Bill Kessler, of Spokane, has a new shortcut to get to the Centennial Trail. Kessler, who travels on foot, was heading to a ballgame Friday at Mission Park when he crossed the Spokane River on the historic Iron Bridge.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Sunday called "Carmageddon II," the sequel to last year's shutdown of one of the nation's busiest freeways, a success and thanked drivers for staying off the road and keeping the weekend traffic unusually light. Bridgework that forced the closure of Interstate 405 was completed and lanes of the freeway through the Sepulveda Pass began reopening Sunday night, hours ahead of a planned reopening for the Monday morning commute.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The demolition of a bridge that forced the weekend closure of one of the nation's busiest freeways is on schedule, while many Los Angeles drivers heeded warnings to steer clear of the area, and officials expect to reopen the lanes as planned Monday morning. Crews working around the clock since Friday evening have taken down all but two columns of the Mulholland Drive bridge over Interstate 405, Rick Jagger, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said Sunday morning. The project is part of a $1 billion project to widen the freeway to accommodate a new carpool lane.

It’s shoulder season in Sandpoint. The summer crowds have dispersed and skiers have a couple of months to wait until the slopes open. But there is a bustle in town along the new Sand Creek Byway, the two-mile shortcut around downtown.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Families may have to watch for dings in the car and plead with an older driver to give up the keys — but there's new evidence that doctors could have more of an influence on one of the most wrenching decisions facing a rapidly aging population. A large study from Canada found that when doctors warn patients, and tell driving authorities, that the older folks may be medically unfit to be on the road, there's a drop in serious crash injuries among those drivers.

HOUSTON (AP) — A caretaker at a group home for the mentally ill called police in the middle of the night because a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair was angry and wouldn't calm down. What happened next is the subject of an investigation that now involves the FBI. One of the two Houston police officers who entered the home fatally shot the double-amputee in the head, saying he was cornered by the wheelchair and thought his partner was being threatened by what turned out to be a ballpoint pen.

Trains powered by hydroelectric dams on the Spokane River were the first urban public transportation system in early Spokane. The Spokane and Montrose Street Railway, which operated the first electrified streetcar system, was taken over by a business group headed by Jay P. Graves in 1902 and renamed the Spokane Traction Company. Graves and timber businessman Frederick Blackwell, of Coeur d’Alene, extended electric train service to Lake Coeur d’Alene in 1903 under the name Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Space shuttle Endeavour landed safely at the Los Angeles International Airport Friday after a whirlwind aerial tour around California landmarks. Strapped to the back of a 747 jumbo jet, the pair touched down around 1 p.m. after a nearly five-hour flyover. One of the crew members stuck an American flag out of the hatch of the jet.