Jim Camden

Kellie Raines waits to talk to a welfare caseworker about a reduction in her benefits. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

1. Skaggs 2. Ruch 3. Marx 4. Washington

Building, business lobbies led way, setting up 28 committees to run independent campaigns Business groups trying to elect Republicans to the Legislature created two dozen special political committees last fall that spent more than a half-million dollars on independent campaigns. Critics call it a way around the state's strict limits on campaign contributions, allowing big donors to hide contributions behind obscure organizations with innocuous-sounding names.

Independent campaigns can sometimes backfire, hurting the candidate they intend to help. That may have been the effect of Citizens Against a Third Runway, a committee set up last fall by United for Washington, the state's largest pro-business group, and the Building Industry Association of Washington.

Locke

Rep. George Nethercutt greets 18-year-old Sean Poole, left, and Jared Starr, Wednesday afternoon before their group's presentation on prison reform at North Central High School. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

(From For the Record, March 26, 1997:) Misidentified: Napoleon Bailey, accused of sexual assault, is a master sergeant at Fairchild Air Force Base. A headline in Tuesday's Spokesman-Review misidentified him. Bailey

Citing a "crisis in confidence" over the government's response to Gulf War syndrome, Sen. Patty Murray is asking the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee to hold hearings in Washington state. In a recent letter to the committee's chairman, the Seattle Democrat asked for as many as two hearings in the state this July as the panel conducts a yearlong investigation into the wideranging physical problems many veterans report.

The desire to replace trees damaged by November's ice storm is so strong that a Kentucky organization is extending its disaster program for Inland Northwest residents. David Wright of the Ecology Crossroads Arbor Day Disaster Aid office in Berea, Ky., said that program has received more than 700 requests from this region in the last two weeks.

Homecoming. Medal of Honor recipient Bud Day shakes the hands of a few admirers outside the new classroom building at the Survival School named in his honor. A veteran of three wars, he is the most decorated officer in America. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review <

Crocker

Locke

Renovation of the plaza in front of the federal courthouse is one of the factors adding to delays getting into the building. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Former House Speaker Tom Foley, rumored to be in line to become U.S. ambassador to Japan, was honored last year by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto for promoting friendly relations between the two nations. File/The Spokesman-Review

Garland Enberg and Bob Frazier with a 10-inch shell from the USS Maine. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

The prime sponsor of a plan to ban campaign donations from Indian tribes may revise the bill rather than face a court fight that tribes say they'll file. Sen. Bob McCaslin and other Republicans deny there's anything racist about the bill, scheduled for a hearing this morning in front of the Government Operations Committee which he chairs.

Rep. Jennifer Dunn addresses the Valley Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

FOR THE RECORD (February 18, 1997): Correction: Monday stories about Gulf War syndrome incorrectly described acetaminophen as an anti-inflammatory drug. It is an antipyretic and analgesic. 1. Dr. Howard Platter of the Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center says he listens to his Gulf War veteran patients describe their symptoms and "I believe them." Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. (photo of Dr. Mark Mendez-Vigo)

1. Before his doctor put him on doxycycline, Gulf War veteran David Achtemeier could barely drag himself out of bed to do his household chores. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. Achtemeier gets ready to jump out of a plane over Arkansas during his ranger training in 1990. Photo courtesy of David Achtemeier 3. Alex Hart, 3, loves to pretend he's an Airborne ranger. The boy's stepfather, David Achtemeier, says he served in the Persian Gulf when his commander told him "if you don't go, your children will have to." 4. David Achtemeier has his hands full with his three stepchildren and one of their friends as they turn him into a human jungle gym. Achtemeier feels much better since beginning treatment for Gulf War syndrome. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 5. Three-year-old Alex Hart gets some of the same rashes, such as the bump on his right hand, that have afflicted his stepfather, Gulf War veteran David Achtemeier. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 6. Achtemeier comforts his stepdaughter, Samantha Hart, after she bumped her head while playing.

Gulf War syndrome could be caused by something as common as a fly, as frightening as half-used uranium, as ironic as a drug used to keep troops safe from a chemical attack that never came. Or did it? Some experts say the fatigue, nausea, pains and confusion suffered by some veterans are the result of low levels of chemical or biological weapons released from Iraqi missiles or the destruction of that country's weapons stockpiles.

For years, Gulf War veterans suffering from unexplained medical problems felt alone. Now a wide range of government and independent groups offer information, assistance and counseling, either by phone or on the Internet.

1. Becky Atkinson describes her headaches for a nurse at the Veterans Administration Medical Center. Atkinson served as a telecommunications specialist in the Persian Gulf War. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. Atkinson checks paperwork as she waits to see a doctor at the VA Medical Center. Helping her are Bobbi Nichols and Atkinson's husband, Tom. 3. Dale Belieu of Orofino, Idaho, landed in the VA Medical Center last month when his symptoms prompted his girlfriend, Bobbi Nichols, to insist that he get medical care. 4. Tony Willner began suffering flu-like symptoms in 1992. "I felt like I was dying. I felt like something was eating my spine," he said. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

The 92nd Medical Group and seven top workers at Fairchild Air Force Base received awards Thursday in a ceremony at the base. The medical group, which operates the base hospital, was the winner of the Neal Fosseen Award, given to the unit that does the most to foster good relations between Fairchild and the Spokane community.

The political war against "corporate welfare" made strange bedfellows Tuesday. Environmentalists and citizen activists joined with constitutional conservatives, asking that some large government subsidies end.