In brief: Woman’s death was not a homicide, police say

Deputies say a woman found dead Aug. 1 on the porch of a mobile home south of Spokane was not the victim of a homicide.

She has been identified as Kimberly N. Bradley, 42.

A neighbor in the 8900 block of South Mullen Hill Road called police to report seeing Bradley on the porch and said she wasn’t moving. Visible marks on her forehead and body led deputies to treat the death as a homicide. She also had been the victim of domestic violence in the past, according to court documents.

The cause of death still is pending while the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office waits for toxicology results.

Initial autopsy results indicate that Bradley’s death appears to be natural, said Deputy Craig Chamberlin, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

Two of three unrelated fires under investigation

A backyard playhouse, a home and a tree house burned Friday in three separate fires in Spokane.

The playhouse burned at 2113 E. Fifth Ave. just after 7:45 a.m. Firefighters discovered the fire had spread to a nearby garage when they arrived. The fire was put out within 30 minutes. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

A burning home reported at 312 S. Ray St. at 8:30 a.m. Friday began in a bedroom in the southeast corner. Flames were confined to that room, according to a Spokane Fire Department news release. The rest of the house sustained smoke damage.

No one was home and the cause is under investigation.

Firefighters responded to a tree house fire at Panorama Drive and Walnut Street in north Spokane about 4:30 p.m.

Sagle man, 20, dies in pickup-semi collision

A Sagle, Idaho, man died early Friday in a two-vehicle collision on the Long Bridge, just south of Sandpoint along U.S. Highway 95.

Harrison W. Reasor, 20, was headed north across the bridge about 5:30 a.m. when his Ford F250 pickup entered the southbound lane, according to a news release from the Idaho State Police.

The truck collided with a Freightliner tractor-trailer driven by Gurenderpal S. Dhillon, 44, of Saskatchewan, Alberta.

Reasor died at the scene. Dhillon was not injured. Both men were wearing seat belts.

Meeting to focus on pest, disease outbreaks

Forest Service officials are evaluating work in the Jasper Mountain area of Priest Lake to reduce insect and disease outbreaks.

An informational meeting takes place 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 25 at the Priest River Event Center, 5399 Highway 2, Priest River.

For more information, visit www.fs.usda. gov/projects/ipnf /landmanagement/projects (scroll down and click on the Jasper Mountain link). Questions can be sent to Tera Little at teralittle@fs.fed.us or (406) 329-3146.

Kootenai unemployment drops 2 percent in year

Fewer Kootenai County residents were looking for work in July compared to a year ago.

The July unemployment rate for the county was 5.2 percent, compared to 7.2 percent in July 2013, according to Idaho Department of Labor figures released Friday.

Other Idaho Panhandle counties also had lower jobless rates. Bonner County’s rate was 6.7 percent compared to 8.7 percent a year ago; Boundary County’s rate was 6.2 percent compared to 8.6 percent; Shoshone County’s rate was 8 percent compared to 11.9 percent; and Benewah County dropped to 7.4 percent from 10.7 percent.

For the state of Idaho as a whole, the seasonally adjusted rate was 4.8 percent in July, compared to 6.3 percent for July 2013.

Group to join lawsuit over wolverine decision

Kootenai Environmental Alliance will join other conservation groups in a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s decision not to give wolverines protection under the Endangered Species Act, KEA Executive Director Adrienne Cronebaugh said.

The coalition sent the federal government a formal notice this week of its intent to sue. The action followed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe’s announcement that wolverines wouldn’t be protected.

Between 250 and 300 wolverines are believed to inhabit the Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, and Washington’s North Cascade Range.

A warmer climate is expected to hurt wolverines, members of the weasel family that require spring snow for denning sites. But Ashe told the Associated Press that predictions about climate change’s localized impacts remain ambiguous, making it unclear whether the species is at risk for extinction.

Conservation groups noted that the decision was counter to the conclusions of outside experts and some of the agency’s own scientists.