It's better here. Now, from the Inland Northwest, number one source for breaking news. This is Total News 4 at 11. They risk their lives, but some say police in Washington State need more training to keep up with 21st century crime. Good evening, I'm Richard Brown. And I'm Mariam Mishima. Topping our news this evening, youth violence, gangs, and terrorist bombings. Crime is more violent than ever before. Yet, believe it or not, hairdressers are required to take more hours of training than police officers. Now, the state is looking at a new bill that would increase the number of hours cadets spend at the police academy. Total News 4's Deborah Armstrong is live at the Spokane Public Safety Building to explain to us. Deborah? Well, Mariam, this is the bill that's being proposed right now, and it would require cadets to spend 720 hours at the academy. That's 18 weeks. Instead of the 11 weeks, they are currently required to spend there. Now, this is good news to some of the training officers who would like to arm police with a lot more education. Twice a year, for 11 weeks. 440 hours. Police cadets from dozens of agencies come to Spokane to learn the basics. We train all of the agencies on this side of the mountains. In 20 years, the basics haven't changed much. Defensive tactics, firearms, driving. But these days, the basics may not be enough. A lot of things have changed, even in 18 years that I've been on the police department. Things are more violent. Training needs to be upgraded. Needs to stay up with the times. Although some agencies offer special training sessions for riot control or domestic terrorism. A lot of individuals don't get any other training after they leave here. For years. Training officers like Jerry Mertens have wanted more time to get cadets into shape. People are not staying up to grips with what's going on in society today. If it's 1400 hours or whatever to cut your hair and you have 440 hours to be a police officer to protect a citizen's life. But in a time when there are more criminals, more violence, and fewer police to go around. Every hour of training counts. So the more that we can give them at the basic academy level, the better that they'll be when they hit the street. Now another thing that bill would require is for the state's mobile training facility to go out and train officers in some of those outlying areas. Officers that often don't get in-service training once they've completed the academy. The bill is before the state legislature right now in Olympia and if they pass it, it would go into effect January 1st in the year 2000. Reporting live in Spokane, Deborah Armstrong, Total News 4. Thanks Deborah. A Total News 4 update now on last week's murder in Pinehurst, Idaho. An autopsy shows the victim, Darryl Fernquist, was killed with a single gunshot wound to the chest. Fernquist, a bail bondsman, was at this home to serve a warrant on a man wanted for skipping out on court appearances. A gun was recovered at the murder scene but it has not yet been identified as the murder weapon. The suspect in this case, 34-year-old Bill Sheehan, is still in custody tonight. Detectives say it is the first murder in the area in more than 18 years. Meanwhile, a second person is pleaded guilty to being involved in the murder of his 12-year-old boy, Jake Stamey. We told you last July how Stamey stumbled into a Clarkson Pizza Hut before collapsing. He'd been struck in the head with a baseball bat wielded by Robert Roy. Yesterday, 18-year-old Tiyuna Molliga pleaded guilty to driving Roy to the crime scene. Roy is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence. Molliga could be sentenced to up to eight months in prison. Here in Spokane County, Sheriff's deputies or detectives are asking for your help to find the man who allegedly attacked a Spokane Valley woman last night. The 32-year-old victim says that she was followed home and ambushed in her own apartment. The woman says the suspect raped her, robbed her, stole her car. Police recovered the vehicle this morning. The rape happened near the East 15,000 block of 4th Street shortly before 2 o'clock this morning. The sheriff's department says the suspect is described as a black man, about 38 years old, 5'11", 220 pounds. He was last seen wearing a navy blue shirt. Do you have information on this crime? Call CrimeCheck at 456-2233. Some news out of Olympia tonight aimed at cracking down on prostitution here in Spokane. A bill that would impound the cars of John's or prostitutes' clients was passed by the State Senate today. Here's how it would work. It would allow the vehicle to be impounded if it meets these three conditions. It was used in the crime, the arrested person owns the vehicle, and that person must have been convicted of soliciting a prostitute before. The bill now goes before