Shawn Vestal

Here's something unusual for the Eastern Washington real estate speculator. A California entrepreneur has placed a former Titan missile base between Ritzville and Moses Lake on eBay for $1.5 million. The former Larsen Air Force Base Complex base includes 16 underground buildings, three missile silos and a network of underground tunnels on 57 acres – all available for about $300,000 down and $7,000 a month, on approved credit.

Populist art took over for garbage and graffiti Saturday under the railroad viaduct at Third and Ash, where hundreds of volunteers created the city's newest People's Gallery. The concrete walls along the sidewalks under the railroad crossing were divided into hundreds of squares, and each volunteer artist filled one in. Kids painted unicorns and rabbits, adults painted bridge scenes and roses, and Lance Sinnema painted Bob, a "mutant tomato" with horns and three eyes.

The former manager of the Washington state toxicology lab testified Thursday that she relaxed procedures for preserving blood samples around the time that prosecutors were eager to hang on to two vials of Fred Russell's blood. Instead of separating vials to be saved, they were labeled and left among thousands of others headed for destruction.

Gonzaga University's nationally ranked team opened its season with a win Saturday, but there wasn't a ball in sight. Instead, the competition revolved around affirmative and negative arguments, cross-examination, and a rapid-fire manner of speaking that would leave the average listener convinced they'd stumbled into a school for auctioneers.

Here's one the "Cops" producers might like. A Spokane police officer chasing the driver of a stolen pickup saw his car – which was ferrying a crew from the TV show – engulfed in flames after he stopped in some dry grass to try to catch the suspect.

Riverpoint is ready to jump the boulevard. Spokane's downtown college campus has been gradually adding buildings and filling them up. In the next year, an extension of Riverside Avenue will begin, and the first building in a proposed commercial development is under negotiation — steps that are expected to open up the campus for growth south of Spokane Falls Boulevard.

BOISE – Embattled Sen. Larry Craig announced his resignation from the U.S. Senate on Saturday, after a week of intense pressure over his involvement in an airport restroom sex-solicitation scandal that made him the butt of jokes on late-night TV and brought resignation calls from his own national party leaders. "To the Idahoans I represent, to my staff, my Senate colleagues and, most importantly, my wife and our family, I apologize for what I have caused. I am deeply sorry," Craig told a huge crowd of media, supporters, detractors and citizens gathered in front of Boise's historic train depot.

Spokane's Muslims prayed on a tarp under a tent Friday, in the hopes that a year from now they'll be worshipping on the same spot in the region's first traditional mosque. With prayers and a ceremonial ground- breaking, the Spokane Islamic Center took a big step toward a mosque with more room and a higher profile, including the symbolic presence of a minaret. Muslims from the Spokane and Coeur d'Alene area have worshipped for years in a renovated home on the North Side that's too small for the crowds on religious holidays.

Shay Logan was unloading his backpack in his new Gonzaga University dorm on Thursday: climbing ropes, camp stove, outdoor gear. He was coming off a summer of mountain climbing and into the new Kennedy Apartments. The apartments make the average dorm look awfully austere, with their spacious floor plans, Mission-style furniture, double bathrooms and full kitchen.

As colleges welcome back students for another academic year, they'll also be putting some new security measures in place – some high-tech, some old-fashioned. In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings in April, college officials everywhere fielded calls from parents and students, reviewed emergency plans and systems, and added new tools to improve campus safety.

For years now, Washington State University officials have said a new 18-hole golf course on campus would use just 50 percent more water than the old one – despite having twice as many holes and three times the acreage. Now, with the course construction well under way and the first golfers ready to hit the driving range Monday, it appears that the new course may actually double or nearly triple the water use of the old 9-hole course. That information comes as WSU is asserting, in a proposed water conservation plan, that its new course will be 32 percent more efficient than the old one.

The stroller count was high Saturday in Riverfront Park, as thousands of families flooded in for the annual Kids Day celebration. Children had scores of games and activities to try, ranging from playing a violin to watching a mime to whacking a dummy with a bamboo kendo sword. Tied in with the activities was information about services and organizations that help families, as well as some business booths.

One researcher wants to study the role of genetics in overweight pigs – with an eye toward developing individualized approaches to diet. Another hopes to create a microchip that could measure tiny "biomarkers" in the blood, raising the potential of personalized predictions for heart attack and disease.

The people who check into the new sleep research center at Washington State University in Spokane stay in some pretty nice digs. But the tradeoff is dramatic. They're kept awake for long stretches – 36 hours, 62 hours. No coffee or stimulating activity allowed. If they're watching a movie and they start to nod off, someone nudges them awake.

COLFAX – Fred Russell will likely be tried in Whitman County, a judge said Tuesday, even if that means bringing in jurors from an outside county and sequestering them. Attorneys for Russell, accused of driving drunk and killing three people in a 2001 crash near Pullman, wanted the trial moved, arguing that intense, inflammatory news coverage over six years had left a majority of potential jurors with firm opinions about the case.

After Fred Russell fled the country – and before he was captured – Whitman County prosecutors twice asked the Washington state crime lab to preserve vials of his blood that they say prove Russell was drunk when he caused a crash that left three dead. The lab manager assured them the samples would be saved.