March 27, 2011 in Sports SAN ANTONIO — Move over, Butler. Virginia Commonwealth is crashing the Final Four. Two weeks ago, the 11th-seeded Rams so doubted they would get a NCAA tournament invite that they …

March 27, 2011 in Sports The faces haven’t changed but the teams have. Though Stanford and Gonzaga played four months ago, the teams that square off Monday night for a berth in the Final Four …

March 27, 2011 in Sports NEW YORK – It’s really simple. “There’s a reason why they’ve won 27 (games),” Washington State basketball coach Ken Bone said this week. “They’re good.” The “they” are the Wichita … 1

March 27, 2011 in News While state workers are taking home less money, the people who used to hold state jobs are being paid more. Retirees 66 and older who worked for 35 years, for … 8

March 27, 2011 in Nation/World on Page A1 TOKYO – The first pitch of Japan’s baseball season has been pushed back so that people don’t waste gasoline driving to games. When the season does start, most night games … 3

March 27, 2011 in City on Page A1 Critics challenging the safety of Washington state’s only commercial nuclear power plant say it should not get its license renewed until all questions about the integrity of its spent fuel … 5

March 27, 2011 in Nation/World on Page A2 LONDON – Royal wedding plans announced today show an admirable spirit of compromise: The main cake will be a fruity, floral masterwork designed with input from Kate Middleton, but Prince … 1

March 27, 2011 in Nation/World on Page A3 LONDON – Tens of thousands of demonstrators whistled, chanted, drummed and marched their way through the heart of London on Saturday to protest massive government spending cuts that threaten to …

March 27, 2011 in Nation/World on Page A3 Kabul, Afghanistan – A NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan targeting Taliban militants accidentally killed civilians, NATO said Saturday, the latest in a string of deaths this month that have inflamed … 2

March 27, 2011 in Nation/World on Page A4 Lanford Wilson, American playwright New York – Lanford Wilson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who championed outsiders, the forgotten and the overlooked in such plays as “The Hot L Baltimore,” “Burn …

March 27, 2011 in Nation/World on Page A4 WASHINGTON – What a difference the chain of Arab world uprisings – and a change of presidents in the White House – has made for Al-Jazeera. The Qatar-based pan-Arab television …

March 27, 2011 in Nation/World, City on Page A5 It was just days after the 1984 Democratic National Convention, when she’d been named the first woman vice presidential candidate on a major party’s ticket, that Geraldine Ferraro did Spokane. … 1

March 27, 2011 in City on Page B1 For an hour Saturday, millions of people and thousands of businesses around the world shut off their lights in recognition of Earth Hour. Landmarks around the world went dark for …

March 27, 2011 in City on Page B1 The next widespread closure of several state agencies will occur Monday as a result of budget shortfalls. Most state agencies are scheduled to close their offices. Certain public safety, public …

March 27, 2011 in City on Page B1 Let’s make believe that you’re on the jury in the federal criminal trial against Karl F. Thompson Jr. Presuming it ever happens, of course. 69

March 27, 2011 in City on Page B1 From our archives, 100 years ago A Spokane actor stomped off the rehearsal stage and handed in his resignation in what his director said was “a fit of temperamental thoughtlessness.”