Staff news stories

Shawn Vestal

Shawn Vestal joined The Spokesman-Review in 1999. He currently is a columnist for the City Desk.

shawnv@spokesman.com

(509) 459-5431

Twitter

THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: Building a bigger, better Spokane County Jail won’t necessarily solve overcrowding issue

UPDATED: Thu., July 18, 2019, 7:37 a.m.

Every release from the Spokane County Jail, from the least serious to the most, from allegation to conviction to dismissal, tells a different story. But we apply the same blunt tool to every one: a jail cell, at a daily rate of $133.

FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: Nadine Woodward views Spokane’s homelessness issues from an ‘aloof, fearful distance’

Fri., July 12, 2019, 4:59 a.m.

Nadine Woodward has distinguished herself as someone who seems to gaze upon the city from a castle window, viewing problems from an aloof, fearful distance. This is unfortunate if you see civic compassion toward the homeless as a crucial test of our city’s character.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: If you think lawn care stinks, Spokane has a program for you

Wed., July 10, 2019, 5 a.m.

Even if you like your lawn – even if yours is a cool, plush carpet to which you relish devoting unreasonable amounts of time, money and natural resources – it literally, actually sucks: It inhales water like crazy.

SUNDAY, JULY 7, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: Longtime activist looks back on half-century of progress since Stonewall riots

Sun., July 7, 2019, 5 a.m.

Christopher Lawrence has seen massive social changes in the 50 years since the riots at the Stonewall Inn, and he’s helped a lot of those changes come about in Spokane and elsewhere.

FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2019

News > Spokane

Shawn Vestal: Independent-expenditure PACs threaten to sour mayoral race

Fri., July 5, 2019, 5 a.m.

As we move toward the arrival of primary ballots, political action committees are already laying in hefty, single-source contributions that will likely – if history is any guide – fuel the worst of the electioneering we will see in the next few months.

THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2019

News > Spokane

Shawn Vestal: In this era of widespread disapproval, recall that Congress was as vital to independence as the Minutemen

Thu., July 4, 2019, 5 a.m.

It’s the day we celebrate the birth of the country. Our declared independence. Our armed refusal to buckle under to a king. Our freedom.

SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: Spokane Police Guild demand to exclude ombudsman from officer misconduct investigation should be rejected clearly

Sun., June 30, 2019, 4:23 p.m.

If Mayor David Condon doesn’t reject a Spokane Police Guild demand to exclude the police ombudsman from an investigation, he’ll render the ombudsman system meaningless

A&E

Summer Stories: ‘New Mom’ by Shawn Vestal

Sun., June 30, 2019, 6 a.m.

The Spokesman-Review’s annual short-fiction series looks back 50 years to the Summer of ’69.

TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: With first mayoral forum finished, Spokane voters deserve more to decide who should lead city

UPDATED: Wed., June 26, 2019, 8:12 a.m.

We need a mayoral contest of ideas and philosophies and proposals, one sharpened through debates, forums, interviews and other means to separate the candidates from stage management and sloganeering as possible.

TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: Spokane Police Guild should take a cue from union president representing sheriff’s deputies

UPDATED: Tue., June 18, 2019, 8:27 p.m.

The leader of the Spokane County Deputy Sheriffs Association recognizes that his duty does not flow only toward the union, but also toward the public and its expectation of high standards.

SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2019

News > Spokane

Shawn Vestal: It may not seem like it, but crime in Spokane is down

Sun., June 16, 2019, 5 a.m.

Would it surprise you to know that crime in Spokane – and crime downtown, in particular – is down significantly so far this year?

FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: Teachers make lasting, important impressions

Fri., June 14, 2019

As another academic year comes to a close, as schools mark the end of this season, celebrate graduations and promotions, and commence summer vacation, I remember all of my teachers.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: Don’t compare a drag queen to a blackfaced minstrel

Wed., June 12, 2019, 5 a.m.

