In brief: Thunderstorms lead to power outages in area
Avista Utilities was busy Friday night working to restore power to about 2,000 of its customers after severe thunderstorms rolled through the Inland Northwest.
About half of the outages were in north Spokane, including about 500 near Maple Street and Francis Avenue and about 400 near state Highway 291, north of Francis.
Avista estimated electricity would be restored to those locations by 11:15 p.m. Friday.
Nearly 600 were without power in Davenport and more than 300 in Tekoa.
Inland Power and Light was reporting nearly 500 customers without power. Most of those were in southern Stevens County.
The National Weather Service issued multiple severe thunderstorm warnings in the area Friday evening and reported that hail an inch in diameter damaged cars near Arden, south of Colville.
A gust of wind of 53 mph was measured at the weather service’s offices on the West Plains about 7:50 p.m., said Laurie Nisbet, a weather service meteorologist, but there were not widespread reports of significant damage.
Cormorants, eggs killed to aid salmon
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says 109 adult double-crested cormorants have been killed and more than 1,700 eggs killed so far as part of a program to reduce the size of North America’s biggest cormorant nesting colony so the birds eat fewer juvenile salmon migrating down the Columbia River.
Plans call for reducing the number of cormorants on East Sand Island at the mouth of the Columbia between Oregon and Washington from 14,000 pairs to 5,600 pairs by 2018. The birds eat millions of juvenile salmon – some protected species – as they migrate down the river to the ocean.
Wildlife control personnel from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services started shooting birds and oiling eggs so they won’t hatch last weekend.
Lusty Lady strip club to become hotel
SEATTLE – Five years after Seattle’s Lusty Lady strip club closed down, a new hotel is set to take its place.
The Seattle Times reported a local developers announced Thursday that the old building near Pike Place Market will be turned into a 43-room boutique hotel.
A partner in the project, John Schack, said the hotel will pay tribute to the peep show in some way with features such as a speak-easy bar.
The Lusty Lady provided 27 years of live dancing that went 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The hotel is scheduled to open in 2017 and will feature 4,100 square feet of retail space and a rooftop deck.