In brief: Brigadier general to speak today at women vets event
About 350 to 400 women veterans are expected today in Spokane at the 2014 Women Veterans Summit at the Spokane Convention Center.
The keynote speaker for the free conference is retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Rebecca Halstead. The conference also will include six workshops on the opportunities and challenges women veterans face today, along with providing information about benefits and services they might be entitled to, according to a news release from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The conference runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Online registration is closed but on-site registration still is available.
SCRAPS offers cat special after large influx of animals
The cat room at the new Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service facility is overcrowded after taking in 355 cats in the first two weeks of September.
SCRAPS, 6815 E. Trent Ave., is offering a cat adoption special through Sunday to free up space. Cats can be adopted for $15, which includes a license, vet check, vaccinations, microchip and spaying or neutering.
Even more cats will be available for adoption soon. Five hundred kittens were placed with foster homes this summer because the kittens are so young they must be hand-fed. As those kittens grow old enough to be adopted, they will be making their way to the SCRAPS shelter.
Shelter hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Sunday.
Fast-moving fire forces evacuation of 50 homes
GASTON, Ore. – Fire officials say a new wildfire in a rural area west of Portland quickly burned across an estimated 150 acres, prompting the evacuation of at least 50 homes.
At least 70 firefighters responded. No injuries have been reported.
Joel Peterson, Gaston Rural Fire District chaplain, said a helicopter is fighting the blaze as well, with water retrieved from nearby Hagg Lake.
The Oregonian reported that state Forestry Department spokesman Nick Hennemann said the fire reported Friday afternoon grew from about 4 acres to more than 100 acres in an hour.
Other nearby residents have been told to be ready to leave their homes, if necessary.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.
It’s burning about 25 miles west of Portland.
Teen to be tried as juvenile in shooting deaths at cabin
CANYON CITY, Ore. – A 15-year-old boy will be tried as a juvenile on charges he shot and killed his foster father and another man last fall at a hunting cabin in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon.
The clerk’s office at the Grant County Circuit Court in Canyon City says the boy, whose name was withheld by the Associated Press because of his age, goes on trial March 2 on two juvenile counts of aggravated murder.
He is accused of shooting Michael Piete, of Baker City, and Piete’s uncle, Kenneth Gilliland, at a hunting cabin outside Granite. Authorities have not released a motive, but juvenile records show the boy, who was 14 at the time, had a history of behavioral problems.
The ruling was made Wednesday.
Defense lawyer Katie Berger did not immediately return a call for comment.
Officers chase theft suspect into, out of doughnut shop
SEATTLE – Forget all those jokes about cops and doughnuts. Seattle officers stayed focused on the crime as they chased a stolen-purse suspect through a doughnut shop and out into the street.
Police say the woman next tried to hide in an open shipping container but officers found her, took her into custody and returned the purse to its owner.
They were alerted Friday afternoon when the victim called to say she’d found her previously stolen purse listed for sale on Craigslist. The purse owner had arranged to meet the seller in front of a Krispy Kreme shop. When police arrived, the woman with the purse hightailed it through the shop.