Week in Review
Spokane Mayor Jim West outlined plans to cut the city’s budget, most dramatically by eliminating the six school resource officers, as well as 22 other positions. Saying the city is facing a $6 million shortfall, West said, “the pain is not over.” The cutbacks were announced after city officials and 1,000 residents ranked the importance of various services.
Monday
“ Spokane County Chief Executive Officer Francine Boxer appeared in court on DUI charges, her second arrest in three years. Boxer, the county’s highest ranking nonelected official, pleaded not guilty to the charges. She was cited about 3:30 a.m. Saturday after a deputy found her in the back of her husband’s SUV, which had crashed into a tree near Newman Lake. She had a blood alcohol level of .15 percent, nearly twice the legal limit of .08 percent, police said. Boxer had previously been arrested in 2002, when she was found parked in the median of Interstate 90 with a blood alcohol level of .22 percent, police said.
Tuesday
“ Police Chief Roger Bragdon said the loss of the school resource officer program will be a blow to police efforts. “They stopped a lot of weapons and drugs from coming into the schools,” he said, and promised to restore the program should funding become available.
“ The Spokane Valley City Council endorsed two September ballot items: a hike in property taxes and an annexation to the two fire districts that currently protect the city. The property tax hike would increase costs by 21 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, and would be used to better pave Valley roads. If the measure passes, taxes will return to the level citizens paid before incorporation, breaking a promise of lower taxes by advocates of the new city.
Wednesday
“ Bankrupt Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Co. has agreed to spend $20 million to clean up pollution from the defunct Mead smelter. Washington state officials say, however, that $100 million will be needed to deal with the contamination that has spread to the Little Spokane River and Spokane-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer. “Although this settlement does not allow for a complete cleanup, we feel it gives us the minimum resources to protect the public and prevent the contamination from spreading further,” said Carol Kraege, manager of the Department of Ecology’s industrial section in Olympia.
“ Two new laws went into effect in the City of Spokane: a requirement that bicyclists and skaters wear helmets, and a ban on transient structures on city property. Violating the helmet law will bring a $25 fine, but officers will give scofflaws a few months to get used to the new regulation.
Thursday
“ Spokane Park Board members unveiled a $35 million plan to replace the city’s seven swimming pools with contemporary aquatic facilities that would include things like a wave pool, “lazy river” ride and water slides. The plan, which would be paid for with increased property taxes and admission fees, also includes closing the city’s wading pools and replacing them with spray pads, in which pipes shoot water onto visitors. The amount of additional taxes needed has yet to be determined, and a ballot measure is still a couple years away.
“ A man swiped two guns from a North Division pawn shop in Spokane, and tried to carjack a getaway vehicle. Unfortunately, the vehicle had a stick shift, which the man didn’t know how to drive. The suspect fled on foot, ran off a basalt cliff and fell about 10 feet onto a rock ledge, where police retrieved him. Arrested was Dennis L. Smith, 18.
Friday
“ About 800 new call-center jobs are coming to the Inland Northwest. Dakotah Direct says it plans to add that many call-center jobs in the coming months, which would bring its total employment in the area to 1,700. Hiring for the jobs begins Monday. Three hundred of the jobs will go toward serving a new client for the company, though Dakotah didn’t say where the positions would be located. Another 500 positions will be added in the company’s downtown and Spokane Valley call centers.
“ Records filed in the bankruptcy case of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. Inc. show that attorneys fees in the case have reached about $4 million. An attorney representing creditors in the case said he knows the fees can be upsetting to his clients, who are ensnared in the case. But “they’re just unavoidable,” he said.
Coming Monday
“ As more and more people undergo gastric bypass surgery to fight obesity, questions about who should pay are arising are becoming a hot issue for health plans, employers and the obese. The surgeries, which cost $20,000 to $30,000, aren’t always covered by health plans and that leaves some patients frustrated.