Holiday affects some services

This is the Columbus Day schedule for several public offices and services in the Spokane area today:

Garbage pickup: normal

Banks: closed

Post offices: closed

Schools: open

Spokane city offices: open

Spokane Valley offices: open

Spokane County offices: open

Federal offices: closed

ALAMOSA, Colo.

Wenatchee pilot, others die in crash

The pilot of a medical plane that slammed into a mountainside on its way to pick up a patient had no record of accidents or violations in his 22 years of flying, his employer said Sunday.

Eagle Air Med Inc. pilot Ric Miller, 46, of Wenatchee, died in the crash along with 25-year-old flight nurse Ronnie Helton, of Birmingham, Ala., and 32-year-old flight paramedic Dana Dedman, of Chinle, Ariz., the company said.

The wreckage was found Friday in mountainous terrain just west of the Continental Divide near 11,677-foot-high Charleys Peak in southern Colorado.

The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating.

It was the company’s first fatal accident.

Miller held helicopter and fixed wing pilot certificates and was airline transport pilot rated, the company said. He had more than 12,000 hours of logged flight time, including 2,400 hours with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Eagle Air Med said.

OLYMPIA

Locke joins Clinton campaign

Former Gov. Gary Locke, the nation’s first Chinese-American governor, has signed on as state co-chairman of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s bid for president.

Locke will join King County Executive Ron Sims and U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee as state co-chairmen for Clinton. Inslee is national co-chairman of Clinton’s energy and environment advisers and Sims, the state’s top-ranking black officeholder, is a member of the panel.

“Gary was a visionary governor and he will be a tremendous asset to our campaign as we take our message of change across Washington,” Clinton said in a prepared statement. “I’m honored to have his support.”