Jim Camden

As the Green Party's presidential nominee, David Cobb knows he doesn't have a chance of being elected under the current electoral system. He'd like the system – from the way presidential debates are run to the way ballots are cast and counted – to change.

Republican Rep. George Nethercutt accused incumbent Sen. Patty Murray of "taxing people to death" by not supporting the tax cuts that he does. Murray's campaign shot back that she has supported plenty of tax cuts, just not all the ones that Nethercutt and the White House have been sponsoring for the nation's upper-income residents.

Candidates for governor and attorney general disagree on whether the state can prohibit gay marriages, but are unanimous in saying they will push for a state Supreme Court hearing on a ruling allowing such marriages. Wednesday's ruling, by King County Superior Court Judge William Downing, contradicts the state's Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Denying same-sex couples the right to marry violates both their state and federal constitutional rights, the judge found. The effect of the decision is on hold until the case is heard by the state Supreme Court.

Candidates for Washington's governor and attorney general disagree on whether the state can prohibit gay marriages, but they are unanimous in saying they will push for a state Supreme Court hearing on a ruling allowing such marriages. Wednesday's ruling by King County Superior Court Judge William Downing contradicts the state's Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Denying same-sex couples the right to marry violates both their state and federal constitutional rights, the judge found. The effect of the decision is on hold until the case is heard by the state Supreme Court.

Washington needs to get rid of some business tax exemptions that no longer make sense and set up "one-stop shopping" for companies that need permits to open or expand, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Christine Gregoire said Thursday. The three-term attorney general "kicked off" her campaign at a rally with about 200 people outside her alma mater, Gonzaga University Law School. Although she announced her candidacy more than a year ago, Gregoire is driving a sign-bedecked motor home around the state over the next two weeks as the Sept. 14 primary approaches.

Gubernatorial candidate Ron Sims on Wednesday called for "blowing up" Washington's tax system, trading its sales and business taxes, and part of its property taxes, for an income tax. He's betting enough voters will agree that he can win elections this September and November.

Neal Fosseen, who spent seven years as Spokane's first modern mayor and nearly five times that long as its congenial "mayor emeritus," is dead at 95. Once the nation's youngest Eagle Scout, Fosseen was a longtime patron of Scouting programs in the Inland Northwest, and a local camp was named in his honor.

The owners of River Park Square owe its former manager $6.5 million for work he performed on the downtown mall's renovation, a Spokane Superior Court jury decided Thursday. The seven-woman, five-man jury said companies affiliated with Cowles Publishing Co. should pay Bob Robideaux and his management firm the amount for extra work he did as project coordinator, project developer and construction manager of the $117 million renovation of the downtown mall.

Lawyers for the owner of River Park Square and the mall's former manager each accused the other of greed before a Spokane County Superior Court jury began deliberating Wednesday afternoon in a civil trial.

Some people who want your vote this fall have been campaigning for it for months. You may think of them as candidates. Their donors may think of them as candidates. They may think of themselves as candidates.

The suspense of this week's Democratic National Convention may have evaporated in March, when John Kerry acquired a lock on his party's presidential nomination. But the excitement still lives, particularly for Inland Northwest delegates who are heading to Boston for four days of meetings, speeches, strategy sessions and parties.

A Spokane County Superior Court jury is being asked to decide whether the owner of the River Park Square mall owes its former management firm millions of dollars for work done through late 2002. The trial began this week in the lawsuit filed in 2002 by RWR Management Inc. against the mall's development firms and its president, Elizabeth "Betsy" Cowles. Bob Robideaux, who managed the mall from 1988 until November 2002, said that work took up an increasing amount of his company's time until it was its only job.

RICHLAND – Spokane Mayor Jim West may be ordered to explain to lawyers why the city paid $32.6 million to buy out investors in the River Park Square garage. Lawyers for some of the parties in the massive legal tangle over the garage say the city was only facing liability of about $20 million. They want a federal court hearing over the "reasonableness" of the city's settlement before a trial starts in January.

ARLINGTON, Ore. – Two U.S. Marine fighter jets collided above this Columbia River town Wednesday afternoon, killing two aviators and sending a third to a hospital, reportedly with minor injuries. Witnesses said the two F-18 jets collided, broke up and burst into flames, then went down in the river just west of the steel-silo grain elevators that bear the town's name.

Homeless campers who were moved off a grassy median in downtown Spokane and are now "camping" near City Hall want to repeal a new ordinance at the November ballot box. They began collecting signatures Friday on referendum petitions to put the newly signed "transient shelter" ordinance to a vote.

Washington and Idaho senators split on a constitutional amendment against gay marriage as the proposal died a procedural death in the Senate Wednesday. But while debate over the Federal Marriage Amendment may be done for the year in Congress, it could give congressional candidates plenty to talk about in the coming months.

Gubernatorial candidate Ron Sims rode what some people believe is the third rail of Washington state politics into Spokane Tuesday. He talked about a state income tax with a group of business leaders and lived to tell about it. It's not income tax in a vacuum, Sims was quick to point out, but an income tax coupled with a lower state property tax and sales tax and a possible elimination of the business and occupation tax.

A judge and a court commissioner entered the race Monday for an opening on the Spokane County Superior Court bench. District Court Judge Harold Clarke III said Monday he will file for the seat that becomes open next year because Superior Court Judge Paul Bastine is not seeking re-election. Clarke, who was elected to the district court in 1998, currently serves as that court's presiding judge.

Riding a bicycle or skateboard without a helmet soon will be illegal in the city of Spokane. Monday night, the Spokane City Council overrode Mayor Jim West's first veto to enact a helmet law for cyclists, skaters and boarders of all ages within the city limits. The law will take effect in 30 days.

Former City Councilman Steve Eugster filed a new lawsuit Friday seeking to block upcoming city actions on the River Park Square garage. Eugster, a long-standing opponent of the project, contends in the suit that a recent report by the Internal Revenue Service means the city cannot loan money from its parking meter fund to cover some of the unpaid debts of the financially struggling garage. The IRS said bonds sold for the garage purchase were not tax-exempt.