Spokane valedictorian among those killed in NY train crash

One of the victims in this week’s deadly commuter train crash in New York was a research scientist raised in Spokane. Robert Dirks, 36, was 1996 valedictorian at Lewis and Clark High School and later earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from California Institute of Technology, according to family and friends. He was a research scientist at D.E. Shaw Research in Manhattan and regularly rode the Metro North Railroad line to work and home each day. He was married with two children. The Tuesday evening crash, described as the worst in the railroad’s history, killed six and left dozens of others injured. The train was carrying about 700 passengers when it hit a stalled SUV on the tracks in Westchester County.