Amber D. Dodd

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News >  Religion

Muslim detainees sue Spokane County Jail alleging refusal to serve halal meats for Ramadan

UPDATED: Wed., July 6, 2022

Four Muslim detainees in the Spokane County Jail filed a U.S. District Court lawsuit April 11 citing religious discrimination, charging that their requests for halal food before and during Ramadan were not met in violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

News >  Washington

Kalispel tribe hosts ceremony to honor local women missing on Murdered & Missing Indigenous Peoples’ Day

UPDATED: Mon., May 9, 2022

Past the Northern Quest Resort & Casino’s crowded casino floor of slot machine music and bright neon lights, a quiet crowd of about 80 people listened in on the Kalispel Tribes’ Frog Island Singers perform a somber ceremonial drum song.

A&E >  Art

Sculptor Wataru Sugiyama’s natural works incorporate many cultures

UPDATED: Thu., May 5, 2022

Japanese sculptor Wataru Sugiyama is a soft, gentle soul living his life in browns, navy and stone-colored clothing, matching Earth's elements. His walk with nature is his life's work. A sculptor for the last 30 years, Sugiyama's works are from natural resources, as his materials range from bronze and clay to stone and ceramics.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

‘Keep saying their names’: Coeur d’Alene Casino conference acknowledges Missing and Murdered Indigenous People

UPDATED: Thu., May 5, 2022

WORLEY – Articles of red clothing hung at the front of the stage. Bedazzled and polka-dot dresses with ribbons resting at the shoulders, a crimson spaghetti-strap shirt, a maroon poncho blouse. They belonged to Lenore Lawrence, who was murdered in Dayton, Washington, in 2002, after coming to aid a friend in a domestic violence situation.

A&E >  Entertainment

In the spirit of Browne’s Addition’s Elkfest, Lucky You Lounge’s inaugural LuckyFest Northwest kicks off this weekend

UPDATED: Thu., May 5, 2022

As the air warms and parties commence, you’re probably missing Elkfest, the Browne’s Addition street party held annually in June for 13 years that ended in 2018 over concerns about noise, trash and traffic. Spokane art and music managers Ryker and King are mourning with you and doing something about it.

A&E >  Entertainment

Nelly to headline 2022 Spokane County Interstate Fair

UPDATED: Tue., May 3, 2022

A three-time Grammy Award-winning rapper is headlining this year’s Spokane County Interstate Fair. Nelly, a 47-year-old St. Louis artist, will perform at 7 p.m. Sept. 15. “He has been very popular at fairs across the country,” fair director Erin Gurtel told Spokane County commissioners on Monday.

News >  Features

Spokane’s Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Month celebrations are about to kick off

UPDATED: Fri., April 29, 2022

Organizations around Spokane are gearing up for the 32nd annual Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, which celebrates the cultures and history of people of Asian, Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian descent.

YWCA Stand Against Racism event highlights racial disparities amid housing crisis

UPDATED: Wed., Feb. 8, 2023

Spokane’s housing crisis has shocked renters looking to buy homes and homeowners looking to relocate. Prices have skyrocketed and when homes do go up for sale, or apartments become available, they get snapped up quickly.

A&E >  Art

Tobias Wray, Rajiv Mohabir and Chen Chen discuss queer poetry during Get Lit!

UPDATED: Thu., April 28, 2022

On April 22, three queer poets, Tobias Wray, Rajib Mojabir and Chen Chen, replenished wells with a poetry reading at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, part of the Get Lit! festival hosted by the Eastern Washington University. The reading then moved to a discussion about the state and future of queer poetry.

News >  Local Government

Jerrall Haynes, who grew up in a Habitat for Humanity home, to serve as keynote speaker for organization’s annual event

UPDATED: Mon., May 30, 2022

In Summerville, South Carolina, a white house with jade shutters and a red flag that reads “HOME” shows what Habitat for Humanity does best: builds houses to provide opportunity.

Church communities gather to wrap arriving Afghan refugee family in a warm embrace

UPDATED: Tue., April 26, 2022

At the Spokane International Airport one night last week, a welcome committee awaited the arrival of American Airlines Flight 303 from Dallas, due in at 8:56 p.m.

A&E >  Art

‘A sense of healing and resurgence’: Indigenous ‘canoe culture’ on display in real time at MAC exhibit

UPDATED: Thu., April 28, 2022

The canoe carving event has taken more than four years to organize as the tribal members prepared for the rare showcase at a museum. It is part of the MAC’s exhibition, “Awakenings: Traditional Canoes and Bringing the Salmon Home,” which is on display through late August.

