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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Water main work closes streets

The Coeur d’Alene Water Department will close 15th Street from Elm Avenue to Maple Avenue to through-traffic today.

The water department is doing water main work in preparation for the 2011 street overlay project.

The department asks that drivers pay attention to signs and detours.

For more information, call the water department at (208) 769-2210.

Authorities seek tips on luring suspect

A quick-thinking Mead girl walking home from school Tuesday scared off a man who tried to lure her into his van, police say.

The 14-year-old Northwood Middle School student told a Spokane County sheriff’s deputy she was walking in the area of North Pittsburg Street and East Farwell Road about 2:35 p.m. when a blue van with tinted windows and no license plates approached.

The driver, a white male in his mid-20s to 30s, wore sunglasses and a boonie-style hat. He asked if he could give her a ride home. She refused but the man kept asking the girl to get in, saying she would be safe with him, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The girl then pulled her calculator from her backpack and pretended to dial as if it were a cellphone. The van drove away westbound on Farwell to Hastings.

Deputies looked in the area for the van but did not find it. Anyone with information regarding the incident is encouraged to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.

Teen missing after canoe capsized

The Stevens County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a girl who went missing Wednesday afternoon after a boat she was in capsized in the Kettle River in northern Stevens County.

Laura Jean Rose Enquist, 14, was in an orange, 15-foot canoe with her brother, Joseph, when the boat capsized and carried the siblings downsteam, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.

Joseph made it to shore but lost sight of his sister. Authorities believe he was wearing a lifejacket but she was not.

Laura Jean Rose Enquist was last seen wearing blue jeans, a white sleeveless shirt and black tennis shoes. She is 5-foot-3, 120 pounds with blue eyes and brown, braided hair.

Anyone with information is asked to call (800) 572-0947 or (509) 684-5296.

WSU reports another horse with virus

Washington State University veterinarians Wednesday confirmed another case of the equine herpes virus, bringing the number of affected horses at the university’s veterinarian hospital to three.

Confirmation of the virus came after a nasal swab from the horse tested positive for the virus (EHV-1), according to a WSU news release. The horse had been running a fever but did not test positive for the virus until Wednesday.

Seven cases of the virus have been confirmed in Washington but none of the affected horses has died, the news release said. The horses are in Spokane, Thurston, Chelan, Asotin and Whitman counties.

The virus can cause extreme neurological complications and death. In light of the new case, the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital will not see nonemergency horse or camelid patients for a minimum of 21 days, the news release said.

Confirmed cases must be reported to the state veterinarian’s office at (360) 902-1881.

Standoff leads to fugitive’s arrest

A sheriff’s SWAT team helped arrest a fugitive Tuesday after officers said he may be holding hostages at a home in north Spokane County.

Jeremy Rian Albright, 30, has been wanted since February on a $25,000 warrant for second-degree assault.

Members of the Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force saw Albright inside the home through open blinds about 4:30 p.m. and set up containment before knocking on the door. Teen boys approached the door but retreated, Sgt. Dave Reagan said in a news release.

The SWAT team was called because investigators felt the boys may have been held against their will, and because Albright is considered a violent offender and was rumored to be armed.

Albright was arrested without incident after the boys were called from the home by their mother. Sheriff’s officials did not report finding a weapon.

No one was injured, but the SWAT team broke basement windows during the standoff, Reagan said.