Nicholas Deshais

Next time you get clear reception on your cellphone, thank your local water tower. The city of Spokane leases space on its water tanks to almost every major telecommunications company: AT&T, Cricket, Qwest, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon. There are 37 installations on city properties, primarily water towers, but the parks and wastewater management departments get in on the deal as well.

After another “flat” budget proposal from the state, leaders at Spokane’s Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture say it’s time for the institution to cut most formal ties with Olympia. The museum currently receives most of its annual $2.6 million operating budget from the state, and the 2015-17 budget proposal from Gov. Jay Inslee essentially maintains that level. If the museum’s vision of decommissioning itself as a state agency is acted on, the state would maintain the MAC’s buildings and facilities, and the museum would independently control its collections, fundraising and programming.

With the family of Otto Zehm looking on, Spokane police Chief Frank Straub said his department has an obligation to enact large-scale reforms announced by the Department of Justice on Friday. The review, which spans five years of data on use of force and surveyed dozens of officers about their attitudes and approaches to law enforcement, had long been demanded by citizens and activists in the wake of the janitor’s death in March 2006. The department will have 18 months to comply fully with the recommendations, or potentially face a more comprehensive and mandatory review by federal officials.

Battle lines were drawn early by transit officials in a four-hour-long meeting Thursday afternoon, but the eventual 6-3 split sending a 10-year, $300 million project to the ballot wasn’t clear until the vote was called and hands were raised. Voters will decide in April if they want to increase sales tax by 0.3 percent to fund a plan that would extend hours and expand service to new areas, as well as fund a trolley-like fixed route between Browne’s Addition and Spokane Community College.

Voters will decide this April to increase taxes to fund a 10-year plan that will extend hours and expand service to new areas, as well as fund a trolley-like fixed route between Browne’s Addition and Spokane Community College.

Almost 200 people packed the Spokane City Council chambers and Chase Gallery on Monday night for the council’s final meeting of the year. Most of them came to support an ordinance put forth by Council President Ben Stuckart mandating that a certain amount of work on public works construction projects be performed by apprentices. The measure passed in a veto-proof 5-2 vote after hours of testimony. It will “create a more skilled workforce” in Spokane, Stuckart said.

The U.S. Department of Justice will announce recommendations for the Spokane Police Department Friday, including a call for a study looking at the department’s staffing and a “training alignment” that focuses on the department’s use of force and crisis intervention policies. The details of the recommendations have not been released, but at a Public Safety meeting Monday, police Chief Frank Straub sought permission from City Council members to hire Stephen James and pay him $76,000 for a year to “work through training obligations” issued in the review.

A collaboration between the city of Spokane and Walgreens is offering pneumonia, whooping cough, chicken pox, shingles, MMR, meningitis and influenza vaccines free of charge to anyone who needs them.

Scott Chesney, Spokane’s planning director who was fired last month, lost his job not only due to his “inability to lead,” but also because he used city funds to buy a leather portfolio embossed with his name as well as personalized hard hats for his employees. Notes in Chesney’s personnel file written by his supervisor, Jan Quintrall, said his department “has been in the crosshairs all year,” and that Chesney had “failed in the leadership role.” Quintrall also took aim at City Council members in her notes that became part of Chesney’s file. She referred to two of them, including Council President Ben Stuckart, as “arrogant” for questioning decisions within the planning department.

Cameras used to snare red-light runners will now be used to nab school zone speeders. Children who walk or bike to Longfellow, Finch and Stevens elementary schools may have a safer route next year as the city works to launch a camera pilot program that has been shown to drastically reduce speeds near schools in other Washington cities.