When people try to co-opt blackface for their own unrelated political aims – by, say, comparing drag queens to blackface performers – it cynically reduces the historical crime of blackface to little more than a selfish, opportunistic political strategy.

FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2019

News > Spokane

Shawn Vestal: WSU’s growing athletics debt will top $100 million by 2023

Fri., June 7, 2019, 5 a.m.

Each year, the athletics department’s accumulated deficit – the amount it “owes” to other departments at the school – grows. Today, for example, the school’s Board of Regents is expected to hear a report that pegs the sports debt at $103 million by 2023, significantly higher than last year’s estimate.

SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 2019

News > Spokane

Shawn Vestal: Housed people are increasingly in our faces. What to do?

UPDATED: Sat., June 1, 2019, 4:23 p.m.

People with housing – they’re everywhere, and their numbers are growing. Try not to overreact.

FRIDAY, MAY 31, 2019

News > Spokane

Shawn Vestal: ‘Z Nation’ zombies are up for sale

UPDATED: Fri., May 31, 2019, 4 p.m.

It might be the most gruesome garage sale in Spokane history. Zombie parts. Zombie goo. Bottles of blood. Heads and hands. Wigs and prosthetics. Racks and racks and racks of clothing – lots of it grimed up post-apocalyptically.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2019

News > Spokane

Shawn Vestal: Spokane hacks Seattle and strikes a nerve

Wed., May 29, 2019, 5 a.m.

Time was, if Spokane went a-courtin’ in Seattle, trying to woo businesses and rich folk over to the dry side, it wouldn’t have raised a whisper of concern in the Emerald City.

MONDAY, MAY 27, 2019

News > Spokane

Larry Plager of Medical Lake collected hundreds of stories about war; now this Vietnam vet is turning the page

Mon., May 27, 2019, 5 a.m.

Reading and writing about the Vietnam War has brought Larry Plager in touch with his war experiences, and resulted in a gift of hundreds of books, videos and other materials to Gonzaga University that are now part of its permanent library collection.

FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: It’s almost time for our fifth season

Fri., May 24, 2019, 5 a.m.

Who’s ready for summer? Swimming, grilling, camping, coughing …

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: Universities should look at their out-of-classroom spending growth before they start slashing budgets

Wed., May 22, 2019, 5 a.m.

As Eastern Washington University wades into the thicket of budget cutting by 3.5% here and 3.5% there, there’s another percentage that’s worth consideration. One hundred and fifty-five percent.

SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: Avista, whatever that means, should rename itself something meaningful. How about Washington Water Power?

Sun., May 19, 2019, 5 a.m.

What if – upon the occasion of Scott Morris’ retirement as head honcho – Avista decided to return to the name that is a part of city skyline? The name that lived for a century in the Northwest?

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2019

News > Spokane

Shawn Vestal: New safety standards for oil trains are needed to prevent tragedy

Wed., May 15, 2019, 5 a.m.

Washington’s new law to establish safer standards on the highly flammable oil trains that pass regularly through Spokane – past hospitals, a high school, a freeway – is likely headed for a courtroom.

SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: Life may have hit some wrong notes along the way, but my mom never stopped playing

Sun., May 12, 2019, 5 a.m.

When I play the piano, I hit a lot of wrong notes. But I’m lucky to know, because my mom showed me, that if I keep trying, I’ll hit more and more right ones.

FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2019

News > Spokane

Shawn Vestal: The 800 former federal prosecutors who signed a letter alleging Trump obstructed justice are heroes

Fri., May 10, 2019, 5 a.m.

The intensely counterfactual speech emerging continually from the White House and its emissaries is a crisis. No country built on self-governance can function when lies and misinformation, to say nothing of outright criminality, flood the public square daily.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2019

News > Column

Shawn Vestal: The Morris family’s ‘War on Christmas’ got them exactly what they wanted – publicity

Wed., May 8, 2019, 5 a.m.

The Christmas-loving Morrises, of Hayden, have again donned their robes as victims of religious persecution.

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