Bloglander

Fatal bike ride With the smashing success of Bike to Work Week, perhaps we've begun to believe that Spokane has just about become a bike-friendly city. We even have an award saying exactly that. But then you hear about recent days, which have brought multiple car/bicycle collisions. Sunday, a bicyclist was killed by a pickup truck after the bicyclist ran through a stop sign.  (KREM)

Deadly relay You'd think if one place would be safe for a cyclist, it would be the Spokane-to-Sandpoint relay. Not so. A spotter for the race was killed Saturday morning when a driver crossed the center line and ran into both the spotter and the runner. The runner survived. The spotter did not. (KXLY)

Fifty acres of flame Say you have a wheat field. Say you shelled out massive amounts of money and time on the gambit that the crop will grow, be harvested, and make you money. Now say a single spark — amid a dry crop — starts a fire, and it burns up a full 50 acres before firefighters manage to extinguish it. Sort of a bummer, isn't it? (KREM)

Dino and dope Last Thursday, gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi sent out a press release mocking the use of stimulus funds for medical marijuana research at Washington State University. "It’s 5:00 Somewhere, But It’s 4:20 At Washington State University," the press release said. But now he's backpedaling, claiming he means no disrespect to serious medical marijuana research. The researcher's still a little peeved, though. If only he had some way to relax... (SR)

Ends not with a bang, but with an "Ack" In important national news, the comic strip "Cathy" has come to a bitter, flustered end. The official mourning period begins Oct. 3. (SR)