Mike Prager

A cold front passing over the Inland Northwest today has brought several rounds of showers with some locations seeing moderate to heavy rain.

A group of nonprofits is putting finishing touches on a plan to build up to 150 affordable homes and apartments for residents currently living in the landing approach to Fairchild Air Force Base. Many of the homes under consideration for replacement are substandard manufactured homes south of U.S. Highway 2 between Lundstrom and Russell streets, in Airway Heights.

Washington State University students believe that two brick streets in Pullman’s College Hill neighborhood are worth preserving and listing on the city’s new historic register. A group of students taking a historic preservation seminar in the WSU School of Design and Construction will be making a presentation on the idea this afternoon on the WSU campus.

Spokane Transit Authority last week unveiled a series of concepts to improve public transportation in future years. The cost ranges up to $400 million for construction of modern electric trolleys on heavily used routes. The trolleys would operate on pavement rather than rails. Light rail would likely double the cost.

Preliminary concepts for expansion of the Spokane Convention Center will be on display for the public during a community event on Thursday. Three design and construction teams are competing for a contract to add 91,000 square feet to the Convention Center.

Spokane County’s reserve of conservation land is likely to increase by nearly 1,000 acres with two new additions to the Conservation Futures program. County commissioners are being asked to approve purchases of 920 acres on the west flank of Mica Peak and another 15 acres at a geological site between Badger and Williams lakes south of Cheney.

Wind gusts are expected to increase later today across the Inland Northwest as a Pacific storm sweeps a new round of rain showers and cool weather across the region.

The Spokane County hearing examiner on Tuesday reversed a timber harvest permit the county issued to Mt. Spokane 2000 to cut old growth on the northwest side of the mountain as part of a planned ski area expansion. Hearing Examiner Mike Dempsey ruled that the permit application failed to comply with the county’s own environmental laws regarding protection of wetlands, fish and wildlife habitat, and species conservation.

Spokane County Raceway is pushing a majority of its race dates to Saturday this year in an attempt to stem continuing losses by the private operators of the county-owned track. Track manager Craig Smith said he was forced to condense operations to Saturdays after losing $120,000 a year ago, his first year of operating the Airway Heights track.

National Weather Service forecasters today said they expect the Inland Northwest to get a brief break from the stormy weather that moved over the region late last week.

Bright sunshine pushed thermometers in the Spokane region to 70 degrees for the first time since last October.

Two well-traveled routes in northeast Spokane County will be closed to traffic this construction season for major work. Farwell Road from the North Spokane Corridor to Market Street is being widened to urban standards starting at the end of this month and continuing into the fall.

Green Bluff’s popularity has become a point of contention among people who live there – some are welcoming new event businesses, while others want to preserve the rural character of the northeast Spokane County neighborhood. The Spokane County Planning Commission on Thursday heard three hours of testimony on whether wedding and special-event businesses should be allowed.

Spokane Airports is at the forefront of an expanding legal challenge to the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to close the Felts Field air control tower and 148 others at small airports around the country. Officials from a number of those airports have contacted Spokane about joining a Spokane-led lawsuit filed Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, said Lawrence Krauter, Spokane International Airport CEO and director in Spokane.

Federal budget cuts could close or curtail some school and child care programs at Fairchild Air Force Base, worried military families and school officials told U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on Tuesday. “This is really unfair to the children of the people who are focused on the mission” at Fairchild, said Superintendent Pam Veltri of Medical Lake School District.