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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Jonathan Brunt

Jonathan Brunt

Current Position: Asst. Managing Editor (Govt)

Jonathan Brunt joined The Spokesman-Review in 2004. He is the government editor. He previously was a reporter who covered Spokane City Hall, Spokane County government and public safety.

Email
jonathanb@spokesman.com
Phone
(509) 459-5442

All Stories

News >  Spokane

Eight judge finalists selected

Spokane Mayor Mary Verner has selected eight finalists to fill the city’s three open judgeships for its new independent municipal court. Twenty people applied for the positions, which will pay between $102,000 and $126,000, depending on experience.
News >  Spokane

Drivers ease back onto streets

Spokane began to move again Friday. City and county plow crews reported significant progress clearing arterials, and even with schools and government offices closed, traffic was steady compared to Thursday, when few went anywhere.
News >  Spokane

Private contractors help clear up residential areas

The largest snowstorm on record to hit Spokane came just as city and county officials finished scaling back their 2009 budgets. But if anything, they’re spending more to clear out the snow than they did after a series of storms incapacitated the region for several days last winter.
News >  Spokane

Spokane city, county offices closed Friday

City and county offices and the county court system will be closed on Friday. Mayor Mary Verner said this afternoon that she and County Commissioner Chairwoman Bonnie Mager made the decision after determining that the conditions were unlikely to be much better on Friday
News >  Spokane

Wednesday snow harries commuters

A massive snowstorm dumped what was approaching record levels of snow on Spokane on Wednesday, triggering a nightmarish afternoon commute that officials warned may not be much better this morning. Conditions became so bad at one point that the Spokane Police Department declared in a news release that “motorists should consider ALL streets closed in the City of Spokane” except a few major arterials. The announcement also said chains were required for South Hill travel.
News >  Spokane

County to pay $750,000 in land-use case

Spokane County will pay the owners of a restaurant and market north of Mead $750,000 to settle a lawsuit. County commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve the agreement with Shawn and Theresa Gabel, who closed McGlade’s Market at Yale and Day-Mt. Spokane roads in 2007.
News >  Spokane

City Council trims budget

With growing concerns that the economy will continue to falter, the Spokane City Council on Monday sliced almost $1.5 million from next year’s budget. With the cuts, the city will avoid the reduction in work force that many other governments, including Spokane County, have approved in recent weeks.
News >  Spokane

New anti-graffiti law mandates cleanup

Property owners who ignore a city request to clean up graffiti within 10 days could have their properties declared a nuisance under a new law approved unanimously Monday by the Spokane City Council. City officials said the new law is necessary to ease the city’s growing graffiti problem.
News >  Spokane

Council to discuss YMCA purchase today

The public will get a chance today to speak on a proposal to buy the downtown YMCA and turn the land into natural space. Spokane County commissioners are considering a plan to use $4.3 million of Conservation Futures money to buy the property, adjacent to Spokane Falls and surrounded by Riverfront Park.
News >  Spokane

Cold front leaves roads dangerously icy

Road crews south and west of Spokane struggled Saturday to keep pavement clear as wind and snow caused serious crashes and closed highways. Spokane didn’t get the dumping of snow that had been predicted, but many areas north and south experienced five inches or more.
News >  Spokane

Plan extends Riverside

The east side of downtown Spokane would make a dramatic change under a proposal to shift traffic using Trent Avenue onto a new extension of Riverside. The goal is to promote a more pedestrian-friendly Riverpoint campus, the Spokane home for Washington State and Eastern Washington universities.
News >  Spokane

Crews ready to apply lessons

Just 10 months after Spokane residents grew frustrated as snow piled up, city and county officials are facing another big storm that could drop a foot of snow on the city. Spokane Street Director Mark Serbousek said the city’s de-icer trucks were working the streets Friday as snow began to fall. Plows will head out once snow sticks to arterials. The morning shift of drivers will start at 4 a.m. today, and the night crew will stay on longer, he said.
News >  Spokane

County votes to end Valley street services

Spokane County on Tuesday ended its road partnership with Spokane Valley, effective Oct. 15. County Commissioner Mark Richard said that it no longer made economic sense for the county to continue with its contract with Spokane Valley to provide the city street services.
News >  Spokane

Council OKs utility tax plan

Utility taxes are going up. But they won’t be passed on through sewer and water bills – at least not yet. The Spokane City Council on Monday unanimously agreed to Spokane Mayor Mary Verner’s proposal to begin charging the city’s 20 percent utility tax to certain utility fees that haven’t previously been taxed.
News >  Spokane

City plugging old meters as gifts

Once a tool more to the Grinch’s liking, the city of Spokane is betting its supplies of mothballed parking meters will spread joy this holiday season. The street department will sell its remaining mechanical parking meters for $35 each starting Monday.
News >  Spokane

County offers cash to attract bidders

State auditors believe Spokane County may have made an illegal promise to the losing bidder of a proposed sewage treatment plant. In 2006, the county agreed to pay up to $200,000 to companies that bid on but lose a county contract for building and operating the plant, which would serve Spokane Valley and surrounding areas.
News >  Spokane

Reordering the court

Spokane leaders this week severed a partnership with county courts that began in the early 1960s. Starting Jan. 2, the city will leave the Spokane County District Court and operate an independent municipal court to handle misdemeanor cases originating within city limits.
News >  Spokane

Park’s natural value not lost on residents

The man who led the effort to create Riverfront Park says it would be “unthinkable” to allow private development on the downtown YMCA property. King Cole, who was president of Expo ’74, said last week he remains hopeful that county commissioners will approve the purchase of the downtown YMCA through Conservation Futures taxes, which are collected inside and outside city limits.
News >  Spokane

City offers plan for shorelines

A few months after state officials criticized Spokane County for missing deadlines to complete new construction rules along waterways, planners working to finalize shoreline regulations within city limits have won the state’s praise. “The process has been one of the best we’ve seen,” said Doug Pineo, shorelines specialist for the Department of Ecology. “What the city has proposed so far meets the standards” of state law.