Shawn Vestal

They were camping, if you want to call it that. A tent you could stand in, tricked out in geometric shapes. Foot-thick air mattresses, inflated with a battery-powered blower. A propane stove with a griddle and two burners, and polypropylene mats so they could walk around barefoot. And

ACT for America – an anti-Muslim group with chapters around the country fermenting sour, ignorant racism – claims that it is leading a fight against Islamic terrorism. Its chief weapon? Smoldering piles of manure.

What was said publicly about how a teenager’s DNA came to be on the bumper of a deputy’s cruiser doesn’t square with what the scientist who tested the DNA told an investigator, Shawn Vestal says.

Imagine the Legislature was in charge of funding Washington State University athletics, and Bill Moos was in charge of paying the bills for state schools.

City’s new approach to helping homeless families has nearly eliminated the waiting list for that help.

Something to consider about the 30,000-gallon tank cars full of Bakken crude oil that regularly pass through Spokane: The oil industry says the “arbitrary, capricious” federal government must give it more time to make the cars safer. The leaking tank cars in Mosier suggest otherwise.

Maxine Bell is almost certainly headed toward the happy conclusion of a 30-year career as a rock-solid, budget-minded Idaho conservative legislator.

Mayor David Condon’s outrage over the supposed politicization of a city hall investigation rings hollow, columnist Shawn Vestal says.

Could someone get the Spokane Valley City Council a copy of the state Open Meetings law?

A Spokane psychologist who developed and implemented the Bush administration’s torture program has co-authored “Enhanced Interrogation,” which was slated by Crown Publishing for a May 10 release. The book has been shelved.

Mother’s Day, 2016. A Spokane woman, trailed by a handful of kids and adults, marches through the Spokane Valley Target, waving a Bible over her head and roaring. “Target would have you believe with their Mother’s Day displays that they love mothers and children!” the woman shouts while being recorded on video. “This is a deception! This is not love, and they’ve proven it by opening their bathrooms to perverted men! I’m a mother of 12 and I’m very disgusted by this wicked practice!”

Five years on, nothing much has changed at the deteriorating Ridpath Hotel in downtown Spokane.

While culture warriors have been hysterically policing public restrooms, a truly horrific killing of a gay man in Idaho has flown mostly under the radar. And now, as police look for other possible victims, we are seeing a sadly perfect example of the problems raised by the state’s refusal to criminalize discrimination against gays and lesbians.

So the new plan emerging from Spokane City Hall is to complete the investigation into the firing of Frank Straub by creating a new zone of secrecy for the administration.

This will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Donald Trump’s factual record – and it will make no dent in the blind passion of Trump Nation – but The Donald was wrong about our region’s economy.

It’s the rallying cry of every critic of anything in Spokane city government: Why don’t they just fix the streets? Suing Monsanto? Why don’t they fix the streets? Passing a resolution to support marriage equality? Why don’t they fix the streets? Banning elephant hooks? Why don’t they just fix the streets? Give raises to the City Council? Why don’t they fix the streets?

The “jokes” contained in a PowerPoint slide used in a criminal justice class at Spokane Community College aren’t funny. The attitudes built into these jokes – women are frivolous spenders of their husband’s money who must be treated as though they were emotional children – are serious ones. They are the attitudes of a patriarchal class that can’t see past the boundaries of own male-ness.

City Hall employees who refuse to talk to an investigator looking into the firing of Police Chief Frank Straub are communicating nonetheless. Their contempt for the public is loud and clear.

The little Supreme Court in Sage Dixon’s head is an emblem for our times: Nobody has to believe anything they don’t want to, and everybody has a source of information ready to bolster their belief.

For the first time since the territorial government was led by Glovers and Cannons and Comstocks, a majority of women hold seats on the Spokane City Council. Also for the first time, two women occupy the majority of the three county commission seats. It’s a 6-4 local government majority.

When he was working for Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, David Condon would sometimes field inquiries about Spokane’s signature natural attraction. “People would ask: How do you get down to the falls?” he said.

Flossie Dickey’s 110th birthday was a worldwide sensation.

In the past couple of weeks, a proposal to bring oversized outdoor games downtown has sped from inspiration to likelihood, thanks to Ryan Oelrich.

Another year, another death for Andy Billig’s attempt to shine more light on dark money in state politics. This year, instead of a proposal that drew support in both houses before being scotched by business lobbyists, the Washington DISCLOSE Act was simply bottled up by the Senate majority, never to see the light of day.