In brief: Tribe gives $1.3 million in school grants
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe this year gave $1.3 million in education grants to more than 50 schools, school districts and nonprofit organizations.
Recipients used the money to upgrade technology, buy textbooks, provide student scholarships and fund textiles, reading, music, arts and vocational classes.
Recipients include the Post Falls Food Bank’s Weekend Nutrition Backpack Program, which serves students with no reliable access to food on weekends, and the new Kootenai Technical Educational Campus in Rathdrum, for vocational equipment.
“We believe in education and we believe in being good neighbors,” said Chief Allan, Chairman of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, in a news release. “Education lifts people up. … This is just our way of giving back to our neighbors, and we are proud to have such a strong history of donating to our community.”
The tribe allocates 5 percent of net revenues from the Coeur d’Alene Casino to education in the region. Since 1994 it has donated more than $18.5 million.
Knezovich honored by Special Olympics
Special Olympics Washington has honored Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich for his support of the program.
Knezovich received the 2012 Special Olympics Washington Law Enforcement Torch Run Campaign, Sheriff of the Year Award, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release. The organization gives the award to one Washington sheriff and police chief each year.
Knezovich was honored in part for serving with the Law Enforcement Torch Run Campaign for more than eight years. He also has participated in Special Olympics Washington events such as Tip a Cop, the Polar Bear Plunge, Cops on Roof Top and the Plane Pull.
“It’s a privilege to be involved with Special Olympics Washington and have the opportunity to meet and support such great athletes,” Knezovich said in the release.
Knezovich has “remained supportive of the movement and most specifically the campaign,” said Tukwila police Officer Ted Rutt, who presented Knezovich with the award.
“He has led by example through his active involvement in every Special Olympics-related event communitywide and has continued to make a difference in lending any assistance available to him,” Rutt said.
GOP hopeful: Rape not cause for abortion
OLYMPIA – A Republican congressional candidate says abortion should not be legal, even when it involves “the rape thing,” according to audio provided Wednesday to the Associated Press.
An activist working on behalf of liberal group FUSE Washington asked questions of Republican hopeful John Koster during a fundraiser Sunday. Koster said he does not oppose abortion when the life of the mother is in danger but then explains he would oppose it when it involves rape or incest.
Koster twice uses the phrase “the rape thing” when describing his views, first saying that he knows a woman who was raped and gave up the child for adoption without any regrets.
“But on the rape thing, it’s like, how does putting more violence onto a woman’s body and taking the life of an innocent child that’s a consequence of this crime, how does that make it better?” Koster said in the exchange.
Koster’s campaign manager, Larry Stickney, said the candidate has long been a proponent of dealing strongly with sex offenders.
“To imply that he’s cavalier about the issue is preposterous,” Stickney said.
Koster is locked in a competitive House race against Democrat Suzan DelBene.
Collin Jergens, a spokesman at the advocacy group FUSE Washington, said one of the group’s activists went to the fundraiser to ask Koster about the issue of abortion. Democrats have been trying to portray Koster as out of touch with the district, which stretches from areas east of Seattle to the border with Canada, and they have focused particularly on his stance on social issues.
Sara Kiesler, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest, said Koster’s remarks are proof that he shouldn’t be involved in a woman’s decision about her pregnancy.
“My gut reaction was that rape is violence, and that rape is a crime, and that his choice of words diminishes that violence,” Kiesler said.
Child found in home with dead mother
PORTLAND – Police officers rescued a hungry and thirsty 2-year-old boy from an east Portland house where a woman’s body was found Wednesday.
The Oregon state medical examiner said that 40-year-old Micaela Quinn died of natural causes.
Sgt. Pete Simpson said a friend of Quinn’s who hadn’t heard from the woman in a couple of days had gone to the house to check on her and found the body – and the little boy. The friend called police.
Police said the child appeared to be in good health but was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
Lawmaker’s son wounds wife with rifle
IDAHO FALLS – Authorities in eastern Idaho say the son of a Democratic state lawmaker shot his wife accidentally with a rifle following a day of hunting.
The Idaho Falls Post-Register reported that 31-year-old Ian Malepeai and his wife, Hailey Hodges, of Irwin, had been hunting Monday.
Malepeai is the son of Idaho Senate Minority Leader Edgar Malepeai of Pocatello, who is retiring from the Idaho Legislature this year.
According to sheriff’s reports, Ian Malepeai was removing a 7 mm rifle from his pickup truck just after 7 p.m. when it discharged, sending a bullet into her buttocks.
Bonneville county Sheriff’s deputies said Hodges, 31, was transported to a hospital in the region. After treatment, she was reported to be in stable condition.