In brief: Spokane County voting on contract for prescription drugs at jail
Spokane County will consider contracting with a national company to provide low-cost prescription medications to the hundreds of inmates at its aging jail.
County commissioners will vote today whether to pursue an agreement with Indiana-based Diamond Pharmacy Services to provide prescription drugs to inmates on a permanent basis. The county already buys stock medications from the company, which touts itself as the nation’s “largest correctional pharmacy services provider” with more than 900 contracts in 44 states. The county would pay Diamond roughly $450,000 annually, but a final contract still needs to be negotiated.
“The cost is cheaper than what we’ve had in the past,” said Jay Hughes, assistant director of detention at Spokane County Jail. Prescription drugs cost the jail $500,000 in 2013 and $727,000 last year, he said.
The county approved the hiring of four new nurses at the jail last year in the midst of numerous legal challenges of its medication policy.
Coast Guard searching for small airplane
SEABECK, Wash. – The Coast Guard is searching an area of Washington’s Hood Canal after what appears to be airplane debris was found floating on the water.
The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office said several 911 callers reported seeing a small plane that appeared to be in distress Monday afternoon, and one person reported seeing such a plane hit the water.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Amanda Norcross said Monday evening the search continued with a helicopter and two Coast Guard vessels.
Kitsap County sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Dickinson said the water in the area is about 500 to 600 feet deep. He had no information on a possible make and model of the plane.
He said the debris field was spotted in a cove near the town of Seabeck, which is on the Kitsap Peninsula west of Seattle.
Hood Canal is a narrow waterway in Puget Sound.
Man shot in hand at Tukwila mall
TUKWILA, Wash. – A police official said a gunshot was fired Monday evening inside the Westfield Southcenter Mall in Tukwila and one young man suffered a minor hand injury.
Tukwila police Cmdr. Eric Drever said one participant in a fight involving several young men in their late teens pulled out a gun and “fired what we believe was one shot.”
Drever said the teen who was hit was treated at the scene. The spokesman said that teen and three other young men were detained for questioning. Police recovered a handgun from a nearby parking lot.
The shot was fired in a common area about 50 feet inside the mall’s north entrance.
Bills introduced to ban death penalty
OLYMPIA – Bills to abolish the death penalty were introduced in the state House and Senate on Monday, an effort that seeks to build on Gov. Jay Inslee’s decision last year to impose a moratorium on capital punishment.
The measures, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Reuven Carlyle of Seattle and Republican Sen. Mark Miloscia of Federal Way, would replace the death penalty with a life sentence, with no opportunity for parole. House Bill 1739 and Senate Bill 5639 would also require those convicted to work in prison in order to pay restitution to victims and their families.
Carlyle said that the time is right to renew the debate surrounding the death penalty in the state, even though previous efforts to get rid of the death penalty have failed.
Three other lawmakers have signed on in support of the House measure: Democratic Rep. Tina Orwall of Des Moines and Republican Reps. Maureen Walsh of Walla Walla and Chad Magendanz of Issaquah. Two Democrats, Sens. Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Jamie Pedersen, both of Seattle, are co-sponsors on the Senate bill.