Benjamin Shors

In case of a catastrophic diesel spill, a $42-million state-of-the-art refueling depot sitting atop the region's aquifer may rely on little more than single-walled plastic piping, according to state documents and reports from the railroad's consultants. Despite a recommendation from a state environmental engineer, Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. placed no containment barrier beneath a system of pipes leading from a refueling platform to a cluster of lined tanks. If a spill occurs on the platform, the diesel fuel will be ferried by the plastic pipes about 400 feet to a holding tank, according to reports from the company's engineering consultant.

Two environmental groups called for an independent investigation on Wednesday into a leak at a railroad refueling depot that has apparently breached the region's drinking water supply. Friends of the Aquifer and the local chapter of the Sierra Club asked Kootenai County commissioners to investigate the leak at Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co.'s refueling depot near Rathdrum, Idaho.

On Aug. 31, railroad officials opened the doors to a new refueling depot with a state-of-the-art containment system designed to ensure the safety of a massive drinking water supply below. "It was emphasized repeatedly the fail-safe system they put in there," said Buell Hollister, an environmental activist. "We went away from there really assured that they had a highly sophisticated system in place."

On a summer evening in 1998, Chuck Fulkrug stumbled into the Union Gospel Mission – homeless, desperate and struggling with alcoholism. He had no idea his time there would lead to television. After two years at the men's shelter, Fulkrug went from a life on the streets to a full-time job as a security guard and a newly purchased home.

This fall, when Nancy Bottke's fiance lost his job as a landscaper, leaving the couple and her son to survive on about $1,000 a month, she made a curious decision: She decided to volunteer. Bottke, a 38-year-old former carnival worker, spends 40 hours a week stacking toys and lending a hand in a cavernous warehouse at the Christmas Bureau.

Spokane's United Way chapter has announced steep cuts this month to dozens of social service programs in anticipation of more fund-raising woes. The chapter said it will reduce allocations to health and social services agencies next year by 18 percent, or about $360,000.

At the Kiev Market, between the rows of sesame calach and Ukrainian chocolates, talk this week has inevitably turned to the protests a world away. Nick Grishko, the store's 31-year-old owner, has marveled at the sheer number of people braving the December cold in Kiev's Independence Square.

Republican Dino Rossi secured a net increase of 13 votes in Spokane County as exhausted election officials finished their recount Tuesday in the closest governor's race in state history. Statewide, Rossi added 55 votes to his lead over Democrat Christine Gregoire, The Spokane recount added 255 votes to the county's totals, after election workers reviewed ballots that had marks too faint or inconclusive for new optical scanning machines to read. In the recount, Rossi picked up 134 votes in Spokane County. Gregoire tallied an additional 121 votes. In the past four days, county election workers counted 203,878 ballots – six more than the original tally.

Linda Gow works from her home in the pine trees west of Spokane, down a quiet gravel road that ends in a cluster of well-kept dog runs. In recent years, she has fed, walked and trained hundreds of abandoned dogs. She has set up heat lamps to keep them warm, shuttled them to veterinarians, and scrutinized potential owners before allowing the animals to be adopted.

Here's a task: Dispense 5,000 frozen turkeys to more than a dozen counties separated by hundreds of miles of roads. The turkeys must be transported in refrigerated trucks – too warm and you run the risk of bacteria. You must coordinate the deliveries to various food banks timed to clients' arrival. You must budget the cost of gasoline – $2 a gallon – for a fleet of 14 trucks.

BERLIN, Germany _ Once a wall ran down Bernauer Street. It stretched both north and south, and it divided the street, and then the city, and then the world's superpowers. People died in the shadow of the 12-foot wall, gunned down by guards trying to stop them from scrambling to democracy. U.S. presidents stood at its foot and railed against communism, against a government that would imprison its people behind a wall. When the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, throngs of jubilant Germans separated for decades rushed to reunite. Americans celebrated it as a victory for democracy. Revelers tore the wall apart with sledgehammers and pickaxes.

Sandra Martin has become a master of camouflaging foods that her picky sons don't like. She sneaks powdered milk into homemade ice cream. She grinds up tofu and mixes it with hamburger.

Two coffee drinkers at Spokane's downtown Starbucks represented a divided America coming together the day after what many see as the most important presidential election in generations. Retired banker Paul Kennedy had voted for President George Bush. Retired teacher Ron Miller voted for Sen. John Kerry. They shared a table Wednesday morning and discussed their frustrations with American politics, the news media and the candidates.

LANDSTUHL, GERMANY – In a corner bed of Room 205, Spc. Yancie Baker waited for his transport flight back to the United States and wondered about life with one eye. "My left eye's gone," the 25-year-old Fort Lewis, Wash., soldier said. "It's life. As long I ain't dead, right?"

gfgfgfgffg LANDSTUHL, GERMANY – In a corner bed of Room 205, Spc. Yancie Baker waited for his transport flight back to the United States and wondered about life with one eye. "My left eye's gone," the 25-year-old Fort Lewis, Wash., soldier said. "It's life. As long I ain't dead, right?"