Pia Hallenberg

The 2017 City Council election in Spokane Valley has turned into a barnstorm of new faces challenging incumbents. The five open seats have attracted 13 candidates resulting in two contested primary races, one of which is the race for Position 1, held by Mayor Rod Higgins.

Every morning, Amy McCoy commutes from her home in a quiet part of north Spokane to the downtown hair salon she opened three years ago with her husband Douglas. House of Pop is located on West Riverside Avenue, between the core of downtown and the Saranac Building neighborhood. Across the street is the record store, bar and restaurant Garageland and low-income senior housing. It’s a busy and diverse part of downtown with lots of traffic both on foot and by car.

Ask a square dancer, and they’ll tell you their hobby is about much more than the colorful handmade dresses. It’s about having fun and getting together with people from other states. And dancers can wear whatever they want. More than 800 dancers from six western states and Canada are expected to attend the 2017 Washington State Square Dance Festival, held at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center Friday and Saturday.

A man was critically injured Thursday morning after he fell from or near the Monroe Street Bridge.

When you pull up in front of Bleker School of Dance on Dean Avenue in Spokane Valley, nothing gives away the large dance studio built behind the classic rancher that’s home to the school. For generations, thousands of Spokane-area children and young adults have made their first plie and taken their fist wobbly steps in tap shoes at Bleker School of Dance, which holds its 60th recital at University High School June 17.

The City of Spokane Valley is contemplating possible locations for a farmers market. A location was last discussed in 2013 when the city focused on Balfour Park – across the street from the new city hall where a library was proposed – but no development has happened there.

It’s a common enough scene: Officers on-site, responding to allegations of a crime; the public milling about, curious and uncertain. An officer approaches, poses direct questions: What did you see? Where did they go? Can you give us a description of the suspect? A civilian, nervous, fumbles for an answer. The officer grows impatient, the demands for information more adamant. There’s tension in the air. Under a peppering of questions, the civilian clams up, and the interview is over.

The air is thick with the scent of old lilac bushes and though it’s just 15 minutes from downtown, Marshall Cemetery is incredibly quiet.

Showtime released nothing about the highly anticipated return of “Twin Peaks” which debuted on Sunday, so hardcore fans weren’t sure what to expect. Except something weird.

When Lewis and Clark High School Principal Marybeth Smith drove down the alleys under Interstate 90 last week, she was surprised to find close to 50 homeless camps on or near school property. “I got my cellphone out and I took pictures,” Smith said, flipping through a smartphone gallery of camps covered in blue tarps. “Up until this year, we have never had camps. Now we do.”

Two public hearings are scheduled for the Spokane Valley City Council meeting on May 23: the 2018-23 transportation improvement program which consists of dozens of road improvement and pavement preservation projects that has the city’s highest priority, and a budget amendment.

For the past 19 years, Mary Lee Abba-Gaston has been teaching bread baking classes out of a huge old electric Rainier brick oven she purchased from Mount St. Michael’s. Now it’s time for that oven to find a new home.

West Central nonprofit Project Hope is celebrating its 10th year with a new name and an expanded mission.