Jonathan Brunt

All in

If the ghost that haunted Elizabeth McLanahan at her Cheney home in 1909 is still around, he’s not doing much harm. Unless you’re concerned about needlessly depleting the water supply.

For many residents of the Carlyle Care Center, choices are limited – and often harsh. Without the Carlyle, Priscilla Shadowens said, “I’d be homeless.”

The battle for the empty Spokane City Council seat representing northeast Spokane pits the right-hand man of Washington’s most famous political operative against a relative newcomer to city politics. Mike Fagan is a co-director of Voters Want More Choices. That’s Tim Eyman’s political action committee, which has successfully placed several initiatives on the state ballot that limit taxing authority of government officials.

Like most people running for elected office, both candidates seeking a City Council seat representing northwest Spokane say public safety is No. 1. But incumbent Nancy McLaughlin said that priority can’t be trumped by economic reality. She said if the Spokane Police Guild rejects contract concessions, she likely will support Mayor Mary Verner’s plan to eliminate 22 police officer positions because of a budget shortfall in 2010. Shifting resources from other departments with employees who made contract concessions would send the wrong message to other workers, McLaughlin said.

The fault line in the race for a City Council seat representing southern Spokane is at Palouse Highway and Regal Street. Last year, Councilman Mike Allen voted to change rules to allow construction of big-box stores near the intersection.

An unraveled real estate deal that would have expanded a new city park has angered neighborhood leaders in northwest Spokane and, officials say, led to last week’s forced resignation of the parks director. The bureaucratic fiasco also reawakened tough questions about oversight of Spokane’s nationally recognized park system.

Spokane police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick on Wednesday downplayed suggestions that she is actively pursuing work outside Spokane, but she acknowledged applying for the top cop job in San Francisco and being recruited for many others. In an e-mail sent to her full department and other city leaders, Kirkpatrick said that she’s open to other job opportunities as they come her way, but that she is not actively pursuing them and does not consider herself “looking” for a new position.