John Stucke

Gene McKay sees beauty in every old part – a rust-colored fender, a worn steering wheel, a tarnished headlight. When brought together in the restoration of a classic, every discarded piece has a role. McKay should know. He has been rebuilding old cars for much of his life – first as a mechanically gifted teen under the tutelage of a big brother, then as a retired engineer and president of the local chapter of Hudson-Essex-Terraplane Motor Club.

GRAND COULEE, Wash. – On a hill above the biggest hydropower dam in the country, local residents are building another ambitious project to better lives and bolster the economy. At a cost of $25 million, the new Coulee Medical Center is expected to be a showpiece of what’s

The incoming Catholic bishop of Spokane is undaunted by the challenges of leading a cash-strapped church in the aftermath of bankruptcy brought on by the clergy sex abuse crisis. Bishop Blase J. Cupich, 61, said he is adept at doing more with less in western South Dakota, where he was bishop of Rapid City.

The Shriners Hospital for Children in Spokane begins billing insurance companies next week, a major change for a charitable organization that for decades cared for children with crippling bone, joint and muscle problems, and absorbed the expense. Soaring health care costs, declining membership and the deep recession weakened the proud fraternity whose members wear fezzes, zoom around on scooters and carts in parades to the delight of children, sponsor college football’s East-West Shrine game, and helped underwrite ticket sales to circuses across the country.

Emergency rooms in Spokane are busier than ever as annual visits to the four main hospitals have topped 230,000. What’s driving the numbers? Though the swell of uninsured and poor people in waiting rooms is certainly a cause, it’s not so simple.