Jonathan Brunt

Verner's officially a candidate; so are Corker and Stuckart

When Spartan the Chihuahua dies, his owners say he deserves proper respect. Becca Gleave, her husband and her son had brought Spartan to the SpokAnimal Dog Park on Friday when a reporter approached to ask if they’d consider using a pet funeral home.

Spokane mayoral hopeful David Condon has made government salaries an early issue of his campaign, targeting specifically city employees earning more than $100,000 a year. But until taking a leave of absence to run for mayor, Condon himself earned nearly $127,000 annually as a Spokane-based federal employee serving as district director for Republican U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Additionally, he has yet to decide whether he would follow incumbent Mary Verner’s lead in capping the mayor’s annual salary to about $100,000 or take the more than $170,000 a year allocated for the job.

It seemed like a monumental task. But Spokane park leaders have built everything they promised and more with the $43 million park bond voters approved less than four years ago. The new pools, splash pads and fields, however, present the city with what might be an even bigger challenge: maintaining a costlier parks system in a down economy.

The future of a proposed white-water park in the Spokane River just downstream from downtown is in danger after state officials decided to pull a grant that was supposed to pay for nearly half the project. Spokane park leaders have appealed the decision and hope to persuade the state Recreation and Conservation Funding Board to reverse the decision at a hearing on June 23.

Spokane City Hall will be watched by at least one security guard 11 hours a day starting next month. The decision, officials say, is the result of a few incidents in recent years when employees felt threatened by visitors, including one involving a man who slammed a hatchet down on its side during an outburst in a meeting with the city’s police ombudsman.

With a nod to Lloyd Bentsen, Condon kicks off campaign and asks for cash

A section of Perry Street in north Spokane is closed this week for repairs needed after a water main break Monday morning. About 2.4 million gallons of water spewed from a broken main in the northbound lane of Perry about 4 a.m., just north of North Foothills Drive. Perry will be closed to traffic from Foothills to Fairview Avenue while city crews repair the 12-inch cast iron pipe and the damage caused by its rupture.

A section of Perry Street in north Spokane is closed this week for repairs needed after a water main break this morning.

Plans to remove a sculpture created for Expo ’74 have been put on hold while city officials explore options to save it. Spokane Arts Director Karen Mobley said Tuesday that she is working to raise the $15,000 needed to move and restore the unnamed play sculpture that park officials call “dinosaur bone.” It was created by Washington sculptor Charles W. Smith and is located in a playground on the west side of Riverfront Park.

The stylish and historic City Ramp parking garage was on the verge of demolition. A structural engineering study, after all, had recommended that the landmark art deco building in downtown Spokane be torn down.