Shawn Vestal

Amid the ongoing lawsuits and investigations surrounding University Place, officials with the University of Idaho say a positive development often is overlooked. The Idaho Water Center – the only remaining piece of the original four-building plan – is open and tenants are moving in.

Everybody knew everybody. One of the most persistent factors in the planning and decision-making surrounding University Place is the network of connections – some say conflicts – that surrounded the relationships among top University of Idaho officials, the foundation, its law firms, the project developer – even the governor.

MOSCOW, Idaho – University Place was supposed to change the face of the University of Idaho. Just not the way it has.

Six months after the announcement that Eastern Washington University President Stephen Jordan was leaving, the university has formed a search committee and hired a recruiting firm and is preparing to advertise the opening. But a new president likely won't be on campus until next summer – and a couple of other top administrative hires will probably come after that.

Six months after the announcement that Eastern Washington University President Stephen Jordan was leaving, the university has formed a search committee and hired a recruiting firm, and is preparing to advertise the opening. But a new president likely won't be on campus until next summer – and a couple of other top administrative hires will probably come after that.

Gonzaga University and Whitworth College both ranked in the top 10 for their category in the new U.S. News & World Report listings of the nation's top schools – an annual report that stirs at least as much heartburn as pride in academia. Public universities in the Inland Northwest all ranked lower in their categories.

PULLMAN – The technology wing of Jeff Records' life is significant. He has computers, both desktop and laptop. He's got a digital camera and cell phone, a PDA and a digital video recorder. Almost all of it, he says, could be used in one way or another as part of his classwork at Washington State University.

College football players are enduring twice-daily workouts in the August heat, practicing blocking and tackling, running wind sprints and learning the playbook. Sharon Stoll would like to see them add one more exercise – in ethics.

For Ruth Dixon, World War II ended in the middle of a song. A USO singer on a six-month tour of the South Pacific, Dixon and her troupe were interrupted while performing at the estate of the Philippines' president on Aug. 14, 1945.

Members of a tightknit Christian group that has been trailed by controversy around the West have purchased six homes bordering Whitworth College, raising concerns on campus and in the surrounding north Spokane neighborhood. Bill Freeman, who leads the group with his wife, Patsy, said he and the members of his church just want to live quietly, worship as they see fit and keep to themselves. For decades, the Freemans have led a group of fundamentalist Christians who live closely intertwined lives of intense religious devotion, according to several former members and published reports.

Washington State University President V. Lane Rawlins is shifting some responsibilities for running the Pullman campus to other administrators to focus more on statewide issues such as fund-raising, lobbying and long-range planning. In an executive reorganization announced Monday, Rawlins said WSU Provost Robert Bates will become executive vice president for the Pullman campus, giving him the primary role in the day-to-day affairs there.

MOSCOW, Idaho – A project to record interviews with Americans across the nation is looking for Palouse stories. Organizers don't want history in a traditional, names-and-dates sense. They're looking for introspection and emotion, personal experience and insight – "the rich lives of reflective people," said Mary Reed, director of the Latah County Historical Society.