Woman dies of injuries from Friday collision

A 57-year-old Mead woman died at an area hospital Saturday from injuries sustained in a head-on crash in northeast Spokane on Friday afternoon.

Janice M. Pulliam was westbound on Magnesium Road from Market Street about 2:35 p.m. when her Ford pickup was struck by an eastbound minivan.

The driver of the van, 29-year-old Lucian G. Brisan, was allegedly speeding in a Plymouth Voyager around a slight curve, crossed over the centerline and collided with Pulliam’s pickup, said Sgt. Dave Reagan, Spokane Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

An Acura following Pulliam then hit the pickup and was pushed back by the force of the crash, but the two occupants were uninjured.

Pulliam was hauling household goods in her pickup, helping the woman in the Acura move to an address on North Nevada, Reagan said.

Sara Leaming

Driver declared dead after plunge into lake

A 30-year-old North Idaho man died after his car plunged into Hayden Lake early Saturday morning.

Whitney R. Clute, of Hayden, was found unconscious in his car after the vehicle went into the lake about 1:30 a.m.

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department was called to the area near Tobler’s Marina on East Hayden Lake Road after residents reported hearing the vehicle go into the water.

Deputies located a vehicle about a quarter mile west of the marina with Clute unconscious inside. After an attempt to resuscitate him, Clute was pronounced dead at the scene.

The incident was under investigation.

Sara Leaming

Fire claims museum’s antique vehicles

A building housing antique vehicles at the Grant County Historical Museum in Ephrata was destroyed by fire Friday afternoon, causing an estimated $1 million in damage.

A museum volunteer who was in the building when it caught fire sustained minor burns, which was reported about 3:10 p.m., Ephrata fire officials said.

Crews arrived to find an outbuilding housing antique fire engines, an antique utility truck and several cars engulfed in flames. The large shop eventually collapsed from the fire, and crews worked for more than two hours to bring it under control.

A nearby state Department of Transportation office and other wood-framed museum buildings were damaged by heat.

Photographs and archived records are stored in another building on the museum’s campus and were not damaged, officials said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

Sara Leaming