In brief: Woman held after alleged bomb threat

A woman arrested for allegedly threatening to blow up the Child Protective Services building in Spokane on Wednesday night had a large firework resembling dynamite at her home on the 1800 block of East First Avenue, police said.

Daisy R. Mace, 29, told a friend that she was going to blow up the building, according to court records. Mace’s four children were taken from her custody by the state agency about six weeks ago. Witnesses believed Mace had at least one stick of dynamite and believed her threats were serious.

Police cordoned off several blocks of the East Sprague neighborhood while the bomb squad arrived.

Mace told officers where they could find the firework. She denied threatening to harm social workers or blow up the CPS office.

Police searched Mace’s home and found a large firework in her home resembling a stick of dynamite, according to court records. They also reportedly discovered a roll of electric blasting wire, four marijuana plants and books on guerrilla warfare.

Report: Requests for assisted suicides rise

SEATTLE – The state’s annual assisted suicide report shows a 17 percent jump in the number of people requesting lethal prescriptions in 2012 when compared to the previous year.

Covering the 2012 calendar year, the Death with Dignity Act report released Thursday shows that at least 83 people died after taking medication.

According to the report released by the Washington state Department of Health, 376 terminally adults have received the lethal prescription since the law passed in 2009. In 2012, 121 people requested and received the medication.

The report also shows that participants who died in 2012 were between the ages of 35 and 95. More than 90 percent lived in Western Washington and most had cancer.

Tabloid claims photo is of Knox, boyfriend

NEW YORK – A British tabloid published photos Thursday of an apparent reunion between Seattle native Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend, who were acquitted after serving four years in prison in Italy for the murder of British student Meredith Kirchner.

Knox, 25, and her 29-year-old Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were initially convicted of the crime and sentenced to long prison terms. An appeals court acquitted them in 2011.

Britain’s Daily Mirror reported the pair had a secret reunion, publishing photos of what it said was Knox and Sollecito walking together in New York.

The newspaper said the photos were taken Tuesday – the same day Italy’s high court harshly faulted the appeals court that acquitted Knox and ordered a new appeals court to consider all the evidence to determine whether Knox helped kill Kirchner.

Lewiston officer resigns amid probe

LEWISTON – A Lewiston police sergeant who has been on administrative leave since April resigned following an Idaho State Police investigation into an allegation of misdemeanor sexual battery.

City Attorney Jamie Shropshire has declined to pursue criminal charges against Ted Piche, according to the Lewiston Tribune.

The ISP investigated a complaint that Piche made unwanted sexual advances toward a woman at his house on April 20.

In February 2012, Piche received the department’s highest award for helping to apprehend a bank robber.