Tom Grant will teach at college

Former mayoral candidate Tom Grant, a journalist who has worked for three different Spokane television stations, is leaving the city to teach college.

Grant said Wednesday he will be leaving later this summer to join the staff of the Mass Communications Department at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, Pa., for a nine-month teaching appointment.

Grant received national awards for journalism while working as a reporter for KREM-TV and KXLY-TV before accepting the job of editor of The Local Planet, an alternative weekly, in 2001. During his time at KXLY-TV and at the Local Planet, he worked with the staff of Camas Magazine, an online publication, to produce stories about River Park Square.

Last spring, Grant entered the race for Spokane mayor. With a populist campaign that relied on volunteers rather than money, he finished second in the September primary which ousted incumbent John Powers. Grant ultimately lost to Jim West in the November general election by just under 3,000 votes.

After the election, Grant worked briefly for KAYU-TV, the local Fox Network affiliate. He and the rest of the news staff were terminated this spring when that station contracted with KHQ-TV to produce its newscast.

In a press release announcing his departure, Grant thanked his campaign volunteers and said he hated to leave Spokane. He said he was forced into the decision because of “limited opportunities for independent-minded journalists.”