My wife, in-laws and I will spend today fixing up my mother-in-law's Coeur d'Alene Place home for sale, in preparation for her move back to California. Yep, she finally had enough of the winter climate here after the long one we had in 2007-08. Heck, I had enough of this winter. But I've been around here long enough to know that it was an exception to the rule. The five or six before this one were pretty mild. So it'll take more than a few feet of snow to get me out of here. Now, for your Saturday Wild Card ...
Low-income Americans who receive government benefits are getting perhaps a surprising message from the federal government about their economic stimulus checks: Use it or lose it. With more than 130 million Americans due to receive checks of up to $600 per person and up to $300 per child, people who are on Medicaid, food stamps or other federal benefit programs will need to be ready to spend.
“Basically, the feds say they won’t count it as income the first month, but the payments are meant to stimulate the economy, so if you don’t use it in three months, they’ll consider it as a resource,” said Tom Shanahan, spokesman for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. “So if you put it in the bank, in three months they’re going to just look at it as money in the bank.” Most federally funded income-based assistance programs for the poor have limits on assets as well as income for families to be eligible – so the stimulus money could affect eligibility if it’s not spent in three months. You can read my full story here at spokesmanreview.com.
Discussion @4:30 meeting about exploding tennis balls
RE: The story about exploding tennis balls, the question was whether it was a candidate for the front page. Some of the factors, according to the news budget summary:
• They were found at an elementary school and at least one child touched one. • There was more than one tennis ball, and they were small homemade bombs. • They were casually transported from one place to another when nobody knew what they really were • They were not big enough to level a city block, deputy city editor Dan Hansen said at the meeting, but they could injure someone. More details are coming.
You have us convinced, said senior innovation editor Carla Savalli. Story goes front page tomorrow.
Cyan Worlds trying to reach the last age, or Myst, The Final Offer
It was certainly no walk in the park for Rand Miller and his cohorts at Cyan Worlds to produce Uru, the "Myst Online" immersive experience that let participants explore a series of vast and interesting 3-D environments.
Miller and his company have since learned that even though Uru is now shut down -- due to a publisher decision based on economics -- pleasing the community of the Myst faithful is also very hard.
On several boards and forums the Myst fan base is hotly debating several serious topics. One of the most heated is whether or not Cyan should do anything to help or encourage its fans to move on and and use software to create new "ages," the levels where Uru players interact. In a recent phone interview, we asked Miller, Cyan's president, about any policy Cyan will take toward allowing or encouraging user-created content.
First the background: in 2003 Uru was released in a box-only version, then shut down by its publisher, Ubisoft, in early 2004. Cyan revived the game and entered a deal with Turner Entertainment, which released the new version of Uru online through its GameTap portal in late 2007. GameTap turned off the game in April 2008, indicating it was losing money. Turner Entertainment still has the rights to the game.
Here are the key points we gathered talking with Miller and to Tony Fryman, CEO of Cyan Worlds (story continues below audio player):
* Cyan has been busy/distracted/diverted by various concerns and hasn't been free to focus on answering all fan questions.
TO LISTEN TO the Miller interview, click the player arrow.
The Rasmussen Report has a new poll that says Gov. Chris Gregoire is 11 points ahead of likely Republican rival Dino Rossi.
Polling at this stage of the election is a lot like predicting the score of the final game of the World Series, but there's something a bit more important than the horse race numbers of Gregoire 52 percent, Rossi 41 percent.
It is that the same pollster had Rossi up by one -- 47-46 -- in February, and those numbers reversed in Gregoire's favor in March.
Here's the other telling fact: In March, it was the Rossi campaign sending out notice of the Rasmussen results. On Friday, Gregoire's campaign was making sure the state political media had a look at the numbers.
-After months of fundraising and preparation, Spokane Republican Kevin Parker "officially kicked off" his campaign for Democratic state Rep. Don Barlow's seat with a celebration Tuesday in Spokane. Among his supporters: former U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt. Parker says the event raised $10,000 more for his campaign.
