Nicholas Deshais

The Sisters of the Holy Names convent near Spokane Falls Community College quietly went on the market this summer. Though the 65 acres are assessed at nearly $7 million by the county, the convent did not list an asking price for the parcel. Instead, it solicited proposals and bids.

A new plan would add paved paths to separate cyclists, pedestrians and runners from Pettet Drive, otherwise known as Doomsday Hill.

Spokane police Chief Frank Straub was forced to resign Tuesday following complaints about his combative leadership tactics. At a hastily called news conference, Mayor David Condon said concerns from police department employees, as well as interviews Condon conducted, made it clear that Straub’s aggressive behavior as chief was no longer appropriate.

Spokane Police Chief Frank Straub has been forced to resign. Mayor David Condon asked for Straub’s resignation amid complaints about Straub’s leadership style and personnel moves involving two women who were moved out of the police department.

Randy Hastings’ drive to work takes him to the east side of Spokane, over the dirt roads of Hillyard to the forgotten part of town where he’s kept his business – R&R Heating and Air Conditioning – since 1987.  He drives past empty lots, decrepit homes, a trailer park, warehouses, laboratories and large grocery store distribution complexes. The roads shift from paved to graveled, new to old, from being bordered by sidewalks and landscaping to a fuzzy edge of overgrown weeds. Standing outside the empty building his business outgrew a decade ago, but which he still owns and leases out, Hastings points to a fire hydrant the city made him pay for, next to a road he has unsuccessfully asked the city to build for years, and at a house he’s pretty sure is a drug front.

Freya, Hatch and Tower. What have you climbed?

Eleven days before the Chinese Lantern Festival opens to the people of Spokane, the 20 Chinese workers who are prepping Riverfront Park for the celebration of their culture were heading to another cultural event – the Spokane County Interstate Fair. Jessie Li, the festival’s on-site manager, said she looked forward to the pig racing, but a photograph of a 3-week-old zebra at the fairgrounds didn’t seem to impress her.

No, not the Monkey Wrench Gang type. Srsly.

That simple phrase - "Bicycles May Use Full Lane" - gets across the rules of the road and increases safety, study says.

Quick growth in Spokane’s collection of investments, and a predilection by city leaders to dip into the investment pool to fund one-time projects, has led at least one Spokane City Council member to suggest that practice runs afoul of the city charter. For the 20th time, the city of Spokane is planning to borrow money from itself, as the council considers on Monday whether to support the city administration’s plan to borrow $5 million from the Spokane Investment Pool. The latest loan would help pay for the recently completed, $17 million Central Service Center in east Spokane.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Register now.

A car for people who ride bikes but still like cars.

A parklet appeared in front of Wollnick’s on Main Avenue in downtown Spokane on Thursday, turning heads and moving passers-by to call it “neat” or “awesome.” But what is it?

For the second day in a row, Shar Lichty has released a scathing comment against Spokane Mayor David Condon, who she is challenging in November's election. Yesterday, she took Condon to task on the issue of police oversight. Today, it's about his budget proposal.