Council to consider minimum wage raise

Spokane City Council members tonight are scheduled to consider the summary and ballot title of an initiative to raise the minimum wage at the city’s largest retailers, including Wal-Mart.

A hearing near the end of the 6 p.m. meeting in Council Chambers will give the council a chance to decide whether to enact the initiative, place it on the ballot for voters to decide or tell proponents to gather about 2,900 valid voter signatures to force it onto the 2007 city ballot.

Under the proposal by the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane, employers operating stores of 95,000 square feet or larger would be required to pay employees $10.30 an hour if they offer health benefits. The salary would have to be $12.58 an hour if the employer does not provide health benefits.

In other business, the council will consider a 495-acre annexation west of Nine Mile Road in the proposed Park Place development in the northwest corner of the city.

– Mike Prager

Idaho Falls

Thief leaves soldier message of hate

Many Idaho residents are showing support for military troops by placing magnetic ribbons on cars, yellow ribbons in windows or just offering thanks when they run into a soldier around town.

But Bonneville County deputies say that one unknown resident had a different message to send.

A member of the Idaho National Guard discovered that his 2000 GMC pickup was stolen from his driveway last week, and the thief left a message in its place: “I hate soldiers” was spray-painted on the victim’s driveway, police said.

The truck was later discovered, abandoned and set on fire.

So far the Sheriff’s Office has no suspects, Sgt. Doug Metcalf said. Investigators are asking that anyone with information about the theft or the vandalism call the Sheriff’s Office.

– Associated Press

Eugene, Ore.

Man aims to break rubber band record

It’s a stretch to break the record, but Steve Milton wants to make the world’s largest ball of rubber bands.

Milton, 26, was showing his 6-year-old son how to wrap rubber bands into a sphere last year and the project snowballed from there. The ball now weighs in at 580 pounds and is roughly three feet high.

“Nobody’s really called me crazy,” Milton said. “They do think I’ve got a lot of time on my hands.”

The record to break is a 3,120-pound, five-foot-tall ball, created by John Bain of Wilmington, Del., in 1998.

Milton said a rubber band company in Pennsylvania supplies him with rubber bands for $1.80 a pound. “I’ve got about 1,000 pounds waiting to be put on the darn ball,” he says.

Milton has also started smashing things with the ball to raise money. He’s pulverized an old TV set and tried to crush a computer monitor, but the ball bounced off. Since that failed attempt, however, the ball has grown by 200 pounds and he is optimistic he will be able to flatten the computer hardware.

– Associated Press