In brief: Homeless veteran’s wheelchair stolen

A homeless veteran’s wheelchair was stolen Thursday night in downtown Spokane as the man was panhandling near a bank, Spokane police said.

A passer-by called police to report the theft shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday near the intersection of Third Avenue and Maple Street.

Police spokeswoman Monique Cotton said police filed a theft report and searched the surrounding area Thursday, but have not been able to find the man’s wheelchair. She said the suspect is a white man in his 20s with a medium build and reddish brown hair.

Medics also responded to the call and transported the man, whose name was not released by police, to the hospital for an unrelated minor injury.

CdA-area history museum opens

The Museum of North Idaho opens for the season Wednesday.

This year’s feature exhibit is “History Outside the Museum,” highlighting historic buildings, structures and sites in the Coeur d’Alene region and efforts to preserve them.

“Even though our buildings are not hundreds of years old, they are part of who we are as a community,” said museum director Dorothy Dahlgren in a news release. Permanent exhibits include “McEuen Park”; “Mullan Road”; “Schitsu’umsh, The People Who Were Discovered Here,” about the Coeur d’Alene Tribe; and “When the Mountains Roared,” about the 1910 fires.

The museum is at 115 Northwest Blvd., next to Coeur d’Alene City Park. It’s open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays through Oct. 31. Admission is $4 for adults, $1 for children 6 to 16 and free for children 5 and younger. The family rate is $10, for two adults and children.

Call (208) 664-3448 or visit www.museumni.org for more information.

Oregon fires marijuana overseer

PORTLAND – The Oregon Liquor Control Commission says it fired the official hired to lead Oregon’s preparations to regulate recreational marijuana because he shared an internal document with a lawyer representing marijuana growers, and then lied about it.

Agency spokesman Tom Towslee said Tom Burns denied sending the document, during a meeting Thursday with OLCC Executive Director Steven Marks. Towslee said Burns was fired after he was presented with evidence that he had emailed the document.

Towslee said not being truthful was “the greater sin.”

Burns oversaw the rollout of the state’s medical marijuana dispensary program. He was tapped last December to direct marijuana programs for the OLCC.

The agency’s licensing director, Will Higlin, is filling in for Burns until a permanent replacement is found.

Burns could not immediately be reached.