New penalties for leaving animals in hot cars

The next time Jill Weiszmann comes across a pet locked in the roaster oven of a car on a hot summer day, she will have a weapon other than a cell phone and her concern.

Weiszmann hopes that what she experienced recently in a Cheney supermarket parking lot will never happen again after having had to intercede on behalf of a yellow Labrador retriever she found locked in a car.

But just in case, recently approved Senate Bill 5501 will at least provide the additional threat of fines for people who, according to the text of the law, “Leave an unattended animal in a car, or other enclosed space, whe...