Region in brief: State to pay inmate $107,500

The Washington Department of Corrections has agreed to pay an inmate $107,500 to settle his grievances over prison public records.

The settlement announced Friday resolves five cases brought by Derek Gronquist, a former inmate of the Airway Heights Corrections near Spokane. He is incarcerated at Stafford Creek Corrections Center.

Corrections officials say the department will pay Gronquist $79,000 to settle a 2001 public disclosure complaint over destruction of inmate grievance documents and $22,500 for a second public records disclosure case in 2006.

The rest will settle litigation over a religious practices lawsuit and another unrelated case.

Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail says the grievance documents were withheld out of concern for the safety of other inmates but were destroyed while litigation was pending.

CLAYTON, Idaho

Killing of wolf investigated

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is investigating the shooting of a male wolf found earlier this month near Clayton.

Dave Silcock, an agency conservation officer in the Salmon Region, says the wolf died from a gunshot wound in the chest. The carcass was found April 2 on private land near Peach Creek, a tributary of the Salmon River in central Idaho. Silcock says he is uncertain if livestock were present at the time of the shooting.

It marks the third wolf killed in Idaho since the federal government lifted endangered species protections for the predators in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana last month.

Idaho’s management plan allows the killing of wolves harassing livestock, but the state has not yet scheduled a public hunting season.

SEATTLE

Mayor’s secession quip a joke

The office of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels says he was kidding when he told a CityClub meeting the Puget Sound region should declare its independence and secede.

Frustrated by state and federal gridlock on transportation problems, Nickels told a Town Hall audience Thursday the Puget Sound Regional Council should have greater control of spending.

He says the regional economy makes up 67 percent of the state’s economy. And if Puget Sound were a country its economy would rank between Thailand and Colombia.

Nickels said the region is held back because the state and federal governments believe the economy is driven by wheat farms and logging.

YAKIMA

Prisoner dies after jail leap

A Yakima County jail inmate committed suicide by leaping from a second-tier cellblock railing 15 feet down to the first tier, officials said.

Seth Ryan Eich, 28, died of head injuries Thursday at Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center, where he was taken after jumping Wednesday morning.

According to jail records, Eich was arrested April 11 for investigation of child rape.

- From wire reports