For years now it's been up to a Fairchild aircrew to let everyone know the Armed Forces Torchlight Parade was starting. But with the sequestration in effect, that role will fall to a group of local Felts Field pilots.

In the past, a carefully timed KC-135 tanker flyover right down Sprague Avenue always got the first floats moving at the parade. This year the sequestration has forced Fairchild Air Force Base to cut a lot out of its budget. No float in the parade that honors its own airmen. No tanker flyover.

That's where Larry Tobin comes in.

"It's important for the parade and veterans to do this parade kickoff," Tobin said.

At exactly 7:45 p.m. Saturday night, Tobin and three other pilots will take to the skies in their Stearman biplanes and buzz the parade route, the squadron of trainers first doing a flyby and on their second pass execute a missing man formation in honor of the fallen Fairchild aircrew killed in a KC-135 crash in Kyrgyzstan earlier this month.

Heart disease is the number one killer of American women. Tonight, the Heart Truth Campaign will be at the Bozzi Collection with some of the Red Dress designer gowns to raise awareness of the statistics and to promote healthy lifestyles for women.

“In May we celebrate Mother's Day and National Women's Health Week, The Red Dress Collection is a great reminder of the importance of women's health and we challenge women to use this month to get screened, get active and eat healthy,” says Cherie Skager, Vice President of The Hope Heart Institute.

During the month of May, dresses from the Red Dress Collection are traveling throughout Washington for fun, ladies night out style, events that also serve as an education on heart health. Four of the dresses will be on display at the Bozzi Collection.

Kindergarten students from Chester Elementary made a trip to the Build-A-Bear Workshop in the Spokane Valley Mall this morning. Instead of taking their new fluffy friends home, they donated them to children staying at the Ronald McDonald House.

The excursion was made possible by an Eastern Washington Community Outreach Program Grant. The COP Grants are given for up to $1,500 to cover the cost of service projects that build relationships between students, schools and the community at large. This is the fourth time that kindergarten teacher Denise Kennedy has applied for and been given a COP Grant.