Hilary Kraus

BOSTON – The nine figure skaters committed to competing in Spokane at next month's 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships were outscored by the one skater who has dodged the question about a Spokane trip for months. Sasha Cohen won the second Marshalls U.S. Figure Skating Challenge at Boston University on Sunday afternoon. And she did it as easily as she slips into size zero jeans, beating Johnny Weir in the final round, 53 percent to 33 percent. Others who advanced to the final round, Kimmie Meissner and pairs Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, received 9 and 5 percent of the votes, respectively. Evan Lysacek, Emily Hughes, Katy Taylor and ice dancers Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto completed the field.

Northern Quest Casino, past sponsor of the Spokane Lilac Festival royal scholarship funds, has decided not to sponsor the 2007 court. Dan Fitzgerald, casino community relations manager, said the Kalispel Tribe has instead decided to "spread the money as far out as we can."

The search for the next Spokane Lilac Festival queen has been narrowed to 14. The group – dubbed the "Fabulous 14" – was chosen from approximately 200 Spokane County girls who had visions of being the belle of the Spokane Lilac Festival Armed Forces Torchlight Parade on May 19. The committee contacted 30 high schools and opened the selection to all senior girls, including those at alternative schools, home-schooled students, and Running Start students with a 3.0 or better grade-point average. Twenty-three schools responded.

Phillip Choi's ACT score is a hard act to follow. The Mead High School senior was one of 23 students out of 80,000 who scored the highest possible score of 36 points on the college-entrance exam.

Listen up, skating fans: For those who bought tickets for the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships waaaay in advance, you're finally going to find out where you'll be sitting for the Jan. 21-28 event.

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, Wash. – Danielle Kahle, Erin Reed, Michael Villarreal, Daisuke Murakami. Never heard of them, even though your interest in figure skating piques more than every fourth winter?

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, Wash. – It was as if a pack of miniature ballerinas broke free from the top of their music boxes. There was hardly a moment at the Pacific Coast Sectional Championships on Friday where an energized skater wasn't practicing on land, spinning, twirling and going through the routine he or she has done thousands of times.

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, Wash. – Land jumps with high degrees of difficulty, skate with speed and confidence, wow the judges with fancy footwork and woo them with artistry. It could be enough for a skater to make it to Spokane.

Nothing like a fresh coat of paint to perk up a room. Imagine what it could do to a neighborhood. Community-minded residents of Latah Valley, more specifically Vinegar Flats, have been fixing up their neighborhood for years.

An outdoor plant in potting soil was used to snub out a cigarette in north Spokane. A plastic laundry basket was placed near the wall-mounted heater in the bathroom of a North Side home.

Sen. Tom Harkin, a one-time presidential hopeful and longtime ally of former Speaker of the House Tom Foley, returned to Spokane on Sunday after a long absence from Washington state politics. The Iowan stumped for a fellow Democrat, Sen. Maria Cantwell, as the Nov. 7 midterm election enters the stretch.

If Bethel Church of the Nazarene congregants show up for services on Nov. 5 in flannel shirts, long johns and woolly mittens, the Rev. Jim Clifton will excuse their outdoorsy attire. Clifton may have on similar clothes because he is one of about 30 adults and teenagers who plan to camp in the church's parking lot at 1111 S. Thor St. on Nov. 4. The campers will be participating in the Camp Need donation drive, which will benefit Cup of Cool Water, Anna Ogden Hall, Union Gospel Mission and the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery. Collections will be taken from 10 a.m. Nov. 4 until 10 a.m. Nov. 5.

The Rev. Michael "Redhawk" Rice-Sauer describes the Covenant Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) as "the church that died and got resurrected." The church is celebrating its latest incarnation, and its 120th year, from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday with the dedication of its new worship center at 3.

Martial arts students will be breaking boards to help raise money for Toby May, a former student who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2005. The event will be at Shadle Park High School gym, 4327 N. Ash St., on Oct. 28 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. More than 300 Jung Kim Martial Arts students are collecting pledges for how many boards they can break.