Jim Camden

Gary Locke, the son of Chinese immigrants who became Washington state’s two-term governor, is apparently President Barack Obama’s third try at filling the spot of secretary of commerce.

The city of Spokane has created a new type of parking sign in downtown, and a new parking district. And, shockingly enough, it has people confused. Drivers passing around the Fox, the Bing and the Knitting Factory may have noticed the signs and wondered, “What the …?”

Although she voted against the federal stimulus package last week and still disagrees with many things in it, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said she wouldn’t tell governors to refuse money from the bill designed to boost the economy. McMorris Rodgers, who is in Eastern Washington’s 5th District during a congressional recess, said the package has things that will help the state, such as expanded Medicaid payments, money for education and tax relief for lower-income residents.

Although she voted against the federal stimulus package last week and still disagrees with many things in it, Cathy McMorris Rodgers said she wouldn’t tell governors to refuse money from the bill designed to boost the economy.

Campaign yard signs for ballot measures proposed by Spokane Public Schools say one way the public can “Vote Yes for Kids” on March 10 is to renew the bonds. But that’s not quite accurate, even a co-chairwoman of the bond issue campaign concedes. The district is not renewing bonds, it’s selling new ones, totaling $288 million, and repaying the new bonds over 20 years.

Today's fun video: If the recession were an Oscar nominee. . .

Spokane residents would have a legal right to housing and health care, its neighborhoods would have a final say over developments in their midst, and the local environment would have a “right to exist and flourish” under a proposal that could be coming to the municipal ballot as soon as November. Those potential changes to the City Charter are contained in the most recent version of an 11-point “Spokane Bill of Rights” under discussion by Envision Spokane, an organization that has been working with community and labor groups and representatives of some neighborhood councils.

Driving past the corner gasoline station each day, watching prices ratchet up a dime at a time, it seems that it may be a curse to have a long memory. Not as in “I remember when a gallon of gas was a quarter,” although I do. More in terms of “I remember when a 10-cent increase in gasoline was a big deal.”

The proposed stimulus package before Congress could create or save 75,000 jobs in Washington state, a preliminary White House analysis says.

Washington Democrats in the Senate voted yes on the proposed economic stimulus package Tuesday while Idaho Republicans voted no.

A longtime Spokane Democratic organization handed out an award last week for the best local campaign of the 2008 season. Not surprisingly, it went to a campaign for a Democrat who won his race. Whether John Driscoll, who beat incumbent Rep. John Ahern in the 6th Legislative District squeaker, ran the best local campaign last year is, of course, debatable. It was certainly near or at the top for drama, as his election night lead all but disappeared in the later tallies and the two candidates sat through a recount.

Washington state offices will fly their flags at half-staff today in honor of a Colville resident killed last month in Iraq.

Voters in Freeman, Orchard Prairie and all three Spokane Valley school districts have until today to cast their ballots on tax measures. Residents of Spokane County Fire District 1, which serves much of the Spokane Valley, also have a maintenance and operation levy on their ballot.

With the U.S. House and Senate competing with each other to see who can add what to the stimulus package, one might think all the crazy ideas to spend taxpayer money are just about used up. One would be wrong, of course.

Inland Northwest members of the U.S. House voted against the proposed stimulus package Wednesday, saying it would spend too much on pet government programs and too little to help the economy. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers applauded President Barack Obama for trying to work with House Republicans on the package, but like all members of the GOP caucus, voted against the bill.

Inland Northwest members of the U.S. House voted against the proposed stimulus package Wednesday, saying it would spend too much on pet government programs and too little to help the economy.