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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Laura Crooks

This individual is no longer an employee with The Spokesman-Review.

Most Recent Stories

News >  Features

It’s the ‘little things’ that ease first-day jitters

All I really remember about kindergarten, besides the cute little duck on my "cubby" and coloring in the red, yellow and green circles on a picture of a stoplight, is my mom having my favorite lunch – chicken and rice soup – ready for me day after day when I got home. Thirteen years later, when I was away at college, the handwritten note from Mom arrived in the mail the day after classes started – a welcome reminder that I always had a home no matter where I was.
News >  Features

Groups collect, donate new school supplies

Starting school can be intimidating for many kids. But imagine starting without paper, pencils, notebooks or even a backpack to carry everything in. Several groups, large and small, throughout the community are holding drives to collect school supplies for kids whose families can't afford the necessary items.
News >  Features

Chalk it up to a drive to be unique

Go ahead and blink but you're not imagining things. This car is a chalkboard. Spokane's Shannon Zaranski passed this photo along to me. Zaranski recently moved into my neighborhood and one day drew a small crowd when her friend came by with her "art car."

News >  Features

Fun-filled summer: There are plenty of things to do to keep the kids busy

Despite video games, iPods, TiVo and the Internet, nothing beats a good old-fashioned water balloon toss (or fight) for summer fun. In fact, based on suggestions for summer fun from the families of The Spokesman-Review's Parents' Council, many tried-and-true ways of passing long summer days still rank high among kids' favorite things to do when they're not bound by school schedules.
News >  Features

‘Flight’ goes; rocket launcher stays

The paper airplanes and helicopters have taken off, but the rockets are staying behind. Visitors to Mobius Kids will see a few changes taking place over the next few weeks as the children's museum shuffles a few exhibits and debuts a new one.
News >  Features

Turning a corner

If kids who go through the newest exhibit soon to open at Mobius Kids start nagging their parents about wearing seat belts and bicycle helmets and sharing the road with cyclists and pedestrians, David Jones will be happy. "As a parent, what's more shameful than being reminded of something by your kid? Uh, oh, busted," he said.
News >  Features

Spokane will ring in Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year in Spokane? OK, so it's not as big as, say, San Francisco's celebration, but to the local Chinese community and the growing number of families that have adopted children from China, it's an important and exciting tradition. "Before we had the New Year celebration, the Chinese people (in Spokane) all were hiding somewhere," said Bo Wen. "This celebration brought the Chinese people together."
A&E >  Food

Corn syrup sweetens flavor in ‘40s cakes

An anonymous reader inquired about a recipe believed to have been published around the time of World War II, when sugar rationing was going on. The recipe used primarily corn syrup as the sweetening agent. We searched The Spokesman-Review's Dorothy Dean files and found this Sugar-Ration Cake from October 1942 and the following Maytime Cake from April 1942. Sugar-Ration Cake

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