Tom Sowa

A federal judge Wednesday ordered a third suspect in the theft of explosives from a North Idaho mine held in jail until his trial. U.S. District Court Magistrate Cynthia Imbrogno said Joseph Earle Tepner-Galland, 26, can't be trusted to stay in the area if released on bail.

Investigators continue their search for about 75 pounds of explosives stolen from a North Idaho mine last month, after recovering 11 sticks of the "stick powder" Monday in the Coeur d'Alene area. Authorities have arrested three men in connection with the July 30 theft from the Lucky Friday Mine in Mullan, Idaho.

Federal agents said Monday a man charged in the theft of 500 pounds of mining explosives planned to sell some of them to a Sandpoint resident tied to a militia group.

Spokane's Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute has $15 million in federal money to help create new or improved products. What SIRTI needs now are good projects to spend it on. This summer, the state-funded institute sent out 3,000 requests, asking people around the region to apply for some of the money.

It's been a war of the noses at the Colbert composting plant. Residents near the north Spokane facility say the compost unleashes a steady noxious, even toxic stench that hurts property values and creates a public nuisance.

People who track the hot social trends in Spokane County will find telecommuting low on that list. Blame the showing on short drives to work, moderate rush hours and good bus routes, say the people who watch where other people work. Compared to the Puget Sound, fewer people in Spokane telecommute - shifting their work from office to home, usually with the help of a home computer - the state Energy Office says.

A baboon rides a toy at the primate center near Medical Lake. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Tom Quinn painted a railroad mural on the Hillyard post office wall. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Rich Krause, right, gets daughter Amanda interested in a cone while Demarice Field tries to keep the major part of her son Shaun's face wiped clean. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

County residents watching construction of the north Spokane sewer interceptor will have to wait until January before water starts flowing through the system. Spokane County engineers say construction of the lines that will serve about 10,000 residents will be finished this fall. But delays are slowing work on two key pump houses needed to deliver service to homes along Dartford Road, the Whitworth College area, Cincinnati Drive, Little Spokane Drive and U.S. Highway 395.

SCC's new president, Jim Williams, meets guests at a reception. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Dalton Bly is the vice president of P.O.W.E.R.Net, a company that urges Christians to go forth on the Internet, seeking religious information such as scholarly studies of the Bible. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

County air quality officials are giving North Side residents two more weeks to comment on regulations proposed for Acme Materials and Construction's asphalt plant on East Hawthorne. Plant operators have agreed with county and federal officials that they will not produce more than 300,000 tons of asphalt per year. Last year, the plant produced 133,000 tons of concrete.

The much-debated Indian Trail Specific Plan goes one more round before the city Plan Commission members put their fingers on it. Members of the commission will meet Wednesday with the Indian Trail Task Force to review changes made to the document - discussed, argued over and patched together over the past three years. The meeting is scheduled at 2 p.m. at City Hall Room 200, with discussion limited to members of those groups. Citizens can attend the session, however.

Flipping headfirst off the diving board at Holmbert Pool, Joel Perkins was one of dozens of kids making a splach at the outdoor county pool. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

"Like some people hang plates, we hang hubcaps," says Karen Graebner, right, who with her husband, Bill, runs B&K;'s Hubcap in Hillyard. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Internet defenders are mounting the barricades, intent on proving they're not porn-chasing pedophiles or renegade militia members trading bomb-building secrets. Stung by lurid magazine articles, reports of child-stalking on the worldwide computer network and government efforts to regulate cyberspace, Internet users are launching a counterattack. Nationally, they have unleashed a blistering attack on Time magazine for a recent article on cyberporn that critics call sensationalistic and uninformed.

A Spokane-based company that helps people trade or recycle industrial and personal items won an award for best business use of the Internet this week. The National Material Exchange Network (NMEN) won the award given out Wednesday by the National Information Infrastructure, a Commerce Deptartment agency working with private industry to promote effective use of computer technology.

Business owners, college professors and garage-lab inventors are invited to seek up to $100,000 to create new and improved products through Spokane's Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute. Grants approved by SIRTI directors later this year will receive the money for either one or two-year proposals that create new products or stimulate regional business. Those planning to apply must submit an initial application by July 30.

Jason Dearien logs onto his computer every day and finds another 15,000 people have checked out his little experiment. They're connecting to North Idaho from India, Tasmania, Finland or Rio Hondo, Texas, population 2,843.

It's supposed to be a thoughtful cyber-space hangout, or at least a place to learn what's on the minds of Spokane's political junkies. Instead, an on-line computer discussion area devoted to city politics is caught in a battle of its own. It is being shunned by almost all city officials and branded as the domain of one long-winded councilman and several whiners.

What began as an experiment in credit card convenience is changing the modern gas station into a one-stop, fast-dash drive through. Introduced two years ago, pumps that let people pay for gas outside without dealing with the clerk inside are becoming the gas industry's favorite customer convenience. "We see more and more people filling up with the card-reader pumps," said Post Falls station operator Bill Jones.

Terry Reed puts in a shot over Lonnie Perteet in a 6-feet-and-under match Sunday. Photo by John Sale/The Spokesman-Review

Losing their cool Tata Pittenger, seated at center, cheers her daughter's team, the Dribbling Disciples, from the Dynamic Christian Academy. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review