Cafe Italiano fans for the win! Last week, we reported that the lovely little Indian Trail-area cafe was shutting its doors with plans to re-open a new location somewhere else in town. That was the case ... for half of last week, at least.

The cafe posted on its Facebook on Saturday morning that things went awry with that plan — and that the Indian Trail location would, in fact, re-open.

Owners also commented on our Bloglander post, saying that their plan had been to relocate to the shuttered Vin Rouge location on the South Hill — even going so far as to move all their equipment — but a buyer on the Indian Trail spot had backed out.

We're just happy they'll still be around to sling those delicious plates of spaghetti our way.

Farhad Manjoo is lighting up the comment boards on Slate.com right now with a piece advocating the death of independent bookstores. Manjoo, Slate's technology writer, is responding to a Monday New York Times op-ed written by novelist Richard Russo, who decried Amazon.com's ruthless commercial practices and suggested they were killing the country's local literary sub-cultures. 

Manjoo expresses disdain for the retail giant's more aggressive business tactics but argues that Amazon's cheaper prices, sophisticated recommendation engine and Kindle options are actually breathing new life into the book world, and that readers and writers alike should be happy about that.

"Sure, Amazon doesn’t host readings and it doesn’t give you a poofy couch to sit on while you peruse the latest best-sellers," he writes. "But what it does do —allow people to buy books anytime they want — is hardly killing literary culture. In fact, it’s probably the only thing saving it."

Question: Newspaper budgets have been slashed over the last decade because Craigslist found a better way to deliver classified ads. Travel agencies have shuttered because the Expedias and Travelocitys of the world put those services directly in consumers' hands. So are local bookstores just the next industry to be outsmarted, or do they offer a value that Amazon can't match? If so, will that value be enough to save them?

As Washington state legislators struck the gavel Monday to begin the special session called by the governor, an estimated 3,000 people rallied around the capital building, protesting further cuts to social services provided by the state.

Later, as hearings were beginning to look into ways to cut $2 billion from the state's budget, protesters with the Occupy movement filled the capital building's rotunda, shutting a budget meeting down and leading to their arrests.

But before things got ugly and state troopers dragged protestors out one by one, Brian Zylstra, blogging for Secretary of State Sam Reed, gave his readers a taste of the action — with some snarky commentary.

"Like all good protesters, they brought with them lots of chants," Zylstra wrote on Reed's blog, From Our Corner. "Some were catchy, but a few sounded clunky and needed some work."

Aside from the usual Occupy chants about being the 99 percent and getting sold out by banks, the protesters provided Zylstra an opportunity for some comic relief:

"Can't you hear us?" they chanted, to which Zylstra replied, "From our nearby office, YES!"

And, when protesters chanted, “Occupy," Zylstra added, "With Thanksgiving apparently still on his mind, one co-worker here thought they were yelling, 'Pumpkin pie!'"

With a few weeks left in the session, we wonder if Zylstra will occupy us with more of his jokes. Or, if they'll wear thin.

Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick will retire on Jan. 2 of next year, the city announced today after an erroneous report by a local broadcaster said she would leave the department effective today.

“The new year provides an opportunity to start fresh,” Kirkpatrick said in a statement. “I have been honored to serve as the Chief of Police, and I thank SPD’s employees, the City’s elected leadership, and most importantly, the citizens for this opportunity.”

It's been long reported that Kirkpatrick would leave sometime in the new year, but last night KXLY reported that she would leave as early as today, citing anonymous sources in the police department. 

"It is a combination of factors that has left the chief as demoralized as her rank-and-file officers," Jeff Humphrey reported, citing Tuesday's election results — which has almost assuredly taken out Mayor Mary Verner and brought in a new bloc of council members — and two losses in court last week: the conviction of Officer Karl Thompson and the suit brought by fired cop Jay Mehring.

But Humphrey's information was quickly reduced to rumor today after other media outlets squashed the report by making a few calls to City Hall. 

