Rob Kauder

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News >  Military

KC-135 reported down in Iraq; rescue underway

UPDATED: Thu., March 12, 2026

U.S. Central Command is reporting a KC-135 tanker aircraft has gone down over western Iraq. 

News >  Military

Born in a bar: The Marine Corps turns 250 years old

Mon., Nov. 10, 2025

Over the years they have received many monikers, some more irreverent than others: Soldiers of the sea. Teufelhund. Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children. Leatherneck. Jarhead. Crayon eaters. But at the end of 13 grueling weeks of boot camp the most important title remains United States Marine.

News >  Military

The Navy turns 250 today. Here’s what you need to know about the military branch’s beginnings.

UPDATED: Mon., Oct. 13, 2025

Oct. 13, 2025 , is a milestone for sailors past and present as the U.S. Navy celebrates its 250th birthday. From battling British ships in the Caribbean, fighting pirates off the Barbary Coast to stopping the Japanese at Midway, the Navy has been an important element in U.S. foreign policy.

News >  Travel

A World War II European vacation to remember

Sun., June 29, 2025

About two years ago I was talking with Mike, a friend of mine I’ve known since Ronald Reagan was still in the White House, and he asked me a question out of left field: What if we went on a tour of World War II European battlefields?

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Spokane police use array of less lethal devices to subdue individuals, disperse crowds

UPDATED: Thu., June 12, 2025

The Spokane Police Department has a number of “less lethal” devices it can use in specific circumstances to subdue individuals and disperse crowds, some of which were deployed during Wednesday’s immigration protest at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in north Spokane.

A&E >  Movies

Houston, we have five great movies about spaceflight

UPDATED: Tue., March 11, 2025

As the SpaceX Crew-10 spacecraft prepares for its launch from the Kennedy Space Center next Wednesday, commanded by Spokane’s Col. Anne McClain on her second mission to the International Space Station, what better time than now to look at five great movies about spaceflight.

A&E >  Movies

Five movies about Pearl Harbor you shouldn’t miss

Sat., Dec. 7, 2024

Over the years dozens of movies and television miniseries have been produced about World War II in Europe and the Pacific, but of those, there are only a handful that touched upon the event that thrust the United States into the war, the attack on Pearl Harbor, 83 years ago Saturday.

News >  Military

A timeline of the attack on Pearl Harbor

Sat., Dec. 7, 2024

5:30 a.m. – If you were a subscriber of The Spokesman-Review, the top headlines in the morning paper on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, were the German attack on Moscow and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt writing the Emperor of Japan about troop movements in the Far East. Meanwhile, the top story in the sports section was Washington State College’s loss to Texas A & M in the Evergreen Bowl.

News >  Pacific NW

Live Updates: Spokane launches round-the-clock, full city plow

UPDATED: Wed., Nov. 30, 2022

Multiple school districts and university campuses are closed and crews are out running plow trucks as the Inland Northwest woke up Wednesday morning under a blanket of several inches of fresh powder.

News

From Camp Pendleton to Cuba: Marine remembers the invasion that almost happened

Thu., Oct. 20, 2022

When Thad McManus, 79, a retired teacher who lives in Poulsbo, spoke about the Cuban Missile Crisis to his history students at Sammamish High School in Bellevue, where he was a teacher for 28 years before retiring in 1998, he wasn’t quoting from a book. He’d been there.

News >  Military

We the People: Memorial Day has been a national holiday for decades, but it can come with fresh pain on a local scale

Sun., May 29, 2022

With Memorial Day 2022, the first in many years that the United States is not engaged in a major war on foreign soil, we are reminded that conflicts always come with a first casualty as well as a last.

News >  Military

Fairchild tankers arrive in Germany to support NATO as Russia-Ukraine War approaches third week

UPDATED: Wed., March 9, 2022

Following a more than 10-hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean, four KC-135 tankers from Fairchild Air Force Base arrived in Germany Wednesday to support NATO operations in eastern Europe as the Russia-Ukraine War nears the end of its second week.

