John Stucke

Spokane selected to host first, second rounds of 2027 NCAA men’s basketball tourney

From staff reports

Unsettled by his mother’s deathbed words about her long-held beliefs, Timothy Egan, a New York Times winner of the Pulitzer Prize and bestselling author, packed his own lapsed faith, curiosity and Pacific Northwest travel wear and set out to explore his own spirituality in his new book, “A Pilgrimage to Eternity.”

Spokane woman makes the most of her shot on Jeopardy!

The Rev. Joseph Weitensteiner, the former director of the Morning Star Boys Ranch, has been reinstated into the active Catholic ministry after sex abuse claims against him were denied by a retired federal judge hired to rule on the credibility of the cases.

A Spokane dermatologist has wrung a $600,000 apology from state health officials who went public with outrageous charges of drug abuse and medical fraud based on a bogus tip from his ex-wife. The pending payout to Dr. William “Phil” Werschler is among the largest settlements in decades by the Washington state Department of Health involving a physician, agency officials say. The public apology might be the first of its kind, they say.

A welcome new challenge for city attorney

Manufacturers are hiring in Spokane and selling goods across the globe, igniting hopes of an economic recovery. From airplane parts to medical devices, cookware, pharmaceuticals and mining equipment, factories across the region are collecting contracts that square with the national trend of burgeoning productivity.

Federal prosecutors filed a 110-count felony indictment Thursday against Doris “Dee” Nelson, architect of an alleged international Ponzi scheme that netted $126 million to prop up payday lender Little Loan Shoppe.

Hundreds of investors victimized in an alleged Spokane-based Ponzi scheme are now being sued by bankruptcy officials attempting to unravel the complicated case of Little Loan Shoppe. Some investors call it a “salt-in-the-wound” effort to wring money from those who were scammed out of their savings.