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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Pia Hallenberg

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News >  Voices

Sharing a greener option

Sometimes a regular class assignment takes on a life all of its own. That’s what happened at M.E.A.D. Alternative High School a couple of weeks ago, when students were asked to do some research on plastic bags, their impact on the environment and recycling. “I guess we all just got into it,” said Ashley Keen, 17. “And now we are doing all this.” The reusable bag project has taken most of the students’ time lately, and Keen and about 25 other students were at the Saranac Building on West Main Avenue Wednesday, to hang informational panels they’d produced in the lobby there.
News >  Voices

Sharing a greener option to plastic

Sometimes a regular class assignment takes on a life all of its own. That’s what happened at M.E.A.D. Alternative High School a couple of weeks ago, when students were asked to do some research on plastic bags, their impact on the environment and recycling. “I guess we all just got into it,” said Ashley Keen, 17. “And now we are doing all this.” The reusable bag project has taken most of the students’ time lately, and Keen and about 25 other students were at the Saranac Building on West Main Avenue Wednesday, to hang informational panels they’d produced in the lobby there.
News >  Voices

Snow inspires neighborly acts

Fishtailing and shoveling was the order of the day as the South Hill dug out from two feet of snow Friday. As the snow stopped and the sun peeked through the pines, people stuck their heads out backdoors and assessed the mounds of snow. The hum of snowblowers could be heard across neighborhoods, almost as loudly as the squeals of sledding kids whose Christmas break started early because of the storm.
News >  Voices

Volunteer ardent about Christmas

It all began as a clerical volunteer job back in 1991, when Patricia Kimmons, 83, decided to volunteer for the Children’s Administration a couple of hours a week. She helped with filing and organized background checks on the drivers that take children to and from appointments. Kimmons also got involved with the Holiday Project, which at the time provided a Christmas present to about 100 children who were living with relatives, in foster homes or being monitored by Child Protective Services.
News >  Voices

Helping hands

It’s a little like walking into a time capsule someone put away in the late ’60s. In two basement rooms at the Catholic Chancery in downtown Spokane, a group of women have met every week for decades. Surrounded by piles of donated fabric, the Chancery Sewing Ladies produce quilt after quilt, some big, some small, some in bold and modern colors, some with flowers and some in traditional baby hues – and they do it all to raise money for Catholic Charities.
News >  Voices

Distinctive drive

As Deller Foutz tells it, you can’t say the word “free” around here and expect it to go unnoticed, so he should have known better. Foutz is the owner of the tattoo and piercing shop Feel Good Ink on East Sprague Avenue in Spokane Valley, and he had an idea for a food drive: offer a free body piercing in exchange for canned food.
News >  Voices

Grant helps students explore business

When AT&T began divvying up $12 million in competitive High School Success grants aimed at student retention and work force preparedness, $35,000 was earmarked for Spokane. Tincan, a local nonprofit that uses interactive media and technology to further education and community development, received the $35,000 grant to fund a trial program at Rogers High School.
News >  Voices

Helping hands

It’s a little like walking into a time capsule someone put away in the late ’60s. In two basement rooms at the Catholic Chancery in downtown Spokane, a group of women have met every week for decades. Surrounded by piles of donated fabric, the Chancery Sewing Ladies produce quilt after quilt, some big, some small, some in bold and modern colors, some with flowers and some in traditional baby hues – and they do it all to raise money for Catholic Charities.
News >  Voices

Couple hope to open tavern on South Perry

A budding bar owner is giving the South Perry District a try: Jeff Nordvall would like to open a tavern at 1004 S. Perry St., where the Pop Shoppe used to be. A medical career had taken Nordvall all over the country, before he bought a house in the South Perry District together with his business and life partner, Laura Paisley.
News >  Voices

Couple plan tavern on South Perry

A budding bar owner is giving the South Perry District a try: Jeff Nordvall would like to open a tavern at 1004 S. Perry St., where the Pop Shoppe used to be. A medical career had taken Nordvall all over the country, before he bought a house in the South Perry District together with his business and life partner, Laura Paisley.
News >  Voices

Improvise, it’s fun

If you ask the Ferris High School improv group, Thesperados, why anyone would spend three hours after a long school day doing improv and standup comedy, the students can hardly contain themselves: It’s fun – it’s like a break – you make friends – you get to do so many different things – it’s a release, everyone is speaking at the same time. Sierra Love, 16, summed it up: “You learn how to put yourself out there, to not be too scared. When you do improv, you have to be yourself, and that ups your self-confidence.”
News >  Voices

