Chad Sokol

A small plane plummeted to the ground Thursday afternoon in rural Okanogan County, catching fire and killing the pilot who was alone inside, officials said.

Firefighters had stopped the blaze from spreading by Wednesday morning, but a GPS survey now pegs the size at 155 acres, said Guy Giffords, a spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources.

A 19-year-old woman was hospitalized after crashing her car into an oncoming semi truck Wednesday morning near Sagle, Idaho.

A truck and trailer carrying a backhoe on Interstate 90 clipped a walking bridge Wednesday morning near Havana Street.

The driver suspected of steering an SUV onto a north Spokane sidewalk –  killing a 68-year-old woman and narrowly missing her great-grandson – pleaded not guilty to a vehicular homicide charge Tuesday in Spokane County Superior Court. Brandon P. Pratt, 34, is suspected of being intoxicated when the black Ford Explorer he was driving veered off North Ruby Street near Augusta Avenue and struck Marla Langley, who was taking her 2-year-old great-grandson to day care on July 28.

A 28-year-old man faces assault charges for blowing his bloody nose on a police officer and security guards who were trying to detain him early Tuesday at Deaconess Hospital.

A 40-year-old man faces two charges of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly ramming his Kia sedan into a Dodge SUV several times in a north Spokane neighborhood.

The driver suspected of steering an SUV onto a north Spokane sidewalk -- killing a 68-year-old woman and narrowly missing her great-grandson -- pleaded not guilty to a vehicular homicide charge Tuesday in Spokane County Superior Court.

Thousands of science fiction fans will descend on Spokane next week for what is expected to be among the largest conventions ever held in the city. The 73rd annual World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, starts Aug. 19 and runs through Aug. 23 at the Spokane Convention Center.

A Spokane woman survived a tumble down a steep embankment Sunday night after the SUV she was driving veered off Fernan Lake Road in Kootenai County.

Spokane firefighters reported being bitten and kicked in the face while brawling with a man they were attempting to treat Saturday on the Maple Street Bridge.

In the spring of 1781, Deborah Sampson wanted to join the fledgling army of the United States. So, she disguised herself as a man, assumed the name of her dead brother, and ventured off to the fortifications at West Point, New York. Her disguise worked, and a year later the 21-year-old helped lead about 30 infantrymen on a scouting mission to Eastchester, near the southern tip of the state, under commands from Gen. George Washington. Heading north again, they engaged in a battle against a band of British sympathizers, leaving Sampson with a bloody sword wound on her forehead. She also discovered a rifle round lodged in her upper thigh, which she dug out herself to avoid revealing her secret.

Two fires Thursday in the Mead area showed just how easily vegetation can ignite in this summer's hot and dry conditions.

State officials say they’ve crafted a plan that could improve health care for Washington’s poorest people. At a public forum Wednesday in Spokane, officials unveiled a five-year pilot program they said will curb the cost of treatment under Medicaid insurance, streamline primary care services, and reduce patient demand in emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals and nursing facilities.

Firefighters were called around 4 a.m. to the intersection of East Baldwin Avenue and North Columbus Street, where they found several apparent fire starts and labeled the blaze suspicious. At least one gasoline can also was found in the area.

In just two days, volunteer medical staff treated 3,111 patients -- free of charge -- at a pop-up health clinic at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center.

A man jumped from the Monroe Street Bridge and survived Tuesday afternoon, apparently plunging into deep water below Spokane Falls before being pulled onto the rocks by a Spokane police officer.