Spokane

Sometimes sows’ ears do turn into silk purses. In this case, it’s the Spokane Conservation District’s new project to restore and redevelop a battered 50-acre piece of land located just east of Eighth Avenue and Havana Street in Spokane Valley.

The blast from the recent eruption of the underwater Hunga Tonga volcano produced surging ocean waves, which wasn’t a surprise. But the atmospheric waves that shot around the globe in less than 24 hours – including here in the Inland Northwest – that was a surprise.

Spokane City Councilman Jonathan Bingle refuses to wear a mask around others in City Hall, raising legal questions and causing his colleagues consternation.

Justice Stephen Breyer displayed a desire on the bench to understand complicated legal matters, including tribal law and the intricacies of sentencing criminal defenders, local experts said. Replacing him is likely to prompt a political battle less based on ideology and more on the current makeup of the Senate, as well as the unity of the nation's two political parties. 

The Spokane City Council’s districts are set to be redrawn in 2022, and volunteers are needed to do that work.

In the early 17th century English poet Sir John Suckling created cribbage.

The $31-million downtown stadium is being built atop a parking lot, so the Public Facilities District is buying a $5.25-million property elsewhere to make up the parking loss. 

In her first two weeks at Freeman Middle School, Sydney McLean had hoped to make some new friends.

A two-week temporary homeless shelter will likely cost the city of Spokane more than $500,000.

Reaction to NBA Hall of Famer John Stockton’s ticket suspension from Gonzaga basketball games and his anti-vaccine comments drew swift rebuke from other NBA legends, analysts and fans.

Frank B. Carpenter’s honeymoon was cut short when a federal judge sentenced him to two years at the McNeil Island federal prison.

2022 has started off contentious in Spokane Valley City Hall. 

When Joe Bowen decided to become a school custodian after years in the Air Force, he thought he was choosing a safer career.

The Don Kardong Bridge could soon be in tiptop shape like the thousands of walkers, runners and cyclists who cross it every year.

The donations to the two local charitable organizations make up a small fraction of Donors Trust's $180 million in giving in 2020, according to a tax filing first obtained by CNBC and linked to Spokane by the news outlet the National Catholic Reporter earlier this month. That document also contained evidence of giving, through what are known as "donor-advised funds," to a group called VDARE, whose founder has espoused white nationalist views, and the Tea Party Patriots Foundation, a Georgia-based organization that helped organize the rally featuring President Donald Trump before some attendees violently breached the Capitol Building. Donors Trust paid out $75,000 to the VDARE Foundation in 2020, according to the tax filing, and $250,000 to the tea party group. 

Those gaping gashes in the region's roadways have once again emerged, prompting crews throughout the Inland Northwest that had once been pushing the snow away to circle back and patch the potholes.

Zappone, who took office earlier this month, remains on a part-time contract to teach 10th and 11th grade English at North Central High School.“Being in the classroom, especially in a school in my district, keeps me connected to the community I serve,” Zappone told The Spokesman-Review. “Nobody keeps it as real as students keep it real.”

If evictions were a tidal wave, rental assistance and tenant protections may have been the seawall.

Hohman has decades of experience in city and county government.