State vs. State

Which state is the most objectively business-friendly? Depends on your measuring stick

Butch started it. Against the backdrop of a tax increase in Oregon — and proposed tax increases in Washington — Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter published a “love letter

Idaho to D.C.: No, Thanks

Gem State lawmakers aren't interested in reform and send the Health Freedom Act to the governor

Congress is still wrestling over how to reform health care, but this much seems clear: Idaho isn’t interested. The Idaho Senate recently passed the Health Freedom Act, which would essentially

New World, New Words

It's trickier to save a language rooted in a world that no longer exists

Words fall short. At a conference last week designed to encourage area Indian tribes to save their native Salish language from extinction, a paradox emerged: Even if the tribes triumph and create a wa

California Dreamin'

Let's get on with the serious business of solving problems

Following his recent talk in San Francisco at the Commonwealth Club of California, New Yorker writer Hendrik Hertzberg was asked during the question-and-answer period for his opinion on whether Califo

Following Fitz

Remembering Dan Fitzgerald

There’s an American, a Canadian and an Irishman: They go into a bar. The American gets a beer, and a fly buzzes down and lands right in it. He asks the bartender for a new brew. The Canadian get

Reasonable Doubt

How spotty detective work and careless prosecution may have put the wrong men behind bars

The courtroom was full of tears. Tyler Gassman, a 22-year-old Spokane kid, had just learned his fate — 25 years in prison — and his sister, mother and friends wept. So did David Partovi, his lawyer. Partovi had lost cases before, but this felt different.

Lost at Sea

A local boy watches his ship go down in the Atlantic Ocean and spends two days on the open sea

“I went out into the companion way, wondering what was going on,” Phillips says. “My friend was out there with her rain jacket on. She said, ‘Oh, it’s fine. Let’s just go on deck and check it out.’ The ship starts keeling even more and then the floor — it’s just vertical — and I slide to the opposite side of the wall.

Best of Nightlife

The region's finest nightclub, happy hour and bowling alley (and other stuff)

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Best of the Outdoors

The region's finest golfing, swimming and outdoor supplies (plus other stuff)

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Zags Go Dancing

The inside scoop on this weekend's NCAA tournament

THE MEN This might have been a rebuilding year. Now a young Gonzaga team gets a tough draw and a lot of expectations Matt Bouldin, a supporting actor his first three seasons at Gonzaga, was excited

Balm in Gilead

Have a piece of pie and tell us your troubles: The Spitfire Grill faces adversity with optimistic songs

The Spitfire Grill opened in New York City just four days before 9/11. In the days after the attack, the show got a positive reception from both audiences and critics who warmed to the homespun optimi

Blank Slate

Your friend has ridiculous taste. Do you correct him? Or do you preserve your friendship?

“Art” isn’t about art at all. It’s about friendship: How we try to domineer our friends and mold them according to our own values. It’s a thoughtful play, but “Ar

Classical Punk

What happens when you just wanna dance, and can’t? Or when you just wanna listen?

We love the music that we and our friends choose to love. But disagreements about music’s nature split us into opposed camps: How prominent should the beat be? How complex? For dancing or for listening? Primarily for self-expression or for developing empathy? Angry or beautiful? Spontaneous or rehearsed?.

Arthur of Arabia

How a local man may have found millennia-old antiquities in his mom's garage

Georgia Bonny Bazemore has spent her life in the field, in pursuit of one thing. For 22 years, she’s meticulously cordoned off swatches of land on the small but historically rich island of Cyprus — people’s back yards sometimes — combing through dirt and rock, looking for evidence of a culture that died two thousand years earlier.

Bring It!

There’s a new gourmet pizza delivery chain with national ambitions in the Lake City. Here’s how it stacks up.

We`re pizza-rich and cash-poor so when a new pizza place opens, especially one claiming to be gourmet (translation: higher-priced), piquing our interest takes more than coupons or claims-to-fame. In the Coeur d’Alene area, whitepages.com lists more than three-dozen “pizza” providers.

Seoul Food

Bibim Bap is Korean for the best comfort food you’ve never heard of

Bibim bap, which translates to “Mixed Rice,” (and is sometimes anglicized “bibimbap,” “bibimbop,” or “bibim bop”) is a popular Korean comfort food with a myriad of incarnations.

Bars in Downtown Spokane

Eighty-six bars, taverns and lounges from A to Zola

EDITOR'S NOTE: Our focus here was on bars that have opened since our last guide two years ago, as well as on great older bars we didn’t cover last time (like Italian Kitchen, Fizzie Mulligan&rs

The Search for the Holy Grail

Three Spokane-area drinks you need to try. Plus a lot of crap to avoid.

For the past three weeks, I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect mixed drink in the Inland Northwest. A drink that’s inventive and cutting-edge but still tasty — crisp and refreshing. Something with a good story (see The Last Word, p. 54), or a connection to the past.

Dive Bars

Searching for low-brow booze across Spokane

Here we sit at the PARK INN, just one outpost on my search for Spokane’s perfect dive bar. I traveled far and wide — within city limits, of course — hunting for that special, seedy locale. The dirtier, cheaper and scarier, the better. Give me Rainier in cans and stale peanuts.

Eating Cheap in Downtown Spokane

Twenty-two affordable eateries from Andy's to Zola

Let's Co-operate

Spokane has wanted a grocery store downtown for years. Now we have one.

You need to pick up some groceries. So do you: A) stop by Rite Aid and dig through their random bins of onions and apples; B) trek to Rosauers in Browne’s Addition; or C) leave downtown in search of better options? Finally, a long-awaited fourth choice is here:.