Spokane Valley officials will not be on the steps of the Spokane County Courthouse next week when the Painted Hills Golf Course is auctioned off to satisfy bankruptcy debts. A divided City Council narrowly voted Tuesday not to participate in the sale after members of the community stepped forward to say they have a plan to save the golf course. Everyone who spoke during Tuesday’s meeting asked the city to stay out of it. At previous meetings, residents pleaded with the city to buy it.

Spokane Valley officials will not be on the steps of the Spokane County Courthouse next week when the Painted Hills Golf Course is auctioned off to satisfy bankruptcy debts. A divided City Council narrowly voted Tuesday not to participate in the sale after members of the community stepped forward to say they have a plan to save the golf course. Everyone who spoke during Tuesday’s meeting asked the city to stay out of it. At previous meetings, residents pleaded with the city to buy it.

Central Valley School District is partnering with Avista Corp. to teach and encourage budding business owners. An entrepreneurship program offered for the first time to high school students through Spokane Valley Tech is designed to teach the basics of business with an end goal of a business plan. It starts Thursday.

Domestic violence victims fleeing abusive partners will have a new housing option next month when the YWCA opens a new confidential safe shelter in Spokane Valley. The YWCA already operates a similar shelter in Spokane that can house up to 40 women and children at a time. The new shelter is much smaller and can house three single women and three to four families at a time in seven bedrooms. “It’s because of the numbers we’re seeing from Spokane Valley that we started this one,” said marketing and development coordinator Meagan Pierluissi.

A burn ban in Spokane County does not seem to be deterring people from lighting recreational fires in their backyards and elsewhere. In recent weeks some backyard fires and campfires have escaped, starting brush fires. No backyard fires escaped during the week of Aug. 22-28, but Spokane Valley Fire Department Fire Marshal Kevin Miller said his department responded to seven of the illegal fires and asked that they be put out. “We’re still having some issues,” Miller said.

With the primary election over, most candidates have turned their attention to raising money for the November general election. Some Spokane Valley City Council candidates have been more successful in this than others, with challenger Ed Pace collecting more than $11,000 as of Wednesday and political newcomer Donald F. Morgan collecting only $167. Pace’s top contributor is retired businessman Jack Pring, with the maximum donation of $1,800. Duane Alton, a retired tire shop owner now known for his Citizens for Responsible Taxation group that campaigns against school district levies across Washington State and North Idaho, has donated $1,100.

In preparation for the coming school year, the three Spokane Valley school districts have passed their budgets. In the Central Valley School board approved a total budget of $136,942,430, estimating an enrollment of 12,620 full-time students, an increase of 770 students from last year’s budgeted amount.

A 22-year-old man shot himself in the head and is now in critical condition at an area hospital, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office said. Alcohol is believed to have been a factor in the incident, which occurred before 1 a.m. on Sullivan Road in Spokane Valley.

Spokane Valley City Council members were tight-lipped about their intentions Tuesday after hearing a short presentation on the possible purchase of the Painted Hills Golf Course. It will be sold in a trustee’s auction next month because its owners filed for bankruptcy. The council agreed, however, to vote next week on whether to send City Manager Mike Jackson to the auction with the city’s checkbook in hand.

Local government officials seeking to reorganize the region’s garbage system will find their best deal in an offer being made by the city of Spokane, a consultant reported on Wednesday. That offer involves the city relinquishing control of the Colbert and Valley transfer stations to Spokane County in exchange for an agreement to keep garbage from outside the city flowing to the city-owned incinerator on Geiger Boulevard.

Three men have been arrested in connection with a tire theft at the Appleway Auto Nation store over the weekend, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office said. Two were booked into jail Monday after allegedly trying to sell some of the stolen tires to another store, while a third was arrested Wednesday after a search of his home revealed more of the stolen property and drugs.