Most likely the biggest news this weekend will be Hoopfest in Spokane and the Ironman Triathlon in Coeur d'Alene. But there's other news, too:

Northwest senators reacted swiftly and angrily today to an announcement by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that the agency is $1 billion short of the funds it will need to care for the nation’s veterans this year.

We're writing about the bizarre case of Paul Trummel, a septugenarian British freelance journalist booted from low-income elderly housing in Seattle and jailed for four months because of his web site, which he uses to criticize judges, professors and others who've crossed him.

The Mariners already have lost today (Kirk Saarloos pitched a four-hitter for his second career shutout, leading the Oakland Athletics over the Mariners 5-0.). Also in sports, game 7 in the NBA finals is tonight.

International Speedway Corp., thwarted last year in a plan to build a NASCAR racetrack north of Seattle, announced today it has chosen a new site _ west of Seattle across Puget Sound.

From the wires:

In Iraq, four car bombs outside Shiite mosques killed 15 and wounded 28.

Cities may bulldoze people's homes to make way for shopping malls or other private development, a divided Supreme Court ruled today, giving local governments broad power to seize private property to generate tax revenue.

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