Shawn Vestal

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Most Recent Stories

News > WA Government

Shawn Vestal: A half-century after the people demanded transparency, ‘secrecy creep’ flourishes

Sun., March 17, 2024

In 1972, citizens mounted an initiative to crack open the secrecy surrounding the people’s business.

News > Spokane

Shawn Vestal: So long, and thanks for reading

Fri., March 15, 2024

I wrote my first newspaper column when I was 14 years old.

News > Spokane

Shawn Vestal: Spokane County tweaking release program as final stage in MacArthur funding approaches

Sun., March 10, 2024

Last January, Spokane County launched a pilot program that attempted to connect some nonviolent criminal defendants with services addressing problems such as poverty, drug addiction and mental illness.

Opinion > Column

Camp Hope is gone, but Julie Garcia keeps going

UPDATED: Sun., Feb. 4, 2024

When Julie Garcia was 39 years old, she had her second heart attack.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: Yes, Elon, the Patriot Front was unmasked in Coeur d’Alene

Tue., Jan. 23, 2024

The man hailed as the savior of free speech, who pledged to create the “most accurate source of information in the world,” has stepped in it again – a big, soft pile of very free, very dumb, very wrong speech.

Opinion > Column

Shawn Vestal: A little bad luck, and a flood of good

Thu., Jan. 18, 2024

It was one day of waterless misery, two minutes of fleeting joy and an hour of soggy panic, followed by an exhilarating rescue by the heroes of the city water department and our plumber.

News > WA Government

Washington’s right-to-counsel law alters the eviction process

Sun., Jan. 7, 2024

It’s a Tuesday morning, and the eviction docket is full in Judge Michelle Szambelan’s courtroom.

News > Local business

Shawn Vestal: As Washington’s pandemic protections ended, evictions soared

Sun., Jan. 7, 2024

When Katie Vozzy went into the hospital in July, she expected she’d be off work for a couple of weeks.

News

Shawn Vestal: Before becoming a boy in the boat, rower grew up hard in Spokane and North Idaho

UPDATED: Fri., Dec. 22, 2023

There is a fascinating Inland Northwest origin story that didn’t make it into George Clooney’s new film.