Chad Sokol

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News >  Spokane

Davenport hotel closures leave hundreds without jobs; Northern Quest shuts down after visitor tests positive for COVID-19

UPDATED: Mon., March 16, 2020

Hotelier Walt Worthy announced Monday he has closed four of his five hotels in Spokane because of a lack of business and will be redirecting all of his patrons to stay in The Davenport Grand Hotel. Meanwhile, the Kalispel Tribe of Indians announced it was closing Northern Quest Resort & Casino in Airway Heights, after a visitor tested positive for COVID-19.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Spokane County jail facilities suspend family visits, educational programs; courts announce slowdowns

UPDATED: Tue., March 17, 2020

Spokane County officials are barring friends and relatives from visiting inmates in the downtown jail and at the Geiger Corrections Center to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Officials also are suspending all educational and therapeutic programs for inmates at Geiger, as well as the inmate work crew.

News >  Spokane

Keeping our health care system strong: How individual action can help prepare the community for COVID-19

Sun., March 15, 2020

It’s a unique moment in history, when communities are dependent on one another to not transmit a disease.

News >  Spokane

Whitworth, Community Colleges of Spokane extend spring break; WSU cancels Mom’s Weekend

UPDATED: Fri., March 13, 2020

Whitworth University, North Idaho College and the Community Colleges of Spokane have joined the list of schools canceling in-person classes and preparing to give lessons online due to COVID-19. Meanwhile, Washington State University announced Friday it has canceled Mom’s Weekend.

News >  Education

Gonzaga extends spring break, prepares to move courses online due to COVID-19

UPDATED: Thu., March 12, 2020

In messages to students, faculty and staff on Thursday, Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh said spring semester courses are now scheduled to resume on March 23.

News >  Spokane

Appeals court reverses decision on SFCC sexual harassment records

UPDATED: Wed., March 11, 2020

In a unanimous opinion, a three-judge panel of Washington’s Court of Appeals Division III said a new Public Records Act exemption can retroactively apply to the documents in question.

News >  Spokane

WSU, EWU moving classes online due to coronavirus concerns

UPDATED: Thu., March 12, 2020

Professors will teach by live video conferencing and prerecording lectures to share with students, among other modes of communication. The move will affect tens of thousands of students.

News >  Spokane

Settlement says WSU provost was ‘terminated without cause’

Fri., March 6, 2020

Former provost Mitzi Montoya continues to work as a professor under the terms of a legal settlement that guarantees her a $460,000 salary for one year, even if she finds a new employer.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Post Falls police sergeant in stable condition after shooting; man found dead in home

UPDATED: Wed., March 4, 2020

Sgt. Justin Anderson, 36, was awake and recovering from surgery Wednesday at Kootenai Health. He had been attempting to arrest Thomas W. Boland, 53, when the shooting occurred Tuesday night.

News >  Spokane

Canceled fundraisers, self-quarantines and fist bumps in church: Coronavirus fears disrupt life in Spokane

UPDATED: Tue., March 3, 2020

Two local organizations will not host fundraisers as planned, and a filmmaker has canceled a visit to Coeur d’Alene over fears of COVID-19. Others, meanwhile, have made adjustments to their daily lives to avoid catching or spreading the coronavirus.

News >  Spokane

Spokane police arrest 2 after car speeds away, crashes into yard

UPDATED: Mon., March 2, 2020

Spokane police say a man attempted to speed away from officers before losing control of a stolen BMW and rolling the car into a yard on Monday.

News >  Spokane

WSU hires law firm to review brief tenure of former provost, claims of sexism

UPDATED: Mon., March 2, 2020

As provost, Mitzi Montoya reported directly to President Kirk Schulz and oversaw teaching and research across WSU campuses. She left the position in late September, less than two months after she was recruited from Oregon State University.

News >  Education

WSU calls home students from Italy over coronavirus fears

UPDATED: Wed., March 4, 2020

On Saturday morning, at least three WSU students in Italy received an email urging them to return to the United States. “The Department of State warning level indicates a level of risk that is beyond what Washington State University is willing to accept,” it said.

News >  Spokane

Judge Kevin Korsmo retiring after 12 years on state appeals court

UPDATED: Mon., March 2, 2020

“This is the place where errors get corrected,” Korsmo said of the appeals court.

News >  Spokane

Citing new evidence, prosecutors drop charge against Spokane Valley man accused in fatal beating

Sun., March 1, 2020

Deputies may have arrested the wrong man in connection with a beating in Spokane Valley that left a 40-year-old man with fatal head wounds. “We want to make sure we have the right guy and hold the right person accountable,” a spokesman for the sheriff’s office said.

News >  Education

EWU trustees decline faculty request for independent analysis of athletics spending

UPDATED: Fri., Feb. 28, 2020

“I can only conclude that they are afraid that an independent expert will disagree with their current course, and they’ll have to contemplate large changes,” a professor said in response to the decision.

News >  Education

EWU faculty call for independent review of athletics spending

UPDATED: Thu., Feb. 27, 2020

A physics professor representing concerned faculty members delivered a 10-minute presentation to Eastern Washington University’s board of trustees on Thursday, arguing money spent on athletics would be better spent on academics.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Man dies after rolling pickup truck near Airway Heights

UPDATED: Wed., Feb. 26, 2020

Deputies, firefighters, paramedics and an Airway Heights police officer responded the crash scene on Rambo Road at about 9:45 p.m.

News >  Spokane

‘Blood is required of every generation’: Video surfaces of Rep. Matt Shea speaking in 2013

Wed., Feb. 26, 2020

A recently surfaced video shows the embattled Spokane Valley lawmaker speaking at a gathering in Stevens County in 2013. “Arm yourselves. Arm your families. Arm the church,” he said.

News >  Spokane

Spokane singer Eliza Johnson performs ode to sardines on ‘American Idol’

UPDATED: Mon., Feb. 24, 2020

Johnson, who performs under the moniker Eliza Catastrophe, didn’t get much praise from the show’s celebrity judges, but she will surely be remembered as the first contestant to repulse Katy Perry with a smelly can of sardines.

News >  Spokane

Sweet Frostings becomes third Spokane business hit by a car in two weeks

UPDATED: Mon., Feb. 24, 2020

A car slammed into the cupcake shop at First Avenue and Washington Street on Saturday morning. No serious injuries were reported.

News >  Spokane

Domestic violence suspect crashes into boulder after car chase in Spokane Valley

UPDATED: Mon., Feb. 24, 2020

Marionette Eblacas, 22, was booked into the Spokane County Jail on charges of fourth-degree assault, resisting arrest, attempting to elude police, making false statements, hit-and-run, possession of a stolen vehicle and driving with a suspended license.

News >  Spokane

NPR’s Mara Liasson to speak at Spokane Community College

UPDATED: Tue., Feb. 25, 2020

The lecture on March 12 will mark the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.

News >  Spokane

Spokane’s Catholic bishop criticizes new LGBT legal clinic at Gonzaga

UPDATED: Fri., Feb. 21, 2020

Bishop Thomas Daly expressed “concern that Gonzaga Law School will be actively promoting, in the legal arena and on campus, values that are contrary to the Catholic faith and natural law.”

News >  Spokane

WSU hiring lawyer to review former provost’s claims of sexism, internal power struggles

UPDATED: Fri., Feb. 21, 2020

After less than two months on the job, former WSU provost Mitzi Montoya described receiving sexist performance evaluations and other resistance from fellow administrators. “I learned that there are major concerns about me – I need a personality transplant, I need to be more feminine and conforming in my communication style, and I need to be less intelligent,” she wrote in a September email to President Kirk Schulz.