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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nicholas Deshais

This individual is no longer an employee with The Spokesman-Review.

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News >  Spokane

Police chief touts progress on Use of Force recommendations

Spokane police Chief Frank Straub said Wednesday that his department has made significant progress on every one of the 26 recommendations issued by the city’s Use of Force Commission in February, including an anticipated purchase contract for body cameras that will be worn by officers at all times. Straub’s lengthy presentation, which came a day shy of marking his first year as the city’s top cop, took place in the City Council chambers before a crowd of community members, city department heads and about 20 police department employees.

News >  Spokane

Council will consider park department reorganization

The Spokane City Council will consider Monday wholesale changes to the makeup of the park department, widening the scope of the mayor’s appointing powers. The decision follows similar moves in the city police and fire departments, which prompted a lawsuit by unions representing fire department employees.
News >  Spokane

Spokane city law proposal would cap surveillance

A proposed law limiting the use of surveillance technology in the city of Spokane has been diminished to the point of being ineffective, according to local and state civil rights groups. It’s also stoked some opposition from the Downtown Spokane Partnership, which is planning a downtown camera network to provide the Spokane Police Department with real-time surveillance and to assist in investigative work.
News >  Marijuana

Spokane police force hires fraud investigator

A fraud investigator from the federal public defender’s office has joined the Spokane Police Department to focus on improving the city’s seizures of drug assets, implementing new laws legalizing marijuana and updating records management. Tim Schwering, 40, will serve as deputy director of tactical and strategic initiatives, a new position that will be a point of contact between the department and the city attorney’s office.
News >  Spokane

Spokane police, firefighter salaries outpace region’s average wages

As budget discussions ramp up at the city of Spokane, a conservative think tank has released a study suggesting that pay for Spokane’s police and firefighters has not only outpaced the region’s average wages but is better than what their peers in larger Northwest cities are earning. Among the highlights in the Seattle-based Washington Policy Center study: The average firefighter and police officer salary in Spokane is 87 percent higher than the median household income in Spokane; police and fire union dues total about $750,000 annually; and police and fire employees on average are compensated better than their peers in Portland.
News >  Spokane

City of Spokane, Kendall Yards team up to clean, use stormwater

The last chance to look into a 270,000-gallon stormwater tank came and went Monday as workers slid the 50,000-pound lids onto the tank at the eastern edge of Kendall Yards. The $1.6 million project at the Monroe Street Bridge’s north end may not excite emotions, but it is a sign of things to come in Spokane: stopping rainwater from entering the Spokane River and filtering it naturally of contaminants such as PCBs. Kendall Yards and the city are splitting the cost.
A&E >  Entertainment

Questions swirl around Spokane’s hiring of Kyle Twohig

Bill Meeks has gotten a lot of jobs in his life. He’s supervised the construction of bridges, been a city engineer in Indiana, was responsible for traffic engineering, maintenance planning and permitting for the Indiana Department of Transportation, and supervised teams of up to 500 workers for Inland Steel before the company’s demise in 1998. He has a civil engineering degree from Purdue University, an MBA from the University of Chicago and is licensed as a professional engineer in four states.
News >  Spokane

Incumbents survive their primary challenges

Washington voters – or at least the relative few that cast ballots in the summer primary – seemed willing to stick with the familiar Tuesday. Turnout was light in most areas, but incumbents seeking to extend their terms in office survived primaries for the Spokane City Council, Spokane Valley City Council and the 7th District state Senate race.
News >  Spokane

Spokane city budget proposal adds 25 police officers

A new Spokane police officer costs exactly $100,000 per year, and Mayor David Condon thinks he’s found a way to pay for 25 of them without going to the voters. Condon’s plan to beef up the police force is among the highlights of his proposed 2014 budget, which he unveiled Tuesday at various National Night Out Against Crime events across the city. Others include an ambitious effort to clean the Spokane River of pollutants and sewage that won’t cost as much as previously estimated.
News >  Spokane

