Oh the world we live in. A few thick slices of weird news from today. More stuff could come later.

HIRED GUNS: Sewer hook-up causes contention

BAYVIEW – A dispute over a Bayview sewer connection recently devolved into a diver disconnecting a restaurant's underwater sewer and water connections, an on-dock confrontation and a visit by police. Ultimately it may have to be resolved in court.

CRYING IN COURT: Tearful prosecutor prompts mistrial: Judge says opening arguments in domestic violence case 'crossed the line' when the prosecutor asked for a tissue. About that gooey detail about what the man did or did not have running down this face, (Two thirds down the story) managing editor Gary Graham winced, laughed and said, "Ooh--Too much detail!"

WATER METERS: Faulty meters cause free water: Cheney loses money, works to replace faulty equipment

CHENEY – Because of meter-reading errors, 25 percent of Cheney's water has gone unbilled over the past three years, and the city appears to be out about $14,400.

A caller to the city desk the other day asked... how much is the paper? Fifty cents, an editor replied. No, really, how much is the paper? he asked again. The editor asked him if he is interested in subscription rates, in which case she could transfer him to the circulation department.

No, not that either.

Instead, this caller was asking how much the newspaper is worth as a company.

So the discussion at the 4:30 meeting today was about story placement/prominence for a McCain-accepts-nomination speech story. Two good arguments here:

» Managing editor Gary Graham said we should do similar treatment as the Obama-accepts-nomination speech story from last Friday's page A1 (pictured at right), for reasons of fairness in political coverage.

» Editorial/news copy editor Tom Green argues that in terms of news value, Obama's acceptance held more historical significance as the first African-American man taking candidacy for president, and that it requires stronger story placement/prominence.

What say you?

Newsroom news

RE: Newsroom reorg this fall, here's what we know.
• Various editors will swap positions - they'll just all switch bodies - and they'll switch chairs.
• Breaking News will be one discrete operation that reports to City Desk. Breaking News is slated to have two morning reporters (the earliest one's shift starts at 5 a.m.) a breaking news editor and a deputy breaking news editor. That's four people so far. The announcement includes one other (?) and we'll double check later.
• Switching humans for social services beat. More info when that happens.
• Moving Smart Bombs Gary Crooks from the opinion side to the news side (from the Dark Side....)
• Multimedia editor Colin Mulvany will begin training sessions next week for two features reporters, a business reporter, a sports reporter, etc. to be able to collect and produce video and audio for the Web, to supplement the writing duties. These trainees have not been previously trained in any other multimedia session.

• Man gets 12 years for wife's attempted hanging: Told her the noose was part of the haunted house...
• College, custom-built: Convenience, growing number of classes help drive growth in online learning
• Highway microgadgets track speeders: Includes interesting statistics about what parts of what highways have speediest drivers.
• Most Spokane high schools fail federal standards

Sarah Palin

Here's today's political story: Palin takes spotlight tonight in St. Paul to "tell a national audience who she is and why she should be vice president." Folks at the morning meeting are also following the news about Palin's reception among women voters with strong views about Palin as a VP mom of five? And, of course, the buzz about her daughter.

The current Enquirer cover story is on Palin's daughter's pregnancy and the conspiracy of a cover-up. Enquirer and presumably other tabloid publications offer to pay for celebrity and political gossip, as the yellow starburst logo on the top right of the page indicates.

They pay their sources. Standard newspapers like S-R do not, as a matter of ethics. But should the S-R report news broken by other newspapers that have paid money to sources?

It was just odd to hear the terms "National Enquirer" and "Washington Times" uttered in the same sentence, radio honcho Dan Mitchinson said.

Other folks said Enquirer is just now getting attention from "serious" press because they were first on news about John Edwards' affair.

Huskies sports coverage

Regarding today's letters to the editor, city editor Addy Hatch asked if anybody saw the one about the UW Huskies coverage... the fifth letter down. The reader's complaint was that there is not enough coverage about the Huskies, compared to WSU or Zags.

But the truth is, WSU and Gonzaga have better readership in the annual surveys, Sports editor Joe Palmquist said.

Palmquist is, in a sense, up to his nose in crazy Huskies fans who call. "Husky fans are so snooty," he joked during a long speech about readers asking for more UW news on the front page of the Sports section. Palmquist talked at the meeting for a good bit of time to poke fun at how Huskies fans see bigger Seattle papers writing about UW sports, but despite that, they call the sports department here and ask where the coverage is.