News >  Military

Fairchild deploying tankers, 150 personnel to support NATO operations

UPDATED: Mon., March 7, 2022

The Defense Department announced Monday it would be deploying 500 additional troops to support NATO operations in eastern Europe, including tankers and support personnel from Fairchild Air Force Base to a base in the Mediterranean.

News

We The People: What triggered the U.S. entry into World War II

UPDATED: Mon., March 7, 2022

80 years ago this week, on a sleepy Sunday morning over Oahu, Commander Mitsuo Fuchida was flying his Nakajima B5N “Kate” torpedo bomber, leading the first wave of raiders from the Kidō Butai -- an armada of six Imperial Japanese Navy carriers -- toward his target when Pearl Harbor came into view.

News >  Military

We the People: Sure, the Persian Gulf War was about liberating Kuwait. But it’s complicated

UPDATED: Sat., June 26, 2021

Each week, The Spokesman-Review examines one question from the Naturalization Test immigrants must pass to become United States citizens.

News >  Spokane

Live Coverage: 2019 General Election

UPDATED: Tue., Nov. 5, 2019

Nadine Woodward was winning the race for Spokane mayor Tuesday night, while voters approved a preemptive ban on a Spokane income tax, gave the legislature broad powers in case of a catastrophe and Tim Eyman may have scored a vehicle registration fee victory.

News >  Spokane

Live Updates: 2019 Washington Primary

Tue., Aug. 6, 2019

Live updates from the August 6, 2019 primary election in Spokane County, with the latest headlines and updates from major races and ballot measures brought to you by Spokesman-Review and KHQ reporters and photographers.

News >  Nation

D-Day: A minute-by-minute look back in live tweets at the invasion of Normandy

Thu., June 6, 2019

A collection of live tweets of events as they happened during Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, on June 6, 1944.

News >  Spokane

2018 Midterm Election Blog: Voters give thumbs up to schools, thumbs down to downtown stadium

UPDATED: Wed., Nov. 7, 2018

After a long election season it all came down to Election Day Tuesday, where the Republicans maintained control of the Senate, Democrats seized control of the House of Representatives, and Spokane voters gave schools and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers a thumbs up and a downtown stadium a thumbs down.

News >  Idaho

One killed in head-on crash near Rathdrum

Tue., Oct. 16, 2018

One person has died in a head-on crash Tuesday afternoon on Highway 53 at the intersection with Chase Road near Rathdrum.

News >  Spokane

Police arrest Starbuds Cannabis robbery suspect

Thu., Nov. 23, 2017

Spokane police have arrested the man suspected of shooting a clerk and robbing Starbuds Cannabis Tuesday evening.

News >  Spokane

Wet, warm, windy weather plays havoc on Inland Northwest ski areas

UPDATED: Thu., Nov. 23, 2017

The triple threat of warm, rainy and windy weather the Pineapple Express has brought to the Inland Northwest this week may play havoc with your plans to hit the slopes, depending on where you want to get in some runs this weekend.

News >  Idaho

One dead in head-on collision near Sagle, Idaho

UPDATED: Thu., Nov. 23, 2017

One man has died from his injuries Thursday following a head-on collision on Highway 95 Wednesday evening near Sagle, Idaho.

News >  Spokane

One wounded in armed carjacking at West Plains hotel

UPDATED: Thu., Nov. 23, 2017

Spokane County sheriff’s deputies are investigating an armed carjacking at the Best Western Plus on South Geiger Blvd. off Interstate 90 early Thursday morning.

News >  Spokane

Cat climbing power pole starts fire north of Ephrata

UPDATED: Wed., Aug. 2, 2017

A cat up a power pole triggered an early morning fire that torched several vehicles north of Ephrata, outbuildings and a camper near an abandoned home.