10 big stories from the Spokane area in 2024

Another year has come and gone, and 2024 was one for the history books. A consequential presidential election filled with twists and turns, the escalation of deadly conflict in Gaza, devastating hurricanes, the rapid expansion of commercial uses for artificial intelligence, the fall of the Syrian autocracy and the death of Jimmy Carter.

The year may not have been nearly as climactic for Spokane or the region, with a quieter local election season than 2023 and without the devastation wrought by that summer’s fires in Medical Lake and Elk, but news broke that could have profound impacts on the region in the year ahead.

In some cases, these stories were directly impacted by the big events of 2023. Other major events wholly belonged to the year now coming to a close.

Cellphone ban at Spokane Public Schools

Sometimes it’s the small things that make big waves.

Spokane Public Schools wasn’t the first school district to ban cellphone use in classrooms in the area. That honor goes to the Reardan-Edwall School District. Still, the decision to ban cellphones at all of the Spokane school district’s 57 schools was a major change that helped spur conversations about technology, childhood and the seismic impact the pandemic had on attention spans and social dynamics in schools.

Staff at Salk and Flett middle schools were trailblazers for this reform, implementing the district’s first bans in 2023, and were named Difference Makers by The Spokesman-Review for their groundbreaking efforts.

Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers announces her retirement

After two decades in Congress, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers declared in February that she would not be seeking re-election. The announcement came without warning.

By the May filing week deadline, more than a dozen people had thrown their hats in the ring, including some of the region’s most prominent Republicans.

The monthslong election generated numerous debates and highlighted rifts between and inside the local Republican and Democratic parties, as the open seat offered an opportunity to bring a fresh voice to a position that has changed hands only a handful of times in the past century.

County Treasurer Michael Baumgartner and former diplomat Carmela Conroy advanced after the August primary, pitting one of Spokane’s most experienced Republican politicians against a political newcomer who had been a career official in the U.S. State Department. Baumgartner sailed to victory in the November general election, winning by one of the largest margins in recent memory.

Spokane’s troubled downtown

The issues downtown Spokane is facing – drug use, litter, homelessness – are not new, nor are they unique to the Lilac City, but they have indisputably been one of the most common themes in the news this year, regardless of news outlet.

In some ways, the fact that these problems aren’t new is what makes them so concerning: mayors change, as do governors and presidents, but the damage seems intractable and the solutions elusive.

Fentanyl continues to ravage the lives of many, killing hundreds last year while contributing to crime, particularly downtown, and a sense of unease among visitors and locals alike. Sleeping on the streets remains the miserable reality for hundreds as another winter bears down on Spokane. Some businesses have credited downtown blight for their closure. Though the downtown police precinct covers less than 2% of the city, most of the drug- and trespassing-related crime is reported from within their jurisdiction.

Despite changes this year in the legal and political landscape, many have expressed concern about downtown Spokane’s long term health, as evidenced by dour polling data released this fall by the business coalition Greater Spokane Incorporated.

Brown’s first year

Lisa Brown’s election as Spokane’s mayor was one of the region’s most significant events of 2023, defeating one-term Mayor Nadine Woodward and ending a 12-year streak of conservative mayors in the city.

Much of that election centered on how the city should deal with the aforementioned problems facing the city, like homelessness and downtown blight. She made good on some campaign promises, including closing the warehouse-turned-homeless shelter on Trent Avenue that had housed as many as 500 people at a time and ramping up alternatives to law enforcement like behavioral health units in both the fire and police departments.

She has also faced criticism for her slow rollout of an alternative system of smaller decentralized shelters, with hundreds fewer beds available as winter arrives, and a perceived lack of enforcement of “quality of life” laws like homeless camping, though enforcement of some of those laws doubled this year.

With a new mayor also came a major shakeup in the city’s top-level administrative roles, with a new fire chief, police chief, city administrator, deputy city administrator and more.

Transgender athlete first to win state track championship

When Spokane Valley teen Verónica Garcia became the first transgender athlete to win a state high school track championship this year, she was also thrust into the middle of a heated debate about the fairness of transgender participation in girls athletic competitions.

