Bill Morlin

The names of three finalists for a vacancy on the federal bench in Eastern Washington were released Wednesday by the office of Sen. Patty Murray. The finalists are private attorneys Stan Bastian, 50, of Wenatchee, and William Etter, 58, of Spokane, and Rosanna Peterson, 57, an assistant professor at Gonzaga Law School.

A Spokane man was among seven defendants just convicted in Florida of participating in a global child pornography enterprise – an Internet operation that used sophisticated encryption and pseudonyms to avoid detection.

Dawes Eddy, a 65-year-old cost-estimator, isn’t going to let approaching old age stop him from attempting to break a world record.

A former reserve sheriff’s deputy – a fugitive twice featured on “America’s Most Wanted” – agreed Wednesday to serve 50 years in prison for raping his 10-year-old daughter and posting a video of the attack on the Internet. Kenneth John Freeman pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Spokane to two counts of production of child pornography and a third count of interstate transportation of a minor for the purpose of engaging in unlawful sexual activity.

People touched by the life of John Kuapahi Yoshikawa remembered his selfless, humble, caring and intellectual characteristics Thursday at a fog-shrouded church in northwest Spokane. They gathered from every corner of the city – a businessman, an attorney, a restaurant owner, a retired submariner, bus drivers and many others – at Community Bible Chapel for a memorial service for the 76-year-old recluse and Navy hero who died in November in the Hillyard storage unit he called home.

A 29-year-old Spokane woman and her mother were convicted today by a U.S. District Court jury of federal charges related to smuggling a monkey into the United States.

The intellectual recluse fatally overcome by smoke last month in his book-and-cardboard-stuffed rental garage in Hillyard was an American hero, but few knew it. John Yoshikawa Kuapahi, believed to be the first Asian-American assigned duty aboard a nuclear submarine, was awarded a U.S. Navy commendation for averting a “major disaster” when fire struck the USS Sargo on June 14, 1960, while it was docked in Hawaii.

FBI Special Agent Norm Brown traveled a long, exciting and sometimes dangerous series of assignments before returning to his hometown of Spokane, where he graduated from Ferris High School in 1975. There weren’t many boring days along the way, he said.

Another annual Spokane tradition – the Holiday Wine Fest – continues today, sponsored by 14 area wineries. That’s right.

A woman and her boyfriend are accused of embezzling $814,000 from two Spokane advertising agencies and using the money for down payments on houses, luxury vehicles and airline tickets for a youth football team’s trip to California. Michelle A. Wing and Kenneth Marsh are each accused in a federal indictment of conspiracy and multiple counts of bank fraud in a white-collar crime investigation handled by the FBI.

A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of animal control laws used by Spokane and Spokane County – including provisions allowing for the immediate euthanasia of cats – was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Spokane. The suit was filed by Adam Karp, a Bellingham animal-law attorney, who represents Spokane pet owner Patty Schoendorf, the only plaintiff in the suit.