"Tomorrow at 11:15, I want you on the air," said radio host Rebecca Mack.

Yes, there really was an unauthorized dance party in River Park Square on Sunday afternoon - right outside the second floor elevator of Restoration Hardware. Yes, the little closet with the chairs and catalogs.

Local producer and recording engineer Joe Varela and about a dozen mobbies invaded the tiny hall with a giant stereo and loud dance music, as a variation on the flash mob concept where people gather for a bizarre activity in public and quickly disperse.

The party lasted about three minutes, before RPS mall security came and gave Varela the 'cut it' sign.

Thin slices

• There was a decision to put the latest soldier death story on page B1 ("Spokane soldier, 23, killed in Iraq"). The original idea was to put every one of their deaths' stories on page A1, but as war continues, we should revisit the policy, editors said.
• Kudos on the John Blanchette column
• Second S-R journalism camp package is a success...Here's a taste, the first page (PDF). Here's the fab Aug 11 edition.
• In case you missed it: "Summer wanes, wonderfully"
• There will be no more wi-fi at rest areas in Washington because not enough people are using it

News pods: Search hits and small bites

Hurricane Gustav | Sarah Palin | airlines | Google Chrome | What this means for other web browsers

Newsroom news

Last Thursday there was a newsroom staff meeting in which editor Steve Smith announced some management changes - not effective right this minute, but soon. Some notable items on the list of changes: Making "Breaking News" its own "desk" or department of sorts, with the suggestion that there will be an increase in S-R's coverage of breaking news (because there will be more breaking news reporters). Previously, Breaking News was a function of City Desk. Also, there will be more coordinating between the general news section and the Voices operation (neighborhood news). Other than that, there's rearrangement of people and a new seating chart, but no other impact on what readers will consume.

(Edited to add: A few more details below in comments, but really we hope to refrain from giving more details until these changes actually happen)

BORSTAR candidates move a pile of rocks several feet Tuesday during training exercises in Spokane to weed out weaker Border Patrol agents trying to advance to the search and rescue aspect of the job. Brian Plonka photo, The Spokesman-Review. Read the story: "Border agents train, toil for chance to move up"

GOING GREEN: "Spokane schools fall short in 'green' dream," a good bit of enterprise journalism, editors said.

WASL: The scores are out and links to the the numbers breakdown by schools can be found at the bottom of this story. Funny thing is, the story's original opening line was that there was no big news. Reporter Dan Hansen said there was another sentence he'd had changed so many times that eventually the meaning was completely opposite. Special thanks to the night shift editor who caught the error. Read the story: WASL scores hold steady across the state

CONDOS: "To minimize losses, condo developers offer leases" Should S-R rent a condo? Or how about renting a couch, said photo editor Larry Reisnouer. (Assistant managing editor Carla Savalli: "Ew! It means somebody else has sat on it.")

SCHOOL SUPPLIES: After the "Groups help equip students for school" story yesterday, readers have called in about needing clothes, shoes and other back-to-school needs. How about we publish a quick roundup of agencies willing to help? editors said, to connect donors and recipients.

TRAFFIC: A jackknifed semi clogged traffic on Interstate 90 this morning. Some newsroommates were stuck on the road for about an hour but took an early exit. Not city editor Addy Hatch who wanted to see the crash: "Well if you waited for so long, you might as well see it."

• Shock coverage | Photos from the game | Video of interviews
• Convention search results from Google News
• The mayor and the goose: Mayor Mary Verner happened to be "in the right place at the right time" to herd a goose to a safe place.
• Coming in Food - Picnics, and last installment of canning of (tomato, salsa)

WILCO: News editors were surprised to see a review on the Wilco concert, published in print. The concert was just this past weekend. Music writer Isamu Jordan wrote a review and posted it on the Soundwave blog. The features department picked up his online review and repurposed it for the print edition. On the other hand, for reasons of coverage fairness, S-R normally doesn't do reviews and isn't staffed to review every show that comes to town. "It's hard to argue that some people should be elevated and others not," assistant managing editor Carla Savalli said. Do we hold back on doing concert reviews because we can only review all or none? It's a conversation worth revisiting, editor Steve Smith said.

TWO CALLS: One didn't like today's page A1 headline "Feels a little like China in Colorado" and said it was not appropriate. The story is here. Another caller said Biden headline from Sunday was too editorialized. ("Biden has substance, style")

JOURNEY: Cheryl-Anne Millsap's last column was published today. Here are the archives.

