In brief: Mom investigated for baby’s injury
Spokane police are investigating a mother for possible assault charges after her baby suffered a skull fracture when she dropped him while boarding an STA bus.
A bus passenger saw the woman drop the 7-month-old boy as she tried to board in the 1300 block of East Sprague Avenue outside the Union Gospel Mission women’s shelter on Aug. 9.
The witness said the boy cried a little bit and appeared lethargic as his mother picked him up and got on the bus, “swaying and staggering,” according to court documents.
The woman told police she was on Xanax and another drug she couldn’t identify. The officer was “extremely concerned about her ability to care for the baby,” whom he said didn’t appear to have been washed for some time.The woman was arrested on a warrant for driving while suspended while the child was taken by Child Protective Services.
The baby’s foster mother alerted police two days later to a lump on the boy’s head, which an emergency room doctor said was a skull fracture.
Airman found dead at FAFB
An airman of the 92nd Air Refueling Wing was found dead early Tuesday in a residence at Fairchild Air Force Base.
Fairchild emergency services responded, according to a Fairchild news release. An Air Force doctor pronounced the airman dead.
The airman’s identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The cause and manner of death have not been released.
“We mourn the loss of a valued member of Team Fairchild and extend our deepest condolences to the Airman’s family and friends,” said Col. Paul Guemmer, 92nd Air Refueling Wing commander. “Our focus now is on helping the member’s family and friends during this difficult time.”
Sex offender transient in county
A convicted rapist who went back to prison because he continued to communicate with young girls is now living as a transient in Spokane County, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.
Joseph M. Hamilton, 33, was released from prison in January 2008 after serving time for violating his parole on a first-degree rape conviction from 1997.
His victim was a 5-year-old girl. Hamilton is a level 3 sex offender, which is the classification considered most likely to reoffend.
He is not under supervision by the Department of Corrections nor is he wanted by authorities, but the Sheriff’s Office wants people to be aware of his presence.
Trail work volunteers sought
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is looking for volunteers to help with trail maintenance, weeding and other work Saturday morning at the Blue Creek day use area east of Coeur d’Alene.
Volunteers should gather at the site at 9 a.m. Work tools will be supplied, but volunteers should bring work gloves, boots and drinking water. For more information, call Kurt Pindel at (208) 769-5015 or Suzanne Endsley at (208) 769-5004.
The Blue Creek Bay Recreation Area can be reached from Interstate 90 east of Coeur d’Alene by taking the Wolf Lodge/Harrison exit; turning left and crossing I-90, then left onto the Yellowstone Trail. Travel west and north approximately 2.5 miles along the Yellowstone Trail and descend to the head of Blue Creek Bay. Turn left at the county dumpster site onto the Landing Road and proceed about 0.8 miles to the recreation site. The project should be completed by noon.
Lecture scrubbed over travel issues
The Oct. 6 lecture at Gonzaga University by Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Muta Maathai has been canceled because of travel complications from Kenya.
Refunds for tickets purchased in person can be obtained at the point of purchase. Tickets purchased online and by phone will be refunded automatically by TicketsWest.
Classes canceled for seventh day
TACOMA – The Tacoma School District has canceled today’s classes. That will make the seventh day without school due to a teachers strike.
Negotiations resumed Tuesday afternoon with a state mediator after breaking up at about 2 a.m.
Washington Education Association spokesman Rich Wood says the big issue is the district’s policy on teacher transfers. The district wants to consider other factors in addition to seniority in moving some teachers.
About 1,900 teachers in Washington’s third-largest school district walked out Sept. 13. Teachers worked without a contract for the first seven days of the school year. They are staying on the picket lines in violation of a court order. There are about 28,000 students in the Tacoma district.
SHORELINE, Wash. – A King County sheriff’s spokesman says three women in their 80s had just left a restaurant when their vehicle crashed into a Shoreline, Wash., fabric store in the same retail complex.
Sgt. John Urquhart says a passenger died at the scene Tuesday afternoon. The driver and a second passenger were critically hurt and taken to Harborview Medical Center.
The Seattle Times reports the three lived in Shoreline, north of Seattle.
Shoreline Fire Department spokeswoman Melanie Granfors say no one in the building was hurt and it sustained no major damage. She says investigators indicate the crash may have been due to the driver “mistaking the gas pedal for the brake.”