Headlines
David Condon still leads Mary Verner in the race for mayor of Spokane. At last count, Verner has 21,726 votes and Condon has 23, 871. There are 17,000 ballots left to count. (KREM)
The Spokane Regional Health District's Board of Health passed their proposed $21.4 million budget. The board will reduce services and staff to make up for a $2 million shortfall. (KHQ)
The Spokane County Sheriff's Office made a huge pot bust last week, seizing a loaded Glock pistol, about eight pounds of harvested marijuana, 695 marijuana plants and 500 recently harvested plants. Five people were arrested. (Sheriff's Office)
Out There
Students take to the streets - Students marched through the streets of London again yesterday to protest tuition increases. Penn State students rioted last night after the school's board of trustees fired football coach Joe Paterno and president Graham Spanier. (BBC, NY Times)
The Department of Agriculture intended to impose a 15-cent tax on fresh-cut Christmas trees that would have taken effect yesterday, but President Obama delayed its implementation after an uproar from conservatives. (The Week)
Last night's Republican presidential debate was yet another disaster for Rick Perry, and Herman Cain responded to a question about accusations of sexual harassment with "for every one person that comes forward with a false accusation, there are thousands who would say none of that sort of activity ever came from Herman Cain." (Washington Post)
Wilson Ramos, a 24-year-old baseball player for the Washington Nationals, was kidnapped at gunpoint last night from his family's home in Venezuela. (Washington Post)
A 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey yesterday, killing at least nine people. Up to 100 more are still unaccounted for. Last month, a 7.2-magnitude quake in the same area killed 600 people. (BBC)
An international team of scientists has figured out how to tell if someone is really in a vegetative state by measuring the brain's electrical activity. Some of the patients tested generated brain activity identical to that of a healthy person, signifying that some patients diagnosed as being vegetative may, in fact, be aware. (Washington Post)
Video of the Morning
Because this is how you sell a cellphone...
