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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

Track bidder angry at county

A Deer Park businessman, who cast a higher per-acre bid than Spokane County for Spokane Raceway Park property at an auction Thursday, said Friday he's angry that he was outbid by the government competitor for land containing three racetracks. Don Morse, who said he is a friend of NASCAR mogul Jack Roush, said he will demand answers from county commissioners at their regular meeting Tuesday.
News >  Spokane

Tests find chemical in Raceway Park well

One of two wells at Spokane Raceway Park is contaminated with a chemical thought to cause cancer, according to samples taken by Spokane County. The results indicate that anyone who buys the property, set to be auctioned today, might have to pay for an environmental cleanup. On Tuesday, Commissioners Todd Mielke and Mark Richard voted to participate in today's auction to purchase the raceway and prevent its closure.
News >  Spokane

Items added to paraphernalia list; includes “Love Roses” pipes

Sticking a plastic flower in a crack pipe will no longer be a way around the city's ban on drug paraphernalia. The Spokane City Council on Monday approved legislation greatly expanding the definitions of drug paraphernalia. The rules were written with the intent of outlawing drug pipes marketed as novelty items with plastic flowers inside. But the rules go further, including items such as blenders, balloons, straws and spoons.
News >  Spokane

Panel likes courthouse site for proposed jail

As many as 2,000 inmates could be held in a new jail complex adjacent to the Spokane County Courthouse, the top choice of a committee looking at locations to build a replacement for the aging Geiger Corrections Center. If that location is selected and voters approve it, a new jail tower would be built on the county campus just north of the current Spokane County Jail.
News >  Spokane

Earley’s exit leaves mayor ‘disappointed’

Disagreements over roles and job duties apparently led Mayor Mary Verner's chief of staff to resign. "I believe that the chief of staff and city administrator had difficulties resolving their approaches to their roles here. I expected them to work through those difficulties, but that didn't work out," Verner said in her first public comments about the announced departure of chief of staff Mark Earley, whose last day on the job will be April 11. "I'm disappointed, but I respect both Mark Earley and (City Administrator) Ted Danek."
News >  Spokane

Regional animal control plan on hold

Despite repeated claims from Spok- Animal C.A.R.E. that it doesn't want to perform animal control services, Spokane City Council members have put a regional animal control plan on hold in hopes that the nonprofit group will change its mind. SpokAnimal officials have told city leaders for more than two years that they want to stop performing Spokane's animal control duties, which they have done by contract since 1984.
News >  Spokane

Tax to fund Crime Check back on the ballot

Less than a year after voters narrowly rejected a tax for emergency communications equipment, Spokane County commissioners hope they will change their minds. Commissioners decided last week to place the one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax on the May 20 ballot. Money raised would pay for communications equipment and Crime Check, the 24-hour countywide crime reporting center that was discontinued at the end of 2004 because of budget cuts.
News >  Spokane

City ends year with $6.7 million extra

In a sea of depressing economic data, the city of Spokane has some good news. Spokane's Chief Financial Officer Gavin Cooley reported this week that the city ended 2007 with $6.7 million more than expected.
News >  Spokane

STA likely to stay at the Plaza

A proposal to move Spokane's central bus depot to the edge of downtown is losing favor. In response to requests from business leaders, the Spokane Transit Authority considered selling the STA Plaza and moving its buses to the Intermodal Center, the city's stopping point for Greyhound buses and Amtrak trains.
News >  Spokane

Compost program is a real gas hog

What's touted as an environmental solution for waste in Spokane County is becoming a serious gas guzzler. Almost 50,000 tons of yard waste was diverted from landfills in 2007 to be recycled into soil.

