Megan Cooley

Jesse Garland and Kelli Cook's friendship started on North Central High School's stage almost a decade ago. Although Cook was just a freshman on the crew of the production of "Our Town," Garland, a senior, befriended her.

Heather Davis and at least five of her neighbors received a letter Thursday that gives new meaning to the phrase "junk mail." It accused the 26-year-old mother of violating the city's nuisance code by leaving an unused junk vehicle and other unsafe and unattractive items in her yard.

I have a habit of reading through Wednesday's IN Food section, drooling over delicious recipes and then completely forgetting to clip them out. The next day, the newspaper is in the recycle bin and I'm eating leftover chicken. Again.

Spokane Valley. Home of safe neighborhoods, good schools and … a thriving arts community? Not quite. Members of the Spokane Valley Arts Council want to change the city's culture-deprived reputation. They want to see more public art displays, they hope to nab arts funding, and they plan to serve as a clearinghouse for Spokane Valley's creative crowd.

Chuck and Janet Hafner's one-acre yard is a retired couple's paradise. In the middle, vegetables grow in a small garden. In the back, pins mark Chuck Hafner's miniature golf course. And near the house, 69-year-old Janet Hafner's dozen or so plastic pink flamingos stand stiff-legged, their beaks poking toward the grass. Chuck Hafner, 72, likes his large lot in Spokane Valley's Ponderosa neighborhood and doesn't want to worry every time a neighbor sells a house that a developer will replace it with six.

Running the city of Spokane Valley last year turned out to be cheaper than predicted. Officials from the 14-month-old city touted that as good news last week and said 2003s lower-than-expected expenses will improve its financial forecast. But Spokane County Commissioner John Roskelley warned that if the city continues saving money by cutting services, as he asserted it has, citizens will suffer. Roskelley is especially concerned about filling potholes, sweeping streets and performing other road repairs, which Spokane County does for Spokane Valley under contract. The city had budgeted $1.7 million for street maintenance last year, but spent less than $900,000.

With her mom, Breanna Ahlgren, 9, made checkmarks on a poster at the Valley library branch Thursday. The two were browsing for books when they saw a Spokane County Library District open house in session. The poster asked questions about how patrons liked the library's services. Breanna checked "very satisfied" in most categories, until she was asked if parking at the branch was convenient.

For many Spokane Valley businesspeople, the Sprague-Appleway couplet is the enemy. Since Spokane County built the roadway in 2000, they've blamed its two one-way roads — and their lower traffic counts — for the demise of several stores. But a group of businesspeople met Wednesday to kick off a campaign supporting the couplet and calling for its extension two miles eastward.