Ken Paulman

A fire in an underground transformer shut down power in downtown Spokane Wednesday night, affecting many businesses and residences, and threatening The Spokesman-Review's press run.

Take a walk through Uptown Butte on a blustery Saturday afternoon, and you might feel as if you've strolled into an episode of "The Twilight Zone." If it weren't for the mountains, you might think you're somewhere in Chicago or Kansas City. You'll pass block after block of brick and stone buildings that appear to be deserted. Painted billboards, many of them recently restored, advertise bygone businesses such as "Liggett's Fire-Proof Hotel."

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the puddin-race! – Robert Burns, "Address to a Haggis" In the culinary world, there are few dishes more misunderstood than haggis.

Portland is a great place to visit. You could spend a week exploring museums, shops and other attractions without setting foot outside of the city's famously compact and walkable urban core. But there's a lot more to the Rose City than pricey condos and gleaming public transit. If you're starting to feel like you've seen all Portland has to offer, it might be time to venture out of downtown. Perhaps the best place to start is the Hawthorne district, centered around the intersection of 37th Street and Hawthorne Boulevard in southeast Portland, about three miles from downtown.

Greg Brown is difficult to pin down. A singer-songwriter who's been performing for nearly 30 years, his songs have been covered by Carlos Santana and Joan Baez, and yet he remains a relatively obscure musical figure. His deep, weathered baritone voice has been heard alongside public radio legend Garrison Keillor, as well as college radio legend Ani DiFranco. He has traveled throughout the country, worked in New York and Los Angeles, but chooses to live on his grandparents' hilly, wooded farmstead in southeast Iowa. The farm is a place that Brown, who spent much of his childhood moving from town to town, calls home – a theme that appears frequently in his music.