In brief: Five days after prison release, man arrested
A man released from prison last week allegedly broke through three locked doors before surprising a woman asleep in her bedroom Wednesday morning.
Police found Kyle P. Murphy, 28, near the home in the 7100 block of North Walnut Court shortly after they arrived, according to court documents.
A locked basement door at the home had been forced open, police said. It also appeared that Murphy cut a hole in the drywall to open the deadbolt on a door that led from the basement into the rest of the house. He then allegedly kicked in the woman’s locked bedroom door, according to court documents.
Spokane police Officer Jacob Willard said in court Thursday that Murphy was released from prison only five days before he was arrested.
In 2013, Murphy pleaded guilty to seven counts of residential burglary and was sentenced to 37 months in prison. He had been caught stealing presents from underneath Christmas trees in South Hill homes in December 2012, according to newspaper reports. Murphy’s bail was set at $100,000 during his court appearance Thursday.
Idaho veterans home staff turnover high
BOISE – A statewide assessment indicates a fourth veterans home is needed in Idaho, but employee turnover at the facilities is becoming a critical concern.
Col. David Brasuell, administrator of the state Division of Veteran Services, said the combined turnover at Idaho’s three veterans homes in Lewiston, Pocatello and Boise hit 32 percent in 2014, up from 18 percent in 2012.
“Nursing homes in general experience high turnover, especially in their nursing staff,” he said during a presentation to the Idaho Legislature’s joint budget committee. A statewide needs assessment completed last year identified a long-term need to expand veterans home capacity in the Treasure Valley, as well as a short-term need for a fourth home located in northern Idaho.
The community of Post Falls has expressed interest in having such a facility, Brasuell said, but before the division moves forward, “there’s a lengthy bureaucratic process.”
Land also needs to be acquired, he said.
Man on trial for 4 counts of robbery now faces 5
A man set to go to trial next month on four counts of first-degree robbery is facing a fifth charge relating to a string of robberies in north Spokane last April.
Thomas T. Craigen, 33, and two accomplices allegedly were involved in four drive-thru robberies where the entire cash drawer was taken. He was being held on $275,000 bond on charges involving those four robberies and several unrelated burglary charges.
During a brief court appearance Thursday a bond of $50,000 was set on the new first-degree robbery charge, which relates to a robbery of a Cenex Zip Trip at 2103 W. Northwest Blvd. on April 13.
Craigen allegedly stole $23 after he showed a gun during the robbery but did not point it directly at the clerk, according to court documents.
Craigen has been in the Spokane County Jail since his arrest in April. He petitioned the court for a furlough from jail in August to be present for the birth of his child, but his petition was denied, court documents show.
Department of Ecology to talk on watershed
The Washington Department of Ecology has scheduled several workshops to talk to farmers and ranchers about watershed assessments in Eastern Washington.
The assessments will start in March and will focus on Hangman Creek, the north and south fork of the Palouse River, Snake River tributaries in Whitman County, the Walla Walla River and streams in the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington.
The surveys will identify where water quality problems exist as a result of agricultural runoff, and state officials will follow up with landowners on options for remedying the problems.
The workshops will be held on Tuesday at the Fairfield Community Center, 218 E. Main St., Fairfield; Thursday in Pullman at the Schweitzer Engineering Lab Event Center, 2350 Northeast Hopkins Court; and Feb. 4 at the Walla Walla Regional Airport, 310 A St. All workshops begin at 6 p.m.