Jonathan Brunt

Send your questions for Condon and Stuckart to KSPS

Trio charged in Bonner County homicide

A Bonner County man on Monday was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of a 19-year man who was reported missing in September and found recently buried in a shallow grave, the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office reported.

A local film director says he’s ready for a career change. Rich Cowan, president and CEO of North by Northwest, a Spokane-based film production company, said Friday that he’s decided to run for Congress this year against U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane.

That guy who pushed all the snow from his driveway into the street could have to pay for blocking your morning commute. The Spokane City Council on Monday will consider making it illegal to dump snow into the street, parks or other public lands.

Interim Spokane police Chief Scott Stephens weighs in on some issues facing the department.

To understand why the Spokane Police Department’s use-of-force training is under a microscope, consider this disconnect: Although the state’s top police trainer concluded that the fatal 2006 confrontation with unarmed janitor Otto Zehm was indefensible, the department’s own instructors and the city’s legal advisers have insisted that Spokane police officers were justified and handled the encounter appropriately. Here is how Spokane police Officer Terry Preuninger, a department training instructor, defended Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr.’s decision to beat and shock the retreating Zehm: “If the officer believes that they were in danger, then that use of force would be authorized,” Preuninger told a federal jury in October, adding that there doesn’t have to be a “factual basis” for the officer’s fear of harm.

Spokane city leaders are readying for a showdown with the Spokane Firefighters Union over a three-year contract negotiated between the firefighters and former Mayor Mary Verner in the final days of her administration. But challenging the deal could prove risky for the City Council and force the city to give the union a more generous contract than the one now before them.

Spokane City Council calls for legalization of medical marijuana

Condon's ball raises more than $20,000 for Chase Youth Foundation

Spokane’s elected leaders are ready to push for the use of body cameras on police officers to record their interactions with the public. The Spokane City Council on Feb. 6 will vote on a resolution outlining its goals for reforming the Spokane Police Department in the aftermath of an officer being convicted of violating the civil rights of a Spokane man who died in police custody.

A recently retired state Supreme Court justice has agreed to serve on a city commission examining how the Spokane Police Department uses force. The membership of the city’s Use of Force Commission, which was created last year to review the city’s handling of the police confrontation that resulted in the death of Otto Zehm in 2006, was announced by City Council President Ben Stuckart at Monday’s council meeting. The council is set to confirm the membership next week.

Retired chief justice will serve on Zehm overview committee

How to calculate Verner's (or most other city workers') pension

The first declared snow emergency of the winter in Spokane brings with it a new weapon in the city’s ability to enforce its winter storm parking rules: $30 parking tickets. Officials confirmed this week that the city will continue to follow a snowplow plan developed in the aftermath of big storms in 2008 and implemented in the winter of 2009-’10.