Governor Gary Locke. Supporters say that a similar law is already helping fight prostitution in Portland, Oregon. The city and the Inland Northwest has its problems, but some people in the tiny town of Springdale, Washington, say they're simply being overwhelmed by a violent gang of teenagers. We caught up with those kids, and they freely admit being involved in fights, vandalism, loitering. Neighbors claim they even surrounded local firefighters with weapons and prevented them from putting out a bonfire. That's why town officials are looking at ways to get these kids off the streets. The marshal and the mayor are both trying to get the town involved in some of the youth employment programs for the summer. Officials are also trying to get federal grant money for a youth center. Neighbors we talked with say they hope something's done before someone gets seriously hurt. Medical crews flew a woman to the hospital tonight after she was involved in a head-on collision with a semi truck. It happened north of Raptorum on Highway 41 near Seasons Road. The Idaho State Police say the woman crossed the center line in her super-room and ran right into an oncoming semi. She was flown to Kootenay Medical Center by helicopter. Authorities haven't told us how badly she was injured. The accident shut down that highway for more than an hour while crews cleaned up the mess. In world news tonight, NATO has launched another round of airstrikes tonight against Yugoslavia. The attacks come despite a unilateral ceasefire declared by President Slobodan Milosevic for Orthodox Easter. It was an offer that was quickly rejected by the White House and this is how NATO responded. More missiles and bombs aimed at the Yugoslavian military and its infrastructure. NATO says Milosevic must take Serb troops out of Kosovo and allow NATO troops in. Then the bombing will stop. So far the airstrikes have destroyed more than a dozen fuel storage areas, two refineries and a half dozen bridges. Meantime in refugee camps in Macedonia and Albania, aid workers are putting in 20-hour days. They're struggling to feed and house more than 400,000 refugees who escaped the violence in Kosovo. With 1,200 U.S. Marines are headed to Macedonia, almost 3,000 troops are headed to Albania as support for Apache attack helicopters and rocket systems. Among those troops heading to Europe, 50 men and women from Fairchild Air Force Base. They're just the latest troops from our region to be sent to Operation Allied Force. They took off today in a C-5 Galaxy, the largest plane the Air Force flies. It's capable of delivering 100 tons of cargo. Today's deployment brings the number of Fairchild personnel involved to 300. And should the U.S. be adding ground troops to the Balkan crisis? That's our Total News 4 web poll question for tonight. Earlier this evening we asked, should the U.S. commit ground troops to NATO actions in the Balkans? And here's what you had to say. So far the majority of you support using ground troops to stop the persecution of ethnic Albanians, with 69 percent answering yes, while 31 percent U.S. troops should not be brought into this conflict. Meanwhile, the tent cities set up outside Kosovo where hundreds of thousands of refugees are now turning into death camps. A relief worker says at least 32 people have died from disease, hunger, exhaustion. Conditions like those are why a team of doctors and nurses from the inland northwest is heading to Albania to offer whatever aid they can. One of those involved is a woman from right here in Spokane. Total News 4's Cindy Kouros has her story. Hi, I have an electronic ticket, O'Keefe, Marine. Ticket in hand. Nurse Maureen O'Keefe heads half a world away. Yes, I'm going to check these two suitcases here too. But this isn't a regular trip. It's a journey to the edge of hell. Where we'll be in Albania. Right where refugees struggle to survive after making it across the border and out of Kosovo. I'm excited. Her friends are here to say goodbye. I'm happy for you. I'm worried about you a little bit, but I think you'll be fine. After all, Maureen has done this kind of work before as part of a medical team from the Northwest. There was Hurricane Mitch and there was more. And I've been on medical teams to Kurdistan where there actually was some active fire going back and forth. But in Romania, Romania was hard. But no matter what she's seen before, no matter what she's seen on TV, Maureen knows little will prepare her for what she'll soon seek in the Albanian refugee camp. Visually, it's going to be overwhelming when you first get over there. It may be even tougher though for Maureen. You see, she's a pediatric nurse. These are a lot of moms and children and they don't know where their husbands are or if their husbands are even alive. Her flight over may be her last chance