In brief: One person dies in Colville in officer-involved incident
A person was killed by police who were called to investigate a report of a vehicle prowler near Benny’s Colville Inn, 915 S. Main Street, at about 11:30 Saturday evening in Colville.
The Colville Police Department did not identify the person who died or circumstances surrounding the death. A firearm was recovered at the scene.
The Spokane Investigative Regional Response team and Colville police are investigating the fatality, according to a Police Department statement.
Firefighters knock down garage fire, keep home safe
Fire crews controlled a garage fire in the 7900 block of East Alki Avenue in Spokane Valley on Sunday before it spread to the adjacent home.
The homeowner suffered mild smoke inhalation from fighting the fire and was treated at the scene, according to the Spokane Valley Fire Department.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Missing sailboat captain found dead in harbor
BLAKELY ISLAND, Wash. – A missing Bellingham sailboat captain has been found dead at the bottom of the harbor near Blakely Island in the San Juans.
KOMO-TV reports the missing captain, Donald J. Mierzeski, had taken his 35-foot sailboat to the San Juans for a racing event on Saturday.
He moored the boat in the marina at Blakely Island, and was last seen walking on the dock back toward the boat at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
Deputies searched the area after he was reported missing on Saturday morning, but found nothing.
A dive team was then called in, and they later found Mierzeski’s body on the bottom under several feet of water in the marina near his sailboat.
Deputies are investigating the circumstances leading up to his death.
School superintendents ask for shorter school year
EVERETT – Washington school superintendents are pushing for a shorter school year as a budget fix.
The Daily Herald of Everett reports that in letters and meetings, educators are telling lawmakers that taking a week off the calendar spreads any budget cut more fairly than other money-saving proposals such as reducing state aid to rural or property-poor districts.
School leaders also contend that after three years of diluting programs as state dollars declined, going to a shorter year may stem any further erosion.
There’s been talk about a shorter school year the past couple of legislative sessions.
Washington is not the first to consider this path. California, for example, dropped from 180 days to 175 days in 2009, then decided earlier this year to let financially challenged districts teach as few as 168 days.
Other states, such as Oregon, allowed districts to go to a four-day school week.
Authorities investigate death of female inmate
POCATELLO, Idaho – Authorities in southeast Idaho say they are investigating the death of a 48-year-old inmate at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center.
The Idaho Department of Correction in a news release says Cheryl Ann Spellmeyer was found unconscious in her cell about 10 a.m. Wednesday with an apparently self-inflicted mark from a binding around her neck.
Department spokesman Jeff Ray said prison officials began life-saving measures and called paramedics.
Spellmeyer was transported to Portneuf Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 3:10 p.m.
Authorities say Spellmeyer would have been eligible for parole in September 2012.