The search for deicers that don’t involve salt – and, by extension, don’t corrode cars or contaminate water bodies – have led some states and researchers to experiment with a range of novel substances. But the crews in and around Spokane are sticking, almost entirely, to a more traditional substance: salt.

One obituary is a portrait of a life. Several taken together, though, create a portrait of a community. Recent obits in the S-R have told the stories of tavern owners and music professors, auto parts dealers and train engineers, full-time moms and construction workers.

Apples made their way into House chamber, State of the State address.

It’s ironic that a bill whose supporters say it’s necessary to teach affirmative consent doesn’t appear to have widespread support.

Idaho Rep. John O. Green’s expulsion from the Legislature is well-deserved.

A 2-for-1 approach to snow plowing may look easy, but operators like Kent Reitmeier have to deal with a lot of potential issues at once. Including impatient drivers trying to sneak past his rig.

The Legislature begins its 2020 session Monday, and while the lawmakers will spend most of the next two months some 300 miles away, there are ways a person with a particular concern, issue or pet peeve can keep tabs on them without making the trip across the state, over a snowy pass and through metropolitan Puget Sound traffic.

What will make or break the relationship at City Hall – and what broke the last one – isn’t what happens when everyone’s looking. It’s what happens when no one is, and how honest you are about it.

As of Jan. 1, teenagers who have to be reminded to feed the dog and take out the trash are in charge of their own health care when it comes to sensitive matters. But parents are still responsible for the bills. That’s a result of Senate Bill 5889, which adds more legislative bricks to the increasingly bureaucratic walls dividing parents and children in Washington.

Decent people need to remember to speak out against racists and their dangerous messages.

There are no crimes for which our justice system fails more consistently and completely than rape and sexual assault.

Investing in soil health is an investment in future generations continuing to eat, according to David Montgomery, a University of Washington geologist. His first book, “Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations,” looked at the consequences of ignoring soil health. He recently published “Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life.”

Before 2019 goes away, Spin Control marks its highlights and low lifes.

Twenty-six students and their bus driver, plus 39 tourists and their tour guide, “were transported to Quincy Valley Medical Center for evaluation” and “temporarily sheltered in the hospital’s convalescent wing,” according to previous reporting. It sounds so simple. This is the rest of the story.

When we celebrate Jesus’ birth only as a “Jesus sweet and mild” newborn, we unconsciously dismiss the radically prophetic message his birth and whole life embodied.

Inslee’s proposed $273 million in spending on programs to potentially impact climate change this century. His supplemental budget request for protecting children and teachers in seismically unsafe schools is $10 million. And that’s only 40% of what Chris Reykdahl, state superintendent of public instruction, requested in his letter to the governor.

There was a simple question hanging fire during the House-ordered investigation Rep. Matt Shea: Would there be a last straw? Turns out the answer is no. There’s no last straw. There’s a whole bale.

This isn’t winter. This is the season of blah. The hours of blargh. The gray days of meh.

There are so many examples of Gonzaga’s game-changing moments that many folks can rattle them off with almost no thought. There’s Casey Calvary’s tip-in against Florida in 1999 that launched one of the longest continuous NCAA Tournament streaks in all of college basketball. It almost seems like yesterday, except no current Zags player had been born when Calvary was shattering backboards on national TV.