to rest for the next month. A month spent on the edge of hell. You can't treat everybody, but you can treat one person at a time. And we will soon be bringing you stories from Albania on O'Keefe and her team. Former KXY reporter Tracy Vetter is heading to that region. We hope to bring you her stories as soon as we get them. Our chief meteorologist Dave Sweeney standing by now with our first look at weather. Dave? Richard, Marianne, not a bad day today. Started out with some sunshine, got some clouds. Now our skies have cleared and our temperatures got to a fairly nice, almost normal, 51 degrees, 54 average or normal. Started the day out on the chilly side, 27, 33 normal. We're not going to be quite that chilly, but it's going to be cool out there this evening. And as you head to work, there's satellite view, there's clouds this afternoon. There are the clear skies this evening. And with clear skies, we should get down to about 30 degrees in Spokane, in Coeur d'Alene, almost 30 in Sandpoint. A chilly night to be sure. And then tomorrow, what happens? Well, there's a fair amount of cloudiness kind of moving our way. But now with skies clearing, it looks like we'll have sunshine in the morning time and then see increasing clouds as the day goes on. So here's how the forecast reads. Increasing clouds. A little on the breezy side, but not bad. Start the day out with some sunshine and get to a high of 52 degrees. What about the next few days and the weekend? I'll let you know about that in a second. Richard and Mary Ann. OK, thanks, Dave. Coming up on Total News 4 at 11.13, the latest on negotiations to end the six-month long Kaiser dispute. At 11.14, hundreds of Washington State teachers announced walkout plans. And at 11.15, a construction plan that will change life on Spokane's South Hill. You're getting total coverage on Total News 4. Total News 4 closed captioning is brought to you by Toyota Camry. Toyota, Toyota every day. Sink costs less than expected. Tiles lower than budgeted. Everything with a 10% low price guarantee. All so I could create a place where money doesn't matter. Eagle Hardware and Garden. More of everything. Eagle has the bold look of Kohler. Kohler color, style, quality. You'll find all the bold looks of Kohler every day at Eagle. Last fall, there was big price news about Roundup Ultra RT. We've lowered the price on the world's most trusted herbicide. It's $6 less per gallon. Roundup Ultra RT broke through with the biggest price drop in history. Still $6 less per gallon. That makes it cost the same or even less than weed control tillage. So park your plow and see your dealer for the biggest price breakthrough in Roundup history. Still $6 less per gallon than last spring. At Napa, we know the weather's a little touchy this time of year. You're just itching to haul everything out. That's why we have a spring coupon book so you can save on everything from lawn and garden batteries for only $13.99 after rebate to golf cart batteries 50% off. Quality Napa motor oil is only $0.59 a quart after rebate. Wash mitts, sponges, cleaners, shiners galore. Make Meguiar's cleaner wax only $4.99. Even rain eggs with free antifog just in case. Great prices, great selection, great people. That's Napa. You're watching Total News 4 at 11 with Richard Brown and Maryam Meshiva. And welcome back. We have some news tonight on the ongoing talks between Kaiser Aluminum and the United Steel Workers. The union is demanding that Kaiser offer early retirement benefits if it insists on laying off hundreds of workers. Kaiser has suggested that it would lay off up to 700 employees. These are the first talks between the two sides since Kaiser refused the Steel Workers offer to return to work back in January. More talks are scheduled over the next three days. This is day 188 in the labor dispute. More and more Washington State teachers are lining up to walk out. Seattle teachers spent today picketing as two more school districts voted to hold one-day walkouts. The teachers are still fighting for that 15% raise and today these teachers gathered at Roosevelt High School to draw attention to their demands. One teacher came with a 102 degree fever just so he wouldn't miss the rally. Strikes are also scheduled at six schools tomorrow. The aftershocks from last year's area nations parade in North Idaho are still being felt around the island of the Northwest. The latest development is a federal lawsuit against Coeur d'Alene law enforcement officers. Five people filed the suit saying officers violated their civil rights during the parade. By using a detailed plan to silence protesters. The 13.3 million dollar suit names various city and police officials. The suit claims protesters were illegally searched, arrested and assaulted during the parade. The Arians have applied for a parade