The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
48°F
Current Conditions
Few clouds
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

John Craig

This individual is no longer an employee with The Spokesman-Review.

All Stories

News >  Spokane

Spokane County seeks park restroom solution

A cost-cutting plan to leave restrooms locked at seven Spokane County parks this summer is getting a second look. Restroom service is to be eliminated this summer at seven county parks, but a parks staff report Tuesday said the privation could be avoided for $22,600.
News >  Spokane

Costs for new Spokane County jail confirmed

A new cost analysis confirmed what preliminary estimates had already shown: A new Spokane County jail would be cheaper to build on undeveloped West Plains land but would be cheaper to operate on the county courthouse campus. County commissioners on Tuesday set a May 12 date to hold public hearings on the three possible sites.
News >  Spokane

Court program seeks infusion of volunteers

A volunteer program that has helped protect thousands of Spokane County’s most vulnerable residents needs some help to continue. The Superior Court guardianship monitoring program, which has had up to 40 workers, is down to a dozen active volunteers. Coordinator Ana Kemmerer wants to double that number before the program celebrates its 10th anniversary this fall.
News >  Spokane

Manure control ordered by state

State officials moved this week to keep the Spokane Hutterian Brethren from allowing cow manure to wash into a Deep Creek tributary. A Department of Ecology order, delivered Tuesday, directs the farming commune near Reardan to obtain a “concentrated animal feeding operation” permit for its feedlot. Officials said they issued the order because the Hutterian Brethren failed to comply with an official warning last May.
News >  Spokane

Rural beekeeping avoids restrictions, for now

Spokane County planning officials decided Thursday to think twice before sticking their fingers into a beehive. The Planning Commission voted unanimously to table indefinitely a proposal to introduce restrictions on beekeeping in most rural zones.
News >  Spokane

Spokane County Jail vote delay changes PR needs

Spokane County commissioners realized Tuesday they may need to extend a jail project public relations contract they haven’t yet signed. Chairman Mark Richard called that “a little bit frustrating.” Nevertheless, Richard wanted to press ahead with the contract.
News >  Spokane

Appleway Bridge work to start soon

Construction of a new Appleway Bridge over the Spokane River near Stateline, Idaho, is expected to start in late May. The bridge is in Spokane County, where commissioners last week accepted a construction bid of nearly $6.2 million. The bid was more than $3.1 million less than county officials had estimated.
News >  Washington Voices

Parking on narrow Liberty Lake roads banned

Parking will soon be banned on some narrow roads around Liberty Lake that were laid out in horse-and-buggy days. Spokane County commissioners unanimously approved the parking restrictions this week, and “no parking” signs are expected to go up early next month.
News >  Spokane

Top jail site reaffirmed

Once again a consulting study has concluded the best site for a new medium-security Spokane County jail is next to the existing high-security jail. A “weighted analysis” released Friday lists undeveloped land at the corner of Russell Road and Sprague Avenue in Airway Heights and near the Medical Lake interchange of Interstate 90 as second- and third-best among 10 sites that were considered.
News >  Spokane

Spokane wants cheaper jail costs

The city of Spokane wants to spend less money housing low-risk inmates and will begin exploring cheaper options, including the possibility of creating its own minimum-security lockup rather than rely on the county jail.
News >  Spokane

Lawyer to assess charging process

A longtime Florida prosecutor will visit the Spokane County prosecutor’s office next month to look for ways to speed up charging decisions. Criminal justice consultant David Bennett said Wednesday that attorney Randy McGruther will conduct the study May 3-5.
News >  Spokane

Four service members named persons of year

Four military service members were honored Tuesday by Greater Spokane Inc. and U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. The regional business organization named Senior Airman Joseph Sparks, Marine Staff Sgt. Daniel Otero, Senior Airman Christopher DeJesus and Air Force Tech. Sgt. Amber Campbell “Persons of the Year.”
News >  Spokane

Tucker’s office to be reviewed

Spokane County commissioners agreed Tuesday to pay for an outside review of the prosecutor’s office. Commissioners gave consultant David Bennett $5,000 to bring in a yet-to-be-identified Florida prosecutor to analyze Prosecutor Steve Tucker’s office.
News >  Spokane

Raceway contract should be done next week

Officials expect to complete a contract next week for management of Spokane County Raceway Park, where racing is to begin May 22. County commissioners planned to appropriate $200,000 today for previously authorized safety improvements that already are under construction at the Airway Heights raceway.
News >  Spokane

County urged to back ‘Do Not Mail’

Junk mail is costly to recipients as well as annoying, according to a Spokane woman who wants a spam filter of sorts for physical mailboxes. In addition to indirect costs such as wasting resources and damaging the environment, junk mail imposes a disposal cost on recipients and local governments, Donna McKereghan told Spokane County commissioners last week.
News >  Spokane

Commissioners’ tempers boil over

Spokane County employees scurried out of the room this week when county commissioners began tossing verbal bricks at each other in a public meeting. One staff member deftly closed the door between commissioners and a couple of television crews that were in the hallway, preoccupied with another story.
News >  Spokane

Rest area offers dose of history

Anyone who ventures away from Interstate 90 in central and eastern Washington knows rest areas are as rare as a $3 bill and a lot more useful. But the Colville Confederated Tribes and the Town of Nespelem have done something about that.
News >  Spokane

Rest area offers dose of history

Anyone who ventures away from Interstate 90 in central and eastern Washington knows rest areas are as rare as a $3 bill and a lot more useful. But the Colville Confederated Tribes and the Town of Nespelem have done something about that.
News >  Spokane

County pays $50,000 in man’s death

Spokane County commissioners approved a $50,000 settlement Tuesday in the May 2007 death of a Spokane Valley man who fought with sheriff’s deputies. Trent Yohe, 37, lost consciousness after being restrained hand and foot, and died 12 days later of what a county medical examiner said was a shortage of oxygen to the brain.
News >  Spokane

Deadlines bedevil Spokane County prosecutor’s office

Efforts to reduce Spokane County’s jail needs through swift justice have hit a “significant roadblock” in the prosecutor’s office, commissioners were told Tuesday. Once again, jail consultant David Bennett told commissioners, the prosecutor’s office is regularly failing to file formal charges within 72 hours.
News >  Spokane

Yard waste haulers to see service trims

People who haul their own yard waste will likely confront shorter hours and no discounts at solid waste transfer stations this spring. The change coincides with elimination of the usual eight-day spring yard waste burning season in rural portions of Spokane County.
News >  Spokane

Spokane County looking at budget staff

Spokane County is moving to shore up its financial management with several new specialists. A back-burner plan to hire a budget director will heat up next month. Commissioners plan to review applications for the job, which will pay $81,164 to $109,519 a year.