As the clock ticks down to the now-in-August primary, Parker's in an interesting Round 1 race against fellow Republican Mel Lindauer. Parker's campaigning as a high-energy businessman; Lindauer as someone who can work with the statehouse's large Democratic majority.
-Speaking of Nethercutt, he also has endorsed Diana Wilhite, one of several Republicans running for the Spokane-Valley-area seat of retiring Rep. Lynn Schindler, R-Otis Orchards.
-One of the two Democrats facing off to challenge Rep. Larry Crouse, R-Spokane, this fall will kick off her election campaign on her birthday. Linda Thompson, executive director of the Greater Spokane Substance Abuse Council for 15 years, is holding a campaign kickoff on May 29th. (She'll be 55.) The other Democrat in the race: Judi Owens, who filed all the way back in September.
-State lands commissioner Doug Sutherland, a Republican, picked up some bipartisan support this week. He netted endorsements from four former state House Speakers (Bill Polk (R), Wayne Ehlers (D), Clyde Ballard (R) and Brian Ebersole (D)) and three former Senate majority leaders (Dan McDonald (R), Ted Bottiger (D) and Bill Finkbeiner (D, then an R). Sutherland's trying to position himself as a moderate, get-things-done candidate against likely November opponent Peter Goldmark, a Democratic Okanogan rancher who's raised more than Sutherland so far.
-In Tacoma, Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg is ramping up his campaign against Attorney General Rob McKenna with a "second formal kick off" event Thursday. Ladenburg, a longtime prosecutor and Democrat, says that McKenna's been long on promises and short on action. McKenna, not surprisingly, feels otherwise. At this point, Ladenburg's still far behind McKenna's fundraising.
And as a gift to those of you who read this far, here's Brian Bissell's report from Politicker on a weird nominating fight in a Seattle race for a legislative seat. The short form: both candidates are saying they won, with one saying that the whole mulitiple-recount affair is starting to feel "like a vote in Zimbabwe."
A shiny dime to the first person who complains about the heat. And, for everyone else, today's loose thread. Comment at will. (Protect yourself, Will.)
“Horton Hears a Who!” the new film by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino, is this generation’s version of literacy. Which is to say that it’s taken a book and translated its literary qualities largely to visuals.
That’s not necessarily bad. The animation, by the same company – Twentieth Century Fox – that gave us “Ice Age” and “Robots,” is state of the art. And the voices, by the likes of Jim Carrey, Seth Rogen, Carol Burnett and Steve Carell, work just fine.
And since the film is G-rated, a rarity in this day and age, it makes for a decent family view. Especially for those grown-ups sensitive to “Shrek”-type adult puns.
But – and there’s always a but, isn’t there? – the book in this case is by Dr. Seuss, the pen name of the late writer/illustrator Theodor Geisel, whose work depends on word play and poetic rhythms as much as Jim Carrey depends on funny faces and weird vocal tones.
Here’s an example from Seuss’ early Horton poem, “Horton Hatches an Egg”:
“I meant what I said And I said what I meant! An elephant’s faithful One hundred per cent!”
The very joy of Seuss’ works comes from the language. There’s typically a message there, whether it be about loyalty and determination or about developing a code for living, but the language usually makes the message feel a lot more gentle than dogmatic.
Take this line from “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”:
“Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.”
It rhymes, you can dance to it, and it teaches us how to use (and spell) the word “dextrous.”
The problem with the new “Horton Hears a Who” film, then, is that the language, even though Charles Osgood reads it well enough, tends to get lost amid all the CGI.
So the questions beg to be asked: Are we all variations of Speed Racer, suffering from ADHD? And does it even matter?
Below: Some children with English accents read from Dr. Seuss’ poem “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” which, if nothing else, proves that even British kids have to learn acting. They aren’t born with the talent.
The one-time performance of the play "Crossing the Line: An Investigation of the Police, Power and People" will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 16, at CenterStage, 1017 W. First Ave. The performance will be followed by a speech by Boise community ombudsman Pierce Murphy about accountability in law enforcement. A Q&A session with Murphy and the cast and a reception will follow the speech.
