Kim Barker

Ashley

Afflicted with the disease since her teens, Marge Garrett was instrumental in founding and running the Greater Spokane chapter of the American Lupus Society. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Every Thursday, new doctors studying internal medicine gather at either Deaconess or Sacred Heart to listen to the morning report. Half leave their hospital and make the trek each week, leaving a skeleton crew behind for emergencies. But today, for the first time, the internal-medicine residents will go to class in a new way - they won't leave either hospital.

1. 'The Ritz' of emergency rooms. A trauma patient is wheeled into Sacred Heart Medical Center's new state-of-the-art emergency room. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review 2. Tim Cox watches surveillance monitors in Sacred Heart's new Security Dispatch Center.

His office is tucked in the Spokane County Courthouse mailroom, behind a nondescript door that's usually closed. There's no sign, nothing identifying this as the Spokane County coroner's office, cloistered down a narrow hallway from the rest of his staff.

George Johnson is recovering from minimally invasive heart surgery performed in Octorber. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

They line up six days a week to swallow Dixie cups of reddish liquid that tastes like old cough syrup and stops them from sticking needles in their veins.

The competitive line that once separated Spokane-area hospitals could blur even more. Sacred Heart Medical Center and Holy Family Hospital, already jointly operated by the Sisters of Providence, are taking steps to share more services.

Grateful survivor. Doug Tapscott pauses between doctor appointments to enjoy the billboard his family put up across from Sacred Heart Medical Center. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review <

Craig Hopkins gets his blood pressure checked while working out on a treadmill at the Heart Institute. Hopkins received a new heart through LifeCenter Northwest. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Participants in three Spokane rallies Sunday will celebrate or mourn the 24th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision legalizing abortion. For the first time, abortion opponents will march to the Planned Parenthood Clinic at 123 E. Indiana to protest the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision of Jan. 22, 1973. An abortion-rights group is planning a counter-demonstration.

Geraghty

1. Re-enacting the Magi's journey. Followed by its owner, Esther Parks, an alpaca leaves the sanctuary of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church after starring in Sunday's Epiphany service. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 2. David Lange tosses Christmas tree branches onto a fire during an Epiphany service Sunday evening at Emmanuel Lutheran Church.

One garbage can was filled with dog ears. Another can served as a makeshift grave for several dead puppies.

Tim Myers, club secretary of the Spokane Hells Angels, talks with his lawyer, Bevan Maxey, during his murder trial last spring. Myers was acquitted of first-degree assault and second-degree murder. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Amend

Drunken drivers will have a tough time finding a free ride on New Year's Eve. Only towing companies are still banding together to offer drinking drivers free rides and tows home within Spokane limits.

A view from inside the bomb-gutted lobby of the Valley's Planned Parenthood office. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

1. Chris Keeling, left, and Tim Westberry of Western Security Service stand guard outside U.S. Bank's Valley branch. Guards patrol the bank around the clock. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 2. Above: Crews install a protective coating on the windows of the U.S. Court House in Spokane. The coating should prevent glass from shattering in an explosion. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 3. Left: A billboard in Oklahoma City commemorates last year's bombing. Photo by Associated Press

The first weakened flu vaccine ever detected by scientists may have been used by two Spokane hospitals, but officials are not recommending re-vaccinating most people. Only Deaconess Medical Center and the Valley Medical Center and Hospital used the Fluogen vaccine, made by the Parke-Davis division of Warner Lambert Co. Eleven lots of the vaccine - about 5 percent to 7 percent of all 75 million doses of flu vaccine produced this season by four companies - were found to provide less resistance to one of three influenza strains.

Anderson

Brian Anderson admitted getting high, stealing a woman's pickup truck and credit cards, having sex with her and leaving her bound to a tree with wire and duct tape. But he denied kidnapping or raping the woman, testifying Monday in Spokane County Superior Court that she never said "no" and encouraged him - even tying up her own legs.

Mary Cooper Jewett Gaiser, a longtime ambassador to the Spokane arts community known for her wit, compassion and generosity, died Sunday at Deaconess Medical Center. She was 95. Gaiser won a trophy case full of awards through community service and served many charitable groups, from Meals on Wheels to United Way. For decades, the civic leader supported organizations like the YWCA and Spokane Symphony.

Sherry O'Russa, front left in blue coat, and a group of about 40 Christmas carolers sang Sunday eventing through Browne's Addition. The annual event was part of "Come Home for the Holiday" festivities at the Campbell House. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review