Stories by Shawn Vestal for the Spokesman-Review

News

Shawn Vestal: Twenty years later, indelible memories of a grim day in Manhattan

UPDATED: Wed., Sept. 15, 2021

It was an earlier-than-usual morning on a perfect bluebird day.

News

Shawn Vestal: Caught in political stalemate, the street homelessness crisis worsens

UPDATED: Tue., Sept. 14, 2021

On the question of the deepening crisis of homelessness, we’re now caught in a political Catch-22.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: GU report raises important question about Jesuit scandal, then skips an answer

Fri., Sept. 10, 2021

On Page 29 of the report issued by a commission at Gonzaga University charged with delving into the role of the university in the long-standing, but now ended, practice of sending retired Jesuit priests accused of sexual abuse to live at GU, there is an important question: “WHO KNEW WHAT WHEN?”

News

Shawn Vestal: Recovery from pandemic-related food crisis coming along slowly

Sun., Sept. 5, 2021

Lainie Woolway knows how to turn a nearly empty cupboard into a full meal.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Obituaries paint a portrait of a community

Fri., Sept. 3, 2021

One obituary is a portrait of a life. Several taken together form a portrait of a community.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Time and time again, researchers link mask use with lower rates of infection

Wed., Sept. 1, 2021

About one year ago, schools in North Carolina opened for in-person instruction. Some followed a program of strict pandemic protocols – strict mask wearing, distancing and hand-washing – and some did not.

News

Shawn Vestal: Idaho initiative ruling puts the people before the Legislature

Sun., Aug. 29, 2021

In the case of the Idaho Legislature versus the people of Idaho, the people won by a knockout.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: SPS board president used his gavel to stop circus before it could begin

Fri., Aug. 27, 2021

If there’s ever been, in the history of local government meetings, a more satisfying rap of the gavel than the one Jerrall Haynes delivered this week, I haven’t heard it.

News

Shawn Vestal: Our narratives often roar past the facts, but the Sturgis facts, again, are bad

Wed., Aug. 25, 2021

If it’s a pandemic August in South Dakota, it must be Sturgis time – time again to count the rising cases, watch the divergent narratives spin out, and reflect on the unshakeable persistence of belief over fact.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Populations continue to stall in rural counties, the Census shows, and Eastern Washington may be a prime example

UPDATED: Sun., Aug. 22, 2021

In 2019, the tiny town of Starbuck, Washington, updated its comprehensive plan.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Feeling oppressed by masks in schools? Here’s the perfect solution

Fri., Aug. 20, 2021

Memo to the freedom-loving patriots burning with rage about the tyranny of mask mandates in schools: I have some truly excellent news regarding your liberty.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Hope fades for Spokane immigrant as he watches and worries about Afghanistan

Wed., Aug. 18, 2021

Before most people were paying attention to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Sayed A. Hussaini was paying very, very close attention.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: A celebration of the pandemic’s end turns into another slog through its middle

Fri., Aug. 13, 2021

When the tickets were first offered, it seemed like a concert would be a fantastic way to celebrate the pandemic’s end.

News

Shawn Vestal: Just like the return of triple-digit heat, the climate emergency is here

UPDATED: Tue., Aug. 10, 2021

If you’re discouraged about the return of triple-digit temperatures this week, wait until you hear about the long-term picture.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: A year later, Innovia foundation says it’s closed the pipeline to hate groups

Sun., Aug. 8, 2021

The disbursement of funds to a white nationalist group on Innovia's most recent tax form will be its last. A past critic said the organization has made great strides to prevent payments to discriminatory groups in the future.

News

Shawn Vestal: The Giddings affair illuminates the extent of the cancer in extremist politics

Fri., Aug. 6, 2021

If you had chosen “defiantly celebrating the doxing of a rape victim” on your bingo card for the next new low in Idaho politics, then ding-ding-ding for you.

News

Shawn Vestal: The Spokane Regional Health District’s leadership should handle criticisms in the daylight

Wed., Aug. 4, 2021

At what point does poor management at the health district become a community health problem in and of itself?

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Police were called six times in two days on mentally ill man; the sixth proved fatal

Sun., Aug. 1, 2021

In the two days before Ethan Murray was shot to death by a Spokane County deputy, he had been contacted by local city and county officers on six separate occasions.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: McMorris Rodgers sheds crocodile tears over vaccine confidence

UPDATED: Fri., July 30, 2021

If Cathy McMorris Rodgers were sincerely concerned about a lack of confidence in the vaccines, she would do something real about it and forgo the anti-government fear-mongering and craven bootlicking about Operation Warp Speed that she spouted this week.