Spokane County expects to receive a total of $30,000 by the end of the week that will cover monthly payments through July from racetrack operator Bucky Austin.

County officials will meet Monday with Austin and his staff about notices from contractors for past-due bills totaling more than $1 million for work done this year on the county-owned track. They will also try to determine whether a surety bond was obtained for the improvements, as required by the lease agreement.

On Tuesday, Austin referred to allegations that of missed payments as “malarkey” and contended that threats of liens by contractors was merely a standard billing tactic. Some of the work is only recently completed, he said,

“I don’t think I owe anybody over 45 or 50 days,” Austin said.

But an attorney for two of the major contractors at the racetrack, Winkler Concrete and T.W. Clark, disagreed. John Black said the bills from those companies averaged 60 days past due; contractors only hired him to file liens because they exhausted other avenues and were worried they wouldn’t get paid.

The contractors have notified the county, which owns the racetrack, of that demand for payment. “This is the last thing they wanted to do,” Black said.

Envision Spokane, the organization promoting a “Community Bill of Rights” for the city, says it will turn in the signatures Wednesday morning for its petitions to put the proposed charter change on the November ballot.

The group needs at least 2,795 valid signatures from registered city voters…which, when compared to the threshhold for state intitiatives may not sound like much.

The groups press release says it has gathered 5,000 signatures, which sounds like a pretty good cushioni. But gathering signatures for a city ballot measure is always challenging because it all depends on how the signature taker asks the question.

And when one relies on volunteers, one can’t always be sure of the outcome.

“Are you a registered voter?” isn’t enough, because there are plenty of them that won’t work.

“Are you a registered voter in the city?” sounds pretty good, except that Spokane Valley, Airway Heights, Cheney and many other cities have registered voters often found in the city of Spokane at various times of the day.

“Are you a registered voter in the City of Spokane?” is the best way to ask.

They’ll be at the east entrance to City Hall at 10 a.m. Wednesday, after turning in petitions.

To read past coverage of the Envision Spokane proposal, click here and here

Gov. Chris Gregoire ordered flags on state buildings lowered to half staff Wednesday in honor of 1st Lt. Brian Bradshaw of Steilacoom.

Bradshaw, 24, died June 25 in Kheyl, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device was detonated.

When they tell you to turn your phone off, or at least put it on vibrate, it may be a good idea to listen…especially if you’re listening to the president.

Hot topic Monday was Bernie Madoff getting sentenced. Here’s 100 seconds worth from the folks at TalkingPointsMemo.

The operator of the county’s West Plains racetrack owes $20,000 in back payments to the county and more than $1 million to contractors who have been refurbishing the facility, county officials said

County Executive Marshall Farnell confirmed Monday that Bucky Austin, the track’s operator, has missed two monthly payments of $10,000 each, which are required under the terms of the lease announced last fall.

“He is two months behind,” Farnell said. “We don’t know why.”

The county asked Austin “resolve” the lease payment problem – that is, make the payments he owes – last week, Parks Director Doug Chase said. If he doesn’t make the payments, Austin could be served notice that he’s in breach of contract, and his lease eventually terminated.

Word came last week from Gov. Chris Gregoire’s office that she is now on Twitter.

In truth, she’s been tweeting for a few weeks. But with the revolution in Iran apparently running on social networking media, her office wanted to make sure the governor is recognized as being whatever this week’s term for au courant might be.

She is so into it that she can even joke about it, in her own way. To wit: There once was a time, she says in the press release, when to “tweet’ was to chirp.

(Note to governor’s press staff: Do not let the boss quit her day job to do standup.)

Gregoire is also on Facebook, which unfortunately doesn’t make her at all cutting edge, considering that everybody is on Facebook, including the newspaper. And we all know that newspapers are as 21st Century as the wooly mammoth.

The folks at JibJab have a new video on the Web, which may not be up to some of their best from the 2008 campaign, but it’s still pretty good.

