by ANDY BOROWITZ

OBAMA DE-FRIENDS WRIGHT ON FACEBOOK

In an act that campaign insiders said indicated an irrevocable break with his former pastor, Sen. Barack Obama today de-friended the Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Facebook. Sen. Obama's comments about Rev. Wright last week seemed to indicate that a total rift with his former minister was underway, but his decision to de-friend Rev. Wright on Facebook underscores the seriousness of his decision. Full Story

by ROBERT HEROLD

Don Barbieri, the Spokane land developer and unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress in 2004, recently had published a letter to the editor in the Spokesman-Review calling for Avista to stop shutting off the river during the late summer months. Citizens, wrote Barbieri, should be able to see the river, as did his ancestors. Avista, he charges, is denying Spokanites their "birthright" — access to the Spokane River. Full Story

by JIM HIGHTOWER

MY REBATE PLANS

I'm totally excited that our tax rebate checks are coming! Washington has turned into Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, all rolled into one, now delivering $300 to $600 checks to nearly every one of us. Full Story

by CHRIS MARR

Watching Dino Rossi roll out his $15.5 billion transportation plan in Spokane last month, it would have been hard for the average commuter to resist the temptation to join Representatives John Ahern and Lynn Schindler, Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke and local city officials such as Nancy McLaughlin and Diana Wilhite in singing its praises. After all, on its face it promises a comprehensive plan to solve all of Washington's congestion woes without the inconvenience of new funding. Of course, any rudimentary knowledge of Washington's transportation problems, or a check of the election calendar, would have revealed it for what it is — a cruel hoax perpetrated on taxpayers hungry for much needed transportation improvements. Full Story