August 18, 2011 in Nation/World on Page A3 WASHINGTON – The Justice Department is investigating whether the Standard & Poor’s credit ratings agency improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis, … 9

August 18, 2011 in Nation/World on Page A4 BEIJING – Stressing the importance of personal ties, Vice President Joe Biden sat down today with his Chinese counterpart and the country’s leader-in-waiting for talks that will focus largely on … 1

August 18, 2011 in Nation/World on Page A4 LOS ANGELES – The moon may be 200 million years younger than widely believed, according to a new analysis of a rock brought back to Earth in 1972 by Apollo …

August 18, 2011 in Nation/World on Page A4 WASHINGTON – The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Wednesday that three supervisors in its controversial Fast and Furious gun-trafficking investigation were transferred to lateral jobs, not …

August 18, 2011 in Nation/World on Page A4 BEIRUT – Turkey’s prime minister compared Syria’s president to Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, as Damascus defied international calls to end the crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising. President Bashar Assad has unleashed …

August 18, 2011 in City on Page A5 From our archives, 100 years ago Six strong and hearty young men carried Mrs. Harry Cunningham, the desperately ill wife of a forest ranger, 16 miles through the Cascade Mountains.

August 18, 2011 in City on Page A5 Washington and Idaho students scored above the national average on the ACT test – a measure of college and career readiness, according to results released Wednesday. Nearly half of all …

August 18, 2011 in City on Page A5 In Spokane, where voters routinely chew up and spit out their chief elected officials after one term, Mayor Mary Verner’s primary win Tuesday was rare. But to finish with nearly … 10

August 18, 2011 in City on Page A5 The primary is past tense. The shocking election results are (mostly) in. In capturing a whopping 59.9 percent of the vote Tuesday night, incumbent Mary Verner is making the most … 9

August 18, 2011 in Idaho on Page A5 BOISE – Idaho high school juniors can now take the SAT for free, state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna announced Wednesday. State lawmakers in 2007 required completion of a college …

August 18, 2011 in City on Page A6 A North Idaho woman was seriously injured on Tuesday evening when a speeding pickup truck struck the horse she was riding north of Hayden. The driver fled the scene. Lauren …

August 18, 2011 in City on Page A6 A gunpoint home-invasion robbery in southwest Spokane County early Wednesday led to the arrest of two men. Mario Casillas, 42, and James T. Harris, 36, are accused of forcing their …

August 18, 2011 in Business on Page A8 OLYMPIA – Washington’s jobless rate is now trending upward, reaching 9.3 percent in July despite signs that more jobs are available, officials said Wednesday. A new Employment Security Department report …

August 18, 2011 in Business on Page A8 NEW YORK – Wells Fargo plans to test a $3 monthly fee for its debit cards starting this fall. The San Francisco-based bank said the fee will be applied to … 2

August 18, 2011 in Business on Page A8 With the beginning of harvest a month away, Washington wine grape growers are receiving confirmation of what they have seen in their vineyards: The 2011 crop will be down significantly. …

August 18, 2011 in Business on Page A8 Wi-Fi, luggage carts to be free at airport Spokane International Airport will offer limited, free Wi-Fi service starting Monday and free luggage carts beginning in early September.

August 18, 2011 in Letters, Opinion on Page A11 I’ve been struggling with this letter most of the day because 200 words are just not enough to express my profound disappointment with the developments in Mr. Otto Zehm’s case. … 2

August 18, 2011 in Opinion on Page A11 Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia, a tea party favorite and president of the House Republicans’ freshman class, got off to a slow start as a legislator but finally introduced his … 8