THIN SLICES: Today's Shock installment | Colleges getting greener | The super cool how-to on murals, Sunday's page D8 | Pros/cons of credit and debit

DUNCAN: Expect more Duncan coverage. Here's the associated link buffet: Previous coverage | Evidence slideshow | Closing arguments | List of aggravating factors | Juror verdict forms on counts 1 | 5 | 7

Multimedia roundup

Riverfront Park was awash in a sea of color and music as Native Americans honored the past and have hopes for the future of carrying on their traditions. Flute music used in this slideshow was recorded in the park as artist Judith Brownhawk performed for customers near her booth. Photos, audio and production by Dan Pelle, The Spokesman-Review

Camp No Limits has a unique mission. The camp is for kids who are missing one or more limbs and its a place for them to feel normal, to learn about "limb deficiencies" and to learn about how far they can go in life in spite of small and large physical obstacles in their way. Photos, audio and production by Jesse Tinsley, The Spokesman-Review

Today's story on the Joseph Edward Duncan III sentencing proceedings should go to page A1 or B1, some editors said, but they agreed that all Duncan coverage will come with a disclaimer for explicit content.

Editor Steve Smith and assistant managing editor Carla Savalli suggest giving Duncan a more prominent story spot, because of how widely read these stories are (This is also backed by statistics of online viewer count). Features editor Ken Paulman brings up the other point: "I think there's also a lot of fatigue" about the Duncan case too, he said.

• ADVISORIES: Expect an advisory message for explicit content in Duncan content from now on: This applies to the print version, to Twitter's sidebar (individual posts cannot be advisoried) and to online blog posts and news stories.

• CHOICE:We understand that stories like this will turn many people away, Smith said. People can also choose not to read this coverage, Savalli said, but it's better to make the information available. Editors can think of a small handful of regional cases that people would have this much readership, namely Kevin Coe, Robert Yates and Ruby Ridge - the Duncan case being a particularly heinous crime.

PROCESS: In the first of two phases in the sentencing trial, witness testimony and cross-examination occur, and the jury decides whether Duncan should put to death or imprisoned for life. If they choose death, it goes to another phase before he can actually be given death. The second phase is for the government to present more factors and victim impact statements, while Duncan would have the opportunity to present evidence of mental illness or other relevant history if he wishes. In total, the jury will also consider variables like whether the victim(s) was particularly vulnerable, and whether there was vicious intent. More details at Betsy Z. Russell's blog

<» Betsy Z. Russell was on the radio show just now:

This was during the court recess for lunch. Just a handful of onlookers and court personnel and media were present for the video that showed the torture of Dylan Groene. Courtroom had been cleared. Steve Groene gestured at the onlookers to leave, Russell is saying on the radio with Rebecca Mack, 790 KJRB. Jurors pressed tissue over their mouths, she said. What about you, Mack asked Russell, how are you doing?

"I'm a little shaken but I'm ok. There were no outbursts in the courtroom. The judge did advise everybody in the courtroom... to keep their emotions in check."

But why was it necessary to show the torture video? To show the eerie comparison of level of violence in two cases, Russell said, and that the video was the best possible way - for lack of a better phrase - to illustrate that. There was another witness, an adult male, who testified about being a victim to Duncan in 1980, Russell said.

» Steve Smith on Mack's show:

There is no such thing as good taste in this grotesque case, Smith said, but the goal of the S-R in this case is to "report what's happening in the courtroom so that citizens can decide for themselves whether justice is done in this case." Namely, because "if they do give him the death penalty there will be no question as to why" and vice versa. The notion of open court classifies people in the media as equal to the public - Journalists have no special privileges that the public does not.

"We don't want to repulse our online readers - our online readers - our followers on Twitter...We have determined that we will not provide great detail," Smith said on the air.

There has been impact on the journalists as well - One reporter said it was one of the worst things he has ever seen, according to S-R reporter Meghann M. Cuniff.

