In brief: Turkey hunter found dead
A 71-year-old man was found dead Monday after apparently falling from a cliff.
The man, whom authorities did not identify, was setting up a turkey blind atop a 40-foot cliff, said Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Dave Reagan. His body was found at the bottom of that cliff, near the east shore of Badger Lake, by a neighbor who went looking for him.
An autopsy will be done to determine the cause of death, Reagan said. Detectives think the man was hammering in his turkey blind when he became dizzy or fainted, perhaps because of his diabetes, Reagan said.
– Jody Lawrence-Turner
Hayden Lake
Fire destroys custom home
A home destroyed by flames early Tuesday was going to be featured in the Parade of Homes this August, officials said.
The 3000-square-foot home, which was still under construction, was expected to have a finished value of $755,000, said Northern Lakes Fire District Lt. Kevin Croffoot. The estimated loss from Tuesday’s fire was $500,000.
The home was fully engulfed when firefighters responded on Upper Hayden Lake Road about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, Croffoot said.
The cause is under investigation.
– Jody Lawrence-Turner
Harrison, Idaho
Sewage lagoon overflows
Heavy winter snowfall caused a sewage lagoon serving the Kootenai School District to overflow.
The leak was detected Monday and reported to the Department of Environmental Quality. The overflow was spilling into a tributary of Lamb Creek, which eventually flows into Black Lake.
John Tindall, a DEQ engineer, said it is unclear when the overflow started, or how much sewage was released. No drinking water systems are located along the stream, and a water sample taken Monday indicated that the stream itself would be clean enough to swim in, he said.
The rural school district has a state permit to operate the lagoon, which is located adjacent to the high school, Tindall said. Typically, the lagoon is drawn down in summer, when the district uses the water to irrigate a nearby hayfield.
The district has hired an engineering firm to upgrade the lagoon and address the problem, Tindall said.
– Becky Kramer
Spokane
S-R honored for RPS audit
The Spokesman-Review received the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism for initiating and publishing an independent audit of the paper’s coverage of the River Park Square redevelopment project.
The audit, conducted by the Washington News Council, focused on 10 years of The Spokesman-Review’s journalism in covering the controversial real estate project. River Park Square is an affiliate of Cowles Co., the company that also publishes The Spokesman-Review. The newspaper published the audit report in its entirety last May in print and online and published follow-up columns by current and former editors.
According to the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, which administers the Payne Awards program, “a newspaper publisher is a major institution in a community — sometimes having other interests. To open up the paper to an objective analysis of that coverage and to publish without fear or favor what they found is courageous; the level of independence and control they were willing to give up is significant; and having an organization such as a news council investigate is unprecedented.”
The Phoenix New-Times also will receive a Payne Award, as well as the editor of a community college newspaper in Western Massachusetts. The Spokesman-Review previously received a Payne Award in 2005.
– Staff reports