permit for another event this year. Here in Spokane a road construction project could cause headaches for hundreds of people on the South Hill. The city is planning to repave the intersection of 29th and Grand this month. It's one of the biggest intersections on the South Hill. The project is scheduled to start Monday and it will last a month. If you've got questions or concerns about the project you might want to attend tomorrow's informational meeting. City officials will be at Wondermere Real Estate, Windermere Real Estate. That's at 2829 South Grand Boulevard, the northeast corner of Grand on 29th from four until five p.m. And then there's work cut down by Hatch on 29th. Plus this intersection. It's all over the place. So I'm going the long way. You'll have to won't you? Coming up on total news for cloudy skies are coming our chief meteorologist Dave Sweeney is going to have the details at 1118. In sports at 1124 a tough night in Seattle for both the Mariners and the Sonics. Dennis will have the low lights. Later at 1131 a molting mystery in Oregon. The tale of the bald emu coming up. Waiting total coverage on total news for. Devant Corian. It goes with anything and puts up with everything. Which might help you do the same. See how Corian can make your life easier. Call Kitchen Interior Showcase at 928-4878. Dave Sweeney has earned the seals of approval of the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association. Stormcast 4,000 weather is brought to you by your friendly inland northwest Dodge dealers. Not a bad day today. Tomorrow not quite as good but it's looking better than I thought at five and six. Let's go to the numbers 51 for our high temperature today. 50 over in Coeur d'Alene. The greens are 50s the yellows are 60s and outside right now it's 40. So it's a little cooler. Now I know it doesn't seem like it's gonna drop 10 degrees but I believe it will because the air is very dry and skies are clearing. 36 over in Coeur d'Alene. The wide radar view shows you not much going on except way down in the southeastern corner of Idaho and on into Utah and Wyoming. But nothing going on up here. As you look at the satellite view we had clouds late this afternoon and now the skies are clear. And with clear skies as we mentioned to you before it's like throwing the blanket away and you get colder at night because if you bring that blanket of clouds over you trap the heat. Same thing when you're sleeping like that. We've got clear skies cool temperatures tonight. Right now there's our 40 and 36 degrees and burns at 32. Some 40s on the western side of Washington and Oregon. Other statistics at the airport. There's your 25 degree dew point. So there's a big spread 15 degrees between the temperature and the dew point temperature. And with clear skies we're probably gonna dip down to about 30 degrees. 39 downtown. Over in Coeur d'Alene 36 already close to 30 degrees there. Big satellite view. Here's what's happening. Low is wrapping up down here. We're running into a bit of a flat ridge of high pressure that will erode away slowly tomorrow. So we'll probably start with some sunshine in the morning time and then see increasing clouds come our way and then this batch of moisture swings through on Thursday. But this is basically Thursday's weather right in here. So we'll have cloudy skies and a chance of some rain. As we go a little closer on that you see our clear skies here. And some of the clouds that will come in later in the day. There's Thursday but tomorrow basically increasing clouds. There's a slight chance of rain late tomorrow night. We're into tomorrow morning. And that light green just a slight chance. A darker green here. Here comes the front slamming up against the coast. And by Thursday we are near some areas of dark green. So we'll probably see a little bit of light rain on Thursday. There's not a whole lot of moisture out there so it's probably not going to be particularly heavy rain. And that's good news. 30 and 30 for overnight lows. 29 up in Sandpoint. We warm you through the colors and the temperatures add the numbers to it. 52 for a high tomorrow. 53 over in Coeur d'Alene. 51 up at Sandpoint. So my forecast reads like this tonight. 30 degrees with our clear skies, cool temperatures and generally light breezes or diminishing winds as we go through the evening. Tomorrow look for some sunshine in the morning time but don't look for it all day long. As the clouds will start increasing there's a slight chance of rain overnight tomorrow into Thursday. Thursday will be the best chance of rain. I showed you that on the satellite view and there it is on the five day forecast. 