City holds firm on hire

Despite a nearly $500,000 estimating error on a bridge renovation project, Spokane City Hall is standing behind its decision to put a small-businessman with no engineering training in charge of its engineering division. Kyle Twohig, 32, took over the city’s engineering services department in June after City Engineer Mike Taylor was reassigned to focus on a major water project. Twohig, who is paid nearly $90,000 a year, owns a coffee stand in Spokane and previously sold custom snow skis. He also helped manage construction projects in the Seattle area before returning to Spokane in 2008.
News >  Spokane

Spokane Arts Fund names Shannon Roach as executive director

The Spokane Arts Fund traded a paintbrush for a microphone Tuesday when it announced its new executive director, Shannon Roach. Roach, who will take over on Oct. 1, comes from the performing arts community in Seattle, where she led an all-ages music venue, the Vera Project, before leaving to run the Northwest Chapter of the Recording Academy, part of the organization that produces the Grammy awards, in 2011.
News >  Spokane

Spokane OKS early citizen initiative review

The battle at the ballot box briefly entered City Hall on Monday night, as supporters and opponents of Envision Spokane’s Bill of Rights squabbled over changes to the initiative process. The changes, which dealt primarily with swapping out the legal review of the city attorney for one earlier in the process by the city’s hearing examiner, were passed 6-1, with Councilman Mike Fagan opposing.
News >  Spokane

Developer Pete Rayner seeks tax break for project

A housing plan on the east fringe of Spokane that has been dormant since the 1970s may soon get a jumpstart if tax subsidies for the 220-acre development are approved by city and county officials. The subsidies are part of a tax-increment financing plan to be considered by the Spokane City Council on Monday. The effort would allow construction of streets, sidewalks and water facilities, not just in the planned development of 1,500 residential units but also for the “light industrial” section of town bounded by Freya and Havana streets and Princeton and Broad avenues.
News >  Spokane

ACLU urges tougher law on surveillance equipment

The state’s top civil liberties watchdog group is arguing that a proposed Spokane law doesn’t go far enough in requiring City Council approval before the city purchases surveillance equipment such as unmanned drones. In a letter to City Council members, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington said Thursday it supported the “overall intention” of the ordinance written by Council President Ben Stuckart, but that it “excluded from its scope some key pieces of surveillance equipment.”
News >  Spokane

Ben Stuckart floats plan for targeted renewal

Compare East Sprague Avenue with South Perry Street and someone’s bound to call you crazy. One is a dismal stretch of concrete and dilapidated storefronts located in a prime spot between the University District and the hospitals. The other is a walkable, tree-lined haven with trendy eateries – a shining example of what can happen when a neighborhood center does everything right.
News >  Spokane

Stuckart wants council pre-approval on surveillance gear

Before they’ve even taken to Spokane’s skies, Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart wants to send drones a message: We’re watching you. An ordinance written by Stuckart would require City Council approval before any department purchases “certain surveillance equipment” such as unmanned drones. The ordinance would also require departments to establish protocols for the use of the equipment, as well as how data collected from the equipment would be stored and accessed.
News >  Spokane

Bikini-clad baristas prompt cover-up talk

On Monday, Mike Fagan passed around a list of anatomical definitions to members of the city’s Public Safety Committee, including fellow Spokane City Council members, the police chief and the police ombudsman. The words on the list – “perineum,” “areola” and “anal cleft” – were meant to help the committee understand Fagan’s latest ordinance, a push to crack down on so-called bikini baristas.
News >  Spokane

Spokane City Council 2nd District candidates disparate

Jon Snyder knows he’s in a fight for his political life. His two opponents in the race to represent Spokane City Council District 2, John Ahern and LaVerne Biel, are making sure he knows it. Two years after joining the council in 2009, Snyder watched two of his progressive compatriots fall to their more conservative opponents.
News >  Spokane

Initiative draws countersuit

Envision Spokane, a group that has failed twice at the ballot box with its far-reaching Community Bill of Rights, has countersued a coalition of business and government groups that sought last month to keep Envision’s initiative off the ballot with legal action. The countersuit filed Wednesday argues that the coalition is seeking to “mis-use the judicial process” and cannot show it would be injured by the initiative simply appearing on the ballot. The suit also claims that the coalition’s legal action was directly intended to suppress public involvement with the electoral process.