Prince loved playing eccentric and wild guitars – often custom instruments designed to make as much of a visual statement as they did a musical statement. But his favorite guitar couldn’t be more traditional-looking.

As far as jewelry goes, it’s really not much. But it’s definitely one of the most eye-catching accessories in Washington, D.C., certain to open most doors in the capital city — especially if you want to get in and around the Capitol building.

Perry White was one of my favorite newspaper editors. No, not Clark Kent’s boss at the Daily Planet.

They are two of the most-respected programs in all of college athletics, yet Kansas and Gonzaga couldn’t be more different.

Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan joined Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley on Thursday to discuss her new book, “Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy,” during a livestreamed Northwest Passages Book Club forum.

Margaret Sullivan knows what it‘s like to not just love newspapers, but especially love one in particular.

Twenty years ago, if a newspaper announced it was going to build a new press, I would have rolled my eyes.

Northwest Passages virtual interview with Stephan Pastis

The changes to local newspaper newsrooms across the country have been written about ad nauseam. Here’s the CliffsNotes version of the obvious: There are a whole lot fewer journalists out there.

None of us have done this before. There was no playbook to follow. None of the newspaper’s historical emergency publishing plans explained what to do if there was a worldwide pandemic that would cause us to abandon our newsroom desks for months on end.

When you’re a newspaper editor, you get a lot of email, notes and phone calls. I’ve worked at some of the biggest newspapers in the nation and never received as much as here in Spokane. It’s actually one of the coolest parts of working here – people care. And they’re chatty. Those are features, not flaws.

Today, we hear the phrase “fake news” all the time, but it’s oddly been turned into something that seems charged and political, whether something is factual or not. And if it is true, there are now “alternate facts” you should believe are truer, despite facts not actually working that way.

We grew up in a small-town where 50 people in your graduating class was considered huge. Our extended family all lived nearby and we were a fairly tight-knit bunch. Even a little gregarious – okay maybe a lot gregarious – which often made it a little overwhelming for those who married into the Curley family.

I don’t normally write a three-dot column – which is newspaper slang for a column that talks about mostly unrelated things separated by a whole bunch of ellipses – but we have a lot of ground to cover today.

In the era of the coronavirus, journalism has never felt more important. That’s what makes what is currently happening to local newspapers across the country, both dailies and weeklies, so cruel.

Today is the day we’re beginning the virtual version of our Northwest Passages book club and community forums. Though we’re starting with more of the forum part than the book part.

Rob Curley reads his favorite children’s book, “Mr. Peabody's Apples.”

Northwest Passages Book Club events will resume, via streaming, plus ‘Storytime from the Tower’ for children.