44 degrees though. Lots cooler on Thursday. The system will be brief as we showed you. It's not a particularly large system. Move through so we'll have generally cloudy skies on Friday, warming temperatures towards the weekend and hopefully a good weekend. Just be an optimistic aren't you Dave? I'm an optimistic kind of guy. You know what I'm saying? Might as well look on the bright side, right? Junior Bloomsday Saturday. Junior Bloomsday Saturday, yeah. That's right. Make all those parents happy. Well I steamed them last Sunday with Easter. Yeah, little snow. Makeup. Egg hosts. I'm going to stop it already. He'll be at his home on Saturday. Oh Mr. Sweeney. So the Mariners give up eight runs last night. I figured, you know, maybe not. How much worse could it get? Oh yes, it has gotten much worse. And it's not like the Mariners are playing the Yankees either. It's the Chicago White Sox for goodness sakes. They are beating the tar out of the guys who call Kingdome home. Highlights or lowlights. Lowlights when we return on Total is War live at 11. We'll be right back. In the Northwest, there's a story behind every Ford Oval. Here's a story, a Northwest value story. Drive a new Ford Escort and choose between a thousand cash back or 750 cash back plus zero nine financing, saving you over 47 bucks a month in interest. Enjoy power everything. Remote keyless entry, a CD player and air, all with your choice of a thousand cash back or 750 cash back plus zero nine financing. So check out the Escort value story at your Northwest Ford store. It's breakfast time. And if it's not on the shelf and it's not in the refrigerator and it's not in the pantry, then it's still at the store. So stock up on all your favorite breakfast foods during Super One Foods big 12 hour breakfast sale this Thursday, April 8th. The big 12 hour breakfast sale this Thursday at Super One Foods. Cut breakfast. Let me tell you about this supernatural sense of smell I have. It's telling me I can get five roast beef sandwiches for only $5.95. Dig that slow roasted aroma. That's horse's sauce. No, wait, that's Arby's sauce. Any way you dress them up, you get five sweet smelling sandwiches for only $5.95. And I understand they look pretty good too. You can go anywhere and get filled up, but you can only get the five for $5.95 deal at Arby's. Total News 4 Sports is brought to you by Yolks. Last night the Seattle Mariners opened up the baseball season. It's a game they'd like to forget, just like tonight's game, which was even worse than last night's affair. The audible groans you hear are from the Kingdom crowd. Jamie Moyer down early. Jeff Abbott with his first home run of the season, 2-1 White Sox. That was in the second. In the fourth, Moyer again gets rocked. Oh, he had whiplash tonight watching balls go out. Third home run of the game, Darren Jackson second in his many nights and it was 4-1. Mariners did trim the lead in the fourth inning with their third home run of the season, but much like last year, another solo home run. All three home runs the Mariners have hit, two last night, one tonight, have been solo shots. That wasn't enough, when the pitching staff gets rocked and gives up runs in semi truck loads, you're in trouble. Frank Thomas, six hits in two games. This one scores a pair of runs. Mariners get rocked again. They've given up 19 runs and five home runs in 18 innings. Looks to be in mid-season form. The only thing missing, Bobby Ayala. Last night Mark McGuire, hey, hey, Mark McGuire opened up the season with a home run. The question tonight, could Sammy Sosa do the same? Mark went deep, Sammy went with. Sammy looked bad tonight. Called looking in his first at bats, Sosa with four at bats on the night. Three times he would strike out. So Sammy, yikes. We'll have a better day tomorrow. It used to be when the Seattle Sonics showed up to play and the Sacramento Kings were in the building, they had no chance. We're not talking about the Sonics. Seems like they have no chance when the Kings come rolling into town. Paul Westfall's team simply is not very good. I'll tell you what, how about this rookie Jason Williams? Look at the pass he throws here, the baseball pass to Tariq Abdul-Wahad. You like that? How about a half or an alley-oop from three-quarter court? Are you kidding me? Look at this. And we're not done. On the break, two on one Williams to Chris Weber. I like this guy. He might be worth watching for a while. So is this guy, Gary Payton. Six down ten with four to play. Payton brings him back, ties the game late and sends it into overtime. But it's not like it was in past years. This time the road guys come up with a win. Vadi inside, Vadi Debocht, 11 points, Tennessee's 14 rebounds. Jason Williams, 21 points and six assists. We showed you three spectacular ones. Sonics under the 500 mark again. One of the rights of spring is the baseball season. Another is the Masters Tournament. Thursday morning they tee it up for the green jacket and a piece of