Elizabeth Backstrom

To the outside observer, the US Highway 26 project was innocuous, if a bit of a traffic impediment. The 2008 construction project, intended to widen a dangerously narrow 1.5 mile section of the Mt. Hood highway in Oregon, would provide improved passage for cars turning left.

Hereditary Chief Wilbur Slockish, however, says the project has destroyed his freedom of religion, and is suing for damages.

Erik Ellertson came from a long line of devout believers. His grandfather was a Lutheran missionary in the Republic of Cameroon, Africa, and his parents took him to church as soon as he was old enough to sit still in Sunday school classes.

If passed, legislation proposed April 26 would allow businesses to refuse service to anyone if providing said services would be contrary to the business owner’s “sincerely held religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or matters of conscience.”

It’s a warm spring evening in Browne’s Addition, and Coeur d’Alene Park is filled with people walking dogs and playing Frisbee. A few of them wander into All Saints Lutheran Church across the street, where doors are propped open in preparation for Tuesday night’s weekly meal hosted by the Rev. Alan Eschenbacher and a group of dedicated local volunteers.

Stacks of Sauconys and Brooks covered in roses obscured the bronze feet of Riverfront Park's Bloomsday sculptures Tuesday evening as  approximately 40 runners from two Spokane running clubs gathered to remember victims of the Boston Marathon bomb attacks.  Attendees brought new and lightly used running shoes to donate in memory of fallen and injured marathoners.