Robin Rivers

The cost of fighting two wildfires near Spokane has met the $1 million threshold to qualify for Federal Emergency Man agement Agency assistance. With suppression costs now estimated at $1.2 million, the Newkirk and Tum Tum fires will receive federal aid for only about $200,000 of the costs, officials said. But if other major wildfires strike this season, up to 70 percent of firefighting costs will be picked up by federal taxpayers.

1. Smoke and flames fill the sky west of Spokane Thursday near Riverside State Park. Photo by Steve Thompson/The Spokesman-Review 2. A man at 4429 N. Old Trail Road says he inadvertently started the Newkirk fire while using a blowtorch. "It's my fault, I know," said the man who refused to give his name. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Saying the key battleground is Eastern Washington, gun-control opponents urged about 200 Spokane-area gun owners Tuesday night to take aim at an initiative on the November ballot. Initiative 676, believed to be the first voter-spawned attempt at handgun control in 17 years, requires prospective gun owners to complete an eight-hour safety course or pass a competency exam. Any handguns sold, traded or given away must have a trigger lock to prevent them from firing accidentally.

The Department of Corrections will keep 13 sex offenders living fewer than than two blocks from the proposed Children's Museum of Spokane. But The Otis Hotel has agreed to accept no new tenants from the department's early release program. Under the program, sex offenders have moved into the hotel at 110 S. Madison while receiving treatment. The compromise comes two weeks after Children's Museum officials learned of the sex offenders, raising concerns about the safety of future museum patrons.

Firefighters pour water on a house Tuesday afternoon on North Market. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review

1. Spokane police officer Bob Grandinetti photographs a suspected FTRA member at a transient camp near the Freya Street bridge. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review 2. An FTRA member displays his telltale bandanna and gang tattoos.

Spokane-area cycling clubs joined forces Thursday, vowing to fight a regional crackdown against racing on open state highways. More than 50 concerned cyclists from Eastern Washington and North Idaho met for several hours, joined by lawyers, state representatives and United States Cycling Federation officials. USCF racing official Phil Miller urged those in attendance to leave the meeting unified and ready to map out racing guidelines for the state. Such guidelines currently don't exist.

Racers line up during twilight series criterium at Spokane Raceway Park, where cyclists have been practicing since the state banned open-road racing in Eastern Washington. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Happy with his opponent's leave, Eddie Woods, 13, right, plays a crafty game Friday with a friend, Matt, while spending time at the Libby Teen Center, a drug-free hangout for 12-to 18-year-old youths. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Taylor Knutson, 9, left, and Amber Matlock, 8, carry their friend Derick Fisher, 4, back home from Underhill Park's wading pool Tuesday afternoon. Derick, who had been swimming, said he was tired, cold and didn't want to walk. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Barbieri

Thirteen-year-old Michael Siegel opened the front door of his home in Spokane's East Central neighborhood Thursday and found a "guardian angel." It was the top boss at a local cement company, offering to build a basketball court. Michael and his friends, afraid to play at the city park nearby, put up a hoop of their own with the help of about 10 families.

Neighborhood learns to play ball. Leone Johnson and members of the Siegel family play a final game before their hoopless backboard is removed from Fourth and Haven. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Plans for personal fireworks shows this Fourth of July could end in hefty fines in many counties this holiday weekend. Fireworks are banned or restricted in every Eastern Washington county. Individual cities have their own ordinances. Fines for possessing or igniting illegal fireworks in Washington run up to $250.

Monday's blast from Mother Nature was just another June storm for the National Weather Service. For area residents, heavy thunderstorms hit the region hard in the early evening, leaving several Spokane neighborhoods without power and keeping firefighters busy battling lightning-sparked blazes.

Firefighters pour water onto a burning building on East First on Friday night. The blaze destroyed a decal business. Photo by John Sale/The Spokesman-Review

FROM FOR THE RECORD (Friday, June 27, 1997): Correction Errors in story: Cooper Jones, a bicyclist hit by a car, did not break his leg as reported in a Thursday story. In addition, he was treated at the scene by a doctor who inserted a breathing tube into the boy's mouth. The story described the procedure incorrectly.

Amanda Lake, 4, watches Tom "Dr. Bike" Lawrence work Wednesday afternoon in the yard next to her home. Lawrence is the volunteer who fixed up the 50 free Lilac Community Bicycles. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review

A turn of the head toward the playground at Medical Lake Elementary School last spring left David Jorgenson open-mouthed. There was his third-grade son at recess, running and laughing. But Jorgenson's eyes quickly fixed on the other side of the blacktop, where 10 men were grooming the school's baseball field. An inmate work crew.

Ignorance is no excuse. That's what a second Spokane neighborhood group is telling landlord Rick Sicilia about his problem tenants. Neighbors of a home at 611 S. Fiske spoke out about their concerns Monday after learning about a drug raid last week at a North Side home owned by Sicilia, assistant principal at University High School.