In brief: Blaze damages home in Valley

Spokane Valley firefighters were called to a house fire around 1:40 p.m. Friday on Upriver Drive east of Argonne Road.

The fire at 10314 E. Upriver forced closure of the eastbound lane of the road .

The fire began in the basement and firefighters broke out a basement window to fight the blaze, Capt. Pat Schaffer said in a press release.

They then entered the home and extinguished the rest of the fire.

The damage was estimated at $40,000. No injuries were reported. The cause was under investigation.

Police say man robbed CdA pair

A Coeur d’Alene man robbed two men at gunpoint as they were walking to a friend’s home late Wednesday, police say.

 Jeremiah H. Starr, 34, stole a small amount of cash from Luther Nicholas, 21, and Michael Garitone, 18, as they were walking near 12th Street and Coeur d’Alene Avenue about 11 p.m., according to the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.

Garitone and Nicholas, both of Coeur d’Alene, followed Starr to try to see what car he would get into, but Starr charged them and fought with Garitone, who was able to wrestle the gun away from him.

Garitone and Nicholas said they’d never met Starr. Police found him hiding in the basement of a home in the 1100 block of Coeur d’Alene Avenue.

“A female at the residence claimed Starr is the father of her baby,” Sgt. Christie Wood said in a news release. Officers also recovered an Airsoft BB gun from the scene that looked like a real handgun, Wood said.

Labrador wants to ax incentives

Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador wants to do away with green energy incentives, and instead cut corporate tax rates.

Labrador held a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday with anti-tax activist Grover Norquist to announce that he’s co-sponsoring legislation to do away with “all energy subsidies,” including tax incentives for plug-in electric and fuel-cell vehicles, the production tax credit for renewable energy, the investment tax credit for equipment powered by solar, fuel cells or geothermal, and the credit for producing oil and gas from marginal wells.

The measure is sponsored by Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kansas. Labrador, a first-term Republican, said it would eliminate $90 million in energy tax subsidies over the next 10 years, while reducing the corporate tax rate by a similar amount. Groups backing it include Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity, a group backed by billionaire David Koch.