"City says report that Chief Kirkpatrick will resign as early as today is false. She'll be here at least til end of year," the Spokesman's Meghann Cuniff wrote on Twitter this morning.

Still, with Kirkpatrick's retirement now solid, the city must now find a new chief — something done just five years ago, when then-Mayor Dennis Hession chose Kirkpatrick to reform the department and build trust with the community.

The Inlander reported recently that Verner has already quietly begun a search process at City Hall. But now that it's almost certain that she will leave City Hall at the end of the year, David Condon has the hard job of finding a new head for the police department.

After the vote came in last night, Spokane Mary Verner saw that she might not be re-elected. The initial tally — which represents more than half the ballots cast — showed her down 47 percent to David Condon's 52 percent.

Soon thereafter, she got on the phone with conservative radio host Mike Fitzsimmons to discuss the returns.

The conversation quickly turned to accusations of "spreading misinformation" and disappointment in each other.

After a heated three minutes, Verner said goodbye. 

"She doesn't get it," Fitzsimmons said. "That's her problem." 

They didn’t smell fishy, but the three protesters in front of downtown Spokane's Sushi.com restaurant tried to give the impression of dead fish this afternoon. Shirtless, painted blue, and lying motionless on fishing nets, demonstrators from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), along with campaigner Hayden Hamilton (in plain clothes), were protesting fishing. 

“More fish are killed for food every year than any other animal,” Hamilton said. She stressed that fish are intelligent and can feel pain. 

The Spokane protest is the second of four PETA protests building up to National Fish Amnesty Day on Saturday. Hamilton and the three demonstrators held a protest in Seattle on Tuesday that aimed to discourage parents from taking their children fishing. The "Don't Let Kids Become Hookers" protest will repeat in Vancouver on Friday, while today’s demonstration will be repeated in Yakima on Thursday.

PETA targeted Seattle because it is a top urban fishing location, but why Spokane? “Washington is just a big fishing state and people eat fish all the time here,” Hamilton said, gesturing toward Sushi.com. 

Spokane police were present throughout the protest and asked the demonstrators to move over 40 feet to allow for better pedestrian access. Spokesman-Review columnist Doug Clark was also present, handing out fish sandwiches from McDonald’s.

“He makes us look better, because he’s being insensitive,” Hamilton said. 

Jennifer Mills, executive director of the American Heart Association’s Western States Affiliate, wanted to visit Boo Radley’s but couldn’t find a parking space on Howard Street. Settling for a spot further away meant passing PETA’s protest. 

“I have a survival-of-the-fittest outlook,” Mills said. “I eat fish, and fish is an important part of a healthy diet to combat heart disease and stroke.” 

But Mills said she respected the protesters and supported people expressing what they believe.

“I like to see stuff like this going on in our town, because not a lot of liberal stuff happens here,” she said. 

To the clang and the thunder of an impromptu brass band that seemed more at home at Mardis Gras than in downtown Spokane, protesters gathered in front of the Main Avenue Chase bank branch to protest what they say is the finance house's corporate malfeasance.

A flyer handed out by a gray-goateed man lays out the protesters' case against the bank: acceptance of state taxpayer money, record profits, and a CEO who makes $10,000 an hour. All this, the flyer says, while schools, public workers and Medicaid funding is put in jeopardy.

“I think Chase has a big part in the housing problems,” says Betty Ann Steitman, a 79-year-old Spokane resident who was standing on the sidelines because she felt uncomfortable joining in (her minister was in the group, she says). “I don't know if they will listen, but we have to try.”

Inside the bank, a tall security guard in a gray uniform stood at the door, watching the protest, while a meeting went on in a conference room facing the protesters, who numbered about 25.

Chase is the banking arm of J.P. Morgan Chase, which Forbes has called the world's largest public company.

“Schools getting cut, it's not fair, time for banks to pay their share!” the protesters chanted.

After about a half-hour, the protest morphed into a forum for a catch-all of progressive issues, as different speakers took up a megaphone to address the diminishing group.

