In brief: Youth coach had flu-like symptoms
Police say the autopsy of a 39-year-old youth sports coach who died suddenly this week showed that the Post Falls man had flu-like symptoms.
Kerrie Scott, called Coach Spud by his junior tackle players and others in Post Falls youth sports, died unexpectedly Tuesday morning after collapsing at a friend’s home. Panhandle District Health spokeswoman Cynthia Taggart said officials expect the results of tests to determine whether Scott had H1N1, the swine flu virus, to arrive in about a week.
Roy McKenzie, Scott’s brother-in-law who coached with him on the eighth-grade Broncos junior tackle team, said Scott missed two days of practice last week with a temperature of more than 100 degrees, but began to feel better over the weekend before he started feeling ill again Monday.
Scott coached youth football, baseball, softball and basketball.
Drug maker to pay state $13 million
Eli Lilly will pay the state of Idaho $13 million under a settlement that resolves allegations that the drug company deceptively marketed the anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa and failed to warn health care providers of serious side effects, resulting in significant Medicaid costs.
The monetary payment is the state’s largest under the Idaho Consumer Protection Act, aside from the 1998 tobacco settlement, a news release from the state’s attorney general said.
The agreement involves no admission of wrongdoing on Eli Lilly’s part. The attorney general anticipates that $6.9 million will be deposited in the state’s general account after covering the expenses incurred during the three-year case and reimbursing the federal government, which pays a large portion of Medicaid costs.
The state alleged that Eli Lilly marketed Zyprexa for uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, including to children, and failed to disclose side effects. The state also alleged that the drug company’s actions caused added medical expenses for many Medicaid patients, the release said.
Police say pot raid led to smugglers
A big marijuana bust Friday uncovered an international operation that shipped duffel bags of pot down the Kettle River, according to the Spokane Police Department.
About 40 pounds of marijuana, $70,000 and a grow room were found at a home in Stevens County in an investigation police say was triggered by the suspicions of an officer who died of cancer Oct. 5.
Officer Aaron Douglas suspected there was more to a case of a man found with 10 pounds of marijuana a few months ago. The investigation involved people selling the drug “using the cover of selling medical marijuana,” according to a news release.
The case was about to close, but Douglas’ suspicions continued the investigation and led to Friday’s search, authorities said.
David Raugust, 28, and Greg Breken, 52, were arrested on charges of manufacturing a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.
“Seized ledgers indicated transactions of over $100,000 were being conducted,” according to the news release.
The operation apparently involved “B.C. bud” being imported by backpack and river rafts, Spokane police Officer Devin Presta said.
Man steps in path of freight train
A man wearing a skull-emblazoned trenchcoat stepped in front a moving freight train Friday morning in Post Falls and was rushed to Kootenai Medical Center with undisclosed injuries.
The victim, whose identity wasn’t released, had been walking near the intersection of McGuire Road and Yukon Avenue, where a Union Pacific rail line crosses just south of Poleline Avenue, according to the Idaho State Police. He reportedly stepped in front of the moving train about 5 a.m.
Troopers said the rail crossing was closed for about two hours. No other details were immediately available Friday.
Open house set on Mission Flats
An open house on the East Mission Flats Repository’s proposed environmental monitoring plan takes place from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at Canyon School, E. 27491 School House Loop Road, Cataldo.
The repository will store about 40,000 truckloads of mining waste in the Coeur d’Alene River’s floodplain. Monitoring plans for the repository were beefed up as part of an Environmental Protection Agency inspector general review.
The open house will address plans to monitor moisture levels in the repository and groundwater beneath the facility. The draft monitoring plan can be found at http://yosemite.epa.gov/ r10/cleanup.nsf/sites/east _mission_flats_repository.
Baby orca born to Sound’s L pod
BREMERTON – A baby orca has been born in the L pod of Puget Sound killer whales.
The new orca was photographed Saturday near Port Townsend and confirmed as a new calf by the Center for Whale Research. It has been assigned the number L-113 and is the fourth baby orca spotted this year.
The new arrival brings the population known as Puget Sound southern residents orcas to 86. The population reached 140 or more in the last century, but their numbers have fluctuated in recent decades. They were listed as endangered in 2005.
This is the time of year when the killer whale pods leave Puget Sound for the ocean. But Ken Balcomb at the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor said the experts who monitor the whales hope to see them another time or two this year.
The orca’s mother is presumed to be L-94, a 14-year-old female named Calypso. If the parentage is confirmed, the baby would be her first calf.