immortality. And everybody is chasing the red hot David Duvall. He comes into the Masters as the hottest golfer in 25 years. The last guy to win four tournaments before the first major, before Duvall did it this year, Johnny Miller back in 1974. The rest of the field is saying he might be hot, but they can't worry about him. They've got to worry about the course. Everybody here in this tournament knows that we have to do our own part. We have to play our own games to get ourselves in contention to win. And David's not going to play as Tiger versus me. And I'm not going to play, I'm playing against David. I've got to play against the golf course. Just in case you're wondering, Miller did not win in 74. He finished tied for 15th. The rest of the field is hoping that Mr. Duvall cools off a little bit this weekend. He might be the hottest golfer on tour, but Tiger Woods is still the man. If he had any other ideas, he should have been there for the practice round when Woods showed up to get a little golf in today. There's no autograph on this. Tiger. I need an autograph. I'll tell you what, Tiger Woods wasn't busy swinging the sticks. He was busy signing his name. Arnie may have an army, but Tiger is the Pied Piper. A real tragedy tonight in the sports world. The marriage of Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra is over. Word out of Los... Yes, yes, yes, hard to believe. Word out of LA today that Rodman and Electra have announced they have mutually agreed to end their six-month marriage under amicable circumstances. Divorce filed, papers filed Tuesday. A statement says they will remain friends. You know, and I thought it would last, foolish me. Foolish you, right. Okay, thanks. We may be your best audience, you know that? I got five dollars for all three of you. We're just hooting and hollering and cheering everybody on here. Next on Total News 4, a mystery in Oregon. What happened to these birds? You recording? Blow out your candles, sweetie. You know, now that you're getting older, you just can't have enough premium life insurance. Are telemarketers interrupting your private time? Is this a good time? Get new caller ID with Privacy Plus. It blocks unidentified calls automatically. Extra assurance. Order now and you'll get free activation. Now let's talk annuities. Privacy Plus from U.S. West. A whole new reason life's better here. Is this banana? You could say I have an addiction to flowers. We love to garden. The thing is, there's always something that you need. It can be expensive, but that's why we're here. I have over 36 petunias in one bed alone. People know they can afford to shop here. I think we're gonna do some begonias here pretty soon. Yeah, yeah, we need some begonias. We'd have great prices on begonias. Great plants, great prices. Always at Walmart. Walmart makes it possible for us to have a yard we can be proud of. What a nice thing to say. A lot of industry experts tell us the passenger side is the best place for a third door. Others insist that the driver's side is the only logical choice. But as you can see, it all goes right in one ear and out the other. Dodge Ram Quad Cab. See the friendly Northwest Dodge dealer near you. I'm Ted Koppel. Coming up on Nightline, Yugoslavia declares a UNALAN will cease fire, but are the Serbs finally prepared to accept foreign troops in Kosovo? We're trying to wrestle an answer from their spokesman. Finally from us here tonight, a mystery is gripping an Oregon city tonight. Someone or something has plucked all the feathers off a pet emu. The owners of Adam's Feed Store in Springfield aren't quite sure what happened. This week they found one of their animals completely naked. No, all the feathers gone and another one partially plucked. The owners say it would take more than one person to grab one of these emus and hold them down. Monday morning we came to work at 8 a.m. and he was standing out here all completely plucked and freaking out. He was jumping up and down on the fence line. I freak out too. The Adams have killed a show to keep the emus from the cold while they're trying to figure out what happened. I mean, imagine. You know what, I think an emu with feathers looks great, but you take a naked emu with one ugly critter. Even to mama. You know? Talk about the poor thing after what it's been through. I know, I'm sorry. No, you're not. Tell us to tell you. Sign up for Total News 4's E-News Notifier at KXLY.com and we'll let you know when we're doing a story that's important to you. Another milestone from the century. In the great northwest you will find a special feeling, it's a state of mind. We're part of the family. It's all about you and being part of your life. To start the day into the heart of the night. Together forever we are shining bright. The Total News 4, we're part of the family.