Mike Prager

The weight from snow and rain caused a partial collapse of the roof at the Rosauers Supermarket at Francis Avenue and Maple Street on Monday afternoon, forcing the evacuation of customers and employees. Spokane fire officials said as much as 25,000 square feet of roof at the center of the store fell at about 4:30 p.m. No one was trapped by the debris.

A roof at a Rosauers store at Five Mile collapsed this evening, forcing evacuation of adjacent businesses. Fire officials said between 15,000 and 25,000 square feet of the roof fell and that no persons were trapped in the debris.

Snowplow crews worked furiously Thursday against a wintry onslaught that dropped record amounts of snow over the Inland Northwest, repeating a pattern left from the brutal 2007-’08 winter. At nearly 2 feet, the snow was so deep that it forced Spokane crews to focus on major arterial routes in an effort to keep the city from being completely choked.

The Inland Northwest fought through a record 20 inches of snow that choked roads and has left many people stranded today, with more snow forecasted this weekend. Most schools and government offices are closed, as well as post offices.

A massive snowstorm dumped what was approaching record levels of snow on Spokane on Wednesday, triggering a nightmarish afternoon commute that officials warned may not be much better this morning. Conditions became so bad at one point that the Spokane Police Department declared in a news release that “motorists should consider ALL streets closed in the City of Spokane” except a few major arterials. The announcement also said chains were required for South Hill travel.

A veteran Spokane bartender who was one of the trendsetters in the nightlife of the Inland Northwest was killed Tuesday night when the vehicle he was driving was involved in a head-on collision on Interstate 90 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho State Police reported today.

Snow was piling up in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Deer Park and other communities in the region as the first part of an arctic storm made its advance into the Inland Northwest with forecasters saying it would hang over the region through Thursday night.

While last weekend’s predicted snowstorm largely bypassed the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene areas, forecasters Tuesday said the region could get heavy snow today and Thursday. A low-pressure system moving south out of northern Canada was expected to bring varying amounts of snow. Spokane could see 2 to 6 inches, said John Livingston, the meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service in Spokane.

Post offices were crammed with customers Monday as the rush to mail Christmas cards and packages hit its seasonal peak. More than 600,000 pieces of mail were expected to be sent by residents of Northeast Washington and North Idaho on what’s traditionally the busiest postal day of the year.

In the gloom of a mounting national recession, the Inland Northwest has one bright spot. A Canadian aerospace company will bring at least 30 new jobs to Spokane starting in February, and plans to expand its work force to between 300 and 500 workers earning middle-class wages over the next five years.

Getting ready for the holidays has been tough for Cheryl O’Boyle, whose husband Matthew is serving with the Army National Guard in Iraq. “There’s time you just don’t want to deal with it,” she said in an interview this week.

Spokane County commissioners are plowing ahead with a plan to widen Bigelow Gulch Road despite a federal lawsuit that could block or delay federal funding for the project. Earth work began recently on a 3,000-foot section at the west end of Bigelow Gulch Road from Havana Street to just west of Palmer Road. The $2 million contract with Scarsella Bros. Inc., of Seattle, involves widening the two-lane road into a four-lane arterial with a continuous median strip and paved left-turn lanes. Paving is scheduled to occur next spring.

A sharp decline in retail sales tax collections is putting the brakes on Spokane Transit Authority spending, and officials at the agency said a fare increase will be considered next year as part of their overall budget deliberations. Retail sales have dropped 3 percent in 2008, and the agency is expecting another 3.5 percent drop in 2009, a significant budget problem because more than 70 percent of STA’s funding comes from sales taxes in two-thirds of Spokane County.

A sharp decline in retail sales tax collections is putting the brakes on Spokane Transit Authority spending, and officials at the agency said a fare increase will be considered next year as part of their overall budget deliberations.

For the past few months, Web-savvy drivers have kept a bird’s-eye view on Spokane traffic. Nearly three dozen video cameras send streaming images that people can monitor from their computers.

High school sweethearts Gregory and Alicia True moved away from Spokane when they were young to pursue careers and raise a family, but returned several years ago to fix up and settle down in one of the city’s historic gems – the 1907 Pattullo House, a Craftsman-style home designed to capture the feel of the California bungalow movement of the period. On Saturday, the home at 1201 S. Adams St. will be open for public tours as one of four vintage residences in the ninth annual Holiday Heritage Home Tour. Sponsored by the Spokane Preservation Advocates, proceeds go to preservation projects across the area.

Thanksgiving travelers face little threat of rain or snow in the forecast through Sunday. About the only travel risks are a slight chance of snow or rain in the mountains Thursday night, including at Snoqualmie Pass on Interstate 90. A chance of patchy fog enters the forecast Sunday night.