In brief: Police offer class on Internet safety

The Spokane Police Department is hosting a presentation on Internet safety tonight at Indian Trail Elementary School.

Detective Jerald Keller, of the Sexual Exploitation Unit, will give tips on how to keep teenagers safe from online predators and how parents can talk with their children about potential risks of the Internet.

Other presentation topics include how online predators try to lure teenagers and how people can become more computer literate, according to a Spokane police announcement. Keller will also have handouts for parents including information on how MySpace.com can be harmful to teenagers.

The presentation starts at 7 p.m. today at the elementary school, 4102 W. Woodside Ave.

Professor will discuss warming

Robert Quinn, a professor of geography at Eastern Washington University, will give a talk Nov. 5 on climate change in the Northwest and its impacts on agriculture.

The session begins at noon in Spokane Community College’s Lair Student Center Sasquatch room, 1801 N. Greene St. The event is free.

BROWERVILLE, Minn.

Seattle woman killed in crash

A flight instructor from Seattle and a student pilot died when a University of North Dakota airplane crashed in a swampy area during a training flight from St. Paul to Grand Forks, N.D., the Todd County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Wednesday night.

A crew from the Minnesota Wing of the Civil Air Patrol found the wreckage near Turtle Creek Township around 4:10 p.m. Wednesday, the CAP said.

The pilot, Annette Klosterman, 22, a UND flight instructor from Seattle, and Adam Ostapenko, 20, a junior aviation student from Duluth, were killed, authorities said.

Kennewick

Ex-teacher accused of misconduct

Retired Kennewick teacher William Pickerel pleaded innocent Wednesday to allegedly having sex with two students.

Pickerel appeared in Benton County Superior Court after being charged with first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor and second-degree sexual misconduct. Pickerel, 72, taught in the Kennewick School District for more than 37 years and was a substitute teacher until he was arrested last week.

He is accused of having sex with a Kennewick student when the boy was ages 16 and 17. The second charge involves another male student.