In brief: Copper theft cost will about $100,000
A copper wire heist will cost a Spokane County business $100,000 in repairs and lost business, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.
The theft was discovered last Friday near the 9500 block of South Grove Road. The Sheriff’s Office did not disclose the name of the business in a Wednesday news release. The business owner said the wire, about 3 ½ inches in diameter, ran from a generator to a large piece of machinery. Several hundred feet of wire was stolen. The owner said the theft occurred sometime between Thursday evening and Friday morning.
The business owner estimated the cost of the copper wire near $40,000. Total loss for the repairs and business closure was estimated at over $100,000.
Drivers to help cancer patients sought
The American Cancer Society is seeking volunteer drivers to take Inland Northwest cancer patients to and from their treatments.
The organization’s Road to Recovery program continues to see a growing number of requests from patients, and drivers are needed to transport patients to Spokane from Coeur d’Alene, as well as more rural areas in Spokane and Kootenai counties.
Volunteers will get gas cards to help offset the cost of fuel for their trips. Drivers, who will undergo a background check, are asked to sign up for at least one trip per month but can volunteer more if they’d like.
For more information or to apply, contact Cynthia Rozyla at (509) 242-8295, toll-free at (800) 537-7710, or at cynthia.rozyla@cancer.org.
Grant awarded to promote fair lending
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Wednesday the Northwest Fair Housing Alliance was awarded a 12-month grant of nearly $125,000.
The Education and Outreach Lending Component grant will allow the alliance to expand its Fair Lending Unit education and outreach efforts, according to a Northwest Fair Housing Alliance news release.
Those outreach efforts aim to increase regional capacity to identify and address lending discrimination, provide fair lending training for mortgage loan originators and develop public service announcements on fair lending education.
In fiscal year 2010, the Northwest Fair Housing Alliance was also awarded $325,000 for the second year of funding under a three-year, performance-based grant under HUD.
Help S-R with Memorial Day tribute
The Spokesman-Review will once again honor local service members who have died from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan with its annual Faces of the Fallen tribute.
If you know of a service member from the Inland Northwest who died in the past 12 months, please let us know by emailing addyh@spokesman.com or calling Addy Hatch at (509) 459-3805.
Faces of the Fallen will appear on the front page on May 28 and online at spokesman.com that day.
Fewer induced early births, group says
SEATTLE – Health advocates say the number of induced early births has dropped in Washington.
Doctors with the Washington State Hospital Association reported that the number of babies born after 37 weeks and before 39 weeks of pregnancy dropped by 65 percent statewide – or about 650 fewer early elective births – between the third quarter of 2010 and the fourth quarter of 2011.
The group said advances in medicine have given women the expectation that babies born early will be healthy.
But the group said new research has shown that babies born before 39 weeks risk vision and hearing problems as well as having difficulties staying warm.
Dr. Jeff Thomson said it’s worth waiting the full term if there are no health risks to the baby or mother.