Jim Camden

Spokane is an official Preserve America city, a federal designation that recognizes the community's work at protecting its historic structures and locations. U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton named Spokane as one of 24 communities to recently receive that status, which city officials had sought with an extensive lobbying effort and a formal application last year. U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris announced the city had received the designation Wednesday.

Smaller hospitals and clinics would get federal help to tie into the technology of some of the nation's more advanced medical centers under legislation being introduced by Sen. Maria Cantwell. During a visit to Spokane's Sacred Heart Medical Center, the Washington Democrat said spreading technology can help the hospitals cut down on errors and save lives while reducing health costs.

The congressional delegation representing the Inland Northwest is calling for a federal database to track sexual predators in the wake of the Groene tragedy. U.S. Sen. Larry Craig plans to become a co-sponsor of Dru's Law, which would establish a National Sex Offender Registry of anyone convicted of sex crimes against a minor and make that information available on the Internet. Members of the public could get the name, address, description and photograph of any sexual predator living near them, as well as details of that person's conviction and parole status.

Voting at the neighborhood polling site in Spokane County could go the way of the straw boater hat and the torchlight candidate rally as early as next year. County Auditor Vicky Dalton, Spokane's chief elections official, said she will recommend later this month that the county convert to mail ballots for all voters in 2006 rather than spend more than $500,000 for handicapped-accessible voting devices.

The wording of a ballot measure to recall Spokane Mayor Jim West can't be changed easily to speed up the process, the sponsor of the recall effort said Wednesday. Shannon Sullivan said the Spokane City Council's suggestion Tuesday that she sit down with West and work out language acceptable to both sides just doesn't make sense at this point in the legal case.

The controversy surrounding Mayor Jim West could become a prominent issue in the race to replace outgoing Spokane City Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers, one of West's toughest critics in the scandal. But other controversies are likely to arise as well, including water fluoridation, domestic partner benefits for city employees and the financial troubles of beleaguered Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co.

An e-mail released Tuesday in response to a public records request confirms that Spokane Mayor Jim West used his city computer to offer an internship to "Moto-Brock," a man he met on a gay Web site who he believed was an 18-year-old high school student. Moto-Brock was actually a forensic computer expert hired by The Spokesman-Review to verify West's identity and his activities on Gay.com, a Web site where people hook up for conversation and sex.

Three Spokane business groups urged Mayor Jim West on Monday to skip any legal appeal of the recall effort he faces and let the voters decide whether he should stay in office. The Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Spokane Area Economic Development Council and the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau sent West a letter Monday urging him to use the recall effort as the public forum he has requested to clear his name of allegations involving sexual assault and misuse of his office.

Organizers of an effort to oust Mayor Jim West were reviewing the wording of their recall petition Tuesday after receiving a green light from a judge on one of the allegations in their ballot proposal. But state election law could delay signature-gathering until at least the fall, and an election until next year, if West decides to appeal, an attorney said.

Two writers with ties to Spokane and The Spokesman-Review were working on a story that would reveal that Mark Felt was Watergate's Deep Throat, but backed away because of his declining mental abilities. Spokane author Jess Walter, whose third novel "Citizen Vince" was recently released, interviewed Felt at his California home more than a year ago when the former FBI agent's family was looking for someone to help write his story.

Elected officials in Spokane have been threatened with recall for everything from approving the West Plains garbage incinerator to making homophobic comments to escaping reporters by jumping out a courthouse window. But few have been ousted or even faced the voters in a recall vote.

WENATCHEE – The judge presiding over the trial to decide who won the 2004 governor's election expressed some skepticism Thursday about studies that show Republican Dino Rossi really got more valid votes than winner Christine Gregoire. But Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges refused Thursday to keep those studies out of the case, saying he wants "to make sure as much evidence as possible is available" for the state Supreme Court, which everyone expects will get the case after he issues his ruling as early as next week.

WENATCHEE – Republicans think there's something fishy about the absentee ballots cast last November in King County that cost Dino Rossi the governorship, and spent most of Wednesday trying to convince a trial judge to see things their way. But Democrats attacked the data the GOP wants to use to prove that point, and the Republican political strategist who is trying to present it.

WENATCHEE – Washington Republicans painted a picture Tuesday of two different ways the 2004 election was run. One was the efficient and well-managed way in Chelan County, personified by its auditor, Evelyn Arnold.

Washington's long-running election drama opens a nine-day run in Wenatchee this morning, with Republicans trying to prove that Dino Rossi is the real winner of last November's gubernatorial election. Democrats will be arguing that Christine Gregoire didn't just win the governor's mansion fair and square, but she also won it by more than the 129 votes that put her on top in the second recount.