In brief: Idaho man dies of hypothermia
COEUR D’ALENE – A man who spent at least 30 minutes clinging to a capsized boat in a cold lake has died of hypothermia.
The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said 52-year-old Dwayne Knapton, of Osburn, died Wednesday at a Coeur d’Alene hospital.
Knapton and 51-year-old Michael Jensen, of Pinehurst, were duck hunting on Medicine Lake near Medimont when their 10-foot boat was swamped and capsized. The men were not wearing life jackets and held onto the boat for 30 to 45 minutes.
A traveler on Highway 3 noticed the men early Wednesday afternoon, called 911 and flagged down an Idaho Fish and Game officer. Two Fish and Game officers launched an airboat and retrieved the men.
Knapton was taken by air ambulance to Kootenai Medical Center. Jensen was treated at the scene.
Grain terminals extend deadline
PORTLAND – Pacific Northwest grain terminal companies have given the longshore union extra time to accept what they say is their final offer.
The owners of a half-dozen terminals along the Columbia River and on Puget Sound extended the deadline to Dec. 8. The longshoremen had been asked to accept the deal by midnight Wednesday, but that deadline came and went.
In a statement Thursday afternoon, the owners reiterated their need for workplace rules that are similar to what longshoremen agreed to at a competing grain terminal in Longview, Wash. The owners say the rules will ensure that workers provide “a full day’s work for a full day’s pay” and do not engage in illegal work stoppages.
In exchange, the owners say their proposal increases the wage and benefit package.
Body of adopted girl will be exhumed
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. – The body of a girl who died of hypothermia in the rain outside a Sedro-Woolley home will be exhumed in an attempt to determine her age.
Hana Williams was believed to be 13 when she died in May 2011, but her age was uncertain because she was adopted in 2008 from Ethiopia.
The Skagit Valley Herald reported her age would make a difference in homicide by abuse charges against her parents. The charge applies only to victims under 16.
A judge ordered the grave to be opened at a hearing Wednesday in Mount Vernon, where Larry and Carri Williams pleaded not guilty to all charges against them. They include manslaughter. The two also are charged with child assault of an adopted son.
Man pleads guilty in false tax return plan
POCATELLO – A 38-year-old Dallas man has pleaded guilty to federal charges that he conspired to falsify income tax returns for Idaho State University students.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Moses Mukuka pleaded guilty Wednesday in Pocatello to conspiracy to file false claims for a refund and making a false claim against the United States. Sentencing is set for Feb. 13.
Prosecutors alleged Mukuka entered into an agreement with another person to place fliers around the ISU campus advertising himself as an accounting student who would do income tax returns for $10.
Mukuka sent the students’ paperwork to another individual who submitted returns to the IRS with false information designed to increase the refund.
Mukuka distributed a small portion of the refund to the taxpayers and wouldn’t provide them with copies of their returns.