NO HEADLINE
The arraignment was postponed Wednesday for the woman accused of killing a pregnant woman and removing her baby.
The Benton County Superior Court administrator, Pat Austin, says the aggravated murder case was postponed today for one week.
Prosecutor Andy Miller is deciding whether to seek the death penalty against the 23-year-old Kennewick woman, Phiengchai Sisouvanh Synhavong. She has been charged in connection with the stabbing death June 27 of a 27-year-old Pasco woman, Araceli Camacho Gomez.
The baby boy was taken to Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane and was listed in critical condition. Spokeswoman Rachel Martin says he was upgraded Tuesday to serious condition.
Coeur d’Alene
CdA couple win home in NIC raffle
Gus and Cindy Foulk, of Coeur d’Alene, may be filling up the moving van soon. The couple won a new home.
The Foulks were the lucky winners Wednesday of this year’s Really Big Raffle, a fundraiser for the North Idaho College Foundation. Their grand prize is a $300,000 custom-built home in Coeur d’Alene, constructed by NIC carpentry students.
Of the top five prizes, four will stay in the Idaho Panhandle. Sue Ward, of Rathdrum, won the first prize, a $20,000 car. Wendy Phillips, of Hayden, won third place, a $3,500 travel package, while Norman Larson, of Post Falls, won a $2,000 shopping spree. The second-place winner, Tony Brown, will return to his Richland, Wash., home with a new boat.
The foundation sold 5,000 tickets at $100 a pop this year, and expects to net a profit of $190,000, according to a news release. The foundation gave away cash and prizes worth more than $335,000 during the 15th annual fundraiser. Proceeds from the raffle help the foundation support NIC students and programs.
Spokane
Patient care nets bonus for hospital
The federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is rewarding Sacred Heart Medical Center with a $385,342 bonus for excelling in several clinical areas.
The hospital ranked high among hospitals that participated in what is called the Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration project. The clinical areas where Sacred Heart excels include heart attacks, congestive heart failure and joint replacement. The hospital also performed well in coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. Pneumonia is the fifth clinic area measured.
The demonstration project is designed to determine if cash incentives can improve patient care. More than 250 hospitals across the country participate. About half received incentive payments this year totaling $24.5 million. Sacred Heart’s payment was the largest.
Avista appeals dam regulations
Avista Corp. has filed an appeal of the Washington Department of Ecology’s 401 certification.
The certification is part of the process of obtaining a new federal license for the company’s dams on the Spokane River. The utility is appealing legal language in the certification. Company officials feel it’s too vague and subject to conflicting interpretations, said Hugh Imhof, Avista spokesman.
The utility is not appealing issues related to wetlands, dissolved oxygen levels, water temperatures, spilling water over dams and water quality monitoring, he said. However, Avista is appealing some of the flow requirements for fish, saying they may be impossible to meet.
The Sierra Club also filed an appeal of the 401 certification this week, saying Avista should more to protect the river.
Washington’s Pollution Control Hearings Board is expected to hear the appeals sometime next year.
Some issues may be resolved before the hearing, Imhof said.
Stevens County
Two charged in truck-in-lake case
The mystery of the submerged truck in Red Lake may have been solved. Police say the truck that was reported stolen wasn’t stolen at all.
Investigators have charged Brandon L. Schmitz, 19, with ditching the 2000 Dodge pickup in the lake to collect insurance money. And they cited Schmitz’s mother, the truck’s owner, with helping in the scheme.
Stevens County Sheriff Craig Thayer announced the arrests Wednesday after several agencies worked Tuesday morning to determine whether anyone was in the vehicle and to retrieve it from the small lake, about six miles west of Tum Tum.
Hours after the investigation began, Brandon Schmitz arrived with his mother, Debra L. Schmitz, 45.
As a result of the investigation, Brandon Schmitz was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit auto theft and insurance fraud. Debra Schmitz was cited and released for allegedly obstructing a public servant by hindering and delaying an investigation, Thayer said in the release.
Kootenai County
Citylink usage nearly doubles
Ridership on Citylink, North Idaho’s bus service, almost doubled in June compared to the previous year, a trend officials attribute to rising gas prices.
“We’re adding about 2,500 new passengers a month,” Alan Eirls, Citylink’s transportation manager, said in a news release.
Citylink served about 33,000 passengers in June compared with about 18,000 in the same month a year ago.
The bus service is a partnership of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Kootenai County, the Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization and the state of Idaho. The free service has five routes serving Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden, Worley, Plummer, Tensed and DeSmet.
Medical Lake
Kitchen fire destroys home
A Medical Lake family lost its home to a fire Wednesday.
The Red Cross is helping the family after a kitchen fire spread through a two-story home at 901 N. Minnie Road. Fire crews arrived at 9:46 a.m. and upgraded the blaze to a two-alarm fire.
Two Spokane County Fire Districts and the Airway Heights and Cheney fire departments assisted, a dispatcher said. No one was injured. Crews remained on scene through the day.
From staff and wire reports