Voices

Freeman High School’s boys basketball team is the top-ranked Class 1A team in the state according to the new ranking by the state’s governing body, the WIAA – a formula that takes into account a high school basketball team’s strength of schedule that will ultimately be used to help better seed the state tournament.

Archie is available for adoption at the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service. Shelter workers say he’s an older gentleman with a calm disposition and is eager to please.

The one good thing about Snowmageddon is that it’s perfect soup and stew weather.

It’s winter and we aren’t going to see our gardens any time soon so here are some educational opportunities to take advantage of in the near future. To register for these classes, go to the WSU Spokane County Extension’s website at

Elephant trainer in Chicago. Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire.

Anyone who has ever pushed a shovel into the ground in Spokane County knows that there are rocks in and protruding from the soil here – some of them big ones, boulders and even huge outcroppings. And since the earliest days of settlement of the area, these native stones have been used to build shelters, walls, monuments, homes and other structures.

If there’s one thing this winter has demonstrated, it’s that the weather can still turn very cold and snowy in our region.

Spokane Valley forms ad hoc committee to pursue new library building.

A new Lincoln Heights master plan is headed to the Spokane Plan Commission next week.

Mission Avenue improvement project moves on without a roundabout.

While the garden is hidden under snow, head to Lake Coeur d’Alene to see the bald eagles that come each winter to feast on spawned-out kokanee.

And so the new year has begun. After the tumultuous year that was 2016, I think a good start to 2017 would be to look to the positive and focus on the happy – namely, chickens.

Ken Wanless, owner of Downtown Auto Specialists, won a $20,000 Working Forward Small Business Award from Synchrony Financial. With it he’ll pay for training for his employees, and set up a scholarship fun for military members to pursue skilled trades after leaving the service.