Shawn Vestal

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News

Stolen by COVID: As Spokane passes 500 deaths, we look at a few of the lives lost to the pandemic

Sun., Jan. 31, 2021

Mothers and fathers. Grandpas and grandmas. Teachers and bus drivers, choir soloists and boiler room engineers, dental assistants and plumbers.

News

Stolen by COVID: Four lives, driven by deep passions, ended too soon by a pandemic

UPDATED: Sun., Jan. 31, 2021

The people who have succumbed to COVID-19 have come from all corners of the community. We remember some of those people, and the lives they led.

News >  Pacific NW

Stolen by COVID: Lives remembered

UPDATED: Sun., Jan. 31, 2021

The following accounts, which make up a fraction of the people who have died of COVID-19 during the pandemic, represent people whose families attributed their deaths to the virus or related complications. The information and photos were drawn from obituaries, news accounts and interviews with family members.

Opinion >  Column

Shawn Vestal: As one Trump conspiracy dies, James Allsup returns to offer another

Fri., Jan. 22, 2021

With the inauguration of President Joe Biden, the underpinnings of the wildest conspiracies associated with the Trump presidency were dealt a serious blow.

Opinion >  Column

Shawn Vestal: Pastor who organized anti-abortion rallies in Spokane helped rally Trump supporters in D.C.

Wed., Jan. 13, 2021

The night before the Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol, a face that would be familiar to many in the Spokane area took the stage in Freedom Plaza just east of the White House to rally the crowd to rise up against Satan and a “stolen” election.

News

Shawn Vestal: Sidelined by the pandemic, a comic and her trumpeter father make a joyful online noise

Sun., Jan. 10, 2021

The pandemic has been hell on performers. Anyone whose work requires an audience has had to undergo massive changes – and they’ve had to give up a lot.

Opinion >  Column

Shawn Vestal: The Capitol takover was foretold, time and again, in the patterns of Northwest extremism

Sun., Jan. 10, 2021

The mob’s takeover of the U.S. Capitol came with a whole symphony of echoes.

Opinion >  Column

Shawn Vestal: A COVID-19 death, turned into both a memorial and a mask campaign

Fri., Jan. 8, 2021

When Joe Hodl died of COVID-19 in August, his wife, Cheri, was left grief-stricken and bereft – and wondering whether there was anything she could do to help fight the virus.

News

Shawn Vestal: With her vote today, McMorris Rodgers finalizes the sale of her soul

Wed., Jan. 6, 2021

“Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.”

Opinion >  Column

Shawn Vestal: Cancer called, and a Spokane poet answered with a moving inventory of precious moments

UPDATED: Sun., Dec. 27, 2020

The first memory that came to Dennis Held, as he began taking notes for an essay that he would title “What I’ll Miss,” emerged from his youth: Riding shotgun while a friend drove down a highway, reaching out into the slipstream.

Opinion >  Column

Shawn Vestal: In this dark night of a year, newborn children arrive like a sunrise

Fri., Dec. 25, 2020

It popped up on my phone among the zillions of things that pop up on my phone every hour: A texted picture of my brother, holding our nephew’s infant daughter in his lap.

News

Shawn Vestal: Ninety-one names to help us all remember those living, and dying, on our streets

Wed., Dec. 23, 2020

Correction

UPDATED: Tue., Dec. 22, 2020

Due to a reporting error, Shawn Vestal's column in the Sunday Spokesman-Review incorrectly referred to the location of a wedding that has been linked to COVID-19 outbreaks. The wedding was in rural Adams County.

News

Shawn Vestal: The hosts of the superspreader wedding – linked to 24 deaths – could become voices against complacency

UPDATED: Tue., Dec. 22, 2020

Surely, the bride and groom – and the families of the bride and groom and all the people who wanted to celebrate their joyous union – convinced themselves they were doing the right thing.

News

Shawn Vestal: LC grad rides extremist conspiracy theories and call for martial law to Trump Pentagon nomination

UPDATED: Thu., Dec. 17, 2020

John Hagney was watching CNN last week when he saw a familiar face.

Opinion >  Column

Shawn Vestal: A fitting name at last, to honor a warrior woman

Wed., Dec. 16, 2020

When the name of George Wright comes down off that road at last, it will be replaced with one that deserves to be there.

Opinion >  Column

Shawn Vestal: Our pandemic response balances the tension between the cowboy and the community

Sun., Dec. 13, 2020

In September 1918, a flu pandemic arrived in Philadelphia.

News

Shawn Vestal: ‘Blueprints’ authors revisit their landmark report to see what’s been built

Sun., Dec. 6, 2020

Seven years ago, a retired judge, former federal prosecutor and defense attorney produced a report, based on volumes of data and lots of citizen input, recommending ways we could improve our criminal justice system.

Opinion >  Column

Our Pandemic Society: An unseen adversary, dwelling in the very air we breathe

Sun., Dec. 6, 2020

It thrives inside of us, miniscule and hidden, and travels to others on invisible pathways.

News

Shawn Vestal: Some food for thought as you consider your chicken-sandwich budget

Fri., Dec. 4, 2020

I know a place you can get a real good chicken sandwich on Division Street.

News

Shawn Vestal: The Trump ‘fraud’ playbook peters out for Culp

Wed., Dec. 2, 2020

Has Loren Culp conceded yet?

Opinion >  Column

Shawn Vestal: The health board hired a replacement, but the void left by Lutz’s ouster remains

Sun., Nov. 29, 2020

Dr. Francisco Velázquez – the hastily drafted interim health officer of the Spokane Regional Health District – showed up the day before Thanksgiving at his third public press conference, 25 days into the worst month of the pandemic and 16 days into his thankless new job.

News >  Spokane

Our Pandemic Society: Distance is necessary, but it’s also a true burden

Sun., Nov. 29, 2020

It starts with the standard 6 feet and grows to include distances impossible to measure.

Opinion >  Column

Shawn Vestal: Can a whole city go NIMBY? The mayor says yes

Sat., Nov. 28, 2020

The mayor has turned the whole city NIMBY.

News >  Special Section

Our Pandemic Society: The mask is vital, but it also hides us from each other

UPDATED: Mon., Nov. 23, 2020

In the second installment of this series of highly personal essays by photojournalist Brian Plonka and columnist Shawn Vestal, we consider the mask, and what it tells us about the person wearing it.