Tickets for the performance, speech and Q&A session are $15 ($10 with student I.D.) and $20 for those events plus the reception ($15 with student I.D.). Tickets are available through TicketsWest at (800) 325-SEAT or www.ticketswest.com.
(Taken from Whitworth University's web site)
Then we have Terri Sloyer in the Opinion Blog:
Therefore, I would like to extend an invitation to not only Sgt. Torok but to all Spokane Police Officers to be our guest at this Friday's event, "Crossing the Line: An investigation of police power and people." Today's SR article by Shawn Vestal provides an excellant picture of the students commitment to ensuring that all perspectives were included in their production.
To assist in ensuring that the Spokane Police officers have the opportunity to participate in this community conversation, any Spokane Police officer that would like a complimentary ticket to attend this event may stop by the Center for Justice and we will provide you with your ticket.
Please be aware, space is limited so the tickets will be available on a first come, first serve basis.
We truly look forward to seeing you at this event!
What the hell is THIS? I'm a working-class slob and I have to pay full-bore to attend this event, but police get in free? This is being promoted by Whitworth, the Center for Justice and the Maxey Law Office. That's interesting.
This has very little to do with parenting, but it is about relationships – sort of – and the things you lose and how they sometimes come back.
Before kids, my husband and I used to spend our weekends in Bayview, Idaho, sailing our ’73 Coronado on Lake Pend Oreille. After our eldest son was born, we just couldn’t keep the boat. It was hard to sail with an infant on board, especially after he started crawling. I was so paranoid that he would fall overboard and drown.
So we sold it. But during one of our last sailing days, Ted lost his wedding band. The gold ring had always been a little loose, but somehow, he didn’t notice that it had slipped off his finger. We were both convinced that it had fallen in the water, lost forever at the bottom of Lake Pend Oreille.
It’s hard to replace sentimental objects such as wedding rings. Ted had planned on renting scuba gear and scouring the bottom of the lake near the marina, but he never did. Ringless after few months, he went to a pawn shop and spent $20 on a cheap silver band.
After a few years, I finally stopped getting angry every time I thought of the lost ring. Then soon after that, it didn’t even cross my mind at all.
Until… tonight. A guy named Mark called and asked him, “Did you lose something shiny on your old boat?”
Mark bought the Coronado from the couple who bought it from us. He discovered it in the battery compartment -- in the boat’s hull, and was kind enough to track Ted down.
The sudden return of my husband’s wedding ring has brought back all these memories – of those carefree days before kids; of beautiful Bayview; of the months after our son was born as we tried to reconcile our outdoor pursuits with the reality of parenthood.
So we lost the boat. And the ring. And a little bit of our old selves.
But we have two great kids and enough adventure. Now the ring is back, so that must be a good sign.
Just before lunch today I remembered that the California Supreme Court was to have handed down a ruling on same-sex marriage earlier this morning. I dashed onto the internet in search of the decision. Scrolling through all the sites generated by my search, I glimpsed a synopsis that indicated the Golden State's marriage ban was ruled unconstitutional.
As of 10 a.m. today, gay marriage is legal in my native land!
My heart rate jumped a few notches while I sat reading the story. How proud I felt in those quiet moments in my office. How good it felt to know that a court full of appointees chosen mainly by Republican governors understood that denying any man or woman the freedom to marry their life's love was downright unfair. And unnecessary.
The recent downturn in the residential real estate market might be causing would-be seller to flinch, but for Spokane County buyers it means improving affordability, a new report shows.
The typical family had 129 percent of the income needed to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home of $186,800 during the first quarter this year, according to data from Washington State University’s Washington Center for Real Estate Research. That’s about a 2 percent increase from the same quarter in 2007. First-time homebuyers, assumed to have lesser incomes, had about 72 percent of the money needed to buy less expensive homes — about a 1 percent increase.
Statewide, affordability improved about 6 percent, according to the center. The median home resold for $293,600, a 2.4 percent decrease. The national median, meanwhile, decreased 7.7 percent.
