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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Mike Prager

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News >  Spokane

Youth detention center’s services to remain intact

A new financial arrangement with the private operator of Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Facility in Medical Lake is keeping the lockup open for the counties and Inland Northwest tribes that it serves. The move comes after Spokane County commissioners voted to withdraw their $319,000 annual funding commitment to the juvenile detention center.
News >  Business

Empire gains routes between Hawaiian islands

Empire Airlines of Coeur d’Alene is expanding its operation to paradise. The air freight and aircraft maintenance company has a three-year deal with Hawaiian Airlines to operate its island hop service to Lanai and Molokai under the name Ohana by Hawaiian.
News >  Spokane

Panel explains its approach to criminal justice reform

A hundred people turned out on Thursday to hear emerging plans for reform of Spokane’s criminal justice system. They were law officers, prosecutors, judges, defenders, attorneys and others involved in the multimillion dollar system of keeping crime in check.
News >  Spokane

Colville tribes earn environmental award

The Sierra Club is honoring the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and a former mayor of Quincy for their work to protect the environment. The tribes are receiving a watershed heroes award this week and former Mayor Patty Martin will get an environmental justice award.
News >  Spokane

Prison still on lockdown after fight

The Airway Heights Corrections Center remained locked down Monday following a fight involving 16 inmates on Sunday afternoon. Injuries from the melee were mostly minor. However, one inmate required hospital treatment. That inmate was returned to the medium-security prison from the hospital about three hours after the fight and placed in administrative segregation.
News >  Spokane

Bill says property tax penalties are unneeded

Spokane County Treasurer Rob Chase believes that the penalties and interest charged on delinquent property taxes are just too high. Under state law, late taxes are penalized 3 percent after the first three months and another 8 percent after nine months. On top of that, interest is charged at 1 percent a month.
News >  Spokane

County hires expert in organizational efficiency as manager

Spokane County commissioners will spend $104,000 a year for a top manager with expertise in improving the efficiency of large organizations. Commissioners this week announced that John Dickson, the Spokane-area director for the Department of Employment Security in Washington, will become the county’s chief operating officer starting March 1. He will fill a position that has been vacant for more than four years.
News >  Spokane

Rally to put focus on climate change

Environmentalists from the Inland Northwest are planning a rally Sunday at Riverfront Park as part of a national call for curtailing human-caused climate change. The Forward on Climate rally and walk has gathered support from the Sierra Club’s campaign to stop coal exports to Asia out of proposed new ports in Washington and Oregon.
News >  Spokane

NW Trailways fined for overloading bus

Northwest Trailways, based in Spokane, has been fined $800 for overloading a bus traveling from Leavenworth to Monroe, forcing eight passengers to stand in the aisle for the 85-mile trip.
News >  Spokane

Creach civil case can move to trial

A civil suit against a sheriff’s deputy in the 2010 shooting death of a Spokane Valley pastor has enough evidence to warrant a jury trial, a federal judge has ruled. Family members of the late W. Scott Creach are suing Spokane County and sheriff’s Deputy Brian Hirzel for violation of Creach’s civil rights and wrongful death in the Aug. 25, 2010, shooting in the parking lot of the Creach family business.
News >  Spokane

Getting There: STA grime-fighters take on bus shelters

Now that winter is easing its grip, workers for Spokane Transit Authority are giving the system’s bus shelters a sprucing up. Grime has been building up at the shelters since November, so STA workers last week started making their rounds, cleaning them with a steam spray of pressurized hot water.
News >  Spokane

County planning urban expansion

Spokane County commissioners want to expand areas where urban development is allowed in the county. But Futurewise, a statewide public interest group, argues such an expansion of the urban growth boundary would feed speculative land development and end up costing the public millions of dollars to extend services like parks, sewers, roads and transit routes.
News >  Spokane

First nonstop flight to Hawaii departs Saturday

Allegiant Air couldn’t have picked a better time of year to kick off its new nonstop service from Spokane to Honolulu. People of the Inland Northwest are pretty much tired of the cold, dark days of winter.
News >  Spokane

Commissioners approve new garbage dumping fees

The cost of hauling garbage to Spokane’s trash plant or transfer stations is likely to go up for household haulers but down for the large garbage collectors. Spokane County Commissioners on Tuesday approved changes to the rates charged for dumping.
News >  Spokane

Getting There: Cash-short transit agencies seek help

Public transit officials in Washington are reaching out to state lawmakers, asking for new funding to help alleviate their troubled finances. Transit agencies in Pierce and Snohomish counties are facing cuts of service on nights, off-commute hours and weekends.
News >  Spokane

Sewer payments see backup

Spokane County commissioners are prepared to get tough on people who haven’t paid their sewer bills. The county has 1,800 delinquent sewer accounts and has filed property liens against the worst offenders.
News >  Spokane

Pullman promotes historic preservation

Like most of the older cities in Washington, Pullman has its share of homes and commercial buildings with historic character. Yet Pullman has lagged behind other places in Washington in getting those buildings officially designated on historic registers.