Region in brief: Teen skier who died identified
A 15-year-old skier who died in an accident at Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort was identified Wednesday by the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office.
William C. Johnson died Tuesday after falling into a tree well in a heavily treed area of the resort, the sheriff’s office said.
Johnson last scanned his lift pass on the mountain at 11:25 a.m. and was found just before noon by a group of snowboarders, who pulled him out of the well before going for help, officials said.
Schweitzer Mountain Ski Patrol transported Johnson to the resort’s first aid area, where he was pronounced dead by a physician about 1:25 p.m.
Johnson was a sophomore at Sandpoint High School.
Mead man charged in wife’s death
A Mead man accused of killing his wife in front of their 11-year-old son has been charged with second-degree murder.
Sheriff’s detectives recommended charging Jeffery N. Canino, 46, with first-degree murder for the Dec. 2 stabbing death of Michelle Canino at their Mead home, but prosecutors felt evidence only supported the lesser charge.
The difference in charges means prosecutors won’t try to prove that Canino planned to kill Michelle Canino but that he did intend to kill her when he stabbed her.
Canino appeared in Spokane County Superior Court via video Wednesday, where his bail was set at $1.5 million, a reduction from the $2.5 million imposed at his first court appearance Dec.7.
The second-degree murder charge includes domestic violence and weapons enhancements which Love said can put Canino behind bars as long as a first-degree murder charge can: 20 years to life.
Canada mine firm must pay legal fees
Canadian mining firm Teck Resources must pay the $650,000 legal expenses of two members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation who sued the company over its pollution of the Columbia River.
A federal judge awarded the money to Joseph A. Pakootas and Donald L. Michel in a Monday ruling. The tribe and the two men sued Teck Resources to make the company comply with U.S. environmental laws. For more than a century, Teck Resource dumped waste from its smelter in Trail, B.C., into the river. The dumping stopped in 1994, when Canadian studies determined the slag was harmful to aquatic life.
The state of Washington, an intervener in the case, was awarded $618,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs on Monday.
Cell phone leads officers to suspects
A stolen cell phone with a GPS tracker led to the arrest of two teenagers Wednesday.
The phone was stolen from an unlocked car Wednesday morning in near Sixth Avenue and Pines Road in Spokane Valley, then recovered when police used the GPS to track it to a home at 1310 S. Raymond Road.
Arrested were Scott H. Gregor, 19, and a 14-year-old boy, according to the Spokane Valley Police Department.
Police think Gregor and the boy also stole Christmas presents and a purse with credit cards from the car.
Officers recovered the presents and cell phone.
Anyone whose car may have been prowled Wednesday near Sixth Avenue between Pines and Bowdish roads is asked to call (509) 456-2233.