Jonathan Brunt

The activists who made headlines last year in a clash with police at the Fourth of July celebration in Spokane's Riverfront Park marched peacefully through the streets and into the park Friday evening. Dozens of self-described anarchists met under the Maple Street Bridge in Peaceful Valley around 5 p.m. They marched over the Monroe Street Bridge, through downtown and to the Clocktower in Riverfront Park.

An early-morning fire Friday caused extensive damage to the home of Spokane Valley City Councilman Dick Denenny. Denenny and his wife, Kathy, were at their other residence in Spirit Lake with their son, daughter and grandchildren at the time of the fire.

Tom Westbrook handed out about 30 pieces of cardboard, each containing a few lines from the Declaration of Independence. The crowd was ready for the main event – a communal reading of the 232-year-old statement – at the 45th annual Freedom at the Arboretum at Finch Arboretum in Spokane on Friday. Westbrook took the microphone: "As we're doing this, be mindful that it took a lot of courage," he said. "Some of us occasionally write a letter to the editor and get nasty phone calls. But these people really put something on the line."

From the street, Spokane County's 113-year-old courthouse tower looks to be in fine shape. Up close, however, slate on the roof looks loose and in danger of falling. Gaps appear between mortar and rooflines. Evidence abounds of water leaks.

What a difference a year makes. Last summer, Spokane's swimming pools were crumbling, and plans to replace them were uncertain. Worse, the city's indoor and outdoor pools at Shadle Park and all 12 of its wading pools had been closed for good.

A racing enthusiast outbid by Spokane County for Spokane Raceway Park in April apparently still hopes to buy the track. Deer Park businessman Don Morse is leading an effort to pay the county $2.2 million for a 200-acre tract that includes the Airway Heights raceway, according to Morse's attorney, Douglas J. Edwards. The offer is $300,000 less than the county paid based on the winning per-acre bid for the raceway and other surrounding parcels.

A plan to build a science museum at Riverfront Park is facing renewed scrutiny after the nonprofit group raising money for the project missed a May fundraising deadline by more than $3 million. The deadline for Mobius Spokane to collect $14 million was set in 2006 by the Spokane Park Board. The resolution approved by the board said Mobius' lease of parkland on the north bank of the Spokane River would be invalidated if the goal wasn't met. The north bank property off Washington Street is where Mobius had hoped to open a science center in 2010.

A hastily built wall of sandbags gave Mary Faulhaber hope Thursday that she'll make it through the weekend without her Peaceful Valley home flooding. "The neighborhood really rallied," said Faulhaber's daughter, Deanna Smulan, explaining that friends, neighbors and others spent a couple of hours laying the sandbags Wednesday evening. "The response has just been overwhelming."

The run-down raceway purchased by Spokane County likely can reopen this year, with some paint, elbow grease and safety improvements. That's the initial conclusion of three consultants hired by the county to determine what work can be done quickly – and at what cost – to allow an opening this summer. Although the specific cost still is being tabulated, earlier estimates indicate it could be at least half a million dollars in the first year.