Firefighters pour water on a luxury home that burned early Thursday Post Falls. The riverside home appears to be a total loss. The house, assessed at $1.54 million, is owned by Leonard & Pam Wallace. SR story & more photos here. (SR photo: Jesse Tinsley)

Fire investigators at daybreak began going through the remains of two historic Garland District restaurants – one a Depression-era icon and the other a popular diner featured in several Hollywood films – that were heavily damaged Sunday night by fire. Spokane firefighters initially tried battling the three-alarm blaze inside Mary Lou’s Milk Bottle, 802 W. Garland Ave., at 8:42 a.m., but they had to pull back as heavy flames spread around them and over to Ferguson’s Cafe next door, authorities said. Both structures were heavily damaged, and investigators said it was questionable whether either one of them could be restored. Damage to the roofs of both eateries was severe, officials said. The fire apparently started at the rear of the Milk Bottle, but the garbage receptacle was not so badly damaged that it would have been the source of the fire, an investigator said/Spokesman-Review. More here. (SR photo: Dan Pelle)

Question: Which Inland Northwest landmark of the past do you miss most?

Hot spots flare up above homes near Kellogg on Wednesday.

A fire that burned 20 to 25 acres south of Kellogg on Wednesday is suspicious in origin.

The fire, reported about 2 p.m. just south of town, burned south toward Wardner, and at times came close to homes and the gondola at Silver Mountain Resort. Silver Mountain crews kept the gondola running as part of its emergency protocol to prevent any one spot on the gondolas from getting too hot. No structures were damaged and no one was injured, officials said.

“I've lost my childhood home,” said Plummer, Idaho, resident Mariane Nomee, as she retrieved a brick from the burned rubble of the former Mary Immaculate School in DeSmet on Thursday.

In the late 1970s, after a stint at secretarial school and a time in Spokane, Mariane Nomee moved home.

For Nomee, that meant DeSmet, Idaho. The Coeur d’Alene Reservation. And the old brick schoolhouse on the hill where she had lived for most of her childhood.

By then, the old Mary Immaculate School was closed and rumored haunted. Haunted by ghosts and perhaps by a legacy as a place where children lived away from their parents and were taught to abandon their culture.

But when Nomee was allowed to move into the abandoned school temporarily with her young family, she was elated.

“I was so happy that I got to go back there,” said Nomee, 68. “A lot of people couldn’t understand why I’d stay in a haunted building. To me it wasn’t haunted. It was my home.”

Nomee’s home burned down early last Friday, and she’s still mourning it. Investigators are still trying to sort out what happened at the school, closed since 1974.

Nomee’s experience is a good reminder that the history of boarding schools for Native Americans represents a fraught chapter in a tragic story – but not a simple one. Full story. Shawn Vestal, SR.

Native American boarding schools: blessing, curse or a bit of each?

Stacks of charred newspapers can be seen at the Shoshone News-Press in Kellogg on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010. A fire was started at the offices early Thursday.

A 21-year-old man arrested for arson at the badly gutted office of the Shoshone News Press in Kellogg apparently “was just mad at the town,” Kellogg’s fire chief said today.

The newspaper lost a portion of its archives that date back decades.

Douglas Mark Burmeister of Kellogg was booked into Shoshone County Jail today for starting the fire inside the newspaper office at 401 S. Main St.

He was arrested away from the fire, but investigators had been able to place him at the scene, officials said.

Fire Chief Dale Costa said the arsonist broke a window to gain entry to the newspaper in the pre-dawn hours. SR, More here.

After FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) intervened, the University of Idaho (UI) abandoned disciplinary charges of “harass[ment]” and “discrimination” against student Alexander Rowson relating to political statements he made at two campus events. On or about March 30, during César Chávez Day at UI, there was a musical performance in the food court in UI’s student union building. The music was loud enough that, in Rowson’s opinion, it was disrupting his class nearby. Between songs, Rowson went to the microphone and made a political statement about “how illegal immigration destroyed my home state of California.” His impromptu protest lasted roughly thirty seconds, he says, and then the performance continued/Peter Bonilla, FIRE. More here.

Question: Should the University of Idaho have brought student Rowson up for disciplinary action in these situations?

The Spokane Valley Fire Department responded to an early morning fire that burned portions of the landmark Cliff House mansion on the grounds of the Arbor Crest Wine Cellars overlooking the Spokane Valley.

Update: Tasting Room and GIft Shop still open.

“An early morning fire burned portions of the landmark Cliff House mansion on the grounds of Arbor Crest Wine Cellars.

Firefighters were called at 3:50 a.m. and found the building burning on all three floors. A second alarm was called a short time later, bringing 24 firefighters and six fire rigs to the scene. As they arrived, windows already had been blown out by the fire’s heat.” Read more.

Sad news regarding one of Spokane’s most beautiful historic homes. Have you ever been to Arbor Crest?

Fire destroyed the clubhouse and lodge at an upscale golf and luxury home community near Sandpoint on Thursday. More here.

*Bald eagles dispersing from Lake CDA/Rich Landers, SR

*Emergency crews battle blizzard, shelters open/Alecia Warren, CDA Press

*Streets of CDA adventurous for cars, plows/Tom Hasslinger, CDA Press

*St. Vinny’s won’t go to federal building/Tom Hasslinger, CDA Press