In brief: Fire injures two, damages home
A fire severely damaged a Coeur d’Alene rental home Wednesday night, sending a resident and a firefighter to the hospital and destroying the uninsured renters’ possessions.
Fire crews contained the fire to a second-floor room of the home at 2506 W. Pocono Court in the Sunshine Meadows housing development after receiving a call about 9 p.m., according to the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department.
Three adults and two children escaped the home after awaking to smoke detectors. The resident and firefighter treated at Kootenai Medical Center were released. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The home sustained heat and smoke damage estimated at $50,000. The home’s residents did not have renter’s insurance, according to the fire department.
Spokane
Forum will focus on school gangs
Gangs in schools will be the topic of a community forum Monday in Spokane.
The Legislature in 2007 ordered educators and police to study the issue and come up with solutions. The resulting Gangs in Schools Task Force is holding forums across the state, most recently in Yakima.
Monday’s forum is scheduled from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Northeast Community Center, 4001 N. Cook St.
Spokane Police told The Spokesman-Review last year that there were 30 confirmed gang members who are of school age and 300 gang “associates.” Recruiting near schools was a major problem, they said.
But some educators said at the time that the problem was exaggerated. They could cite few instances of gang violence on campuses.
Hayden
Boy rescued at amusement park
A young boy was taken to a hospital Thursday after being pulled unconscious from a swimming pool at an indoor amusement and water park in Hayden.
The boy was swimming with his father at Triple Play about 3:30 p.m. when witnesses say he struck his head on the pool’s concrete wall and went under water. The boy’s father pulled him from the pool and a doctor who was in a nearby hot tub offered assistance, but the boy already had regained consciousness, said Mike Murphy, Triple play manager. Witness Aimee Mellick said several minutes went by before the boy awoke.
“He started convulsing, then all of a sudden he started crying and screaming,” Mellick said.
Murphy said the boy simply took in too much water and was not seriously injured.
“All I know is everybody’s fine,” Murphy said. The boy was taken to Kootenai Medical Center.
Arlington, Wash.
Workers arrested at Boeing supplier
Immigration agents have arrested 32 people at an Arlington, Wash., manufacturing plant that supplies parts for commercial and military aircraft, including some made by Boeing.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement office says the agency raided Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies on Thursday after an audit indicated some of the company’s work force used fake documents.
The agency says the company provides frame and interior parts for a number of popular planes, including Boeing’s 737 and 777.
Thirty people from Mexico and two from El Salvador were arrested. All now face deportation.
Washington, D.C.
Ruling makes rate challenge difficult
The Supreme Court on Thursday made it difficult for utility companies to challenge costly, long-term energy supply contracts negotiated during the West Coast energy crunch seven years ago.
Ruling in a case involving the Snohomish County, Wash., Public Utility District, the justices said in a 5-2 decision that the contracts must be presumed to be just and reasonable, absent serious harm to the public interest.
Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia nonetheless ruled in favor of the utilities on one point, saying the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must provide a more complete explanation of why it upheld the agreements.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said she was pleased that the Supreme Court made clear that contracts should not serve as a safeguard for illegal market manipulation.
While the court’s decision means the fight to protect consumers’ interests can continue, Cantwell said she was disappointed that the court’s rationale “undermines the fundamental ‘just and reasonable’ standard for wholesale electricity rates.”
Seattle
Police pay could top $90,000
A Seattle City Council committee has recommended a police contract that would raise a veteran officer’s base salary from $72,000 to more than $90,000 in 2010.
The full council may vote on the contract Monday, making Seattle police some of the highest paid in the state.
The contract also incorporates changes to improve police accountability and response times.
Idaho Falls
Sex offender must wear bracelet
Prison officials are requiring a former eastern Idaho Boy Scout camp counselor who acknowledged molesting at least two dozen boys to wear an electronic ankle bracelet following his release from prison.
Bradley Stowell, 36, served three years of his 2- to 14-year sentence after being sent back to prison in 2005 for a probation violation.
His release on June 2 in Boise has angered some of his victims who say he should have stayed in prison longer.
Kevin Kempf, the chief of the community corrections division for the Idaho Department of Correction, said he felt it would boost public confidence to know that Stowell’s whereabouts can be tracked at all times.
Stowell, who is registered as a sex offender, began wearing the ankle bracelet last week.
From staff and wire reports