The South Carolina governor’s travails continue, as some of his e-mails get released. The abbreviated version from TalkingPointsMemo:

The differences between Washington state and South Carolina:

One is in the Northwest, the other is in the Southeast.

One has mountain ranges that still have snow at the top, the other doesn’t.

When Gov. Chris Gregoire disappears from sight for a few days, she goes to Iraq to visit the Guard.

When Gov. Mark Sanford disappears from sight for a few days, he goes to Argentina to kanoodle with his e-mail love interest.

Want to let the Spokane City Council know how you think the city is doing?

Calm down. Keep it clean. They’re not asking for you to send them a bouquet of roses or something equally fragrant but diametrically less attractive.

The council has developed an on-line survey that you can take by clicking here

It asks for residents to rate things like police, fire, parks, garbage and sewer services, how well employees do their job, how often you’ve come in contact with them. It also asks things like how you get to work, what neighborhood you live in.

And there’s a blank space you can fill in with “other comments,” in case you want to say anything about current events not on the agenda…such as whether the city attorney should be telling the City Council  that they’ll be paying $200,000 for an outside attorney to represent a police officer in the Otto Zehm case, even though the resolution in front of them says the money is going for legal assistance to “the city and its employees.

Or anything else on your mind.

If you have any interest in South Carolina, its politics or its governor, this daily clip from TalkingPointsMemo will be high on your must watch list. Otherwise, it’s 100 seconds of another politician who cheats on his wife.

Spokane County commissioners put a planned sewer rate increase on hold Tuesday evening, giving residents another week to offer written comments, and a week beyond that for them to chew on it. They’re now talking about voting on the increase at their 2 p.m. meeting on July 7.

Sewer rate increases were on the agenda of the public hearing Tuesday, but despite the prospect of a jump of about $11.50 over the next three years, the villagers did not show up with torches and pitchforks.

Commissioners were inclined to hold off anyway, citing the need to review interest rates for 20- and 25-year bonds to pay for the new wastewater treatment plant.

Estimates from a month ago showed a 25-year bond issue could lower residential rates by $2 per month compared to a 20-year bond, but cost an extra $47 million over the life of the bonds, Commission Chairman Todd Mielke said.

“It’s in the county’s and the Valley’s interest to get the lowest possible interest rates,” he said.

The county is also negotiating an interlocal agreement with the city of Spokane Valley that shows the city’s support for the project and the county’s guarantee of service for the length of the bonds, and to create an advisory committee on rates. The two governments agree on the concepts, Mielke said.

Spokane Valley Mayor Rich Munson said the city and county are still discussing some aspects of the agreement, such as the agreement not to use any other source of wastewater treatment for the life of the bonds. It has discussed the possibility of using the city of Spokane’s treatment facility but believes that option “is not a good one.”

It is also concerned that the county cannot yet guarantee it will get a permit from the state to discharge treated water into the Spokane River. But city still believes the county is the best option and expects to reach an agreement.

“I don’t anticipate problems. I do anticipate discussions,” Munson said.

So there’s still time for residents of the county and the city of Spokane Valley to tell commissioners what they think of paying more for sewer (hopefully without using potty mouth terms).

Got something to say? Go inside the blog for addresses.

The clip of Tuesday in review, courtesy of TalkingPointsMemo , is all Obama on Iran.

A group pushing an initiative to change immigration law in Washington state is paying to insert 77,000 petitions in Wednesday’s Spokesman-Review.

They’ve used a similar tactic to distribute copies of the I-1043 petitions in Yakima, Ellensburg, Republic and the Olympic Penninsula as the July 2 deadline for signatures draws near, Craig Feller of Respect Washington said Tuesday.

The group is pushing an initiative that requires extra steps by the state to verify citizenship for things like drivers licenses and government services, and by employers who are hiring new workers. Respect Washington sponsored a similar measure as an initiative to the Legislature last year, but didn’t get enough signatures to turn in.

