Those still without power in Spokane, Coeur d’Alene and Kellogg were expected to have service restored by the end of Monday, the sixth day of power outages caused by a severe windstorm.

In the wake of Wednesday's windstorm, some still in the dark may be asking, why can't we just bury the power lines and avoid such interruptions of service? The answer can be found in what lies beneath our feet, and what it would cost to dig it up. 

Avista restored power to thousands more homes and businesses in the Inland Northwest but, by midday Friday, more than 25,000 were still without electricity 48 hours after a ferocious windstorm toppled trees across the Inland Northwest.

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission issued a 2-1 ruling Friday that prevents the utility from charging its customers $3.2 million in additional power costs after a coal plant in Montana failed emissions testing in summer 2018.

The region’s 133,000 customers of the public utility will see their monthly energy bills drop 1% this winter, according to a news release from the public utility commission.

Avista Utilities has reached a settlement with stakeholders in a rate case that could reduce electric service rates for Idaho customers.

City crews and South Hill residents continued clearing fallen trees and tree limbs from yards, streets, sidewalks and parks on Friday.

A young woman whose body was pulled from the Spokane River downtown early Tuesday morning was reported missing earlier this week by friends and family.

Avista Utilities workers pulled a body from the Spokane River early Tuesday morning.

A man was briefly trapped in his car Friday morning on the South Hill as a charged electrical wire sat on his hood.

A boom truck became tangled in power lines on East Broadway Avenue Thursday afternoon, leading to hundreds of power outages in northeast Spokane.

Avista Utilities is cautioning customers to be aware of telephone calls from scammers demanding payments or requesting confidential information.

Spokane Community College canceled classes Monday due to a campuswide power outage. A post on the school’s Facebook page said classes would resume on Tuesday.

The lawsuit, filed last month in Spokane County Superior Court, alleges Avista provided inadequate equipment to power a planned expansion of Buddy Boy Farms, a large-scale cannabis operation based south of Ford.

Washington regulators denied Hydro One Ltd.’s proposed purchase of Avista Corp., finding the merger does not serve the public interest.

A downed power line in downtown Spokane Tuesday afternoon led to brief bouts of chaos as cars navigated street-light-less roads and hospitals operated on backup generators.

Firefighters said Thursday morning that the Upriver Beacon fire has been largely contained.

People returned to their homes in the Beacon Hill area Wednesday morning after a fast-moving wildfire burned more than 115 acres and forced evacuations.

About 2,000 customers – including Shriners Hospitals for Children – were without power for several hours Monday after an Avista Utilities power line went down near Fifth Avenue and Walnut Street downtown.