I feel the need ... the need to share my Further Review page in today's Spokesman-Review. Forty years ago Saturday, "Top Gun" starring Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer and Kelly McGillis opened in theaters.

"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference." - Harry Truman 1974 oral biography, "Plain Speaking"

180 years ago Wednesday, Congress approved President James K. Polk's request for a declaration of war against Mexico. In fact, this was a giant land grab to fulfill America's "Manifest Destiny." My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, Eva Jane Finley. Here she is back in December with her two oldest kids.

Friday, "Remarkably Bright Creatures" starring Sally Field began streaming on Netflix. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review is about the movie, the book and the science of octopuses.

We have a year’s worth of economic data since Liberation Day, when President Trump announced much higher tariffs on most imported goods and countries, and the data are definitive; the tariffs have done significant damage to the economy.

And the Supreme Court cries foul..fuck them all

Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" album spawned five No. 1 singles, which put Perry in the Hot 100 for 98 weeks, in the Top 10 for 86 weeks and 69 CONSECUTIVE weeks in the Top 10. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

Happy Thursday, Thursday to you! My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review is on "Monday, Monday" by the Mamas and the Papas, which started a three-week run at No. 1 on the Hot 100 60 years ago today.

65 years ago today, Alan Shepard became the first American in space via a 15-minute flight aboard a Mercury spacecraft. It would be another nine months before NASA would launch an orbital manned mission to top the Soviets' accomplishment in April 1961. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

140 years ago Monday, police moved in to break up a union strike in Chicago's Haymarket Square. Someone tossed a bomb. Police opened fire. Protest leaders were convicted and executed, despite no evidence on who made or threw the bomb. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

Today's "Luann" by Greg Evans.

85 years ago today, Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" premiered in the Palace Theater on Broadway. It would be nominated for nine Oscars but win only one. Today, it's regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

490 years ago Saturday, King Henry VIII had his second wife, Anne Boleyn, arrested and sent to the Tower of London. She would be beheaded on May 19. He married wife No. 3 just 11 days later. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

Oh, THIS is a fun one. Clear out some time to spend absorbing this piece from the New York Times. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Also in today's Spokesman-Review: It's not often I appear on page one anymore. But I offered a helping hand with today's A1 package on Elvis' final appearance in Spokane, 50 years ago this week.

Isaac Newton's "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica”, released 340 years ago today, presented his three laws of motion. The book is regarded today as the foundation of the science of physics. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

40 years ago today, a reactor at a Soviet nuclear power station in what is now Ukraine exploded during a flawed test. Two workers were killed and 26 more died from radiation burns over the next four months. 220,000 were evacuated and resettled. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

This is impressively dumb.

65 years ago next Wednesday, ABC's "Wide World of Sports" made its debut. But it would be another nine years before the show would have that amazing opening credits footage of the ski jumper wiping out. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review is on Eileen Garvin, whose fourth novel, "Bumblebee Season," was published Tuesday. She'll be the guest at a Northwest Passage book club session next Wednesday.

It’s amazing how many bullies become deeply principled pacifists the first time they get punched back.

Singer, songwriter, record producer and flamboyant businessman Prince Rogers Nelson — yes, Prince was his real name — died 10 years ago today in his combination home, music and movie studio complex near Minneapolis. He was 57. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

40 years ago Tuesday, Geraldo Rivera hosted a live special in which workers opened Al Capone's secret underground vault, only to find... an empty bottle. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review looks at this and 10 other live TV embarrassments.

Happy birthday, @gullyd.bsky.social ! Best wishes!

Today's "Off the Mark" by Mark Parisi

55 years ago today, Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World" began a six-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The songwriter: Hoyt Axton, whose mother had written "Heartbreak Hotel" for Elvis. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

Singer, songwriter and novelist Willy Vlautin has written seven novels -- two were adapted into movies. His eighth, "The Left and the Lucky," was released Tuesday. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said that it has been acquired by the Baltimore Banner’s publisher, rescuing the paper just weeks before it was set to shut down. https://cnn.it/4tNIeBq

My god. Essential, horrifying reporting here.

120 years ago Saturday, an earthquake later estimated at 7.9 magnitude struck San Francisco. 80% of the city was destroyed and 225,000 residents were left homeless. It would be a century before it was determined that 3,400 had been killed. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

165 years ago today, South Carolina militia fired on U.S. troops occupying the not-quite-completed Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, S.C. This was the start of the Civil War. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

Ah, yes. Morris Communications. Sigh...

In 1964, Jan & Dean scored a hit with a song about a car accident on a famous stretch of Sunset Blvd. near the UCLA campus: Dead Man's Curve. Nearly two years later -- 60 years ago this Sunday -- Jan Berry had a near-fatal accident near that very spot. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

Far be it from me to argue with Brené Brown, but no one “solidly in (their) fuck it era,” would ask for a correction.

Noted college sports administrator Bill Moos' memoir of his life and career as an athletic director at the universities of Montana, Oregon, Washington State and Nebraska was released in February. He's the topic of my Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

The Soviet Union put the first man in space 65 years ago this Sunday, when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth once. It would be another 10 months before an American astronaut would orbit the Earth. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

130 years ago Monday, the first modern Olympic games were held in Athens, Greece, with 241 athletes from 13 European countries plus the U.S. participating. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

Have you heard about the guy Trump appointed to head up FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery? Who says that while he was being treated in a hospital, he was suddenly "teleported" to a Waffle House in Rome, Georgia? It's worth a read. Free link from the NYT... www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/u...

Taylor Swift found rights to her first six albums had been bought by a businessman she didn't like. Her solution: Rerecord new versions. The first one was released five years ago next Thursday. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

185 years ago Saturday, President William Henry Harrison died of what was diagnosed at the time as pneumonia. He had been president for only 31 days. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

Trump announces that if Iran refuses to surrender, he's going to bomb their oil fields with Sharpie markers.

When I was a kid, I'd glue myself to our TV set and absorb every minute of the Apollo space launches. That's the main reason I became interested in science and in news. So watching the Artemis launch today -- via my Macbook Air, from my favorite table at Chick-fil-A -- brought back a LOT of feels.

Apple computer was formed a half-century ago Wednesday by 20-year-old Steve Jobs, 25-year-old Steve Wosniak and 41-year-old Ronald Wayne. Who sold his share of the company two weeks later for just $800. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

45 years ago Monday, Ronald Reagan was shot leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton. He was in only his 69th day as president. My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.

I've made progress on Book No. 2 -- a LOT more. I have 89 spreads done, now. Only nine more to go. Granted, that doesn't count title page, contents pages, end notes pages and acknowledgements. I don't even TRY to finish those until the rest of the book is settled.

Oh, riiiiiight... You do this three days AFTER my colonoscopy prep! Thanks for NOTHING, New York Times! www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/r...

A quarter-century ago Monday, "The Fairly OddParents" debuted on Nickelodeon. The creator, Butch Hartman, had previously worked on "An American Tail," "My Little Pony," "Dexter's Laboratory" and "Johnny Bravo." My Further Review in today's Spokesman-Review.