Feller said the initiative organization spent $8,000 to print and distribute the petitions in the S-R, and about $20,000 statewide for the newspaper blitz, which started around Memorial Day.

The group listed only $100 in its Public Disclosure Commission reports as of June 10, but Feller said those reports are being corrected. The group needs about 241,000 signatures of registered voters by July 2, and Feller declined to say how many it had to date. But he didn’t dispute a suggestion that initiative groups that distribute petitions via newspaper usually have a big gap to close.

“We wouldn’t spend the money if it weren’t necessary,” Feller said. “Our success will depend on the response.”

Spokane County will hold a hearing on its proposed increases in sewer rates, that would boost the average monthly home bill in the county by $5 next  year and by $11.50 by 2012.

Spin Control could make lots of word plays, using various terms that describe the stuff the sewer system will be carrying and treating. But we will refrain in an effort to be, well, more adult.

Hearing starts at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the lower level of the Public Works Building. That’s the new looking building, next to the castle-looking building, on West Broadway a block from Monroe.

Otto Zehm is responsible for the events that led up to his death while in police custody, the City of Spokane said Friday as it asked a federal court Friday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Zehm’s mother.

A 56-page response to the civil rights claim by Ann Zehm offers previously unreleased – and, according to her lawyer irrelevant – information about a 1990 altercation between Otto Zehm and a county sheriff’s deputy. It also includes a description that Zehm was “on something” which was not in the transcript of the tape of the 911 call released by the city in 2006.

“Otto Zehm knew or should have know that he was being detained by a peace officer and had the duty to refrain from using force to resist such detention,” the city contends in its response, prepared by assistant city attorney Rocco Treppeidi and private attorney Carl Oreskovich, who is under contract with the city for assistance on the Zehm case and represents one of the officers named in the suit. “Any injury or damage suffered by Mr. Zehm was caused solely by reason of his conduct and willful resistance.”

Breean Beggs of the Center for Justice, who is representing Ann Zehm, said the court filing is typical of the city’s overall response on the Zehm case: “They’re doing the classic ‘blame the victim’ tactic.”

What you missed if you skipped the news this morning (or this evening) on Iraq, courtesy of TalkingPointsMemo.

A city resident took umbrage at the e-mail address of one of the City Council candidates – with the Internet, it seems, there is more umbrage in more places – complaining that the Council District 1 hopeful Mike Fagan’s listing is a derogatory acronym well known to texters, IMers and the like.

The letters in Fagan’s “1dilligas” e-mail address, according to Marshall Smith, stand for Does It Look Like I Give A “S-word”. This “little display of indecency” has lost his support, wrote Smith.

Not being an avid texter, Spin Control had to check the Internet to see whether dilligas does mean what Smith says it means.

It does, although the Urban Dictionary notes it can also stand for “Do I Look Like I Give A “S-word”, and that “Sigh” is sometimes substituted for S-word, apparently by those with concerns of decency that outweigh syntax.

But does it mean that to Fagan? That’s where the situation gets a little murky.

Iranian protesters are using Twitter to organize and report the protests against the election.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Republican congressman, tweeted that he saw a parallel to the GOP’s travails last year. That prompted some withering responses.

Not intentionally, of course. But Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is being noticed.

She showed up on Wednesday night’s Daily Show, as Jon Stewart was having fun with the politics of health care.

After he pokes fun at Obama’s speech to the AMA, Stewart takes on congressional Republicans’ talking points in response. McMorris Rodgers follows Boehner about 3:55 in, and, as a bonus, is the face on the screen as he goes to commercial.

For the record, Patty Murray’s favorite word is “help.” Maria Cantwell’s is “oil”. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ is “students.”

In the Idaho congressional delegation, Mike Crapo’s fave is”energy”. Jim Risch’s is “guard”. Walt Minnick’s is “Idaho”.

