Amy Cannata

Where do you live? That may be the first question Crime Check operators ask late-night callers come Jan. 1.

Spokane County Interstate Fair attendance this year fell below 200,000 visits for the first time since 1968. Bad weather was partly the culprit, but the hard reality is that fair attendance has been steadily declining for years and is just half of what it was 15 years ago.

The campaign slogan was "Buses Yes," not "Light Rail Yes." Now many of the people who worked this spring to save local bus service from drastic cuts are worried about recent suggestions that part of a voter-approved sales tax increase for the Spokane Transit Authority might be used to build a light rail system.

Spokane County voters were narrowly approving a proposition to increase the local sales tax to support criminal justice and public safety Tuesday. The 0.1 percent sales-tax increase will cost consumers an additional $1 on a $1,000 purchase and raise about $6 million a year. It appeared to be passing late Tuesday night, with 52 percent supporting it and 48 percent opposing it, though thousands of absentee ballots remain to be counted.

Ah. This is the way traveling should be — a five-day, leisurely, back-road trip from Spokane to Seattle in an antique car. The AAA Centennial Reliability Run next week will be a fun (if possibly a little wet) vacation for owners of pre-1916 automobiles and a great way for the club to mark its 100th anniversary.

Local light-rail proponents are eyeing a recently passed Spokane Transit Authority sales-tax increase as a possible funding source for a proposed new rapid transit system. Voters overwhelmingly approved the 0.3 percent sales tax ($3 on a $1,000 purchase), but were never told during the campaign that part of the money might be used for light rail.

Some Spokane County voters may be confused when they see a sales-tax issue on their primary ballots. There have been no organized campaigns for or against the .1 percent sales tax increase for criminal justice and public safety, and no specific plans have been offered for how the money would be used. The sales-tax increase – which amounts to 10 cents on a $100 purchase – also faces challenges to passage from a simultaneous Spokane Valley property tax issue and lackluster response from officials in other Spokane County towns.

Grousing about high gas prices is one thing, but let them get in the way of a good vacation? Never.

A Republican Party primary race for Spokane County commissioner blew up Wednesday with news of one candidate's personal bankruptcy and controversy over how it came to light – through an opponent's supporters. District 2 candidate Mark Richard declared personal bankruptcy in 1997.

Spokane County is suing the city of Spokane for $2 million in back sewer utility payments, saying the city illegally collected a utility tax from the county for the past six years. Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to sue Spokane for the payments, because they say the city can't impose a tax on wholesale customers like the county as it can for its own residents.

Spokane County is in for significant changes come November. For the past eight years, the same three commissioners have led the county. Now two of them – John Roskelley in District 1 to the north and Kate McCaslin in District 2 to the south – are stepping down.

Spokane County commissioners approved several comprehensive plan amendments Monday, but not before changing two controversial proposals. Commissioners granted requests from property owners on Moran Prairie in south Spokane and the North Hatch neighborhood to the north of Spokane's city limits. But there was a hitch.