Washington Voices

SPOKANE VALLEY – An outdoor gospel bluegrass service is planned for 7 p.m. Sunday on the front lawn of Zion Lutheran Church, 8304 E. Buckeye Ave. Former Zion worship leader Kelly Bogan and the group Molly and Tenbrooks will be the featured musicians. All are welcome to attend. City Center owners’ SARP input sought

Folks will be milling about Millwood next Saturday, celebrating the small city and running for a good cause. The Second Annual Millwood 5k Wellness Run will start at 9 a.m. to kick off a day of activities, “Millwood Daze,” that will end with a movie behind the Rocket Bakery at dusk.

This is going to be a challenging year for the vegetable garden. Everything is a couple of weeks behind because of the weather. It is going to take a long fall to get everything ripe. Even then, getting cantaloupes and watermelons to ripen at all is going to be iffy unless you live in a warm pocket. That said, now is the perfect time to plant some crops for fall harvest. The warm soil will help seeds germinate and grow quickly. As the weather cools at the end of August into September, the plants will continue to grow without the heat stress and even relish a light frost or two.

Jenkins High School Alumni All-School Reunion – Sunday. Doors open at 11 a.m., potluck lunch is at 1 p.m. For more information, call Jo Safford at (509) 292-2526. Freeman High School All Class Reunion – Sept. 25, at Rockford Park, immediately following the parade at Rockford Fair. Classmates and former teachers are encouraged to contact Jerry Cross at (208) 762-4608 or baldfox@icehouse.net for more information.

The future of the East Valley School District’s re-visioning plan was left hanging in the balance Wednesday evening after the school board held another workshop to discuss their plans. The board has been discussing plans to revamp the way it teaches its students. Superintendent John Glenewinkel said that currently about 70 percent of the students are demonstrating mastery of their subjects – which he said is typical of most districts in the area – and the district wants to find a way to serve that other 30 percent.

For 08-14-2010

For the week of Aug. 16-20 Monday – Option 1: Polynesian pork and steamed rice, green beans, carrots, dinner roll, cookie. Option 2: Chicken sandwich, green beans, carrots, dinner roll, cookie.

The sun is shining, the playfields are full and the birds are singing. We’d like to see your best seasonal photographs for Picture Perfect, our community scrapbook of photos from Spokane Valley readers. We want the type of pictures that show why this season is one of the best in Spokane Valley. Share photos of family feasts, children in their best summer outfits, teammates on the field. Think of holiday gatherings, special milestones and outdoor fun. Send us your party pictures, garden snapshots and candid photos.

For 08-14-2010

The Spokane Valley City Council seems poised to change the city’s nonconforming-use rules to benefit one property owner despite concerns from some council and planning commission members that doing so would allow anyone to take advantage of the new, more lenient rules. A nonconforming use is created when a business that used to be allowed is no longer allowed after a zoning change. A nonconforming use is allowed to expand to a neighboring parcel if that second parcel was owned by the same owner at the time the use became nonconforming. Dwight Hume, who operates a land-use planning company, filed a proposed text amendment on behalf of Hite Crane to eliminate the ownership requirement. That would allow a nonconforming use to expand to an adjacent parcel no matter when the second parcel was purchased.

Howard Hickman never had a problem with his health insurance coverage. The retired Union Pacific employee and Navy veteran said he has 100 percent coverage rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs and health insurance through Union Pacific. And he has Medicare. So he was quite surprised when American Medical Response, an ambulance company based in Modesto, Calif., threatened to send him to collection over his last ambulance ride.

The Cheney City Council addressed city employees’ and council members’ use of social networking websites in two resolutions adopted Tuesday. “We see these as an important sort of business tool,” said Mark Schuller, human resource manager for the city.

As of early this week, many of the destructive wildfires sweeping at least 13 provinces in western Russia were still out of control. About 550 blazes are still burning, 40 of them surrounding Moscow. Heavy, poisonous smog has led to an average of 700 deaths per day in Russia’s capital. Millions of hectares of once-golden wheat were being described as “a blackened wasteland.” Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin temporarily banned all wheat exports last week.

Today Browne’s Addition Summer Concerts - 6-8 p.m. Camille Bloom, edgy acoustic rock from Seattle. Coeur d’Alene Park in Browne’s Addition. Free. (509) 218-9398.