Chad Sokol

“I come from a very collectivist culture where we all get through things together, we work together, I serve my community,” said Nadia Sarfraz, who recently graduated from Whitworth University. “My entire life, I was raised around the idea of service.”

Maya Caruth, 26, was arrested on Nov. 7 after crossing a “safety zone” that separated hundreds of student protesters from three religious activists who had arrived on campus with signs and a portable speaker, preaching in derogatory terms about LGBTQ people. Police said Caruth was uncooperative and refused to return to the student group. Her attorney has argued she was trying to broker peace between the two sides.

A Spokane family’s camping trip in Western Washington became a nightmarish experience when armed locals accused them of being leftwing extremists.

Coyote Ridge now has more cases than any other Washington state prison.

The department said that on May 23, it “experienced a data security event causing disruption to certain internal department systems including digital media, email and others.”

Jakob D. Petitto, 26, was booked into the Spokane County Jail on a felony charge of attempting to elude police and issued multiple traffic citations.

While demonstrators and armed people have peacefully coexisted on the streets of Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint, there are public rumblings that the presence of both may be heightening the tension for people who are just now emerging from stay-home orders.

EWU President Mary Cullinan said Monday she has asked the board of trustees to declare a “severe financial crisis” as the school faces 15% cuts in state funding, declining enrollment and losses in revenue from housing, dining and other campus services.

Protesters and rioters arrested in Sunday night’s turmoil in downtown Spokane include a local man who allegedly hurled a Molotov cocktail toward police, another man accused of damaging a deputy’s vehicle and a third accused of throwing rocks at the windows of a Jack In The Box.

In a presentation to the board of trustees on Friday, Mary Voves, EWU’s vice president for business and finance, said the university could lose more than $12 million in state funding and more than $24 million from tuition and other sources.

Law enforcement officials and leaders of Spokane’s Black community blamed Sunday night’s rioting, looting and property damage on outside agitators who “hijacked” what had been a day of mostly peaceful protests. But the scope of the involvement of organizers outside Spokane remains difficult to quantify, and police on Monday downplayed the presence of far-right agitators and militia members who roamed the downtown core with rifles and body armor.

Protests have broken out across the country following George Floyd’s death on Monday in Minneapolis. In Spokane, thousands of people marched from Riverfront Park across the Monroe Street Bridge to the Spokane County Courthouse, where they confronted law enforcement.

Four candidates – Kim Edmondson, Bob Norris, Rick Whitehead and John Grimm – are running as Republicans to replace Sheriff Ben Wolfinger, who is retiring after four two-year terms in office. The winner of the GOP primary contest will face two candidates in the November general election: Mike Bauer, who is running as an independent, and Justin Nagel, who is running as a Libertarian. There are no Democrats in the race.

“Even though this happened in Minneapolis and we’re in Spokane, I think what people need to understand is, for the African American communities, this was no different than as if it happened right outside their front door,” Chief Craig Meidl said Thursday.

In response, the Department of Corrections is shutting down the food factory at Coyote Ridge, where inmates produce meals for the entire prison system and dozens of external customers. All of the prison’s inmates will be quarantined in their units for 10 days starting Tuesday. All classes and other programming will be suspended.

Robey, who died on May 12 at age 81, was a prolific volunteer for more than four decades, helping lead numerous community groups while working as the business manager for a local architecture firm. Friends and colleagues describe her as a tenacious advocate for the arts and historic preservation, a talented consensus builder who never sought the spotlight.

President Donald Trump on Friday declared houses of worship “essential” and called on governors to let them reopen this weekend, drawing mixed reactions from religious leaders in Spokane and across the country. Trump threatened to “override” governors who defy him, but it was unclear what authority he has to do so.

Spokane County has applied for permission to reopen some segments of its economy earlier than originally planned, based on criteria from Gov. Jay Inslee’s office. When those businesses come back, part of a phased approach emphasizing good hygiene, services will look different, owners say.

The university said the decision is aimed at easing the stress and complexity of applying to college, while prioritizing long-term academic success over onetime test scores.

The Washington State Patrol identified the deceased as Emanuel G. Schaible, 87, of Moses Lake, and Robert J. Miller, 59, of Auburn.

For the first time in its 105-year history, a kids’ summer camp north of Spokane may host its activities virtually this year due to concerns about the coronavirus.

Washington’s public colleges and universities, already taking financial hits from the COVID-19 pandemic, may have to contend with a 15% reduction in state funding in the next fiscal year – a move that could cost jobs and academic programs.

Colleges and universities in western states are taking a variety of approaches to the fall semester as many brace for a potential second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.