Pia Hallenberg

The inspiration came from a grueling 26-mile course Bob Wiese had to complete in the Marines. The course was called The Crucible, and each exercise station along the way was built in honor of a fallen Marine. In 2012, Wiese got together with six of his friends and decided to create a similar but much more approachable course in Liberty Lake.

It was around Christmas, and Peggy Parker was feeling blue. Flipping through TV programs, a story about a young girl who wanted to make Christmas dinner for a homeless person caught her attention.

It was chilly and windy on Jan. 27, when students, teachers and administrators from Central Valley School District gathered outside the old Yoke’s store on North Progress Road for the unveiling of a banner featuring funky white owls. “The owls are a metaphor for the students who will soon be here,” said Jennifer Compau, Barker High School art teacher and the coordinator of the project. The owls are on a black background, and illustrate a student’s journey through the school system.

Thelma A. Fitzgerald was born into the busy Courchaine farming family on Feb. 3, 1915. By the time she turned 6, she had cows to milk every morning – sometimes as many as 10 – she rode her horse everywhere, and she was in charge of the turkeys. “I was an outside girl,” she said, sitting in her comfortable living room Monday in Greenacres. Her home is just down the road from the Courchaine homestead, which is one of the oldest in Spokane Valley.

When the Plantation Restaurant was torn down late last year, many Spokane Valley residents were confused: How could a Spokane Valley landmark like that be torn down? And what was going to happen to the pyramid-shaped historical marker left behind on the corner of Vista Road and Sprague Avenue?

Next IT, founded in Spokane in 2002, is moving from the Paulsen building to the Pinecroft Business Park in Spokane Valley this fall. “We are in the historic Paulsen building but we are on three separate floors,” said Jennifer Snell, senior director of marketing for Next IT. “It came down to what works best for Next IT.”

The grainy security camera video shows a man behind the bar at Flamin’ Joe’s on East Sprague Avenue. He grabs a stack of promotional stickers and patches them all over his body, including his forehead. He rustles around the closed restaurant, smashes a TV, gets himself a beer and then heads straight for the restaurant’s mascot: Fireman Joe. He grabs the life-size statue – including the Dalmatian dog – and throws it through a window into the parking lot. “Police picked him up walking down Sprague, dragging Joe after him,” said Coreal Smith, manager of Flamin’ Joe’s. “It was just the weirdest thing.”

It’s been an odd week for Dennis Stanciu. He’s run a hair salon out of his house in the middle of Spokane Valley’s Sherwood Forest for the past 31 years, and recently clients who don’t need haircuts have been asking for them.

James Harken clearly remembers the first piece of art he purchased: It was a watercolor by local artist Opal R. Fleckenstein and the year was 1968. The price was $225 and it was paid off in installments.