Many hands make holiday lights work

The fuchsia-colored Christmas cactus is 102 years old. It’s beautiful and almost at the peak of blooming, but it can’t overshadow the 12 different kinds of poinsettias that provide a beautiful red speckled background to the Holiday Light Show at the Gaiser Conservatory. Since 1994, the Friends of Manito and Spokane Parks and Recreation staff at Manito’s Gaiser Conservatory have joined forces to put on an annual holiday light show inside the cozy greenhouse.
News >  Voices

Street improvements dress up West Broadway

George Craig was perched on a ladder high above West Broadway Avenue on Wednesday, doing something that hasn’t been done in the West Central Neighborhood for some time: He was hanging Christmas decorations. “I volunteer to do these things, because I have the time and the heart,” Craig, who is retired, said from the top of the ladder. “We often get a bad rap up here, but it’s a nice neighborhood.”
News >  Voices

Coyotes more common

It was 4 a.m., and Steve James was sitting on his couch in his little bungalow near Audubon Park. He works nights, so this is not an unusual situation for James. What happened next is getting to be more and more common, too, he said. James heard yipping and growling and what sounded like a cat meowing, and went outside to investigate. He was met with the horrific sight of three coyotes pulling a cat apart on the lawn between his house and a neighbor’s, just a few steps from his front door.
News >  Voices

14 finalists will compete for Lilac queen

The Spokane Lilac Festival Association has chosen the 14 finalists for its 2009 Royalty Court. Young women who attend one of Spokane County’s 28 high schools can apply. This year, applications came in from more than 20 high schools. The 2009 finalists are:
News >  Voices

City takes down old maple

Earlier this week Spokane urban forestry staff took down an old maple tree that was leaning over Grand Boulevard, just south of the entrance to Manito Park. “This tree was getting very worrisome,” said Steve Nittolo, horticultural supervisor for the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department. “Something damaged it years ago, maybe someone cut some roots. It can take years before the real damage shows up.”
News >  Voices

Coyotes more common

It was 4 a.m., and Steve James was sitting on his couch in his little bungalow near Audubon Park. He works nights, so this is not an unusual situation for James. What happened next is getting to be more and more common, too, he said. James heard yipping and growling and what sounded like a cat meowing, and went outside to investigate. He was met with the horrific sight of three coyotes pulling a cat apart on the lawn between his house and a neighbor’s, just a few steps from his front door.
News >  Voices

Lilac festival royalty finalists chosen

The Spokane Lilac Festival Association has chosen the 14 finalists for its 2009 Royalty Court. Young women who attend one of Spokane County’s 28 high schools can apply. This year, applications came in from more than 20 high schools. The 2009 finalists are:
News >  Voices

Man donates landscaping to St. Patrick’s School

Herman Victor St. Patrick probably will not notice the difference in the landscaping outside St. Patrick Catholic School in Hillyard. He’s the school’s hamster, and from his cage in the back of the computer lab, nothing much seems to have changed. But in front of the school, a new flagpole has sprouted, green grass stretches out between the big, old brick building and the sidewalks, and in the back by the paved-parking-lot-turned- playground, trees and bushes have been planted.
News >  Voices

Man donates landscaping to help beautify St. Patrick’s

Herman Victor St. Patrick probably will not notice the difference in the landscaping outside St. Patrick Catholic School in Hillyard. He’s the school’s hamster, and from his cage in the back of the computer lab, nothing much seems to have changed. But in front of the school, a new flagpole has sprouted, green grass stretches out between the big, old brick building and the sidewalks, and in the back by the paved-parking-lot-turned-playground, trees and bushes have been planted.
News >  Voices

Seniors strike a pose to help with fundraising

The Corbin Senior Activity Center is trying a new fundraising technique: the senior 2009 calendar. Members of the senior center posed for photos themed after popular songs like “The Monster Mash” and “It’s Been a Long Time.”
News >  Voices

Pools making progress

The major overhaul and rebuild of the city’s six outdoor swimming pools is benefiting from nice fall weather. In some places, construction is a little bit ahead of schedule. “We are doing very well,” said Barry Russell, director of the city of Spokane’s Parks and Recreation Department. “We are definitely on schedule, and for some of the bathhouses we are a little bit ahead.”
News >  Voices

Seniors strike a pose to help with fundraising

The Corbin Senior Activity Center is trying a new fundraising technique: the senior 2009 calendar. Members of the senior center posed for photos themed after popular songs like “The Monster Mash” and “It’s Been a Long Time.”