Priest Lake fish may pose risk
Pregnant and nursing women and young children should limit consumption of fish from Priest Lake, Idaho health officials said Wednesday.
Tests of fish caught last spring revealed mercury levels that could affect fetuses or children under 7, according to Idaho’s Department of Health and Welfare. The advisory follows a similar warning last fall for mercury in lake trout and whitefish in Lake Pend Oreille.
Women who are pregnant, breast-feeding or planning to become pregnant should limit consumption of lake trout from Priest Lake to no more than four meals a month, health officials said. Children under 7 should not eat more than two meals a month of lake trout.
Detected mercury levels weren’t high enough to pose a danger to the general public, said Chris Corwin, a spokesman for the department.
Mercury accumulates in fish and may affect the central nervous systems of people who eat fish. For most people, eating mercury from fish is not harmful.
– JoNel Aleccia
Company lands super shirt deal
There may be high stakes on the line Sunday in Detroit, but the multimillion-dollar merchandise business is spilling into Spokane – that is, if things go right for the Seahawks.
If Seattle wins, Buffalo Cudo Apparel will take the post-game snap to print about 20,000 Super Bowl champ shirts and ship them across the Cascades.
“An hour after the game, it’s all hands on deck,” said Dan Fitzgerald, 63, Buffalo’s CEO and a former Gonzaga University basketball coach.
He’s lining up employees willing to work a 16-hour shift that begins within an hour after the game ends – sooner if it’s a blowout in favor of Seattle.
The deal could bring some nice cash relief during a typical slow time in a summer-driven business, Fitzgerald said.
“It’s not a deal that will pay off the mortgage,” Fitzgerald said, but he’s not complaining.
– Rob McDonald
Duncan attorney seeks later trial
Kootenai County public defender John Adams says he needs more time to prepare a defense for homicide suspect Joseph Duncan.
Adams on Wednesday asked that the triple-murder trial be rescheduled no sooner than mid-November. First District Judge Fred Gibler already granted a four-month extension on the original January trial date. He will consider the new motion Feb. 23.
Adams said the outcome of an insanity defense case before the U.S. Supreme Court, expected this summer, could pertain to the Duncan case. He has asked Gibler to declare Idaho’s 1982 repeal of the insanity defense unconstitutional.
The public defender also replied to the prosecutor’s opposition to Adams’ request to bring in jurors from outside the county. Prosecutors say an impartial jury can be found from a larger jury pool here.
But Adams said the larger pool won’t make a difference because of “a saturation of prejudicial news coverage,” such as local news stories and letters to the editor.
“From the tone of many of the statements,” Adams wrote, “Mr. Duncan has been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion.”
– Taryn Brodwater