Dan Hansen

Travelers soon will have a cheaper alternative than cabs or private shuttles for getting to and from Spokane International Airport. The Spokane Transit Authority plans to provide airport bus service beginning Aug. 13. Riders will pay 75 cents to take the bus between the airport and downtown, compared to $8.75 for a private van service or about $15 for a taxi.

In a case strikingly similar to one sending a father to prison, another Spokane man has admitted severely injuring his infant daughter because she wouldn't stop crying. David A. Lee, 22, is charged with second-degree child assault for squeezing 2-1/2-month-old Alicia Lee so hard he broke five of her bones. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 3-1/2 years in prison.

Holly Hollenback, 18, gets help from an STA worker. "I guess I like it - it's different," Hollenback says of the new station. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review

The Spokane City Council will decide tonight whether to pursue a money-saving partnership with three county fire districts.

Here's how construction costs for the Spokane Transit Authority's $20.6 million downtown bus station compare with other recent public projects: Spokane Arena (1995), $45 million; Foley Center library at Gonzaga University (1992), $20 million;

Here are some of the more commonly asked questions about the Spokane Transit Authority's new downtown bus station. Q. Where do I catch my bus downtown? A. At one of 10 loading zones on Sprague and Riverside avenues outside the station. The zones have electronic signs (not yet in operation) to help riders spot their buses.

1. Workers spent Saturday preparing the STA Plaza for this morning's grand opening. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 2. Jim Crownover tops off the preparations. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Grinalds

More than 100 people filled the Spokane City Council chambers Monday night to argue about the city's proposal to annex 212 acres of pastoral Glenrose Prairie. They included polished attorneys, persuasive developers and descendants of pioneers. There were shaky-voiced retirees, determined homemakers and urban refugees.

Many Spokane police officers want City Councilman Chris Anderson removed from the Police Pension Board, saying he discloses information that should be kept private and talks disparagingly of police. "You have numerous policemen down there who are in a lynching mood, for you," Cpl. Mark Wheelwright, a member of the pension board, told Anderson during Thursday's board meeting. Another officer, Capt. Chuck Bown, sent a letter to Mayor Jack Geraghty on Thursday saying that 75 percent of the officers hired before 1977 - those whose pensions are administered by the board - have signed petitions asking for Anderson's removal.

Councilman Chris Anderson says use of consultant Cary Bozeman a mistake. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane attorney Bob Henderson died Wednesday in San Diego. The San Diego County Medical Examiner had not yet performed an autopsy Thursday afternoon, and the cause of death was not known. Henderson, 51, was being treated for congenitive heart disease at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, said his former wife, Mary Owen.

1. (Color) Chilean Flamingos at Walk in the Wild could soon have a new home. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Brandon Baughman watches an elk behind fencing at Walk in the Wild zoo on Wednesday. Lee Baughman says he and son Brandon are zoo regulars. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Dan Dunn and 3-month-old Nelson search for family members while taking in the sights at Neighbor Days in Riverfront Park. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

1. Fishermen search for walleye in the Columbia near Northport in early June. The mountains of northwestern Washington rise in the background. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. A family motors from the Spokane River into the Columbia for fishing. 3. At Wells Dam, trout in the hatchery ponds await release into the Columbia. 4. Writer Hansen on the water. 5. A cotote watches warily from the rugged hillside along Rufus Woods Lake upstream from Chief Joseph Dam. 6. Golfers play at Desert Canyon Golf Course, which overlooks the Columbia near Orondo, Wash. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

The dam workers were expecting us and arrived at the boat launch about the time we beached. They loaded our inflatable boat onto their flatbed pickup, drove a half mile around the dam and the Wanapum Indian village at its west end and unloaded the boat on the downstream side. "You should have good current the rest of the trip," said one of the men.

1. Some fishermen tell tall tales, but at least one has photographs of 35 years of sturgeon fishing on the Columbia River. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. A pelican glides along the river.

Bighorn sheep scramble along the Columbia north of Vantage. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

1. Vantage point Ancient basalt cliffs flank boaters who travel into Vantage, Wash., on the Columbia River. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Bryan Stockdale has big plans for Vantage, but so did three generations of his family.

1. Orchardist Grady Auvil of Orondo, Wash., was a pioneer in growing Granny Smith apples. He's now emphasizing Fuji and Gala apples. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Former farm worker Portfirio Covarrubias now owns his own small orchard. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

Fruit trees aren't all that's sprouting from the desert near Orondo. "Sun, sand, sagebrush and 7,500 yards of lush green grass," reads an advertisement for Desert Canyon Golf Course and development. Water sucked from the Columbia River - about two miles west of the course - makes the fairways and greens lush. Some of the water is dyed blue and pumped over manmade falls near the entrance. The course, a par 72 that opened last year, was rated second-best in the state by Golf Digest. That's good enough to draw plenty of wellheeled duffers from the coast.

1. (Photo of tombstone) 2. "Our people say the river must take someone, a sacrifice, every once in a while so the people will understand its strength," says Nez Perce John Grant, whose son, Johnnie Grant, drowned while fishing the Columbia. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review

For 130 miles, the outboard motor had created our current on the Columbia River. Its throaty roar drowned out the water noises and sent wildlife fleeing, often before we knew whether a deer was a buck. But once below Grand Coulee Dam and its reservoir, we entered narrow, moving water. I ripped the starter cord and chugged to midstream before killing the motor. The inflatable boat traveled at river speed - about 4 mph - and spun with the whirlpools.

1. (This color photo appeared on page A1) Grand Coulee Dam atracts tourists from around the world. See story B3. 2. Grand Coulee Dam draws tourists from across thwe nation and around the world. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review