Read Jim Hagengruber’s story “One Marine's Paradise” in a six-page special section coming Sunday in The Spokesman-Review
Audio Slideshow by Brian Plonka Follow the Shipp twins' journey Click Here
I found myself in a remote part of Western Iraq during the second of two trips to the Middle East to catch up with U.S. Marine Matt Shipp. From the time I left Kuwait, my travels took me through Baghdad and several Air Force bases. It took 7 days of layovers, one airplane and several helicopters to reach Matt Shipp in the town of Rutbah. The funny thing about the trip is that I had no idea where I was going until I got to Rutbah. Matt was promoted to corporal during his deployment. The bump in rank gave him extra responsibilities that he has handled well.
It was a strange feeling, wearing body armor, walking through the Iraqi streets following Matt. I hoped we wouldn’t see action, but I knew I was in good hands. Shipp is a heck of a Marine. Matt returned home safely several days ago. He and his twin brother Robert have been separated for almost a year. They will be reunited next month when Robert returns from the Persian Gulf.
Staff photographer Brian Plonka and freelance reporter James Hagengruber this weekend will continue their compelling series about the Idaho twin brothers who joined the Marines together.
I invited Plonka to engage in a brief question and answer interview via email in order to give readers a little insight into his role and the obstacles of working in Iraq.
Sunday’s six-page special section will focus on Cpl. Matthew Shipp. The section was designed by Geoff Pinnock and Ralph Walter. Liz Kishimoto edited the photos. Addy Hatch was the lead editor on the stories and the night-side copy desk did a meticulous, team edit of the section.
Here’s the Q&A with Plonka.
Q: As you look back at the time that you spent in Iraq and Kuwait, what are some of the most distinct memories you have about the Shipp twins and how they are coping with their lives in a war zone?
A: It was different seeing them working on a professional level. Usually they would let their guard down during earlier visits, but now they talk the Marine talk and walk the Marine walk. I saw them realizing their dreams into reality.
They are a lot tougher than I thought. They didn't see any intense action, but I know they could handle that situation at the drop of a hat. I do see them longing for the Northwest. California is not really their home nor will it ever be. They appear different on the outside, they are more fit. They're still Matt and Robert on the inside, very passionate, caring and understanding.
Q: What was the most difficult part of your assignment in terms of access, technology or surroundings?
A: Getting around Iraq was nerve-racking. Every layover is 24 hours on the average. Being part of the media put us on standby for every flight. I once waited 52 hours for a 45-minute flight out of Iraq back to Kuwait. Basically after getting our military press credentials in Baghdad we were on our own.
Everything is hurry up and wait and wait some more. People (contractors and some military) would try to get in our heads as we made our way through Iraq. They would tell us we were crazy and said never ever take off our body armor. The talk often turned political. One contractor asked me if I was part of the liberal media out to make the war sound bad. I asked him if he was worried about not making any more money off this war.
Q: Why was it so important to you as the series photographer to see the Shipps in the Middle East?
A: I never started a story I never finished - some 24 years now as a photojournalist. The story would have been a failure if we didn't see the twins at war. It's kind of like doing a story of a championship boxer training and then not covering the title fight.
Q: How did you handle the stress of being in Iraq? Did you have any harrowing experiences? Did you feel safe most of the time?
A: I unfortunately picked up smoking cigarettes again on this trip, but it seemed to help pass the hours. Stress is all that you make up yourself. I kept telling myself that my fate didn't lie in meeting the Shipp twins in North Idaho and then dying in Iraq. That didn't seem to be in the cards.
Walking down the streets of Rutbah the first time was scary. I stood out like sore thumb- bright green body armor and a helmet that didn't match. I felt stressed out when driving in a Humvee at night when a small truck veered off in front of us on the side of the road - I thought it was going to blow up. For the most part I was in the safe company of Marines. I didn't venture out on my own nor did I want to.
I don't want to pick on the police department, but they keep painting bullseyes on their backsides.
All we have to do is wait a few months, and here comes another glaring illustration of why the department's credibility is so badly mangled. This most recent fiasco concerns the case of 20-year-old Michael Lyons, the only one of the Fourth of July protesters to go to trial.
