Column

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the year in which the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council was started.

In this election season, our newsfeeds will be flooded with stories about the culture wars. In the 1980s, when I was growing up, these issues were shaped by what was then a new force in politics, leaders of the religious right. As a kid in this era, I was strangely fascinated with the radio show “Focus on the Family,” a precursor to the booming right-wing media landscape that exists today.

Dear Kiantha,

It is hard to overlook the big white house at 104 W. Eighth Ave. on the way to the front door of Sacred Heart Medical Center. The challenge to saving “Mary’s Place” is location, location, location. To the dismay of Spokane historic preservation aficionados, Mary’s son and heir George Alex took out a demolition permit last year.

Dear Kiantha,

When Dr. Renata Moon let her medical license lapse in Washington last March, it wasn’t because she’d made a medical mistake. “Words can’t describe what I see now in with the loss of free speech in America,” Moon said on a recent visit to Spokane from Florida. “I can’t ethically practice medicine in a state where I can’t have honest conversations with parents.”

Dear Kiantha,

In a Democrat-controlled state, when a federal judge appointed by a Democrat president makes a decision on redistricting that affects no incumbent Democrats and multiple Republicans, voters may reasonably be skeptical of the impartiality of the results.

By Eleanor Baumgartner

Passion to save America drives people into politics. Parades and community fairs drive campaign schedules. And speaking from personal experience, there’s going to be a lot of windshield time for candidates this summer.

Dear Kiantha,

Two years ago, the progressive majority on the Spokane City Council was busy writing letters to the conservative mayor. This year, the council seems to have lost their pen.