In brief: Japanese school gives $30,000 to library
The Spokane Public Library has received a $30,000 donation from Mukogawa Women’s University in Japan. Mayor Mary Verner will formally accept the gift Wednesday from Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute representatives.
Library director Pat Partovi said the library board is determining what to do with the gift in order to benefit the public.
“We’re thrilled to be receiving it,” Partovi said.
The money will be used to support education, Partovi said.
Mukogawa Executive Vice President Kinya Masugata said Spokane has greatly supported the institute and its sister city in Japan.
“The chancellor (Ryo Okawara) wants to express his appreciation to Spokane city,” Masugata said.
Verner will accept the donation at 3 p.m. in the mayor’s office at Spokane City Hall.
Pizza driver says pair took cash, phone, car
A pizza delivery driver was robbed and carjacked Friday in Grant County after being lured with a fake order, officials say.
Deputies responded to the robbery in the 1200 block of Pershing Road, north of Moses Lake, about 9 p.m., where a 22-year-old Pizza Hut driver said he’d been attacked at knifepoint by three men.
One man told him he was being robbed and demanded the driver’s money and cellphone before fleeing in his car with two others. The car was abandoned a few blocks away, according to the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.
The victim was not injured but was too frightened to provide a description of the robbers other than that they were Hispanic and about 5-foot-10, the Sheriff’s Office said. One wore a dark stocking cap, and another man may have had a bandanna covering part of his face.
Anyone with information on the crime is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at (509) 754-2011, ext. 468, or email crimetips@ co.grant.wa.us.
Idaho license renewal site ‘official fraud’
Three complaints have been reported in Boise about an online driver’s license renewal scam in Idaho, and Idaho Transportation Department Driver Services Manager Ed Pemble said there may be more cases.
Idaho does not have online license renewal. Pemble said victims have visited a website that falsely claims to be an official Idaho Transportation Department site.
“Well, it’s official fraud,” Pemble said.
He said the website asks victims to enter a credit card number and other personal information. The victim is asked to pay between $40 and $50, according to a press release issued by the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department.
“They’re taking the information and the credit card information,” Pemble said. “And they have the money and you have nothing.”
No complaints have been registered in Kootenai County, sheriff’s Maj. Ben Wolfinger said.
Scams can be reported with the Federal Trade Commission, the Internet Crime Complaint Center and the Idaho attorney general.
Man drives 225 miles with dead wife in car
TONASKET, Wash. – A British Columbia man drove about 225 miles after his 75-year-old wife died in the car Sunday, uncertain whether he could cross the Canadian border with her.
The 71-year-old man told police that he and his wife were vacationing in Oregon when she began suffering a medical condition, said Tonasket police Chief Robert Burks. The man said they were trying to get home to Oliver, B.C., but she died near Pasco. He said he didn’t know what to do, so he kept driving.
The man called vehicle emergency system OnStar, which put him in touch with dispatchers in Okanogan County. A dispatcher persuaded him to stop at the Tonasket police station, about 20 miles south of Canada.
Burks said the woman was taken to North Valley Hospital and pronounced dead. He said police determined her death wasn’t suspicious.
Accused shooter to be held for trial
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A man accused of trying to kill President Barack Obama by firing several shots at the White House from long range must remain in custody to protect the public and the president, a federal judge said Monday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola’s order that Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, of Idaho Falls, be detained without bond was not unexpected given the seriousness of the charge Ortega faces – attempting to assassinate the president.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, were out of town the evening of Nov. 11 when authorities say Ortega, 21, used an assault rifle to fire up to a dozen shots at the White House from his vehicle.