Moscow man sentenced for statutory rape
A 23-year-old Moscow man who pleaded guilty to statutory rape was sentenced to 120 days in jail and 10 years of supervised probation.
Austin Johnson was sentenced in Latah County 2nd District Court for one count of statutory rape. He was charged after raping a 14-year-old girl in May 2020.
Latah County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Ashley Jennings said he was initially charged with two counts of statutory rape, but Judge John Judge dismissed one of the counts.
After serving his 120 days in local jail, Johnson must undergo sex offender treatment. He must also pay $5,000 to the victim.
Pullman monitoring shortage of street paint
The city of Pullman notified the public that COVID-19 and other factors have caused a nationwide shortage in street paint that may cause delays in painting city-maintained roads.
According to a news release, city staff worked with local paint suppliers to receive 500 gallons of traffic paint and on Aug. 11 began painting the roads and crosswalks.
Staff will be monitoring the availability of traffic paint over the next several months to get in front of potential shortages during the 2022 traffic painting season.
Damage to factories because of extreme winter storms earlier this year in the southern U.S., along with COVID-19 restrictions and closures, have affected the production of the raw materials used to produce specialized road paint. The shortage of traffic paint is an industry-wide issue affecting cities across the nation.
Palouse Habitat for Humanity honoring two volunteers
Palouse Habitat for Humanity chose Dan Hardesty and Eva Workman to receive the 2021 Helping Hands Award that recognizes significant contributions from its volunteers.
Hardesty and Workman will be honored at a picnic at 6 p.m. Monday at Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute. Dinner will be served by Habitat staff.
Hardesty is a member of the Codger Crew, which is considered the “backbone of the volunteer teams which construct Palouse Habitat homes,” according to a Habitat news release.
Workman is a volunteer at the organization’s surplus sale and donates to the Beans ’n’ Jeans fundraiser auction every year.
A previous news brief that ran Wednesday in the Daily News incorrectly identified the two Helping Hands Award winners because of an error in the Palouse Habitat for Humanity news release that was emailed last week.