Center for Justice criticizes ombudsman plan

The law firm representing the family of Otto Zehm is critical of Mayor Mary Verner's suggestion that the city doesn't need a full-time police ombudsman.
News >  Spokane

Crime Check closer to county ballot

If citizens want Crime Check, they'll have to tax themselves, Spokane City Council members said Monday night. The council voted to endorse a second attempt at passing a one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax to pay for emergency communications equipment and Crime Check, the 24-hour countywide crime reporting center that was discontinued because of city budget cuts a few years back.
News >  Spokane

Lawmakers curtail phosphate ban

State legislators want Spokane to go it alone this year in enforcing groundbreaking limits on phosphates in dish detergent. The state Senate this week approved a House bill that eliminates or weakens the strict phosphate restrictions that were supposed to become effective in two other counties July 1.
News >  Spokane

Spokane may bid for skating event in 2010

Two years after shattering attendance records for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Spokane leaders want to do it again. Star USA, the Spokane sports promotion business that successfully landed the 2007 championships, is working on a bid to host the event in 2010, just a couple of weeks before the start of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.
News >  Spokane

Spokane could raise pet fees

License fees for spayed and neutered pets would almost double under a proposal that will be considered Monday by the Spokane City Council. The new rate for spayed and neutered dogs in the city of Spokane would be $25 – up from $13 and $5 higher than the fee charged in Spokane Valley and in the unincorporated county, and more than what's charged by the other five most-populous Washington cities. The fee for spayed and neutered cats would increase from $8 to $15.
News >  Spokane

City’s sales tax revenue declines

An economic downturn appears to have quashed the sales tax windfalls local governments have collected the past two years. Sales taxes received in February were down 5 percent from a year ago in the city of Spokane. Although collections were up for Spokane County and some smaller cities, they also were down in Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake.
News >  Spokane

Bill would delay phosphate ban in two counties

With just four months until strict limits on phosphates in dishwasher detergents take effect in three Washington counties, legislation is on the move in Olympia that some fear could delay the groundbreaking environmental agreement. A bill that would make Spokane County the only one required to meet the near-ban on phosphates this year has passed the state House of Representatives. It seeks to remove Clark and Whatcom counties from an early start to limits that will apply statewide in 2010.
News >  Spokane

Jail sales tax hits the ballots

When Spokane County voters passed a sales tax increase for jails in 1995, officials were shocked. "It's a huge surprise," the juvenile jail's manager at the time said. The tax, which pays for dozens of jobs at the county jail, Geiger Corrections Center and the juvenile detention center, was approved after voters repeatedly rejected property tax increases for jails. But the county had only preliminary or vague plans for how the money would be used, and three years later most of the new revenue was still unspent, creating a surplus. Some questioned why county commissioners were sitting on it.
News >  Spokane

Verner fires director of solid waste disposal

Spokane's solid waste director was fired this month after barely a year on the job. Mollie Mangerich was named the director by former Mayor Dennis Hession. But her appointment in December 2006 was controversial, and the City Council vote ratifying Hession's choice was 4-3.
News >  Spokane

Spokane council approves photo-red

Running a red light soon could cost drivers $124, even if a police officer doesn't witness the violation. The Spokane City Council on Monday approved a contract with American Traffic Solutions of Arizona to install cameras to catch drivers who run red lights and approved spending $67,000 to hire a police officer to run the program.
News >  Spokane

Council to vote on red-light cameras

In the name of traffic safety, Spokane is about to join the growing number of U.S. cities enjoying cash windfalls from catching red-light runners with sophisticated intersection cameras. Council members will decide Monday whether to approve a contract worth more than $300,000 a year with an Arizona company that would operate the program. If the council votes to proceed, Spokane will join a growing debate over use of "photo-red" cameras.
News >  Spokane

Eugster advocates lower taxes

Former City Councilman Steve Eugster wants to force Spokane to lower its utility taxes, which are among the highest in the state. The Spokane City Council will consider his petition to ask voters to cap garbage, sewer and water taxes at whichever is higher: 6 percent or the average charged by the state's other first-class cities – about 11 percent.
News >  Spokane

Poll: Residents want more parks

A week after Spokane voters approved a $43 million park bond last fall, residents said they'd be willing to pay even more for better parks and to buy the downtown YMCA. A majority of respondents to a parks department phone poll said they would pay higher property taxes for six of eight items mentioned in the survey, including more hiking and biking trails, the purchase of more parkland and even automatic sprinklers.