Stories by Shawn Vestal for the Spokesman-Review

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: County shooting settlement, and subsequent doubling down, a bad faith failure of justice

UPDATED: Wed., April 13, 2022

All of the sadly ordinary obstacles to police accountability leaped to the fore this week with the settlement of a lawsuit against a sheriff’s deputy who killed a mentally ill man in 2019.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Idaho kids need protection from lawmakers, not librarians

Wed., March 30, 2022

When I was a boy, I checked out a book of Alfred Hitchcock short stories from the library.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: It’s the judgment, not the grudge, at issue in sheriff candidate’s firing

Fri., March 25, 2022

The hullabaloo surrounding the firing of Deputy Craig Chamberlin – the candidate for sheriff who for years represented the department on TV as “Deputy Craig” – has now entered the Ozzie Knezovich spin cycle.

News > Local government

Spokane’s homeless system may be growing, with more beds proposed to help get people ‘into better circumstances’

Sun., March 20, 2022

The homeless encampment along East Second Avenue, near Interstate 90, has been growing all year.

News > WA Government

State budget includes ‘significant investment’ in housing, homelessness

Sun., March 20, 2022

As part of its massive new supplemental budget, the state Legislature passed unprecedented outlays for programs combating homelessness and bolstering affordable housing.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Return of the jazz orchestra’s spring concert marks the end of a long pandemic winter

Fri., March 18, 2022

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Washington adopts a gun law with a growing record of effectiveness – the large-magazine ban

UPDATED: Thu., March 17, 2022

Between 1990 and 2017, there were 69 “high-fatality” mass shootings in America.

News > Business

It’s not just cities seeing sticker shock in the housing market

Sun., March 13, 2022

Retiree Anthony Maggi put his Republic home on the market five years ago and got no takers.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: House panel’s battle with Amazon tests ability of tech monopolies to evade accountability

Sun., March 13, 2022

On July 16, 2019, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the Washington Democrat, asked one of Amazon’s top corporate lawyers an important question – and one for which Jayapal and others on the House Judiciary Committee have still not received a clear answer.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Even as the community denounces them, Idaho’s wingnuts create a quiet welcome for racists

Fri., March 11, 2022

A group of neo-Nazis is planning a gathering in Hayden Lake this weekend.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Accreditation team finds NIC is strong in every way but one – its board

UPDATED: Wed., March 9, 2022

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Harassment-by-document is latest stage in school board disruptions

Sun., March 6, 2022

“Never before in the history of Washington,” begins the letter to Spokane school board members, “has your job been so difficult.”

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: To help kids emerge from the pandemic, rewrite the ‘generational contract’

Sun., Feb. 27, 2022

The pandemic’s toll on children has been undeniable.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Bitter over lack of support, ‘Christmas Lawyer’ says he’s leaving Idaho

Fri., Feb. 25, 2022

The so-called Christmas lawyer says he’s leaving Idaho for a freer state.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Another deep freeze, and a paltry response from the city administration

Wed., Feb. 23, 2022

The mayor made it clear last summer that she opposed the law passed by the City Council that requires her to do something for which she has shown no ability or inclination: setting up shelter for the homeless in a weather emergency.

A&E > Music

Shawn Vestal: A flurry of emails, a hush-hush Spokane visit, and a tense wait for the final OK from a Beatle

Sun., Feb. 20, 2022

A couple of weeks back, Matt Meyer, entertainment director at the Spokane Arena, received an email regarding the possibility of a concert by a rock ’n’ roll icon who had been taking up space on Meyer’s calendar as “He Who Shall Not Be Named.”

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: By the most important metric of all – lives saved – Inslee’s approach stands out

Fri., Feb. 18, 2022

At this time two years ago, the coronavirus had arrived in the Seattle area and had not yet shown up in Spokane.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: The seeds of marriage equality were planted 50 years ago with failed lawsuit

Wed., Feb. 16, 2022

Ten years ago this fall, 1,659,915 Washingtonians voted to equalize marriage.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: CV school politics turn parents meeting into bitter argument

Sun., Feb. 13, 2022

It was advertised as a meeting for Central Valley School District parents, with all district taxpayers encouraged to attend: “The goal for this meeting is a civil discourse that is intended to build trust between parents, students, and district leadership.”

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Commissioner demands to be held blameless for terrible decisions

Fri., Feb. 11, 2022

Al French would like you to know it’s not his fault, nor the fault of his fellow county commissioners, that they have done what they have done to the board of the Spokane Regional Health District.