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During the housing bust, two hypotheses made the rounds. The first one stated that the American attachment to homeownership is over. The second one was homeowners are going to eschew suburbs in favor of the convenience and vitality of urban living. I don’t believe either of these to be true. Yes, the homeownership rate crested at almost 70 percent in 2004, just before the housing bubble burst, and is now down to 65 percent. But this retrenchment doesn’t represent a rejection of the premise of homeownership. The current level of homeownership is now around its long-term historical average. Frankly, homeownership...

SPOKANE-- A couple weeks ago Spokane County Animal Protection Officers seized nearly 100 large animals from a property in Elk during an animal cruelty investigation.      During the seizure SCRAPS told us officers found dead animals on the property.  According to a search warrant, in addition to numerous horses i found extremely thin, officers also discovered several dead goats and a llama (edit)  Stiner said, "I’ve done the best that I could to take care of them and unlike a lot of owners that are just opening their gates and letting them go, at least I was making the attempt...

A lot of show biz has crossed the stage at the Bing, and Thursday was no different. Fans stood in line more than an hour before showtime. Some held signs or dressed up. A tour bus lurked outside, and police rerouted traffic. When the doors opened, people flooded in, filling the ground floor immediately and then streaming up to the balcony. The crowd buzzed and rustled, in the full flower of Spokane diversity: every kind of white. Bald old graybeards dominated, but there were plenty of teenagers, families with children in tow, people dressed in athletic spandex and backwoods flannel,...

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich will hold a town hall-style forum in Spokane on Thursday, Spokane County Republican Chairman Matthew Pederson confirmed. Details will be released later today, he said. Gingrich is the third GOP presidential hopeful to make a stop in the Inland Northwest. Rick Santorum spoke in Coeur d'Alene last week and Ron Paul held a rally at the Spokane Convention Center on Friday. Mitt Romney's son will visit Spokane Valley this afternoon. Gingrich, despite being from Georgia, has noteworthy ties to Inland Northwest politics that he may or may not dwell on in his visit....

SPOKANE, Mo.-- Entire neighborhoods of families in Christian County are being kicked out of their homes. The foreclosures come as quite a shock to the people living in those homes. Ernie and Sharlene Risinger and their 11 year old daughter love their Spokane home and community, but they're being forced out. Their American dream has turned into a nightmare. Nearly four years ago, the Risingers moved into the place they call home. "Sounded like a great deal. He wanted $1,500 deposit or down and we would actually be buying our house," says Ernie Risinger. Or so they thought. The Risingers,...

A young woman in Spokane, Washington claims to have captured definitive video footage of the legendary Bigfoot, the elusive ape-like humanoid that famously avoids high definition footage. The woman in question -- who revealed herself to the media only as "Samantha" -- says she was filming a group of friends hike through Downriver Park in Spokane when her iPhone inadvertently picked up the mythical beast. Because the creature was some distance away, Samantha didn't notice until she reviewed the footage later at home. A few days later, she uploaded the video to YouTube; the "evidence" was soon viewed by over...

SPOKANE, Wash. -- A Spokane woman out for a day hike along the Spokane river claims to have proof of the mysterious and elusive Bigfoot. Samantha, who did not give her last name, and her friends were hiking at Downriver Park over the weekend when they captured Bigfoot by using their iPhone camera. Samantha posted a YouTube video of the creature a few days later. In her post, Samantha said she didn't notice Bigfoot until she looked at her video when she got home. So, far more than 1,500 people have viewed the video online. "Someone asked me in the...

A federal grand jury in Spokane has added a federal hate crime to the charges pending against Kevin William Harpham, an alleged white supremacist suspected of planting a backpack bomb along the city's Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade route. Harpham is named in a new four-count indictment issued late Thursday. It adds two counts, one relating to a violation of the federal Hate Crimes Act and the other accusing him of attempting to use an explosive device in connection with the hate crime. Harpham faces up to life in prison if convicted. He had earlier pleaded not guilty to...

KXLY Exclusive: Father Of Kevin Harpham Says Son Didn't Plant BombSally Showman | KXLY4 Reporter Updated: 5:28 pm PDT March 13, 2011 KETTLE FALLS, Wash. -- The father of suspected MLK day bomber Kevin Harpham is defending his son, claiming there is no way Kevin could have planted the bomb in Downtown Spokane because he was with him at his Kettle Falls home. The bomb was originally reported as a suspicious package when city workers found the black backpack and notified police. When officers opened the backpack they found an explosive device wrapped in t-shirts. Two of the shirts in...