Apparently I need to drive up Nevada Street more often, because I'm four months behind the curve on a new restaurant in the former North Side location of Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar: bin98twenty.
Like its predecessor, bin98twenty aims to serve upscale cuisine and cocktails.
And, as a bonus, the bin offers 1/2-price wine on Mondays and features a happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. to close.
Junior Lilac Parade results will be in Thursday Voices
Q: I am a parent of a band student writing because I am upset that the newspaper did not print the results of the Junior Lilac Parade but referred readers to see a website. As a parent, I am aware of the tremendous time and energy put into preparing for a parade of this nature. The kids and families look so forward to opening the newspaper the next morning to see where they placed in the parade and they need to be able to see the results, cut them out, show them off or send them to family. We pay for the local paper to be able to read about local events, not to be referred to the internet. The paper has always printed the parade results in the past, why not this year? I hope and expect to be able to read the results of the Junior Lilac Parade in the Spokesman Review next May. Thank you. (Please print this letter in your paper). Concerned Father Spokane Valley
A: We’ll be publishing the results of the parade in this week’s community weeklies, which are distributed to thousands of our regular subscribers. Look for the results in the North Voice, South Voice, Valley Voice and West Plains Voice, which are part of the Thursday newspaper. We devoted considerable space in Sunday’s newspaper to two photographs from Saturday’s parade. There will be a photo published with the results on Thursday as well.
I’ve passed on your letter for consideration by the editorial page staff, which determines which letters are published in the paper.
A letter being auctioned in London this week adds more fuel to the long-simmering debate about the Nobel Prize-winning physicist's religious views. In the note, written the year before his death, Einstein dismissed the idea of God as the product of human weakness and the Bible as "pretty childish
So by the looks of things this article has been around for a little while, so why the fact that it's being sold now adds significantly to the debate is beyond me.
Regardless of it's relavence to the debate about Einstein's particular belief's is the debate about science vs. religion. For me it's never been too much of a debate, since I've never found too many scientific theories that have much of any friction with my religious beliefs. But what I find interesting is this part of the above article:
"Like many great scientists of the past, he is rather quirky about religion, and not always consistent from one period to another," Brooke said.
Many would condemn such eccentricity of theology, but if we acknowledge that they're smarter than us, then why do we think they're wrong when they do something we don't understand?
Here's a favorite quote for mine from the "stein":
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
With that theory, does creationism have a case for being taught in schools? Has anyone ever come up with a solid arguement for it being taught in schools? If he's so smart, why doesn't he know what a comb is?
Main Market, a new natural foods cooperative, will be opening at the end of October at 17 W. Main Ave. A team of organizers has been working to bring fresh, locally grown, organic foods to downtown Spokane shoppers.
Look for Green Bluff strawberries, Upper Columbia peaches and cheeses, grassfed meats form Eastern Wash., and Taylor Farms shellfish, at the coop, organizers say in a news release.
The team creating the cooperative is led by Jennifer Hall, a sustainable, Slow Food advocate. The vision behind the work is Community Bulding and Saranac developer Jim Sheehan.
A steering committee of community members will oversee the Main Market's mission and structure. It includes:
Shelia Collins, Eastern Washington Representative of Governor Chris Gregoire's office
Mary Eberle, aNeMonE handmade paper flowers
Julie Goltz, Center For Justice
John Grollmus, Moon Time, Elk, Porch and Two Seven Public Houses
Jim Haynes, Pacific Material Exchange
Dorothy MacEachern, Regional Health District
Patricia Sampson, RenCorp Realty
Jim Sheehan, Community Building LLC
Michael Woods, Gonzaga University
Read a profile of Jennifer Hall by correspondent Virginia de Leon in tomorrow's (May 14) food section.
Interesting story from reporter Michael McIntyre at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
A TV station billed an interview with Browns tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. as an "exclusive." Turns out the video they used was from a network interview last year. The reporter never appeared in the story…just did a "voice over."
News Director Dan Salamone said " We never once suggested (reporter) Sharon Reed sat down and did the interview. We just said she had an exclusive story." Hmmmm. Yet the web site said "Sharon Reed sits down for a one on one interview with the famed baller." According to the article, Salamone said "The internet guys didn't get the memo." Hmmm again.
