SPOKANE – A visiting Superior Court judge has ruled in favor of proponents in the effort to recall Mayor Jim West, tossing out a petition that sought to invalidate a large signature drive.
On Friday, Chelan County Judge T.W. Small dismissed a petition filed by Spokane lawyer Steve Eugster, a former city councilman, who sought to stop the signature validation process.
Eugster argued the signatures were collected illegally because they were gathered before the state Supreme Court issued its written reasons for allowing the recall campaign to proceed.
The high court on Aug. 24 issued an order affirming a lower court’s ruling that recall petitions could be circulated, but Eugster contended signatures couldn’t be gathered until the justices had put their reasons in writing.
Associated Press
Gifford: Lake Roosevelt fire nearly contained in
A wildfire burning near Lake Roosevelt in Eastern Washington was 80 percent contained Saturday at 890 acres, fire officials said.
Rain overnight helped put out the fire in areas of grass and needles, but it continued to burn among fallen logs and stumps, said Jay Guthrie, fire information officer with the state Department of Natural Resources.
The fire began Wednesday afternoon along Highway 25 near the landing for the Gifford ferry across Lake Roosevelt, the lake behind Grand Coulee Dam.
Guthrie said it was caused by a resident burning garbage in a back yard.
Associated Press
Oregon: Dogs test positive for flu virus
Dog flu has arrived in Oregon, posing a serious threat to pets at shelters and kennels, officials say.
A blood sample from an Oregon dog confirmed Friday the animal had been exposed to the canine influenza virus, according to Edward Dubovi, director of an animal virology lab at Cornell University. Dubovi was among the researchers who announced this week in the journal Science that the virus had jumped from horses to dogs.
A deadly bird flu that has infected scores of people in Asia also is being closely monitored. The avian virus does not spread from person to person, however, and there is no evidence of the dog virus spreading to humans.
Associated Press
Oregon: Students oppose church protest
Beaverton, Ore., high school students turned out by the hundreds to oppose members of a Kansas church who staged a protest over a play that chronicles the 1998 murder of a gay college student in Wyoming.
Seven members of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., staged a 45-minute protest Friday behind barricades outside Southridge High School. They carried signs reading “America is doomed,” and “God hates you.”
Southridge students leaving school for the day staged a counterprotest, including student James Blome, who held a sign that said “Worst cult ever.”
Associated Press
D.C.: Cantwell blasts Bush energy plan
The Bush administration is not doing enough to push energy conservation as fuel costs skyrocket in the wake hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said in the Democrats’ weekly radio address.
“Conservation must be more than a convenient slogan,” Cantwell said. “Recently, the administration has rejected conservation attempts like more accurate fuel mileage for cars and bipartisan proposals for reducing our dependence on foreign oil by a million barrels a day.”
Cantwell, who will run for a second term in 2006, said Democrats want new laws to protect consumers from price gouging and to encourage investment in lightweight materials and alternative fuels.
Associated Press
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