Pia Hallenberg

Following an executive session that lasted fewer than 15 minutes, former Spokane Valley City Council member Bill Gothmann was selected to serve as a temporary council member filling in for Bill Bates, who’s on extended medical leave. Gothmann served on the council from 2006 to 2011, and has also served on the planning commission.

There’s a little free library sitting in an empty lot off Sprague Avenue and Dartmouth Road. It’s been there since last year, at the site where the Spokane County Library District would like to build a new library – if voters will approve a bond to fund it. The district had two propositions on last year’s ballot: Proposition 1, to create a Spokane Valley Library Capital Facility Area – which passed – and Proposition 2, to allow for taxation in that facility area. Proposition 2 needed 60 percent plus one to pass, but garnered only 55 percent of the vote.

It was an ordinary day in February when Mike Capka called to check on his daughter McKenzie. A student at the University of Montana in Missoula, McKenzie lived in a dorm and was in frequent contact with her family in Spokane. But this time around she didn’t pick up. Fearing the worst, he called the university.

“Do not eat your cone just yet.” That’s one of the directions Linda Langsett, the chief cook at Progress Elementary School, is giving to a group of 18 squirming fifth-graders, each holding a waffle cone and waiting for permission to fill it with the fruit salad they just made.

Taps is 24 notes that can make the toughest soldier cry. It’s a musical recognition of a life ended, a goodbye that hangs in the air as friends and family wipe their tears, look up and know they must live the rest of their lives without someone.

If you’ve ever wondered what Spokane Valley looks like from space, then now is a good time to stop by the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum: It will feature the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibit, “Earth From Space,” all summer. Museum Director Jayne Singleton is excited about the exhibit, which she said will be a hit among the younger crowd.

Many Valley residents want their hometown to have “more of a city identity,” and the new city hall will help create that, said Mayor Dean Grafos at the annual state of the city address. “This city center will be right-sized in keeping with the desire for an efficient and lean government philosophy,” Grafos said in speech about the construction project, and reminded attendees that the lease on the current city hall is up at the same time the new building is expected to be ready. “Because of our excellent bond rating, we can borrow money at very favorable rates, essentially exchanging rent for a mortgage.”

She’s the first to admit she could have checked things out more carefully, but when Nina Fluegal purchased a home on East Fourth Avenue in Spokane Valley in 2006, she never imagined she’d become the neighbor of the two-story apartment complex that’s now looming over her house. Bordering Fluegal’s backyard to the north and to the west sits Diamond Rock Construction’s nearly finished Blake Apartments at 13313 E. Fourth Ave. Fluegal said the new development is intruding on her privacy and has caused drainage problems in her backyard.

Work to improve traffic flow on Argonne Road between Knox and Trent Avenues will take place mostly at night.

The Spokane Valley Planning Commission meets on Thursday at 6 p.m. in city council chambers facing a big agenda including several rezoning requests along Fourth Avenue. One of those requests made Nina Fluegal so mad she put a protest sign in her front yard.

Spokane Valley Mayor Dean Grafos delivered an optimistic state of the city address at The Spokane Valley Mall, Wednesday, cautioning that there are some challenges ahead.

The Spokane Valley Deputy Mayor has so many ties that in a yea, he doesn't have to wear the same one twice. Which tie would he like to add to the collection?

Architects West - the contractor building Spokane Valley's new city hall - held first open house Wednesday evening at CenterPlace.

The sun was shining Tuesday morning while Jon Thomas was doing his best to direct the slightly chaotic enthusiasm of his East Valley High School special education students toward the task of the day: filling hanging flower baskets. Thomas’ students will be having their annual plant sale in the parking lot near the school’s tennis courts Tuesday through May 8, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day.