Jonathan Brunt

Joe Shogan and Mark Richard's tense exchange raises more questions on cooperation

Spokane Mayor Mary Verner says she’s not considering new taxes to bail the city out of its $10 million hole for 2011. City leaders will present a preliminary budget plan to the City Council by early May, Verner said in an interview this week. She said she will ask all departments to take an across-the-board cut of nearly 3 percent that will save $3.5 million and will unveil a plan in the coming weeks to deal with the remaining $6.5 million hole.

Verner says she won't ask for tax increases to deal with 2011 deficit

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.

Shogan says his colleagues' appearance on radio show is "upsetting"

With a populace that has complained loudly for decades about bumpy roads, Spokane’s focus on street money is creating smoother rides for cars. But with voices growing for better bike transportation routes and pedestrian rights, there’s increasing pressure to construct bike lanes, separate sidewalks from the curb, plant more street trees and build bus shelters for transit users.

A candidate for Spokane County prosecutor has accepted a $500 campaign contribution from the wife of a man being prosecuted by the office he wants to oversee. Records show that Republican prosecuting attorney candidate Dave Stevens accepted the donation in February and has kept the money despite knowing that the contributor’s husband, David Elton, faces three counts of felony harassment.

On multiple occasions last year, untreated storm water from a north Spokane freeway construction site illegally spilled into Deadman Creek, a stream that flows into the Little Spokane River. The state Department of Transportation on Thursday acknowledged that there were violations, but it said the issue was addressed properly and that no illegal discharges have occurred since Nov. 30.

The Center for Justice’s Spokane Riverkeeper project is alleging that the state Department of Transportation has violated the Clean Water Act during construction of the North Spokane freeway.

The downtown Spokane farmers market is moving off the pavement to an open field a few blocks away. The Spokane Farmers’ Market Association announced last month that it will relocate from the parking lot at First Covenant Church near Division Street and Second Avenue to the former marching band practice field for Lewis and Clark High School at Fifth Avenue and Browne Street.

The downtown farmers market is moving off the pavement to an open field a few blocks away.

The topsy-turvy politics of Conservation Futures and the YMCA

From another perspective, Tacoma really is Washington's second city

This Biden video may not be suitable for children

Hey Google, Spokane has a trash-eating goat statue

Support appears to have grown on the Spokane City Council to bring open space to the site of the downtown YMCA. A slight majority said this week that they lean in favor of accepting county Conservation Futures money to reserve the land for Riverfront Park.

A state determination barring the construction of new trails along some portions of the Spokane River could cause further headaches in the two-decade effort to complete the popular Centennial Trail. The 37-mile route, which links Riverside State Park to Lake Coeur d’Alene, has a two-mile gap between Riverfront Park and the T.J. Meenach Bridge on the south side of the state park.

Early sales tax numbers show continued rough times for local governments

Obama: Zags will lose in first round

Will Spokane maintain its edge as Washington's second city?