That’s the conclusion of Capitol Words,  a new Web site that combs through the Congressional Record for speeches and comments by members of Congress, then counts how many times they use words other than a or the or and or…well, you get the picture. 

The record for some of the region’s honorables is much longer, because they’ve been around for years. For Minnick and Risch, who just arrived in January, it’s sparse, but the site also tracks their predecessors Larry Craig and Bill Sali.

Go inside to see the top 5 for each.

Revolution in the streets meets the Twitter Age, according to TalkingPointsMemo.

Steve Taylor, who has been on the Spokane Valley City Council as long as there has been a city council in the Valley, is calling it quits.

Taylor announced Wednesday he’s resigning at the end of the month to take a job as city administrator in Connell, Wash.

That creates an opening on the council that will require a little extra work for County Elections.

They’ll need to hold a special filing period for candidates who want to compete for that seat in the November election. It’s too late to get on the August primary.

One other problem seems to be lurking out there…

The City of Spokane is considering naming a new stretch of street just east of downtown as Martin Luther King Way. It’s the section of what might more cartographically be labelled an extension of Riverside Avenue east of Division, which would be built through the old railroad warehouse area that will become part of the university district.

It’s also thinking of naming the pedestrian bridge in the university district as the Coretta Scott King Memorial Bridge.

If you think that’s the best idea since sliced bread or the worst idea since disco, or something in between, the city is inviting you to send comments. They can be e-mailed to tpalmquist@spokanecity.org  .

Or you could just wait for the public hearings that will be scheduled later for the Plan Commission and the City Council.

On the heels of a state auditor’s report that they owe money for law enforcement services, the City of Spokane Valley City Council is holding a special meeting Thursday morning “to discuss dispute resolution regarding billing.”

The city and the county have been arguing over who owes what to whom for deputies and jail time for several years. The city claimed it was being double billed for some services, for an amount that added up over time to more than $2 million.

On Monday, assistant audit manager Gary Cavendar said the city and its Portland accounting firm was using the wrong assumptions to come up with its double-billing claim. Read staff writer John Craig’s report here.

The city isn’t necessarily caving. But the announcement for the 8:30 a.m. special meeting includes the following comment from Mayor Rich Munson:  “It is our intent that the negotiations over this issue move quickly toward a mutually beneficial resolution in a minimum amount of time.” 

In response to Sunday’s column on e-mails that pass along stuff that just ain’t true, Reader Tina Wynecoop sent a copy of a missive she’s received several times about Nancy Pelosi’s luxury jet.

The e-mai carries a subject line of “FW: Queen Nancy’s 757” and includes a photo of what it calls a USAF Boeing 757. It talks about Pelosi demanding a luxury jet to fly across country instead of the “small private jet” a speaker normally gets, so she ordered a Big Fat 200 seat jet, which costs $60,000 for each trip to California and another $60,000 back, and she makes one every weekend, so that’s $480,000 a month and $5.7 million a year, all while demanding people use less fuel and raise taxes.

“YOU WILL NEVER SEE THIS IN ANY NEWSPAPER IN THE COUNTRY! THEY HAVE NO GUTS…” it says.

You won’t, in fact, see this in The Spokesman-Review, because so much of it isn’t true. But it was checked by several news agencies when it first surfaced last fall, and if you want to know what they found, go inside the blog….

If you were otherwise occupied Tuesday, the biggest news item of the day remained the election protests in Iran. The question arose: Is President Obama doing enough?

While some political races in the city of Spokane are pretty crowded, other positions around the county are not. Some are even candidate-less.

In an effort to get candidates for posts that have none, Spokane County Elections Manager Mike McLaughlin has scheduled a special filing period for Wednesday through Friday. Wouldbe officeholders who live in the city, town or district can file their paperwork at the Elections Office, 1033 W. Gardner.

Note: this is not an opportunity to challenge a candidate who is running unopposed for a seat. It’s limited to positions with no candidates. Under state law, if no one files, the incumbent (if there is one) retains the seat until the next election if he or she is willing to serve. Otherwise, the seat is declared vacant, and filled by whatever means is set up by statute, ordinance or bylaws.

