Amy Cannata

A lack of communication has landed the Spokane County Sheriff's Department in a position where it doesn't have the money it expected to replace the region's aging emergency communications system. While the county has earmarked more than $4 million over the next five years for the system, other jurisdictions haven't been as willing to allocate resources for the project.

The new Rural Feeder Service will help people who would otherwise lose paratransit service completely, but organizers say its early incarnation is not the final solution. The paratransit boundary change is being made to comply with the terms of a 1999 STA legal settlement regarding who would be eligible for paratransit service. At the time, STA agreed to serve people within 1 1/2 miles for five years before moving to the Americans with Disabilities Act standard of three-quarters of a mile.

The welcome wagon visited Tuesday's Spokane County commissioners' meeting. About 50 neighborhood activists wearing buttons proclaiming "Neighborhood Power" filled the gallery to greet the county's two new commissioners, Todd Mielke and Mark Richard, and to offer advice on land use issues.

Spokane's population is growing and so is the pile of garbage burned at the Waste-to-Energy Plant. Now, Spokane Regional Solid Waste System officials are starting to plan for the day when capacity at the plant runs out.

Forget about all those resolutions to stop eating chocolate. That just raises your stress level.

Emotions bubbled up a few times during incoming Spokane County Commissioner Mark Richard's swearing-in ceremony. Richard's father, retired Judge Richard Richard, presided over the event, causing a first wave of choking-up that was quickly followed by another round of tears when Mark Richard thanked his wife, Wendy, for her support.

The Spokane Transit Authority Board unanimously passed Thursday its $63 million 2005 budget. The budget provides funding to expand fixed route bus service by 10 percent starting in September and to purchase 50 new buses and six vans.

A 90-year-old Catholic priest accused of inappropriate touching has returned to his California home after an investigation found no crime had been committed. According to a Spokane Diocese press release, three altar girls from Trinity School accused the visiting Dominican priest of inappropriately hugging and pinching them after Dec. 8 Mass at St. Anthony's Catholic Church.

Spokane Transit's reserve is about to grow again. STA's proposed $63 million budget for 2005 includes 10 percent more service than this year, but also resumes a cycle of building up a reserve.

Spokane Mayor Jim West wants the city to run its own municipal court. West, Spokane County commissioners and Spokane County District Court officials met Tuesday afternoon for a tense discussion of the issue.

Spokane County commissioners decided Tuesday to sign a petition asking the Washington Department of Ecology to accept lower water quality standards for the Spokane River than those being proposed under a state environmental analysis. Ecology has been conducting an analysis of the total maximum daily load of oxygen the river should carry between the Idaho state line and Lake Spokane, a reservoir also known as Long Lake. But commissioners are concerned the results of that study would preclude the county from building a new wastewater treatment plant because the pollution limits would be tougher than they could meet.

With little fanfare, Spokane County commissioners passed a $255.8 million budget Monday after an hourlong hearing. Of that total, $122.2 million will go to the sheriff's and prosecutor's offices, parks, and other general fund departments. The remaining money will be spent on other funds like county roads and utilities.

While Spokane and Spokane Valley struggle to find money to maintain services in 2005 and beyond, Spokane County's budget will remain fairly stable next year. The county's proposed $123 million general fund budget is just a slight increase over 2004's $120 million budget.