Every time there's an election, S-R staffers shift schedules around to adjust for the late results that come in. Between having deadlines for the printing press, versus having ballot results batches that come in late, that also made it more difficult to get quotes/comments from candidates into the story in time. Ah, the difficulty of having a deadly printing press deadline in a 24-hour-news-cycle and flexible staff world. Making warm, crisp Spokesman-Reviews daily for the rhythm of your life! Also check out this link buffet:

Results for state and local races | an excerpt from interview with County Auditor Vicky Dalton | How the top-two primary works | More election news, including multimedia

Kudos and thin slices

Washington National Guard Spc. James Fenton, of Renton, Wash., enjoys a moment with his 8-month-old daughter, Riley, and his wife, Tracie, on Tuesday at the Guard Readiness Center in Spokane. Members of the 161st Infantry were leaving for training in Wisconsin before their tour in Iraq. Dan Pelle photo, The Spokesman-Review

• Heartwarming story of the day: Cejudo, son of undocumented immigrants, wins gold
• How do you steal a grand piano from a hotel lobby without anybody noticing? The Ridpath Hotel and Crime Stoppers would like to know.
• Not surprising: Bigfoot 'discovery' a hoax, researchers report on Web site

This is the new campaign for North Idaho coffeeshops, because for every hot cup of coffee there's a warm crisp delicious Spokesman-Review waiting to be read. Managing editor Gary Graham shared this with the pod pals*

Read the rest of this entry »

KUDOS AND UPDATES: Nixing direct United flights to Chicago | Then & Now with Ed Randall, one-time Indians voice | More Duncan news from Boise

VOTER MANIA: Today's the last day to put in your two cents for this round. Ballots must be postmarked by today. And in this newsroom, election night happens to mean pizza night for the folks who work late.

ON THE RECORD: Today on the 11 a.m. radio show with Rebecca Mack, the peeps from Avista are guesting on the air. Dial in AM 790 KJRB on your radio to hang with them, and/or call 232-0790 with questions about the rate hikes.

HOW MANY DAYS TIL 2010? Skating promoters unveil event designs

And here, a blast from the past with the 1994 Canadian pro artistic program by Scott Hamilton, the only skater one can watch without being afraid of having to witness brain damage injury or a completely crotched landing??? Featuring the famous Scotty back flip. He was 36 years old. Eat your heart out, Rudy Galindo.

Reporter Meghann M. Cuniff is back from Boise, after taking the grim Joseph Edward Duncan III case to Twitter. (more archive coverage here) Two questions today - Where would S-R use a microblogging format again, and how do you make money from it? For one, folks recommend developing a similar technology in-house, to keep the viewer traffic in a Spokesman-Review venue instead of diverting it to a third-party site. The plan is to use similar microblogging format for other cases in the pipeline.

» Access details: Cuniff shipped out to Boise and sat in a separate media room with the audio piped in. Updated for clarity. Journalists had the freedom to walk over to a window to the courtroom they needed to see something, e.g. when prosecution brought in the video of Duncan with the children. One of Cuniff's original concerns was that it would be difficult to figure out who was speaking when, with only the audio piped in. But because there were so few people talking during the proceedings, it was easy to keep them straight.

» The feed was valuable: Many readers were eager to read the feed, and some staffers described themselves as being glued to their screens for updates. Cuniff approached the case as a play-by-play and blogged as much as she could. Because Twitter allows no edits, Cuniff made corrections by deleting a post and quickly reposting a corrected version. There was some reader pushback on Huckleberries, readers saying that this is too much information and that they are finished with reading up on this case, to which the general newsroom response is that people can choose not to read it - different from having a Twitter feed dropped on your front porch in the morning.

» It hurts everybody. What happened in summer of 2005 to the Groene family became much more than a news story through these proceedings, Cuniff said. The more small details were revealed, Duncan's planning process, technical details about hard drives, sequence of events... the more the case felt more tangible and it made sense exactly HOW one man was able to create that much carnage. "That happened in pretty much everyone's backyard," Cuniff said, and that no amount of justice could ever be enough.

Impossible not to be shaken: Boise reporter Betsy Z. Russell posted a reflection on covering the Duncan sentencing proceedings and how it changes her personal and home life, including waking up to strange noises in the middle of the night. Also, the video that shows the torture and death of 9-year-old Dylan Groene has not been shown in the courtroom yet.

On Friday night, after three days of intense immersion in the blood-drenched reality of the Joseph Duncan case, I came home from the courthouse only to find blood smeared all over my bathroom floor. I couldn’t help it; I screamed. Read the rest of Betsy's post.

Reporter Meghann M. Cuniff, who went down to Boise to cover the sentencing proceedings by Twitter, will be talking about it at iSalon today at 2 p.m. Editor Steve Smith and other editors are pleased with how the experiment worked out. But because of cost, Cuniff will not be Twittering for the middle of the proceedings - just the closing.

Cheryl-Anne Millsap

The Home Planet column will be discontinued, due to lack of budget. The last one will be published next Monday, August 25.

