Addy Hatch

Washington State University officials want to launch the state’s second public medical school in Spokane. “We can do better as a state to infuse more physicians into the marketplace,” said WSU President Elson Floyd. “We will look at establishing a new medical school for our state – a new, independently accredited one sponsored by WSU.”

Tensions between the University of Washington and Washington State University over the future of medical education in Spokane became apparent again Wednesday when UW announced an initiative called Next Generation WWAMI. The three-page news release mentioned WSU just once, and didn’t address at all “some fairly significant questions” about the Spokane school’s control over medical education on its campus, said WSU Spokane Chancellor Lisa Brown – questions she said she and WSU President Elson Floyd raised with UW administrators in a March 12 meeting.

For some Best of Broadway ticket holders, this week’s show is “Goodbye, Dolly.” Or alternately, “Hello, Russell.”

Washington’s child protective services will handle some cases of child neglect or mistreatment differently under a new program rolling out in Spokane and two other locations. Automatic investigations by social workers will be replaced with referrals to services that might help a family through whatever trouble they’re experiencing. It’s a less adversarial approach that’s been successful in keeping families together in other states, said Connie Lambert-Eckel, regional administrator for the state Children’s Administration in Eastern Washington.

The estate of an Eastern State Hospital patient who was strangled by another patient is suing the facility, saying its personnel failed to adequately supervise criminally insane patients. In a federal lawsuit filed Friday afternoon, the estate of Duane Charley alleged that Eastern State allowed dangerous patients to keep extension cords, belts, scarves and other potential weapons in their rooms.

The estate of an Eastern State Hospital patient who was strangled by another patient is suing the facility, saying its personnel didn’t adequately supervise criminally insane patients.

Spokane’s downtown Visitor Information Center has closed in favor of information kiosks in local malls and a mobile center that’s expected to debut in the spring. Located at Browne Street and Main Avenue – both one-way streets – the center was too hard to get to from Interstate 90, said Tim Robinson, Visit Spokane’s director of communications.

Spokane County’s housing market is one of the most affordable in the state for both middle-income families and first-time buyers, a new report says. The Housing Market Snapshot from the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington says the median resale price of a home in the county was $181,700 in the third quarter. That compares with a median resale price of $438,000 in King County and $228,300 in Pierce County.

An Airway Heights prison inmate who died while clearing state land in Stevens County last week was hit by a falling tree, the Stevens County coroner said Friday.

An Airway Heights prison inmate died today while clearing land for the state Department of Natural Resources.

A new federal indictment against jailed developer Greg Jeffreys and his wife accuses the couple of defrauding a local bank to buy pieces of the troubled Ridpath hotel. A second indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Spokane accused him and co-defendant and girlfriend Shannon Stiltner of conspiracy and criminal contempt for violating a federal judge’s order prohibiting the pair from communicating.

If you followed the news last week, or even if you didn’t, you could be a winner in our news quiz. Try the newspaper version, then go online to www.spokesman.com/newsquiz for the interactive version, where top entries go into a drawing for a $50 gift card to the Davenport Hotel, and all entries this week go into a drawing for movie tickets. 1. A group of ranchers near Odessa, Wash., launched what new cooperative venture?

A Spokane waiter got a $500 tip Tuesday night when Aaron’s Last Wish visited The Flying Goat restaurant.

Spokane County commissioners have made an offer they hope the city of Spokane can’t refuse: to split new revenue from development of the West Plains. The county and Spokane International Airport have about 5,600 acres of prime land on the West Plains that is zoned for light industrial uses and served by the airport, an interstate highway and rail lines. While the land sits in the unincorporated county, sewer and water service comes from the city of Spokane.

The Royal Fireworks Concert, a midsummer tradition for many Inland Northwest residents, may be taking its final bow.

The City of Spokane’s four golf courses could have new names under a proposal announced Tuesday to sell naming rights in exchange for “significant capital investment” in the facilities.

Spokane City Forum, a long-running speaker series sponsored by downtown Spokane’s First Presbyterian Church, is ending. The series will finish its 16th season with an address Wednesday by Spokane Public Schools Superintendent Shelley Redinger.