Features

MultiCare Health System returned to a temporary mask mandate beginning Monday in patient care areas that include Deaconess and Valley hospitals, based on the past week's rise in respiratory illnesses.

The winter darkness – we slog through it every year. But thankfully one thing shines bright this time of year, our night sky.

When I first started this column in December 2018, my oldest child was a freshman in high school and my youngest was an impish 3-year-old with an impressive track record for flushing things down the toilet.

At Sullivan Square Shopping Center in Spokane Valley lies Elite Gaming Center, where adults and children alike go to play video games and tabletop sports games like air hockey and ping-pong. Alongside its regular operating hours, the facility hosts birthday parties, corporate events and even offers a weekly day camp for summer and winter breaks.

For nine years, Jodi Rivas has matched the Christmas wishes of Medical Lake children with donors who buy those gift requests. Also a Medical Lake resident, Rivas decided for this holiday season, she had to do more for her town after the summer's Gray fire. Rivas extended the gift drive to any neighbor who lost a home or had a financial hit because of the disaster, including adults without kids. This time, donors covered entire families and were from across the region. Requests were humble, "lamps, extension cords, a snow shovel, cleaning supplies, warm socks, a jacket, a robe ... They just want a little bit of home back."

A Spokane doctor believes her team of researchers has “broken the code” to fight kidney disease with a new treatment.

The Folwer United Methodist Church recently unveiled its Fireside Room – a warm, welcoming place for those with disabilities and their families or caregivers.

I’m sure you’ve driven across or seen large steel truss bridges that are made by combining any number of huge steel beams into right triangles that interconnect. When viewed from the side they look like open boxes with a diagonal piece of steel extending from one corner of each box to the opposite corner. Imagine how strong this design is to be able to hold countless tons of concrete roadway, cars, trucks and even giant train locomotives!

Dressed in clunky, barely breathable armor often limiting their vision, Stormtroopers may be seen walking through the halls of local hospitals on any given day.

Spokane is facing an outbreak of Shigella, a diarrhea-inducing bacterial infection, among homeless people in the community, according to the Spokane Regional Health District.

New treatments and research for Alzheimer's disease have room to expand in downtown Spokane where neurologist Dr. David Greeley has opened a center. As new drugs emerge, he expects more innovations to fight the disease within a few years. Greeley bought the building at 1520 W. Third Ave., formerly Global Credit Union headquarters. In November, he moved his independent practice, Northwest Neurological, and separate research company he owns, Kingfisher Cooperative, to the renovated ground level.

Each year around this time, Salvation Army volunteers know which tags still hang from the organization's angel trees in stores – gift requests for teenagers. That gift gap seems wider this season with inflation, said Captain David Cain of the Spokane Corps of the Salvation Army. Early this week, he said Christmas requests still weren't fulfilled for about 20 youth in Spokane, both males and females, ages 12-20. "Every year, teens are the challenge because it’s just easier to buy for the little ones, but particularly now it is when $25 used to go a lot farther," Cain said. The angel trees are located at Spokane-area stores of Fred Meyer, Walmart, J.C. Penney and Old Navy. The local organization also has an Amazon wish list open through this Friday, with a link on its website, www.makingspokanebetter.org.

With technicolored trees lining walking paths, festive seasonal imagery lit up on bridges and “Happy Holidays” projected on the clock tower, Riverfront Park is a picturesque winter scene.

Quirky antique shop Petunia & Loomis offers photos with Krampus, the creepy, demonic creature who symbolizes the start of dark nights and survival in the cold, each Saturday through December 23.

With some practice, we all can master the art of what experts call "conversational chemistry."

This week, Logan and I will be celebrating our 22nd anniversary. We were married just 10 days before Christmas on a snowy Spokane day; he in a rented tuxedo and I in a white satin ball gown with a red velvet wrap that I sewed myself (the wrap, not the gown). I was heavily influenced by Martha Stewart in those days, what can I say?