“People are entitled to get health care,” Debra Conklin, a minister at Liberty Park United Methodist Church, told the crowd. “The government is best able to distribute health care.”

After handing the megaphone to another protester, Conklin stood just outside the perimeter of the group.

“I don't think this is going to make a change,” Conklin replied when asked if she expected the protest to produce results. “If enough people speak out often enough, change will happen.”

Last month, the Spokesman offered its older, long-term employees a chance for an early retirement. We knew it was coming, and when we ran a brief news item in this week's paper discussing the offer, we knew there were 13 folks who had accepted an early retirement. We just didn't know who they all were.

Now we do: Chris Anderson, Steve Bergum, John Blanchette, Rick Bonino, John Craig, Kevin Graman, Vince Grippi, Gil Hulse, Jeff Jordan,  Jim Kershner, Bart Rayniak, Dave Trimmer and John Kafentzis. (Update: Kafentzis, Editor Gary Graham now tells us, isn't leaving but is eligible to begin receiving his pension.)

What this means for Spokane's only daily newspaper remains to be seen. We asked Graham what he'd do without such veteran talent.

“I’m not about to share any of our internal plans with other media,” he replied via email.

At 9:45 pm Friday evening, the Bank of Whitman branch in downtown Spokane was still buzzing with activity, but no one was being allowed inside. Large groups of employees crammed into one office. Some of them appeared visibly shaken. Collapsible tables had been set up near the teller windows in the branch's large main room. There were dozens of document boxes on the tables and on the floor. Security guards perched on folding chairs in the vestibule, intercepting gawkers and offering to answer questions.

At around the close of business Friday, the FDIC announced that Bank of Whitman had failed. Richard Riccobono, director of the Department of Financial Institutions' Division of Banks told the Seattle Times, "Large loan losses made it impossible for Bank of Whitman to continue."In Mid-February Bank of Whitman was ordered by federal regulators to raise assets to cover those losses or merge with another bank. It is the first bank to fail in our region since the start of the financial crisis three years ago.

In the wake of the failure, Columbia State Bank of Tacoma has agreed to take over Bank of Whitman's deposits and liabilities.

Bank of Whitman was based in Colfax and had 20 branches. Eight of the 20 branches will reopen Monday morning, including the downtown Spokane location. 

An FDIC notice posted on the door said Bank of Whitman customers will still have access to their money through ATMs, debit carts and by writing checks. The notice made no mention of savings accounts.

Whitman is the third bank that has failed in Washington in 2011. According to the Seattle Times, the other two — Summit Bank in Skagit County and Snohomish County's First Heritage Bank — were assumed by Columbia State Bank as well. 

Below, cell phone photos of State Division of Banks and FDIC notices and memoranda posted at the location:

Gonzaga's athletic director doesn't believe Mark Few and Ray Giacoletti's connection to David Salinas — a the founder of a summer basketball program and a suspected Ponzi scheme architect — has anything to do with basketball.

But CBSSports.com is now reporting that the NCAA thinks it might be. 

Yesterday, amid reports that Mark Few, head coach of GU's men's basketball team, and Ray Giacoletti, an assistant coach, had jointly invested more than a million dollars with Salinas, GU Athletic Director Mike Roth issued a statement saying the whole thing was tragic, but "not a basketball matter."

The NCAA seems to disagree. CBSSports, who first broke the Salinas story, is now reporting that an investigation is already underway:

"So now the NCAA is trying to determine if the coaches who invested with Salinas gained a recruiting advantage," a source told CBSSports.com. "When was the money invested? When did they get the players? The NCAA is trying to connect the dots and see if they can determine if the coaches who invested gained a recruiting advantage when it came to pursuing Salinas' players."

In a separate report from thedaily.com, former Houston basketball coach Tom Penders said that Salinas had made a "strong, strong implication" that investing with him would be rewarded with access to top recruits in Salinas' program.

Read our original blog here.