September 11, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A1 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, al-Qaida and its allies are gaining ground across the region where the plot was hatched, staging their most lethal attacks …

September 11, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A1 WASHINGTON – Government officials in charge of collecting billions of dollars worth of royalties from oil and gas companies accepted gifts, steered contracts to favored clients and engaged in drug …

September 11, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A2 Q: What is the Large Hadron Collider? A: It is the world’s most powerful particle accelerator. It is buried inside a 17-mile tunnel and surrounded by massive detectors.

September 11, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A3 WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday canceled a bitter competition to build a new fleet of Air Force refueling tankers, saying the contest had become so acrimonious that …

September 11, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A3 CARACAS, Venezuela – Two Russian strategic bombers landed in Venezuela on Wednesday as part of military maneuvers, President Hugo Chavez said, welcoming the unprecedented deployment at a time of increasing …

September 11, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A3 GREELEY, Colo. – A meatpacking company Wednesday laid off about 100 Muslim immigrant workers who walked off the job last week in protest of the firm’s refusal to give them …

September 11, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A4 The Senate voted Wednesday to shift $8 billion into the highway trust fund, restoring solvency to an account that is going broke and staving off what could have been crippling …

September 11, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A4 Arthroscopic knee surgery for arthritis – a procedure performed hundreds of thousands of times a year – does not reduce joint pain or improve knee function, according to new research …

September 11, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A5 WASHINGTON – From folksy Texans to today’s presidential candidates, the line about putting “lipstick on a pig” has been a time-honored and bipartisan weapon in the political arsenal. Democrat Jim …

September 11, 2008 in Nation/World on Page A6 Two strong earthquakes rattled Asia today, triggering alerts for a tsunami that harmlessly lapped Japan’s northern coast and another in Indonesia that didn’t materialize but briefly sent residents fleeing to …

September 11, 2008 in City on Page A8 Olympic Boat Centers in Spokane Valley will close Friday, the victim of a bad economy and bad weather. “It was kind of the perfect storm for us this year with …

September 11, 2008 in City on Page A8 Last spring, 45 percent of Americans believed their rebate checks would help stimulate the economy, a Harris Poll found. Now that summer is over and the checks are cashed, attitudes …

September 11, 2008 in Business on Page A8 NEW YORK – Lehman Brothers, in a desperate bid to survive, announced plans Wednesday to sell a majority stake in its prized investment management business and said a sale of …

September 11, 2008 in City on Page A8 Kootenai Health is buying the largest network of clinics in North Idaho in a move that will broaden the reach of Kootenai County’s largest health care provider. The six North …

September 11, 2008 in City on Page A11 SEATTLE – A court settlement described as “absurd and disturbing” would give Canadians owning homes contaminated with asbestos-containing Zonolite insulation virtually nothing, while their lawyers would get millions from W.R. …