In brief: Weekend highs may hit upper 60s
The second-snowiest winter season on record apparently is finally ready to warm up to more springlike weather later this week.
Highs on Saturday and Sunday could reach the upper 60s on Sunday, according to forecasts from the National Weather Service.
This comes after an additional 1.7 inches of snow fell last weekend, bringing the total snowfall for the 2007-2008 season to 89.5 inches. That is second only to the 93.5 inches that fell during the season of 1949-‘50.
Also, the month of March was the second-snowiest on record with a total of 15.8 inches.
High pressure is expected to form this week off the coast of California and then migrate northward starting Friday when a high in the upper 50s is expected. Highs on Saturday, Sunday and Monday will be in the 60s and could reach 70 on Sunday, forecasters said. Also, lows could increase to the low 40s during the period.
“We’ll keep our fingers crossed,” forecaster Bob Tobin said Monday. “It’s been such a long winter you don’t want to get your hopes up too high.”
– Mike Prager
Spokane
Man sentenced for escort service role
A man who served as a bodyguard and driver for a Spokane-based escort business was sentenced Monday to four months in jail after earlier pleading guilty to promoting prostitution.
Ricky V. Doran, a former business associate of Cheryl Mae Larson, was given credit for jail time he’s already served when he was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno.
She ordered Doran, 49, to pay $800 in court costs and barred him from visiting casinos for five years as conditions of his sentence.
He and Larson were arrested in early 2007 after investigators with the Washington State Gambling Commission learned that Larson, who operated various escort services, had laundered more than $3 million in profits from those businesses through Northern Quest Casino. Neither the casino nor its employees were implicated in the criminal activity.
Larson, 49, pleaded guilty last summer to money laundering, three counts of second-degree promoting prostitution and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. She was sentenced to two years in prison.
– Bill Morlin
Kootenai County
Sheriff’s project lacking a permit
Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson allegedly broke the law when his building contractor started the foundation for his house in Cougar Bay before receiving a permit.
The Kootenai County Building Department issued a stop-work order Friday prohibiting all foundation work until the county issues the permit that was in process when the work began.
Planning and Building Director Scott Clark said Monday that the county is waiting for other agencies, including the Panhandle Health District, to sign off on the permit before it’s issued. Clark said Watson likely will face code violation fees.
Watson said his contractor set the foundation forms but hadn’t poured any concrete. He said the contractor believes that’s allowable under the code.
Watson is buying businessman Duane Hagadone’s Casco Bay log home. Watson plans to barge the cabin across Lake Coeur d’Alene to his Cougar Bay property, off U.S. Highway 95, later this month.
Watson is running for re-election in the May 27 Republican primary against Post Falls City Councilman Joe Bodman.
Independent Arthur “Skip” Ingle will face the winner in the November general election.
– Erica F. Curless