Washington

For the first time, the Historic Davenport Hotel opened its doors Friday evening for a new holiday tradition, welcoming Spokane residents and visitors to officially kick off the holiday season in the heart of downtown.

Spokane raised its utility taxes on Monday, bringing the tax rate to 21.5%, one of the highest in the state.

From 1975: Songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen, a four-time Oscar winner, donated many of his musical manuscripts to Gonzaga University’s Crosby Library.

South Spokane is now represented by a second elected council member for the first time since 2023, after Councilwoman Kate Telis was sworn in Tuesday.

Last year, Becky Rempe launched “The Migratory Space,” a podcast where immigrants and refugees recount the journeys that brought them to Spokane.

For 20 years, Bill Sleeth had a party in his backyard after he ran each Bloomsday, but he decided to quit throwing his annual bash the year the neighbors called the police twice.

This year has tested poor families economically like few others, but Catholic Charities CEO Rob McCann said the Christmas Bureau is once again prepared to step in and do whatever it can to make sure thousands of local families are able to provide a Christmas celebration for themselves and their children.

From 1975: A Spokesman-Review reporter decided to hang out on Riverside Avenue on a cold Thanksgiving Day and watch the pageant of humanity pass by.

At age 75, Sally Johnson has no plans to retire. A nurse for 53 years, she cares for Spokane patients being treated for opioid use disorder.

Amid questions from school districts about the budget impacts of Washington state’s new retail sales tax, Democratic lawmakers say they expect to make changes to the law in next year’s legislative session.

From 1975: Election fraud!

Spokane has contracted with four homeless shelters to add 50 beds to the system and boost mobile medication-assisted drug treatment services ahead of the winter.

Researchers found the first evidence of European green crabs in the northern Whidbey Basin, a sign that one of the world’s most harmful marine species has made inroads in the Salish Sea, the Washington Sea Grant Crab Team announced Tuesday. European green crabs are small, invasive shore crabs that damage bed sediments, leading to the loss of eelgrass, an essential habitat for Dungeness crab ...

He hasn’t yet, but if President Donald Trump invited Seattle Mayor-elect Katie Wilson to the White House, she would accept.

From 1975: The American Civil Liberties Union asked Spokane Mayor David H. Rodgers to form a Spokane Police Review Committee to investigate the fatal police shooting of Lewis and Clark High School student Craig S. Jordan.

Retired ophthalmologist and eye surgeon Jeff Snow is 79 now, but that doesn’t stop his body from having an instinctive reaction every time a Bloomsday race starts.

From 1975: The Washington State Patrol said it would have all available officers, including inspection men, on the highways to enforce the national speed limit: 55 miles per hour.