David Wasson

Kevin O’Grady was the kind of guy who was never late. “If he told you he’d pick you up at 5 o’clock, he’d get there by 4:59,” the Air Force veteran and upholstery expert’s youngest daughter, Katy O’Grady, recalled. “He was always early.”

This would be the last winter you could use studded snow tires if Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart and others have their way. Frustrated with the millions of dollars in damage caused by the metal cleats chewing up pavement, Stuckart is hoping state lawmakers would finally agree to ban studded tires if they knew Eastern Washington’s largest city is backing the effort. But if that request falls short, he’s hoping to at least persuade them to impose hefty user fees on the tires to help offset the cost of repairing the damage.

Two historic Garland district restaurants, one a depression-era icon and the other a popular diner featured in three Hollywood films, were heavily damaged Sunday night by flames.

Don’t be surprised to see U.S. Air Force jets sharing the runway at Spokane International Airport. Eight aerial refueling tankers will be temporarily based at Spokane International this year while repairs are made to Fairchild Air Force Base’s runway and flight line.

MANAS TRANSIT CENTER, Kyrgyzstan – The slight evening drizzle had turned to a steady twilight rain, but Airman 1st Class Dustin Harder continued digging into the KC-135 aerial refueling tanker’s engines, using the jet’s broad wingspan to help stay dry. The tanker had finished a refueling mission over Afghanistan and would be needed back in the air soon, ready to deliver more fuel to thirsty fighter jets providing air cover for U.S. and coalition ground forces or to cargo planes needing to extend their flight paths.

MANAS TRANSIT CENTER, Kyrgyzstan – Taking advantage of an invitation to tour this small U.S. air base as a friend of a civilian Kyrgyz national who works here, tobacco producer Ulvgbek Abazgano took a moment to reflect as he struggled to describe what he was feeling. The roads are paved and smooth. The buildings, primarily reinforced tents and other temporary quarters common among U.S. expeditionary bases, all have hot and cold running water, flush toilets, heat and air conditioning. Food is plentiful.

VASILIEVKA, Kyrgyzstan – The youngsters at Solnyshko preschool in this impoverished village near the border of Kazakhstan were excited to see the American men and women from the nearby air base.    They giggled and clapped their hands. Fidgeted in their seats. And waited as patiently as any preschooler is able when the promise of gifts and perhaps even candy is just a few formalities away. “They’re always happy when the Americans come,” the school’s principal, Manzura Kushbaeva, said through an interpreter.

SOMEWHERE OVER AFGHANISTAN – Staff Sgt. Aaron McLaughlin eased the KC-135’s fuel boom toward the fully armed fighter jet pushing up beneath the tanker’s tail. Within moments the two aircraft were linked high above the rugged battlefields of Afghanistan as thousands of gallons of aviation fuel pumped into the F-15E Strike Eagle.

An attack at a Spokane Valley home early Sunday left a woman dead, one son on life support and a second son with a slashed neck. The suspected killer, identified as 39-year-old Jan DeMeerleer, was found dead in his Northwood-area home hours after the attack in Spokane Valley from an apparent suicide.