To see the full list of positions subject to the special filing period, go inside the blog.

David Letterman apologized Monday night to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her family. For those keeping track at home, this is apology No. 2, and it’s for the line about going to Yankee Stadium, not for the Top 10 list.

So today’s discussion questions are:

Was this a sincere apology from Letterman, which will lead to the end of the whole matter?

Who is getting more out of this — the Palins in terms of sympathy from opponents and righteous indignation from supporters, or Letterman, in terms of ratings?

Click on here or on comments to weigh in.

From Columbia Legal Services, Corporation for Enterprise Development and the Low-Income Housing Alliance comes word that this is — ta da! — Manufactured Housing Week.

While there are no Manufactured Home carols to sing or Manufactured Home cards to mail, they want you to know certain facts about this type of housing.

Key among them, don’t call them mobile homes, let alone trailers. Only 1 percent of manufactured homes ever move, once they are put in place.

Not sure if this includes the ones in the Midwest that fall victim to tornadoes…

Why now? Well, it’s part of National Home Ownership Month. No truth to the suggestion it is strategically placed between Build Your Dream Mansion Fortnight and Lost in Foreclosure Day.

All eyes on Iran Monday as protesters filled the streets of Tehran, and the supreme ruler called for an investigation into the election. Here’s a quick update from TalkingPointsMemo.

For  a great photo montage of the post-election protests in Iran, click here for a site called The Big Picture.

And yes, the headline comes from an old ‘60s protest song. Do you remember what the next line is?

There’s nothing political or governmental about this, from a posting called 10 animals in teacups. Just a way to brighten your Monday morning, from buzzfeed.

If you slept in or went to church on Sunday morning, here’s what they were talking about,  courtesy of TalkingPointsMemo.

About once a week, some reader is kind enough to forward something from the Internet that shows what an absolutely abysmal job the news media is doing on some topic or another.

Sometimes the complaint involves not telling them that Barack Obama was really born in Africa, or is a closet Muslim, or perhaps from another planet. I can live with that, because a). I’m pretty sure he wasn’t born in Africa but couldn’t prove otherwise to their satisfaction if my life depended on it; b). I take all people at their word on their religion, but wouldn’t care if he was a Muslim; and c). I’m from another planet too, and we aliens stick together.

Other times it involves stories of the military and military heroism, which the e-mail’s anonymous author insists the NEWS MEDIA WILL NEVER TELL YOU.

As someone who covers the military for a paper, and sometimes writes about local veterans who’ve done remarkable things (they’re leery about calling themselves heroes, so I generally don’t) it is mildly annoying to suggest any newspaper would pass up a good story of heroism. They’re much better to write than, say, a story about zoning policy or sewer rates.

The real reason we usually haven’t told the story in the forwarded e-mail is …

What was up Friday? Well, everyone seemed excited about elections in Iran.

But by now, you know how they turned out.

Oh, you don’t? Go to the newspaper’s main page.

Yes.

At least well enough to sing “Proud Mary” with Doug Clark during the newspaper columnist’s annual street music fundraiser for the Food Bank. Expect him to tell you much more about that Sunday in his column.

An even more important question: Is Mary Verner quick enough on her feet to use the situation to her advantage?

TalkingPointsMemo is all over the Holocaust Museum shooting (for the second day.)

David Letterman had to apologize for No. 2 on his top 10  list of things Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin did in New York … to Palin and flight attendants.

You may have seen that clip a few (or a few dozen) times on television Wednesday. Did it make you wonder about the other nine? If so, here’s the full list.

The big story of Wednesday was the shooting at the Holocaust museum. Here’s the TalkingPointsMemo clip.

For more on the shooting and the suspect, including his tie to North Idaho, go here for coverage in The Spokesman-Review.

