You might see Salvation Army bins around your neighborhood drugstores and grocery stores. What do you fill them with? Backpacks and school supplies.

Spokane's Salvation Army starts early on this because there are close to 2,500 children in need to school supplies. In 2009, they served 1,600 children and in 2010, they served 1,987 children.

Good news for boaters who like to spend their summers on the Spokane River near Post Falls... there's now more space to play!

Avista announced today the spill gates at the Post Falls Dam are now closed, which means river recreation is now open upstream from the dam. Until those gates are closed, the river is shut down between the Spokane Street Bridge and the Post Falls Dam.

Turns out Spokane is home to some of the most patriotic residents in the United States. Media Audit says Spokane is the number one market in the nation for voting and that the largest active voting block in the market is made up of Republican Voters. This comes from a recently released national study on voting in a non-general election year. In the metro area, Democrats are the most active, but are the smallest voting pool.