While one Spokane City Council race remains a nail-biter, it’s safe to say local progressives have had one of their best showings in years, despite hundreds of thousands of dollars in opposition spending and polling that found residents were dissatisfied with how local government was handling homelessness and public safety.
After three decades presiding over a Miami-Dade County courtroom, a meteoric rise as a criminal justice advocate and international recognition from the late Pope Francis, Judge Steven Leifman has turned his focus on Spokane County.
Incumbent mayors in all but two small Spokane County towns will serve another term in office, according to the latest tally from the Spokane County Elections Office.
On Election Day, a long line of cars full of people waiting to slip their ballots into the library’s white ballot box stretched from the South Hill Library through the parking lot and onto the street, blocking the library entrance.
As county elections officials tabulated thousands more ballots Wednesday, the margins in a handful of close races have budged by a hair, but in only one case did the results flip.
The political status quo in Spokane appears unchanged after election night, with progressives keeping their supermajority for another two years while conservatives were holding their ground.
Voters approved Spokane’s $240 million parks levy, and Spokane Public Schools’ closely linked $200 million bond had a slim lead in initial election results Tuesday.
It’s been one week since Spokane’s implementation of a stricter homelessness law – and the method is yielding more police citations and connections to resources, Mayor Lisa Brown said in a Monday email to City Council.
Spokane Valley City Council meetings are usually fairly eventful amid tensions between Councilman Al Merkel and the other council members, but on TuesdayOct. 28, everything came to a head for Councilman Rod Higgins.
In Spokane, homelessness has been on local streets and minds for years, and either Spokane City Council incumbent Zack Zappone or newcomer Christopher Savage will be elected to help address the problem.
Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown declared a city emergency Wednesday to speed up the process for local residents and homeless people to access more resources following colder weather, a change in city law and instability within the federal government.
A handful of business owners and homeless people downtown react to an amended law that broadens the ability of city police to addressing homelessness, granting officers discretion whether to make an arrest, issue a ticket, offer services or some combination thereof.
Three residents sued Spokane City Council candidate Alejandro Barrientos on Monday, questioning whether he resided in the district he is running to represent .