News >  Washington

Kiantha Duncan sat down with a man who admits he did ‘great harm to the Black community.’ A documentary about the conversation is about to premiere

Wed., April 20, 2022

Kiantha Duncan was gearing up to cross one of her dreams off her life goals list, a 10-episode podcast series in her creative business, Conversations with Kiantha, to highlight the current landscape of race and culture in America.

News >  Spokane

Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities in Spokane plan second annual Heritage Day celebration

Mon., April 18, 2022

From traditional Samoan fire knife dancers to the spirit of aloha with a community lūʻau, the second annual Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Day celebration is returning to Riverfront Park on May 14.

News >  Health

‘Listen to Black women voices’: Exhibit on Black maternal health comes to Carl Maxey Center

UPDATED: Wed., Feb. 8, 2023

To honor the journey of birth, Stephaine Courtney invited the Black community to display in an art exhibit their uneasy reality: Black people are dying in child birth.

News >  Spokane

Honoring the past: Spokane’s Vietnamese population celebrates Heritage Day on Sunday

UPDATED: Sun., April 10, 2022

Spokane's Vietnamese American Senior Association celebrated their 6th annual Vietnamese Heritage Day on Sunday, honoring those who settled in the country while escaping the Han dynasty in central Asia more than 14,000 years ago.  

News >  Legal

‘Nothing takes away from this day’: Community reacts as Ketanji Brown Jackson becomes the first Black woman on Supreme Court

UPDATED: Thu., April 7, 2022

Once Ketanji Brown Jackson had been confirmed as the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Black woman judge Thursday afternoon, news footage showed members of Congress standing in applause, recognizing her achievement.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

‘No more intergenerational trauma’: Mujeres in Action hosts kickoff event for Sexual Assault Awareness Month

UPDATED: Wed., Dec. 28, 2022

Mujeres in Action, the Latinx-centered organization for assault and domestic violence resources, hosted the Clothesline Project to kick off Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Along with the event, MIA has also opened up a newly renovated office space, which houses their domestic abuse and sexual assault hotlines as well.

News >  Local Government

Betsy Wilkerson reflects on her time as the only Black woman on Spokane’s city council: ‘We’re poised for greatness and greatness for people of color’

Thu., March 31, 2022

City Councilwoman Betsy Wilkerson left Mississippi and arrived in Spokane in 1963.

A&E >  Entertainment

Review: Amine dazzles Knitting Factory in his Best Tour Ever concert

UPDATED: Thu., March 31, 2022

With Women's History Month coming to an end, I'm thinking about what makes women ... women. We craft. We conduct culture. We increase the visibility of what it means to be literally be made anew by popping out a few children here and there throughout our lifetimes. (If that's what we decide to do.)

A&E >  Books

Author Sasha LaPointe talks ancestral autobiographies and ‘unapologetically Indigenous’ reads at Northwest Passages event

UPDATED: Tue., March 29, 2022

Author Sasha “taqwéseblu” LaPointe discussed her favorite “unapologetically Indigenous” reads and the writing process for her newest book, “Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk,” at a Northwest Passages event Tuesday.

News >  Spokane

Hometown stars Lexie, Lacie Hull lead Stanford to victory in front of partisan Spokane crowd

UPDATED: Mon., March 28, 2022

The Central Valley High School graduates drew big cheers from the hometown crowd as they played what will likely be their final game before a Spokane audience on Sunday night. 

News >  Military

YWCA Spokane’s 2022 Women of Achievement honors local leaders as highest-ranking woman in naval history gives keynote

UPDATED: Thu., March 24, 2022

Under a sea of pink lighting, the YWCA Spokane hosted the 40th annual Women of Achievement Awards luncheon Thursday, celebrating local community members for their dedication and contributions to the Spokane area.

Sports >  NCAA basketball

‘I knew where my dad wanted me to be’: Maryland head coach Brenda Frese leans on support of staff, players during familial strife

UPDATED: Thu., March 24, 2022

Brenda Frese received news early on Jan. 16 that tragedy had struck.

A&E >  Books

Sasha LaPointe balances Indigenous traditions and the modern world in her memoir ‘Red Paint’

UPDATED: Tue., March 29, 2022

In a world bent on deciding other’s identities, author Sasha LaPointe did not forget, nor choose. She can navigate the salmon songs of her Upper Skagit and Nooksack ancestors and recite the lines to Bikini Kill’s debut album.