Thin slices from weekend

• Filling the fluoride gap: It's a hot topic on the On The Air radio blog.
• Community turns out for unity with slideshow of photos
• The Slice: Tar Heels' visit may include WCC dissing: Where Paul Turner imagines what visitors from each of 50 states would say about Spokane
• Bagpipers gather to bid farewell: Music teacher heads for duty in Iraq
• Police get guidance on hand-free use of cell phones

"We've come to the end of our one-week experiment [in using Twitter]. We will return as developments warrant and for closing arguments and the verdict." (editor Steve Smith)

In other newsroom news

The second session of journalism camp has wrapped up. This graduating class has also put together a special section - their topic is a combination of back to school and going green. Read it inside the Today section on Monday, Aug 25. For updates on J-camp, check out the Vox Box and scroll down.

Longtime pen pals finally meet: They'd been writing each other for more than six decades. Here's a quick video of their reunion, produced by Andrew Zahler:

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HYPERCOVERAGE: We're a few days into the hypercoverage of the Duncan coverage-by-Twitter, plus some of the most TMI (too-much-information) evidence in a long time. Editors gave kudos to today's package, noting that a handful of other newspapers gave it some attention on their front pages or inside their sections. (This week there was also a discussion on Huckleberries recently about whether this is too much to stomach) Today's story is here, In letter to mom, Duncan says he's again become 'medium of violence', and it includes a slideshow of photos of the evidence. (Edited to add at 4:01 p.m. on Aug 15: Editor Steve Smith says "We've come to the end of our one-week experiment Tweeting. We will return as developments warrant and for closing arguments and the verdict.")

DON'T MISS THIS: Inside the B section is a story by S-R movie/book afficionado Dan Webster about Salman Rushdie sending email in support of a local author, after the publisher pulled that author's book for fear of religious and cultural backlash. The story is here.

OUT OF WATER: Comments this morning about U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps - "They should make him swim with all his gold medals ON, just to give everybody a chance," said deputy city editor Scott Maben. Sports editor Joe Palmquist said Phelps is double jointed with a ginormous wingspan, with hands like frying pans and a tiny butt, "He's like a fish. He IS a fish." And because he can be so utterly horizontal, he fit above The Spokesman-Review logo on the front page.

IN THIS WEEK'S 7: The Star Wars empire in a nutshell. S-R film nerd Dan Webster takes on today's big movie opening - "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," director Dave Filoni's animated variation on the "Star Wars" universe that Lucas invented in the mid-1970s.
Things to do this weekend
See: Tropic Thunder | More movies
Hear: Fleet Foxes which the frontman called "baroque harmonic pop" | Rhonda Vincent
Events: Unity in the Community is this weekend by the way | Search the 7 calendar for other events

said editor Steve Smith at the meeting this morning.

He said the goal with Twittering the Duncan trial was to learn how to use the service for news needs, but with the expense of sending reporter Meghann M. Cuniff to Boise and getting fewer than 100 twits/followers, Twittering everything wouldn't be worth it.

Smith also put Twitter on his phone but had to disable the alerts function because his phone seemed to vibrate or beep constantly with every tweet. Here's the Twitter page, and here's the live blog. (Edited to add at 4:01 p.m. on Aug 15: Smith says "We've come to the end of our one-week experiment Tweeting. We will return as developments warrant and for closing arguments and the verdict.")

Thin slices

• Mead family joins protest of 'Tropic Thunder'
• Hayden Lake remembers chief who 'understood service', comes with audio slideshow.
• Good intentions 'get out of hand': Cat advocate's case shows perils of caring too much
• Doug Clark: Carrying the torch for these Olympics
• Veterans get green with environment-related jobs
• Dog park has home: Section of High Bridge Park will be site for canines to roam

10 easiest jobs at 2008 Olympics

Including the Bela Karolyi moustache trimmer.

For the Duncan sentencing.

"I created a Facebook account yesterday and I don't know what to do with it," said managing editor Gary Graham, who also signed up for Twitter to follow the Duncan case. Many newsroommates have also signed up for accounts during this coverage experiment where reporter Meghann M. Cuniff is sending mini blog posts to the SpokesmanReview's Twitter page. Instructions are below.

As for the case itself, deputy city editor Dave Wasson had this to say: Nobody doubts the significance of having limited public access (the courtroom be closed should Shasta Groene testify, no public access to Duncan's mental eval), but he noted that there will still be people who second-guess the final decision on Duncan's sentencing if it's based on top secret information, and that this case defies the philosophy of having a transparent justice system.