Referendum 71 supporters have a new challenge. The size of the petitions they need to distribute for signatures.

The proposed ballot measure, which if passed in November would repeal aspects of domestic partnership passed this year by the Legislatulre, must contain all the sections of the law it seeks to change. That law covers 114 pages in the original bill, but has to fit on a single sheet for a referendum petition, state initiative rules say.

So supporters shrunk the type and printed it front and back on a super-sized piece of paper, which folds out like one of those maps you get from AAA that never get refolded quite right.

The Washington Secretary of State’s office released the above photo of a petition, being held by office spokesman David Ammons.

Look for the petition at a gathering place near you. For people who believe in reading anything before they sign it, be advised: bring lunch.

If the folks at TalkingPointsMemo are to be believed, Tuesday was all about the GOP and who is its next leader.

The music in this one’s not bad, but the stand-ins for the Obamas, Biden and Palin could have used a bit more work.

Here’s what you missied if you stayed under the covers to avoid the rain yesterday, courtesy of TalkingPointsMemo.

When President Obama was in Egypt last week, he came across this hieroglyphic that looked like, well, like him.

Uh oh. If the folks trying to prove Obama can’t be president because isn’t a U.S. citizen because he doesn’t have a real birth certificate find out about this, they’ll have a whole new line of inquiry to set up. See, it turns out he doesn’t have a birth certificate because he was really born in ancient Egypt. They’ll need to check out the papyrus records under the name Kar.

The photo comes courtesy of Anderson Cooper’s AC360 blog on CNN .

If you slept in or went to church on Sunday, and missed the talking head news shows, here’s a chance to catch up from TalkingPointsMemo.

A gay rights group’s plan to post the names of everyone who signs Referendum 71 petitions has some people outraged and others insisting that folks shouldn’t sign petitions unless they have the guts to defend their decision.

In other words, it’s your standard dichotomy in politics: WhoSigned.org is either assisting in a more open electoral process or engaging in a scurrilous political ploy in its fight against a ballot proposal that would overturn certain legal rights for same-sex couples.

Before deciding who’s right, we can apply a test known as “change a few details, see what you think.”

As the deadline draws near, another candidate has entered the race for South Spokane’s District 2 council district.

David Elton, who is currently banned from City Council meetings because of verbal exchanges with Council President Joe Shogan, filed at 4:28 p.m.

Elton has a history that can be charitably described as colorful. He’ll face Steve Eugster, incumbent Mike Allen, outdoor magazine publisher Jon Snyder, congressional aide Kristina Sabestinas and first-timer Greg Ridgley.

Full list when filing closes at 5 p.m.

Spokane Valley residents who were worried about a dirth of interesting council races this year can rejoice.

State Sen. Bob McCaslin filed Friday afternoon against incumbent Rich Munson for the No. 5 Council Position. Munson currently serves as Spokane Valley mayor, although that position is chosen by the council, not the voters.

McCaslin is a Republican legislator who has served in the Senate for 28 years. Munson has been on the council since initial election after incorporation.

Filing closes at 5 p.m. We’ll update the list then.

Clock is ticking down to the deadline to file for political office.

5 p.m. is it. Finito. end of story.

In the meantime, the race for Spokane City Council’s District 2 in south Spokane grew to four Friday afternoon with the entry of Kristina Sabestinas, an aide to U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. She joins former councilman Steve Eugster, magazine publisher Jon Snyder, incumbent Mike Allen for that seat.

Northeast Spokane’s District 1 still has two candidates, Amber Waldref and Mike Fagan.

Northwest Spokane’s District 3 has still six: John Waite, Nancy McLaughlin, Karen Kearney, Barbara Lampert, Victor Noder and Christopher Stevens.

In the Spokane Valley, only one council race had two candidates as of lunchtime: the Position 1 seat with incumbent Diana Wilhite and challenger Brenad Grassel.

For the full list for races totally or partially in Spokane County , go inside the blog.

