Mike Prager

Marvel Comics wasted no time in offering its help to President Barack Obama, and in the process, the comic book publisher may have created a cult classic. Its latest edition of “The Amazing Spider-Man” has Obama being saved from a look-alike imposter.

Marvel Comics wasted no time in offering its help to President Obama, and in the process, the comic book publisher may have created a new cult classic.

Dense fog freezing to power lines continued to cause widespread outages in northern Lincoln County on Tuesday while weather forecasters said the fog should disappear by Thursday, to be replaced by a chance of snow and renewed cold over the weekend. Nearly 2,200 customers of Avista Utilities and Inland Power and Light Co. were without power for part of the day on Tuesday. Avista reported that it shut down a major transmission line to remove ice that was weighing on the lines. Power to about 1,600 customers was restored shortly before 3 p.m.

The bowels of the Interplayers theater in downtown Spokane look something like a flea market. Used furniture lines the basement. Clothing is crammed on racks on the mezzanine. Empty paint buckets and electrical fixtures are scattered around.

Highway traffic in and out of the Seattle region was shut down Thursday because of flooding and closed mountain passes, idling truckers in Spokane and across the state.

After a month of record-breaking wintry weather, Wednesday’s big thaw busted up a few layers of snow and ice that have choked thoroughfares and threatened roofs with collapse. But the disruption brought by weather wasn’t over: Spokane Public Schools planned to close today for more snow and ice removal.

A storm expected to arrive this morning should bring significant precipitation and above-freezing temperatures, adding weight to already-strained roofs and raising the risk of street and small-stream flooding. Weather officials said the snow on the ground – 25 inches Monday at Spokane International Airport – should absorb much of the new precipitation.

The weight of accumulating snow continued to take its toll on Inland Northwest businesses Friday with a series of roof collapses apparently triggered by 4 to 6 inches of new snow that fell early in the day. Fire officials said they are worried that additional snow this weekend could set off more collapses.

The weight of accumulating snow continued to take its toll on Inland Northwest businesses today. Firefighters at 10:12 a.m. were called to a roof collapse at Buck's Tire and Automotive at 918 W. Mallon Ave. and found the owner, who had been up on the roof, uninjured. Jeff Roma, the owner, said, "I heard it start to go and I had to get off." In Coeur d'Alene, a business owner and his dog escaped a building as the roof starting collapsing.

A cutting torch being used to rebuild a collapsed awning may have sparked the three-alarm fire Tuesday at a cold storage business that took 14 of the city’s 17 fire rigs to bring under control in east Spokane. It took three hours for firefighters to contain the midmorning blaze at Empire Cold Storage, 3857 E. Olive St.

A cutting torch being used to rebuild a collapsed awning may have sparked the three-alarm fire at a cold storage business this morning. Firefighters controlled the blaze at 1:15 p.m. after evacuating a one-block area around the business as a precaution.