Pia Hallenberg

If you grew up in the Spokane Valley in the 1970s and 1980s, chances are you sat on Santa’s lap at University City Mall. And maybe you got to buy your back-to-school shoes at J.C. Penney and a treat from Orange Julius for the trip home. If that’s the case, then hold on to your memories: The mall, which opened in 1965 and served as the prime destination for Spokane Valley shoppers for decades, is being torn down.

They may look like sandboxes built for Paul Bunyan, but the nearly 50 gravel pits and sand pits that dot Spokane County aren’t places for building castles or other child’s play. “People don’t realize that 95 percent of asphalt is rock,” said Chad Coles, assistant county engineer, while walking through a Spokane County gravel pit across the street from Northern Quest Casino in Airway Heights. “We try as best we can to dig our own rock.”

Chances are you will never reach the posted 35 mph speed limit on Argonne Road between Mission and Trent avenues. A traffic study almost completed by the public works division of Spokane Valley shows that most drivers travel at speeds between 10 and 12 mph on that stretch, making it one of the most congested areas in Spokane Valley. “About 42,000 vehicles travel over the two-lane bridge at Argonne every day,” said Sean Messner, senior traffic engineer with Spokane Valley, “bringing us very close to capacity there.”

Workers installed a tall bronze statue Thursday in Spokane Valley – the latest display of public art for the community. Called “Dance of Sun & Moon,” the 16-foot-tall bronze was created by artist Jerry McKellar and can be viewed in Mirabeau Point Park. It was donated to the public by the Spokane Valley Arts Council.

The statue, Dance of Sun and Moon, is finally headed to a permanent location

Crews will begin work on the section between University and Pines Roads on March 9.

On a Monday around noon there’s not much going on in Browns Park on the corner of 32nd Avenue and Pines Road in Spokane Valley. That may change if the city follows through on a plan that may add 16 sand volleyball courts to the park. For now, parks and recreation director Mike Stone plans to have five new courts ready for use by May 1. The new courts would be constructed in a straight east-west line starting where the baseball diamond is and running west toward the parking lot. Last year, the Spokane Valley City Council approved the park master plan and budgeted $176,000 to construct the courts.

Michelle Yarbrough was in the shower when a minivan drove through her garden and smashed into the garage just outside her front door. Only a few minutes earlier she’d been out in the large garden she cultivates with her husband Michael Yarbrough.