Jonathan Martin

SEATTLE – A $2.8 million TV advertising blitz in October by the campaign to legalize marijuana appears to have given Initiative 502 a critical boost just as ballots are being cast. There are no marijuana leaves – or even admitted marijuana users – in the ads, reflecting I-502’s strategy to attack the ban on marijuana while not endorsing its use.

A Seattle teenager’s claim that abuse by Seattle police caused her miscarriage has become a viral Internet sensation of the Occupy movement, but no evidence has emerged to support her allegation. Jennifer M. Fox, 19, has accused Seattle police of kicking her and hitting her in the stomach with a bicycle during a Nov. 15 Occupy Seattle protest, then dousing her with pepper spray, even after she yelled, “I’m pregnant.” A viral video shows her reeling from the pepper spray, but not being struck.

It began with a tragedy - a retired fireman randomly murdered while returning from a Seattle Mariners game with his family. The killer had fallen through cracks between the courts and mental hospitals, a paranoid schizophrenic who didn't get treatment after a previous crime. The tragedy last year angered lawmakers. Their attempt to fill the cracks should be signed into law soon by Gov. Gary Locke.

'Toon time Eilshia Elwwod, 12, left, Rachael Calton, 8, center, and Emily Calton, 7, munch away while waiting to see the Bugs Bunny Film Festival at the Spokane Valley Mall movie theater on Sunday. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane Housing Authority is launching an aggressive campaign to more than quintuple its stock of public housing. The campaign begins next week with the expected purchase of a $7.6 million Valley apartment complex. By the year 2003, the agency plans to add 1,335 units to its inventory of 310 subsidized homes and apartments.

(From For the Record, March 23, 1998): Story incorrect: Terry Lawhead is operations director for the Downtown Spokane Partnership. Lawhead's title was unclear and the group's name was incorrect in a Sunday story. 1. Shortly after leaving detox, friends share a beer downtown. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Van driver Glen Dowd shakes hands with a man in the "sobering unit" at the detox center. Dowd had just transported another man from the Deaconess Medical Center emergency room to detox. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

1. Merril Knut Nystuen gets a kick out of Pickels, who came out of his cage when Nystuen's wife, Janet, came to visit at the Riverview Care Center. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review 2. Below right, Riverview staff member Casey Morphis takes a break to play with Schurman the cat at the nurses' station. 3. Riverview Care Center resident Jean McAlister usually brings back treats from her meals to give to her two birds, Twee-Dee and JoJo. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review