Group will probe 4-year-old’s death
An oversight group that reviews child fatalities will be looking into 4-year-old Summer Phelps’ death.
“We review all child fatalities where there’s been involvement (by the Department of Human and Health Services) within the last year,” said Mary Meinig, director of the Office of the Family and Children’s Ombudsman.
Summer died last weekend. Phelps’ father and stepmother, Jonathan Lytle, 28, and Adriana Lytle, 32, face several charges, including homicide by abuse.
Neighbors in the Dresden Apartments, where Summer lived, will hold a candlelight vigil at 7 p.m. tonight. Local churches have donated candles for the event. The Dresden is located at 707 N. Monroe St.
– Staff reports
STA buses to offer wireless Internet
Spokane Transit Authority riders soon will be able to pop open their laptop computers and get online.
Wireless Internet service is to be installed on six new, 60-foot articulating commuter buses within two months, operations director Steve Blaska told the STA board Thursday.
Generally the trial service will be on the Eastern Washington University and Spokane Valley routes, he said.
Blaska said the service will be provided with wireless routers connected to the Internet through the Sprint cellular telephone network. He said the equipment will initially cost about $6,900 and approximately $2,500 to operate annually.
– John Craig
inland northwest
Peace groups plan protests of war
Peace groups in the area have scheduled protests in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene to mark the fourth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.
The Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane, along with Progressive Democrats of America and Veterans for Peace, are planning a rally at 2 p.m. today at Franklin Park, which will feature speakers, music and a sidewalk march.
MoveOn.org will hold a candlelight vigil at 6:30 p.m. Monday on the plaza of the Foley Federal Building in downtown Spokane to honor casualties from Washington state.
It also will feature speakers and music, as well as a march across the Monroe Street Bridge.
The Coeur d’Alene chapter of that group will hold a candlelight vigil at Independence Point, at Northwest Boulevard and Lakeside Drive, starting at 6 p.m. Monday.
The American-led military campaign to oust Saddam Hussein started on March 19, 2003, in the United States, with air strikes and missile attacks.
– Jim Camden