U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers' office released a full schedule of public meetings she'll have over the next week, finishing with a town hall meeting on Aug. 31 in Spokane.

Before that, she'll be having smaller meetings her staff calls “Coffee with Cathy” in Walla Walla, Clarkston, Newport and Davenport. Those meetings are open to the public with invitations sent to people who have contacted her congressional office on different topics.

For a full schedule of the meetings, click here go inside the blog.

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers will hold a town hall meeting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 31 in Spokane.

The Eastern Washington Republican's staff, which said it has been working for several days to nail down a time and place, announced this afternoon the meeting would be  held at the Lincoln Center, 1316 N. Lincoln Street.

It is the only town  hall meeting set for the August recess period. But a spokesman said McMorris Rodgers is planning four smaller meetings around the district known as “Coffee with Cathy”, with invitations sent to people who have contacted her office on different topics.  

The first Coffee session is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Port of Walla Walla conference room, 310 A St.

There's a break in the legislative action this weekend, so several Spokane-area legislators will be back in their home districts to hold town hall meetings.

The break is a result of the Legislature passing a major deadline for voting bills out of one chamber, and not yet reaching a key point in crafting the next biennium's budget, the state economic forecast which comes out March 17. Because of that, neither house is in session this weekend, so it's a good time for legislators to head home for a few days, and Saturday seems like a good day for town hall meetings.

Here's a list of what's scheduled for Saturday.

3rd Legislative District
Sen. Lisa Brown, Reps. Timm Ormsby and Andy Billig.
  10 a.m., Northeast Community Center, 4001 N. Cook St.
  2 p.m., Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, 2316 W. 1st Ave.

6th Legislative District
Sen. Mike Baumgartner, Reps. Kevin Parker and John Ahern
  10:30 a.m. Northwood Middle School gymnasium, 13120 N. Pittsburg St.
Parker
  2 p.m., Education themed town hall at Northwood Middle School library, 13120 N. Pittsburg St.
Baumgartner
  5 p.m. town hall at the MAC, 2316 W. 1st Ave.

9th Legislative District
Rep. Susan Fagan
  10:30 a.m., WHMC Public Education Building, 1200 W. Fairview St., Colfax
  2 p.m., Cafe Moro, 100 E. Main St., Pullman

State legislators like to make it back to the district from Olympia during the session to talk to the “real folks” with things like town hall meetings. With the crush of business this year, that’s difficult.

When one’s district is Northeastern Washington’s 7th, there’s another problem. The folks are so far flung — from Metaline to Tonasket to Odessa to Republic to Deer Park — that finding the right town to book the hall is difficult.

Reps. Joel Kretz and Shelly Short are trying to get around this by having a telephonic town hall meeting. Think of it as a big party line (you remember party lines, right? OK, if you’re younger than about 50, probably not).  You dial in and can listen and talk.

They’re going to try this at 7 p.m. on April 16. To participate, one needs to call 1-877-229-8493, then enter the password number of 14789. They hope it will work like a call-in radio show.