Crisis nursery honors S-R editor
Spokesman-Review Editor Steven A. Smith has been named Child Advocate of the Year by the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery in Spokane.
The award, presented during the nursery’s annual dinner on Tuesday, honors Smith for his work with the newspaper’s “Our Kids: Our Business” project.
Mary Savage, the crisis nursery’s development director, said the award “is the highest honor Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery trustees can bestow on a community member.”
Last April, Smith dedicated space on Page 1 of The Spokesman-Review every day to explore issues of child abuse and neglect in the region. The “Our Kids: Our Business” project, Savage said, was an unprecedented effort on behalf of children.
“He was willing to step up and say, ‘I’m going to make a commitment and we’re going to educate the community every day during April,’ ” she said. “The whole community rallied around it.”
The Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery provides 24-hour child care for infants and children under age 7, parenting education and crisis counseling.
Coeur d’Alene
Ex-police chief to challenge Currie
Former Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Tom Cronin plans to run against Kootenai County Commission Chairman Rick Currie, touting his leadership, education and ability to make quick decisions.
“These are exciting and challenging times in Kootenai County,” Cronin told about 40 people gathered Tuesday at the county administration building. “We face many complicated issues and we are in need of strong leadership.”
Cronin supports hiring a county administrator to manage day-to-day business of the departments run by the commission. He also wants the county to open an animal shelter, improve recycling and provide better service, such as reopening the Post Falls driver’s license office.
Cronin will challenge Currie in the May Republican primary. Currie said he will make a formal announcement soon.
Cronin, who spent 31 years with the Chicago Police Department, was hired as the Coeur d’Alene Police Chief in 2000. He resigned in 2003 after a disagreement with the City Council over how to respond to the disclosure that 24 officers lacked certification at some point in the previous 27 years. Cronin wanted to fire the lieutenant in charge of the paperwork, but the council ruled he had no grounds. Soon after he became chief of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe Police, and he retired from that job in October 2005.
SEATTLE
High demand expected for new licenses
The state Department of Licensing expects that as many as 300,000 people will apply this year for a new “enhanced driver’s license” that is secure enough to use when re-entering the U.S. by land or sea.
Previously, people could show a standard driver’s license and make a verbal declaration that they were a U.S. citizen. Starting next month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is asking that people begin providing proof of citizenship to re-enter the country, such as a passport or birth certificate.
Washington drivers will have to provide a Social Security number and proofs of residency and citizenship, and be interviewed by Department of Licensing staff, to get an enhanced license. At $40, it costs less than half of a U.S. passport. Drivers can begin applying for the new licenses this month at 11 offices around the state.
From staff and wire reports