There's a new courtroom blog where where Betsy Z. Russell and Meghann M. Cuniff are posting large up-to-date chunks. All the previous coverage of the Joseph Duncan case is here.

Koi

When you swim with carp, you're swimming with every carp that it swam with before, said reporter Kevin Graman. Koi herpes has been killing the Japanese garden pond fish. Read the story here - apparently it came from pet fish released into the pond.

RE: Toadman's question, here's the link to Twitter updates: Real-time posts from the trial.

Folks don't need a Twitter account to read the microblog. But to get tweets sent to your phone/internet/instant messenger, an account is required.

• Sign up for Twitter, sign in
• Go to Settings at the top menu
• Go to the tab that says Devices
• Add your mobile phone number according to the directions
• Check the consent box
• Go to Twitter.com/SpokesmanReview and click the big charcoal grey FOLLOW button.
• Click FOLLOWING, again, to expand to a big yellow option field
• for "Device Updates," say On.

Seriously. Reporter Meghann M. Cuniff is heading to Boise to expand our coverage of the Joseph Duncan case to a totally different platform – followers of the Twitter service, which includes mobile users.

Users...called twits...send little updates...called tweets... to people who subscribe to those users' updates and posts.

Which means Cuniff sends out micro-messages to users who subscribe to notifications through email, instant messenger, or with text messages on their mobile phone. Tweets are up to 140 characters long.

Here's their Wikipedia page and here's an FAQ page. And here's a video that explains Twitter in plain English.

We'll provide more information soon, about how to follow the Duncan case using this service.

Today's report from court: Single Duncan juror has power to block death penalty: The newsroom is expecting more in-depth coverage coming in from the Boise bureau, as opening statements in the Joseph Duncan case are scheduled to start Wednesday. Stay tuned, check in with hourly newscast or turn it up for Rebecca Mack.

Condo parties

Also a poke in the face, Doug Clark's column in which he checks in with one of the "Live it Up!" condo building owners – one who had lots of visitor traffic to his slick pad during the condo craze. "Seems like I'm the only one who didn't show up there for a party," said photo editor Larry Reisnouer. Photo courtesy of Deke Cloyd.

Roberts recalled a group of roller derby girls who were engaged in a bachelorette party...Another time he opened his door to some passing unicyclists. Bartenders would show up after hours. A Canadian band playing at the Knitting Factory paid a visit after their show. Ditto a family of Christian evangelists. Read more...

Free stuff

And it's right here in town. Here's the story: Libraries find patronage up amid penny-pinching.

Fresh video

If you like Paul McCartney, you'll like our local man Pat McHenry, more recently seen in this year's Acoustic Explosion, and less recently seen wearing an Intel robot hood at the big Dance-A-Que. But here, he performs with the lovely miss Caroline Francis at Woofstock 2008.

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Here's the real Beatles version

Another crop of Journalism Camp participants are in the house - There are 15 students this time around. Vox director Erin Daniels is hosting. More soon...

FROM COURT: Here's the latest in Duncan trial news as jury selection continues.

AN ERROR: Hayden Lake's finest succumbs to ALS: In this story near the very end, the word "bawled" was misspelled as "balled." The bizarre thing is how many people have read right over it - a reporter, at least one editor on the city desk, and at least two from copy desk. One staffer asked this morning what makes this typo more serious than other typos. Because of the nature of the story – It's an obituary. The typo appears in a direct quote. There have been several complaints by phone. The error has been corrected online and there will be a correction in the print edition.

SELECTIONS FROM WEEKEND: Spokane Public Schools budget tops $300 million | Skyfest recap | Photos from Kids Day | Photos from the Shock game
A day a Skyfest 2008 | The Air Force's newest fighter

For the final goal of the Online department's penny collection, it was between an ant farm or a coat rack. The ants arrived Friday. The party is going down in the office of director Ryan Pitts. There is also an in-house webcam. The ants burrow through the space-age blue gel - they also eat it. They bury their dead.

Follow the link at right for the audio slideshow from this morning's meeting – F-22 Raptors at the Skyfest preview.

Although the F-22 Raptor, the newest Air Force fighter aircraft has been around for a few years, the 2008 Skyfest is the first time Spokane area residents will get to see it fly. Major Paul Moga, a Raptor pilot, talks about what the Raptor means to the Air Force. He will fly the 12-minute demonstration flight at Skyfest. Produced by Jesse Tinsley

Ella's Supper Club closing

Last call for Ella's? In this week's cover story, 7 writer Isamu (Som) Jordan investigates. Video produced by Thuy-Dzuong Nguyen

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