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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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News >  Spokane

Prosecutor defends decision-making

Prosecutor Steve Tucker said Tuesday that he sees nothing in a petition to recall him except “rumors and hearsay, and ‘facts’ that are not true.” The petition for a recall election was organized by Shannon Sullivan, who led the successful recall drive against Spokane Mayor Jim West in 2005.
News >  Spokane

Fire forces temporary shelter evacuation

Residents of the Volunteers of America women’s shelter at 111 W. Third Ave. were forced outside in 28-degree weather for 15 to 20 minutes. Spokane firefighters ushered them back inside as cleanup work continued.
News >  Spokane

County stands by deputies in lawsuit

Spokane County will stand behind two sheriff’s deputies who broke a Spokane Valley man’s rib and punctured his lung when they were dispatched to help him in September 2009. County commissioners voted this week to defend Deputies Glen Hinckley and Walter Loucks in a federal civil rights lawsuit and pay any punitive damages, which aren’t automatically covered under the county’s liability insurance.
News >  Spokane

County cuts preservation office funds

The Spokane historic preservation office will get only $5,000 from Spokane County in the $136.6 million 2012 budget county commissioners adopted Wednesday. The county has given $20,000 a year to the office since at least 2009, but will shift $15,000 to the Fox Theater next year. The money will reduce a multiyear county pledge to help restore the landmark theater as a regional performing arts venue.
News >  Spokane

Boundary review board eliminated

Spokane County’s Boundary Review Board will be dissolved Jan. 31 as an expensive anachronism. County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to close the $220,000-a-year office on grounds that changes in state law leave the board little room to balance competing interests in major annexations.
News >  Spokane

Spokane weighs inmate transfers

The Spokane City Council will consider a proposal Monday to save about $1 million a year by sending inmates to the Benton County Jail in Kennewick. Spokane County officials are bracing for the loss of 50 or more misdemeanor prisoners to a competitor with a big price advantage.
News >  Spokane

County budget won’t increase property taxes

Spokane County commissioners decided Monday to decline the 1 percent increases in property tax levies that state law allows. Today they expect to adopt a $136.8 million 2012 general fund budget that is about $2.5 million lower than this year’s.
News >  Spokane

New corrections site considered

Spokane International Airport officials said this week that they may offer the Geiger Corrections Center a new home in the airport business park. The proposed site is immediately north of Spokane’s Waste-to-Energy Plant on the eastern edge of the airport property, at 2900 S. Geiger Blvd.
News >  Spokane

State, county officials open sewage plant

Superlatives flowed Thursday in a valve-turning ceremony to open Spokane County’s new $173 million sewage treatment plant. “Today the river gets cleaner,” said Grant Pfeifer, regional Department of Ecology director.
News >  Spokane

Vote recount will test new machines

Spokane County election officials took advantage Thursday of an opportunity to test their vote-counting machines for free. The county Canvassing Board – Auditor Vicky Dalton, Commissioner Al French and County Attorney Jim Emacio – reversed course and decided to use the machines for a mandatory recount in a close Spokane City Council race.
News >  Spokane

Polar bear expert nominated for conservation prize

A Kettle Falls-area polar bear scientist is one of 29 leading conservationists internationally who are in contention for next year’s $100,000 Indianapolis Prize. Steven Amstrup moved to Stevens County about a year ago when he retired from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Science Center in Anchorage.
News >  Spokane

Commission votes to abandon road

Ben Burr Road may be eliminated if a developer first replaces it with a public trail and installs a traffic signal. County commissioners unanimously agreed Tuesday that the road is unneeded and the public would benefit from a trail that doesn’t require pedestrians and vehicles to share a 23-foot-wide pathway that lacks shoulders.
News >  Spokane

Sewage plant set to open this week

Spokane County officials expect to get a state permit today to operate their new sewage treatment plant – and to celebrate on Thursday. There may be some crossed fingers when the high fives are handed out at the $173 million plant’s dedication ceremony.
News >  Spokane

County to decide on property tax hike

County commissioners considered a tax increase Tuesday and adopted an interim zoning ordinance they hope will lure a Boeing manufacturing plant. The zoning ordinance would raise the height limit in light industrial zones throughout the county from 60 to 150 feet, matching the city of Spokane’s standard.
News >  Spokane

County updates its online services

A new “gateway to government services” promises to eliminate something people hate about Spokane County offices: going to one department only to find out they should have gone somewhere else. Instead of cruising for a parking space and hiking several blocks, residents can now use a new website to find out where to get a building permit, report a stray dog or complain about snow removal.
News >  Spokane

Spokane Tribe lambastes critics of proposed casino

The Spokane Tribe shot back Wednesday at critics of the casino it wants to build at Airway Heights. Mike Spencer, vice chairman of the tribal council, said he thinks most of the opposition is from people with economic ties to the Kalispel Tribe’s nearby Northern Quest Resort and Casino.
News >  Spokane

Deal keeps rural Internet alive

Commissioners in two counties met in joint session this week to prevent a lengthy Internet service interruption for customers of two Spokane-area companies. Medical Lake-based EcliptixNet Broadband and Spokane-based Pass Word Inc. will be allowed to continue using a Tum Tum-area law enforcement radio tower from which they were to have been evicted today.
News >  Spokane

Lawsuit may halt sewage plant

Spokane County commissioners moved Tuesday to intervene in a lawsuit that could mothball the county’s new $173 million sewage treatment plant. The action came a day after commissioners prepared an invitation for Gov. Chris Gregoire to attend a dedication ceremony, tentatively scheduled for Dec. 1.
News >  Spokane

Trustees to narrow library chief hopefuls

Eight applicants will be scrutinized today as replacements for Mike Wirt, who will retire Feb. 24 as director of the Spokane County Library District. Trustees will meet in a closed session to discuss the candidates with a recruiting consultant.
News >  Spokane

Zoning change near airport will get second look

A proposal to allow high-density residential development near Spokane International Airport, panned by the county Planning Commission, will get a second chance. County commissioners will conduct their own public hearing Nov. 22 on a proposed comprehensive plan amendment and zone change for 7.8 acres at the southeast corner of U.S. Highway 2 and Geiger Boulevard.
News >  Spokane

County agrees to $687,000 settlement

Another allegedly faulty land-use decision by Spokane County officials resulted in a $687,000 settlement this week. The payout is for property near the intersection of U.S. Highway 2 and Day-Mt. Spokane Road, within a couple of blocks of a site where the county sank $750,000 in December 2008.