The FBI has made an arrest in connection with the attempted bombing along the route of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in downtown Spokane. An FBI source in Washington, D.C., said one man was arrested Wednesday outside a home near Colville, Stevens County. Agents, including a bomb expert from Quantico, Va., were preparing to search a house where others associated with the suspect were living, the source said. The suspect is believed to be affiliated with white supremacists, the source said

Police departments are perennially accused of excessive force--the poignant SPD shooting of Native American carver John Williams being just the latest example. Usually, however, the victims are human beings. Not so in an excessive-force case recently filed in federal court, which details the fatal shooting of a Labrador retriever mixed-breed dog named Slyder, allegedly for doing little more than sniffing the butt of a police dog.

Bomb Found Along Spokane MLK Parade Route, FBI Seeks SuspectThe FBI is searching the person connected to a possible attempted bombing in Spokane. Q13 FOX News Online Web Reporter 1:10 p.m. PST, January 18, 2011 SPOKANE — The FBI is searching for the person connected to a possible attempted bombing in Spokane. The bomb was found along the Martin Luther King parade route. The bomb could have caused multiple deaths if it had exploded says the FBI. The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people responsible for placing the backpack on...

Spokane GOP leaders are in the midst of a nasty fight that could shape local elections for years to come. The internal battle for control of the Spokane County Republican Party pits “mainstream” GOP members against surging “tea party” activists hoping to maintain and extend their influence in Eastern Washington’s political arena. At stake is the direction of regional Republican politics, everything from priorities to candidate recruiting and support. On one side is Cindy Zapotocky, the current chairwoman who has been embraced by much of the grassroots and tea party wings of the party. On the other is former Airway...

NOTE The following text is a quote: Extradited Hacker Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Masterminding First-Ever Hack Into Internet Phone Networks Defendant Also Ordered to Pay Over $1 Million in Restitution NEWARK, NJ—The first individual ever charged with hacking into the networks of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers and reselling hacked VoIP services for a profit was sentenced today to 120 months in prison, United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Edwin Andres Pena, 27, transmitted over 10 million minutes of unauthorized telephone calls over the victims' networks. Pena, a Venezuelan citizen, fled the United States...

Bishop Blase Cupich Spokane, Wash., Jun 30, 2010 / 06:27 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI made headlines in Washington state today by appointing Bishop Blase Cupich to the Diocese of Spokane and accepting the resignation of Bishop William Skylstad who has reached the age of retirement.In a press conference this morning, Bishop Skylstad reflected on his years as leader of the Washington flock, saying he is “humbled to have had the honor of serving in the Diocese of Spokane as its bishop since April of 1990.”“Although these years have not been without challenges, it has been a time...

BELLEVUE – The FBI is investigating after envelopes containing white powder showed up in government offices from Seattle to Boise. In Bellevue, a building with offices of the Internal Revenue Service was evacuated around 12:30 p.m. A female worker said she opened an envelope in the mailroom and white powder "poofed" out. "One worker was directly exposed and another worker was close enough nearby to be concerned. We've taken both of them to the hospital," said Lt. Eric Keenan of the Bellevue Fire Dept. Federal and local investigators converged on the four-story building. While Port of Seattle bomb dogs searched...

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SNIPPET: "Assistant US Attorney Tom Rice confirmed only that a device was found outside the Tom Foley Federal Courthouse on March 28th."

An alleged member of a fraud ring targeting Spokane area banks was already in custody when a corrections deputy unfastened the suspect's bra...and released a hoard of cash the alleged thief had managed to conceal. When the counting was complete, officers had recovered just shy of $26,000. According to authorities in Spokane, the suspect, Lukeisha Harris, apparently had the room to conceal the stolen cash. "Well as I understand it, this is a very large suspect. She was described by bank tellers as heavy set. The police report indicated that she was six foot and 400 pounds," Spokane County Sheriff...

SPOKANE, Wash. – A fraud bust, indeed: Spokane County sheriff's deputies say a woman was hiding nearly $26,000 in her bra when she was booked into jail for investigation of theft. Lukeisha A. Harris was one of three Seattle-area residents arrested Friday as part of an alleged fraud ring. Deputies say they used phony Oregon driver's licenses and counterfeit credit cards to obtain cash advances from Spokane banks.