Stories by Shawn Vestal for the Spokesman-Review

News

Shawn Vestal: Again and again, our congresswoman tells us to ignore the tiny ‘man’ behind the curtain

Fri., Oct. 2, 2020

At any moment now, I expect our congresswoman, the avatar of civility in American politics, to issue a condemnation of Tuesday night’s debate.

News

Shawn Vestal: Among the costs of the pandemic, a loss of human contact

Wed., Sept. 30, 2020

We were sitting on my back deck, drinks in hand, 6 feet apart, when one of my best friends told me: He and his wife were having a baby!

News

Shawn Vestal: Police watch as another Planned Parenthood ‘church’ protest flouts the law

UPDATED: Tue., Oct. 20, 2020

After a judge's order this week barring protesters from disrupting services provided at the Planned Parenthood clinic in North Spokane, the Church at Planned Parenthood showed up and seemingly violated the order, anyway. It's another example of the Spokane Police Department not taking action to disperse the crowd, despite the ruling and action from city lawmakers.

News

Shawn Vestal: Bar association brings discussion of racial justice to community

Fri., Sept. 25, 2020

In the mind of Francis Adewale, it’s past time to stop debating whether we need to accept the fact that there is systemic racism in the justice system, or making semantic arguments against trying to achieve equity in the legal system.

News

Shawn Vestal: Falsehoods spread right along with the fires, from people who should know better

Wed., Sept. 23, 2020

It is a sign of the terrible times that even as the wildfires screamed across the West, another blaze was burning – a conflagration of conspiracies.

News > Pacific NW

Shawn Vestal: Author explores the web of history and race tied to 2013 Spokane killing

Sun., Sept. 20, 2020

A lot of us remember the case chiefly as one of the most unusual crimes in Spokane – a murder for hire on the South Hill, solved by investigators following the pathways laid down by the discovery of the killer’s dropped glove.

News

Shawn Vestal: Smoke gets in your eyes, and throat, and lungs, and heart…

Fri., Sept. 18, 2020

Breathing all this smoke is similar, in some ways, to contracting a virus.

News

Shawn Vestal: Sturgis research called for greater skepticism

Wed., Sept. 16, 2020

I wrote a column last week about a research paper that estimated the Sturgis (South Dakota) motorcycle rally had been a massive COVID-19 superspreader event.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Two months later, the sheriff doubles down - and picks fights - over antifa narrative

Sun., Sept. 13, 2020

Knezovich remains devoted to this explanation though it has not, so far, been buttressed by the public evidence. It has prompted a measure of skepticism and scoffing that was ramped up during a recent dispute over his agency’s arrest, at a Black Lives Matter demonstration, of a local Democratic Socialist activist on a seven-year-old warrant from another county.

News > Pacific NW

Shawn Vestal: We have met the cause of the wildfires, and it’s usually one of us

UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 10, 2020

Campfires and cigarettes. Sparking machinery and fireworks. Slash piles and debris burns that grow out of control.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: COVID-19 took a ride from Sturgis rally all over the country, including Spokane

UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 10, 2020

In early August, almost a half-million Americans from all around the country gathered at the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Time to let the wisest voices, not the loudest, guide us on fluoride

Sun., Sept. 6, 2020

Mark Wiener vividly remembers the Great Portland Fluoride Battle of 2013.

News

Shawn Vestal: Police training requires more alternatives than shooting or not shooting

Fri., Sept. 4, 2020

I had a pretend gun and a hypothetical badge.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Schools playing long odds with the return of students

UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 3, 2020

The bets are laid.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Prosecutor’s semantic battle against equity undermines efforts to set a better course for justice

UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 3, 2020

Two years ago, the investigative news organization ProPublica looked into the algorithms used by courts to assign risk levels to criminal defendants.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Tale of Bundy and his melon highlights this sick, but silly, season in conspiracy world

UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 3, 2020

It’s been a season of extra pungency in the pastures of the alt-reality-right.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Professors and cowboys and nurses – obituaries tell community story

UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 3, 2020

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

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Wake up and help put an end to the nightmare, congresswoman

UPDATED: Thu., Sept. 3, 2020

Upon winning her umpteenth nonrigged mail election last week, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers – or perhaps a tipsy aide – took to Twitter to thank voters and proclaim: “Together, we will find the courage to dream again.”