Now there’s a painting.

Plus, the video clip was used in a bit on the MTV Awards last weekend.

Why does Spin Control care? Well, we wouldn’t except for the Spokane connection.As colleague Doug Clark reported last month,  Keyboard Cat video was made by Spokanite Charlie Schmidt, back in the ‘80s.

And yes, sorry to tell you but Keyboard Cat, whose real name is Fatso, went to that great litter box in the sky many years ago….

Encapsulation of Thursday is “Obama in Cairo”. Video courtesy of TalkingPointsMemo.

One of the largest public works projects in Spokane County history — one that has been nearly 30 years in the making — got its official start Thursday as local officials held a dirt turner for the $140 million wastewater treatment facility.

For those unfamiliar with such events, a dirt turner is news media terminology for a standard arrow in the public officials’ quiver of events. A bunch of people who have little or no business on a construction site go out to a piece of land that’s been cleared for some big construction project, stand around near heavy equipment, and at the appropriate time stick shovels in the ground and hoist up what is often a pitiful amount of earth to signal the beginning of the project.

Standing on land off Freya Street once occupied by stockyards — any allusion to the by-product of so many cows standing around for so many years is strictly the fault of the county here — elected and appointed government leaders from the county, the city of Spokane Valley and the city of Spokane stuck shovels into the pre-softened soil and complimented each other for their cooperation.

Really. They were extremely nice to each other. Dirt turners bring out the best in public officials.

Spokane City Council seats continue to attract a large share of the attention among would-be candidates. Southeast Washington’s 9th Legislative District seat is pulling them in, too.

The Thursday afternoon count has 11 council candidates spread among the three districts:

Amber Waldref and Mike Fagan in Northeast Spokane’s District 1

Steve Eugster, Jon Snyder and Mike Allen in South Spokane’s District 2

John Waite, Nancy McLaughlin, Karen Kearney, Barbara Lampert, Victor Noder and Christopher Stevens — that’s right six of ‘em — in Northwest Spokane’s District 3.

Down in Southeast Washington, the Democrats finally got a sacrificial lamb, er candidate, to run for the open seat. Glen Stockwell of Ritville joined the fray with Pat Hailey of Mesa, Darin Watkins of Palouse, Susan Fagan of Pullman and Art Swannack of Lamont.

For the updated Thursday list, go inside the blog.

Air Force officials told a Senate subcommittee they still don’t like the idea of “splitting the baby” on the new refueling tanker.

That’s not a surprise, because the Pentagon has been saying to anyone who will listen that they want to have one version of the replacement for the aging KC-135s. They want to take bids from Boeing and Lockheed/Grumman/EADS and do a winner take all. Problem is, certain members of Congress, particularly the head of a House military appropriations committee, don’t much want to listen.

Sen. Patty Murray — who is a big supporter of Boeing (it’s a mutual kind of thing) — wants just one contract, and took a Capitol Hill visit by Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Norman Schwartz to get them to reiterate what they’ve been saying all along about a single contract.

They also got to repeat that they support a “fair and open” competition for the contract, which could be worth about $40 billion. This is hardly news, although it would be news if they would own up at some point to supporting a “rigged and secretive” competition, right?

So what about sending the new tankers — should they EVER get built — to Fairchild?

Answer inside the blog.

University of Washington’s women’s softball already has the College World Series trophy, so it’s not clear how excited they’ll be about congressional recognition.

But Washington Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell introduced a Senate Resolution todday, congratulating them on their first-ever NCAA championship. The resolution hasn’t been approved yet, but it’s likely to sail through…barring a filibuster by senators from Florida.

Full text of the resolution is inside the blog.

In case you missed it yesterday, President Obama landed in the Middle East. Until he got there, TV talking heads speculated on much. Here’s a recap, from the folks at TalkingPointsMemo.

A former Spokane mayor and a top Senate staffer are among applicants for Northwest jobs in the Obama administration.

