Peter Barnes

If something bad can happen to a homeowner when development goes up next door, it has probably happened to Mary Pollard. Her 104-year-old farm house near the corner of Baldwin Avenue and Flora Road in Greenacres is surrounded on three sides by half-built subdivisions. For more than a year now, she has listened to construction noise up to 14 hours a day.

This dog is good with children. In fact, she was brought to the shelter because her last owner had five of them and could no longer take care of her. She heels well and behaves gently. Her cost is short and soft. She's medium sized and used to living indoors.

Today marks the official first day of summer. With the weather acting accordingly, many are setting their sights outdoors for the gatherings and weekend activities ahead. With hundreds of acres of parks and natural areas in their backyards, greater Spokane Valley residents don't have to drive far – or spend a lot of gas money – to boat, camp, hike or just relax.

It's almost like finding dollar bills hidden in the wall. At more than $3 per pound, copper has become a hot target for thieves who are breaking into construction sites, pulling it out of batteries and even risking death by cutting into electric lines that cost utilities thousands to repair.

Sixty years ago this week the first light shined on the big screen at the Motor In theater on East Trent Avenue. A beacon to young lovers and families huddled in sedans built in an era when size was king, the theater was one of the first to bring the drive-in movie experience to the Spokane area.

As most people who live on Broadway in Spokane Valley can attest, it's not easy backing out onto a street that carries about 11,000 vehicles every day. With two lanes each way, several busy intersections and dozens of driveways right on the street, engineers say a driver has a better chance of getting in an accident there than on Sprague Avenue.

Not only has this endearing dog spent the last week at the pound, but about seven weeks ago someone adopted him and brought him back. Lucky developed an ear infection, a common ailment in cocker spaniels, prompting his last owner to return him. But beyond that, his qualities are numerous. He likes people. He'd do fine indoors but loves loping around outside as well. Plus, when called, he comes right to your feet to be petted.

With an 86-foot-long strip of concrete, Spokane Valley managed to protect a designation that prevents train horns from blowing near University and Trent. It's the latest in more than a decade of compromises at the bureaucratic vortex where city-owned North University Road and a federally regulated railroad intersect. And while the zone that a few tenacious neighbors coaxed into existence over the last dozen years remains in place, many people are unhappy with the city suddenly halving the width of the entrance to their street to accommodate it.

Sometimes the best part of the house isn't attached to it. At Randy and Leesa Braun's home south of the Spokane Valley city limits, their garage has evolved from a lifeless building to something of a personal museum with amenities fit for entertaining guests.

With the 10 a.m. chimes of the clock tower in Riverfront Park, hundreds of dedicated elementary and junior high students greeted the Saturday sun with wide smiles and upbeat tunes for the 55th annual Junior Lilac Parade through downtown. At least a hundred buses bringing in kids from as far away as Richland lined up near the convention center, and bands in all make and manner of uniforms queued up for blocks on the north side of the Spokane River before traversing the mile-long parade route.

Each spring for more than two decades Bear Lake has played host to a welcome break from the school routine for special needs students from Spokane Valley, and this year was no different. "It's a great community activity for our kids," said Melissa Danelo, a special education coordinator with Central Valley School District. "Every kid who comes through our system has an opportunity to do it."