Passport applicants need appointment

Come Valentine’s Day, travelers who want to apply for passports in Spokane will need to make an appointment.

The U.S. Postal Service here announced Friday that it will take passport applications by appointment only after Feb. 14. Passport services are available at the Liberty Park station, 1602 E. Sprague Ave., and the Rosewood Branch, 6325 N. Monroe St.

Customers can call for an appointment up to two weeks in advance, at (509) 252-2332; the post office will then mail a packet of instructions and an application. The postal service encourages people to begin the process of getting a passport at least six weeks before their departure date. For information, go to www.usps.com/passport.

Blaze damages apartment kitchen

A fire damaged a kitchen in the Mary Manor apartments in Browne’s Addition on Friday evening.

Eight fire trucks and 27 Spokane firefighters responded. Fire crews extinguished the fire in 15 minutes.

No one was hurt and people living in the apartments at 1906 W. Pacific Ave. were allowed to return.

Investigators determined cause of the fire was accidental.

Spokane Alliance holding meeting

The Spokane Alliance – a coalition of education, labor, faith groups and nonprofit organizations – will hold a community meeting Monday to articulate a vision on the use of state and federal stimulus funds that might be generated in the coming years. The vision includes jobs and training opportunities that reduce energy bills, cut greenhouse gases and lessen dependence on foreign energy. The meeting is free and open to the public. It will begin at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 4340 W Fort Wright Drive.

PORTLAND

Arson suspect may be in Canada

The FBI said Friday that a woman suspected in a string of arsons around the West in the late 1990s may have been spotted recently in Canada.

The FBI received a tip that Rebecca Rubin was seen near Vancouver, B.C.

The 25-year-old Rubin is linked to a radical environmental group called “the Family.”

In 2001, 11 members were indicted on charges accusing them of arson attacks between 1996 and 2001 in the name of the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front in Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado and Wyoming.

From staff and wire reports