Dennis Hession has applied to be the top administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 10, which covers Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska and has headquarters in Seattle.

    On a separate appointment to be made by Obama, Judy Olson, a former National Association of Wheatgrowers president and longtime Eastern Washington assistant to Sen. Patty Murray, has been recommended for a state position with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Sen. Patty Murray will be asking questions of Air Force honchos about that pesky tanker replacement contract they have thus far been unable to run to ground.

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norman Schwartz will appear before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that controls their budget, and the Washington Democrat will take that opportunity to ask some of her favorite questions about replacement tankers, staff said.

Among them: Shouldn’t U.S. money for U.S. war planes go to U.S. companies when the U.S. is in the middle of a recession? And, where exactly are you going to put the first new planes that roll off the assembly line…a base that starts with “F” and ends with ”-airchild”?

Whether she’ll get definitive answers from Donley, Schwarts and company remains to be seen. Hearing starts at 7:30 a.m. Pacific, but is watchable on the subcommittee’s Web site.

Organizing for America, which is sort of the successor to the Barack Obama presidential campaign, will hold a town-hall style meeting Thursday evening at the East Central Community Center.

6 p.m., East Central Community Center, 500 S. Stone St. if you’re marking your calendar.

OFA likes to call it an Obama Listening Tour, although Obama won’t really be anywhere close to East Central. Instead, the chief listening will be done by Dustin Lambro, who is the organization’s state director.

Lambro will listen to folks’ concerns about such things as health care, the economy, energy or whatever, compile questions, comments and suggestions, and get it back to the the OFA, which is run by the Democratic National Committee. So when does Obama get a listen?

That’s not entirely clear, even to folks at OFA. Said r5egional press spokesman Frank Benenati: “We’re still trying to figure out all the kinks.” 

Which is interesting, because they’ve apparently held more than a few of these meetings, including several in the Seattle area.

Stilll, it seems like a chance for folks from the 2008 campaign to get back together and talk about the “old days.”

Maybe do a fist bump or two, even if it’s a day late? (See post immediately below.)

Today has been declared National Fist Bump Day by, well, by people who apparently don’t have very much to do.

It commemorates the day one year ago when Barack and Michelle Obama knocked knuckles after he locked up the Democratic nomination. Some TV talking heads later questioned whether it was some islamo-fascist-black-panther-trilateralist-anarchist secret sign. (These are apparently people who don’t watch much sports on television.)

Anyway, feel free to bump, or not bump, as you see fit.

Here’s a quick look at Tuesday, from the folks at TalkingPointsMemo. (Note that Sonia Sotomayor is only about half of the news.)

The Spokane City Council races are starting to fill up. The Spokane Valley City Council races, not so much. And that 9th District state House of Representatives race already has four wouldbe legislators in it.

Go inside the blog to see the full list from Spokane County (because it takes up too much space to put out front on the blog.) It has names, addresses, phone numbers, and even e-mail addresses.

Here’s a quick look at Tuesday, from the folks at TalkingPointsMemo. (Note that Sonia Sotomayor is only about half of the news.)

Making a splash on BuzzFeed is this video of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who came out in favor of same-sex marriage (on a state-by-state basis.)

The noon update from Spokane County Elections Office has two additions to the Spokane City Council races.

Councilman Mike Allen, as previously announced, is seeking election to the seat to which he was appointed in South Spokane’s District 2. He joins Steve Eugster and Jon Snyder, who both filed Monday.

Former nurse’s aide and perennial candidate Barbara Lampert filed for the seat in Northwest Spokane’s District 3. That district now has four candidates: Lampert, incumbent Nancy McLaughlin, John Waite and Karen Kearney.

Northeast Spokane District 1 race currently has one candidate. But Mike Fagan, longtime Tim Eyman lieutenant in the initiative biz, has scheduled an announcement today. He’s expected to be joining Amber Waldref in that race.

For the complete candidate listings, as of noon, go inside the blog.