Adam Shanks

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News >  Local Government

A state proposal that could impact distribution of funds for local emergency communications higlights tensions between city, county

Fri., Jan. 22, 2021

The funding mechanism for the largest 911 call-taker in Spokane County could be upended by a proposal in the state Legislature.

News

Evacuations lifted for Grant County town after ammonia tank threatened by fire at potato facility

UPDATED: Fri., Jan. 22, 2021

The Grant County Sheriff’s Office has lifted an evacuation order for Warden residents near a fire at the Washington Potato Facility after about a third of the town was threatened by an ammonia tank that could have exploded in the blaze.

News >  Spokane

Spokane City Council ratifies mayor’s emergency order for windstorm

UPDATED: Thu., Jan. 21, 2021

For about two hours on Jan. 14, as winds whipped mercilessly and tossed down trees across Spokane, there was not a single fire department crew left to respond to emergencies.

News >  Local Government

O’Sullivan confirmed as new Spokane Municipal Court judge

UPDATED: Thu., Jan. 21, 2021

Spokane Municipal Court has a new judge.

News >  Local Government

Spokane City Council eyes police contract, reform discussions

Tue., Jan. 19, 2021

The Spokane City Council’s to-do list includes enacting police reform measures and signing a long-overdue labor agreement with police officers.

News >  Local Government

Annual homeless count disrupted by COVID-19, but city vows to complete census

Sat., Jan. 16, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced city leaders to reinvent the Spokane region’s annual count of its unsheltered population.

News >  Local Government

Woodward appoints O’Sullivan as new city judge

UPDATED: Fri., Jan. 15, 2021

Kristin O’Sullivan will serve as the next Spokane Municipal Court judge, Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward announced Friday.

News >  WA Government

Thousands still without power in the Inland Northwest after windstorm

UPDATED: Fri., Jan. 15, 2021

Avista restored power to thousands more homes and businesses in the Inland Northwest but, by midday Friday, more than 25,000 were still without electricity 48 hours after a ferocious windstorm toppled trees across the Inland Northwest.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

It took years of advocacy to ensure every backlogged rape kit in Washington is tested. Now, it will take years to investigate the results

UPDATED: Sun., Jan. 17, 2021

The DNA evidence tying Eugene Young to a 2007 rape sat on a shelf in the Spokane Police Department’s storage facility for more than a decade.

News >  Local Government

Long, arduous cleanup expected in Spokane parks after monster windstorm

UPDATED: Thu., Jan. 14, 2021

After Wednesday’s winds finally subsided, passers-by couldn’t help but gawk at the arboreal devastation in Comstock Park.

News >  Spokane

Riverfront Park’s butterfly loses its wings

UPDATED: Wed., Jan. 13, 2021

An icon of Riverfront Park’s history and, more recently, its rebirth, was brought down by Wednesday’s forceful winds.

News >  Spokane

Woman killed, 100K without power in aftermath of brutal windstorm

UPDATED: Wed., Jan. 13, 2021

High winds toppled trees across the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene region Wednesday, knocking out power to tens of thousands of people as meteorologists reported the second-highest gusts recorded at Spokane International Airport.

News

In new law, Spokane City Council mirrors state restrictions on militias

UPDATED: Mon., Jan. 11, 2021

The Spokane City Council copied state restrictions on unauthorized private militias – or any group acting like one in public – into city law Monday night, allowing for the prosecution of violators in municipal court.

Deadline extended for local officials planning young adult homeless shelter

UPDATED: Mon., Jan. 11, 2021

Regional leaders have secured a key extension of a $2.7 million state grant to open a young adult homeless shelter.

News >  Local Government

City eyes $200,000 settlement with woman who fell on uneven sidewalk in 2019

Mon., Jan. 11, 2021

The sidewalk on West Dean Avenue has since been prepared, and the agreement will settle a $2.4 million claim filed against the city last year. 

Virtual community forum planned ahead of MLK Day

Sun., Jan. 10, 2021

The usual slate of holiday celebrations was dashed by the coronavirus pandemic, but the achievements of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., will not go unrecognized in Spokane this January.

Why wait? Spokane City Council members want earlier public input on bills

UPDATED: Fri., Jan. 8, 2021

Two Spokane City Council members are charting a course that could remodel how the legislative branch operates.

News >  Washington

Experts on U.S. Capitol riots: We’ve never seen this, either

UPDATED: Wed., Jan. 6, 2021

Historians and legal experts in the Inland Northwest described the events in the nation's capital on Wednesday as unprecedented.

News >  Spokane

Homeless shelters see outbreaks as COVID-19 spreads across Spokane

UPDATED: Wed., Jan. 6, 2021

Several homeless shelters have experienced coronavirus outbreaks in recent weeks, a reflection of the broad and continued community spread of COVID-19 in Spokane.

News >  Spokane

Spokane plans for fire-dispatch future without backup from new regional agency

Tue., Jan. 5, 2021

The Spokane Regional Emergency Communications agency and the city of Spokane will not renew an agreement that provides the city’s fire dispatchers backup when they are short-staffed.

News >  Local Government

Woodward reflects on 2020, her first year as mayor of Spokane

UPDATED: Thu., Dec. 31, 2020

Any new mayor can expect the unexpected. Mayor Nadine Woodward entered 2020 looking to prove that a career as a television news anchor could translate into city leadership. But the novel coronavirus arrived in Spokane just weeks after Woodward was sworn in, immediately supplanting her agenda and spoiling any chance she had of a relatively quiet, typical first year in office.

News >  Local Government

Pacific Islanders living in Spokane may finally be able to access health coverage

Tue., Dec. 29, 2020

People from the Marshall Islands living in the United States, including an estimated 3,000 people in Spokane, may finally have access to Medicaid more than two decades after they were excluded from the program.

News >  Spokane

‘Our people need us’: Kurtis Robinson led NAACP’s Spokane chapter through tumultuous 2020

UPDATED: Wed., Dec. 30, 2020

Kurtis Robinson can – and will – make a list to show the difference he’s made in the region.

News

Ambulance company settles lawsuit over discrimination against pregnant Spokane employee

UPDATED: Mon., Dec. 28, 2020

Ambulance company American Medical Response will settle a discrimination lawsuit after it refused to provide its pregnant Spokane employee a temporary reprieve from heavy-duty work, regulators announced Monday.

News >  Local Government

Getting There: Spokane ramped up arterial road work in 2020

Mon., Dec. 28, 2020

The city expects to complete maintenance projects on about 60 miles of arterial roads in 2020 and 2021, about double what it had initially planned.