Is this common practice in the TV biz? Well, it's not uncommon for reporters to voice over national stories done by the network or another affiliate (after all, how many stations can afford to send someone to Iraq). Many stations use syndicated health stories too, with the reporter doing a "voice over."
However, it is unethical for a station to promote something as an "exclusive" when it's clearly not.
What are your thoughts on this, and how much of what you see on the news, read in print, or hear on the radio do you question?
Captain Hunt’s newly formed Sand Walking Company departed efficiently the next morning, heading south through the meadowlands that spread out beneath the range of towering peaks that surround the Salt Lake basin. The next few days were sunny and clear and our prospects for a safe trip were high. Most everyone seemed in good spirits except the Rev. Brier, who was still steaming over the idea of following any trail that had first been passed over by a Mormon.
I received a few calls over the weekend from readers who believed showcasing two war-related packages on Mother's Day was inappropriate.
The first package continues the story of the Shipp twins of Hauser Lake, Id., whose journey from high school to the Marines and then on to Iraq has been the subject of several excellent stories in the last two years. Here is the link to Sunday's story on Robert Shipp, reported by Jim Hagengruber and photographed by Brian Plonka.
The second twin's story will be published next Sunday.
The second war related package was Kevin Graman's excellent report (link here) on the Saturday funeral of Army Staff Sgt. Chad Caldwell, killed while serving his third tour of duty in Iraq.
Personally, I think Mother's Day is a good fit for stories about how we send husbands, sons and fathers to die in a far off war. Maybe Mother's day is the perfect time for such stories.
On the Sgt. Caldwell story, two things caught my eye.
First, the presence of Major General Edgar E. Stanton III at the funeral. Maybe readers who are ex-military can tell me if it's unusual to have a major general represent the Army at such funerals.
Of course the piece that really caught my eye was Jesse Tinsley's heartbreaking photo of Sgt. Caldwell's widow, Raechel Caldwell, crying as she receives the folded flag from Gen. Stanton. Ordinarily, we avoid funeral pictures that intrude on private grief. But in this case, the photo perfectly captured the pain of the family back home on the occasion of a soldier's death.
I thought the photo was especially appropriate for Mother's Day.
But what do you think? Should we have saved the war stories for another day? Should we have avoided the photo of Raechel Caldwell?
And what do these stories say about young people at war?
An eBay killer? Online matchmaker Wigix wants a piece of the buyer-seller business
There is something about eBay that inspires a deep and visceral hatred among a rising tide of online buyers and sellers.
If you’re unfamiliar with the auction site’s many detractors, just Google the phrase “hate eBay” and you’ll get the picture. (At first, the profanity is jarring; I found hearing it in my head in the voice of William Shatner to be neutralizing).
With numerous ill-wishers among eBay’s buying and selling minions — most of them slamming the fee hikes, padded shipping charges, fraud, scams, and so on — it’s little wonder new sites aiming for a piece of the online auction pie are cropping up almost daily.
True, many of these alternatives are short-lived ventures, often with only a few hundred auction listings at any one time. They tend to vaporize once their operators confront the magnitude of regulating and managing a live, online marketplace.
I figured out one of the things that I hate about reality television. I made this discovery while trying to watch "The Salt-Pepa Show" (yes, THAT Salt-N-Pepa.)
"Blog" is an all-purpose term that describes a format for publishing on the web. A blog generally consists of short entries displayed in reverse chronological order, which often include links to other sites. If you have any questions about our blogs or blogging in general, email us.
Looking for bloggers from the Inland Northwest? We're keeping a list, as well as some featured bios. If you live in the Inland Northwest and are a regular blogger, email us and tell us about yourself.
It was certainly no walk in the park for Rand Miller and his cohorts at Cyan Worlds to produce Uru, the "Myst Online" immersive experience that let participants explore a series of vast and interesting 3-D environments.
I invited Plonka to engage in a brief question and answer interview via email in order to give readers a little insight into his role and the obstacles of working in Iraq. 
Good morning,
