Jody Lawrence-Turner

Midnight is cute and cuddly like all puppies, but she's very timid. She spent most of the time when she was out of her cage at the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service shelter trying to find a place to hide. A shelter staff member said Midnight should grow out of her timidity once she feels comfortable in a new, loving home. When she was in a quieter room, she was content to lie on a couch and be stroked from head to tail. She doesn't appear to be house trained yet. She was brought to the shelter on June 22 after being found loose in the area of 7100 N. Edmond. Anyone interested in adopting Midnight or other animals can visit the SCRAPS shelter at 2521 N. Flora Road, call the shelter at 477-2532 or visit the Web site at www.spokanecounty.org/animal. Dogs cost $75.01 to adopt, which includes a license, neutering, vaccinations, a microchip implant and a trip to the veterinarian.

Jaxon Woodward is pure basketball, all 3 feet and 11 inches of him. The 5-year-old's moves on the court mimicked those of a would-be pro.

The roar came first. Judy Scalf and her 3-year-old granddaughter, Rylee, were sitting in chairs facing each other on the covered patio of her home on Mullan Hill Road south of Spokane Tuesday night when she heard the low rumble of the coming wind.

The 5-year-old Spokane Valley girl with mitochondrial myopathy smiled brightly from the photo at Florida's Walt Disney World. The red lipstick that marked her forehead was evidence that her wish to meet Snow White had come true. Wishing Star Foundation, along with help from a group of Harley-Davidson motorcyclists, raised the money last year to help grant MaryElizabeth Smith's wish. The main symptoms of her disease are muscle weakness and wasting, and exercise intolerance.

Hearts pounded as hard as the music Friday during Tony Hawk's Boom Boom HuckJam when extreme sport athletes performed death-defying stunts amid shooting flames at the Spokane Arena. The more extreme the trick, the louder the nearly sold-out audience cheered.

Authorities say one of the most important safety steps for a bicyclist is wearing a helmet. And while helmet use isn't required everywhere, police, firefighters, school principals and the Spokane Regional Health District are urging kids to make it standard practice this summer, hoping it will become a lifelong habit and even rub off on their parents.

Parking was scarce, but the bargains were plentiful Saturday at the 12th annual Liberty Lake Community Yard Sale. You name it – household or recreational, antique or brand new, slightly odd or terribly common – the item could likely be found at one of the more than 260 homes that participated in the huge one-day event.

The 8-year-old boy ducked his head down, got over to the edge of the road and steered his soap box car straight through the finish line Saturday, beating his 12-year-old brother by mere hundredths of a second to qualify for the world championship. It was Taylor Taigen's first year competing in the All-American Soap Box Derby Race held in Spokane Valley. The 46-pound boy won the stock car division. He'll compete with hundreds of other racers at the world championship in Akron, Ohio, this August.

Sunny skies welcomed the 11th annual West Valley Days in Millwood on Saturday. "Last year it poured rain," said Billie Evers, a SCOPE volunteer. "We've got a wonderful crowd, and it looks like everyone is having fun."

A seven-minute police chase that sometimes reached speeds of 75 mph in Spokane Valley neighborhoods ended in a collision Thursday afternoon. Police avoided the wreck, but their suspect, driving a blue Chevrolet Blazer, collided with a black Honda Accord, knocking both vehicles into a power pole and a locust tree before coming to a mangled mess in the lawn at 1124 N. Locust Road.

A Spokane Valley woman's two Pomeranians left home last week, but she's pretty sure it wasn't their own four legs that carried them away. Shelley Wiemer-Martin said an anonymous tipster told her they were stolen, then possibly sold.

Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna on Thursday said the state will hold off on an investigation into misconduct allegations against Mayor Jim West until the FBI has completed its preliminary investigation of the case. The chief of the State Patrol has recommended waiting for the FBI to conduct interviews with at least two men who have said they were offered positions at City Hall after they met West through a Gay.com personal chat line.

One man was killed and a teenager injured in separate bike-car collisions this week in Spokane Valley. "Bikes come out with the good weather," said Spokane Valley police Officer Jesse DePriest. Bike-vehicle crashes "happen more often at the beginning of summer than in the end of it. People are more used to seeing them by the end."

Racers gasped for breath as they approached the finish line Saturday splattered with mud and dotted with sweat beads at the region's first outdoor adventure race. A 10-foot up-and-down climb was all that stood in their way at the end of the NIChallenge race route held in Idaho's Farragut State Park.