For a time, the 16-year-old became a focal point for outrage at policies that allowed her to compete, just as transgender rights were reaching their peak as a major national political issue, as encapsulated by the political advertisement commissioned by President-elect Donald Trump: “Kamala is for they/them; President Trump is for you.”

In December, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, which governs school sports in the state, proposed an amendment that would create a separate athletic program for transgender student -athletes to prevent them from playing in girls’ sports.

Elections roundup

Attention on the 2024 elections may have been largely focused on the presidential race, and the Spokane-area didn’t see as much potential shakeup as it faced last November, but the issues on local ballots weren’t insubstantial.

Spokane voters approved a sales tax to fund various community safety investments, a major win for Mayor Lisa Brown’s first year in office. Spokane County voters re-elected County Commissioner Al French, maintaining the Republican 3-2 majority, and reinstated a tax to fund the juvenile detention center.

The Cheney School District proved it’s still possible to get voter approval for a bond, following the sweeping failure of such tax measures in February that had left many school officials in the region nervous for the future.

Statewide, voters elected a new Democratic governor, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, and approved only one of the four statewide initiatives put on the ballot this year by anti-tax group Let’s Go Washington.

Merkel’s first year

Spokane Valley City Councilman Al Merkel has also faced his fair share of controversies this year, ruffling the feathers of his fellow council members and city staff in what he has argued has been a campaign to undermine him.

His antics have become somewhat legendary after only a year on the council. His iconic use of hunter-orange for his attire and campaign materials was adopted by some of his supporters, who have attended meetings with orange clothes of their own or orange armbands. During a failed run for state Senate this summer, Merkel was seen driving around in what was dubbed the “Merkmobile,” a small vehicle strapped with a loudspeaker that announced “Vote Al Merkel” on repeat.

By March, he had been warned to stay out of City Hall after an investigation alleged he has been displaying a pattern of “disrespectful and intimidating behavior” toward city staff. He accused the investigation of being politically motivated and possibly influenced by his Latino heritage.

In June, a private investigator alleged that Merkel’s behavior hadn’t started in City Hall, arguing he had engaged in similar harassment when he was an executive for a local detox center. Merkel accused the investigator of harassing his family.

Merkel was also accused of violating city policy and state public records law with his use of the social media platform NextDoor. On Dec. 19, his council colleagues unanimously voted to censure him and remove him from a committee overseeing the use of money from the state’s prior lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors. Merkel described the decision as “fundamentally flawed, biased” and a personal attack.

Racism mars Utah women’s basketball team’s tournament experience

Coeur d’Alene was in an uproar this spring after a team donor reported to police that the University of Utah women’s basketball team had suffered racist harassment on March 21 as they walked to a local restaurant.

Initial reports suggested that, as some 100 members of Utah athletics walked down Sherman Avenue, two lifted pickups passed by waving confederate flags and yelling racist slurs at the black players.

Some condemned the alleged treatment of the team, while others focused on the disparaging language used by donor Robert Moyer as he was reporting the incident to police, describing the offenders as “hillbilly” and “white trash” and, as some saw it, characterizing the region as racist. The alt-right publication Idaho Tribune and some conservative politicians heavily implied the entire incident was made up.

In the end, while suspects were identified and an 18-year-old initially admitted to yelling the N-word and sexual remarks at some of the team members, prosecutors stated that some of the details Moyer reported didn’t match the evidence. Prosecutors characterized the conduct as “grotesque,” but declined to file charges, arguing that his conduct was protected by the First Amendment.

Pac-12 shakeups continue

It’s been another difficult year for what’s left of the Pac-12, and while there are a few silver linings, they’ve often been overshadowed by dark clouds.

Oregon State and Washington State were the only member schools who did not move to a different conference, and those that left have been only partially replaced by the new additions of Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State, Fresno State, Utah State and Gonzaga.

Washington State University specifically has been hit hard by events this year as much of its top talent has departed, including former athletic director Pat Chun’s defection to the former Pac-12 member University of Washington and Wake Forest’s poaching of Coach Jake Dickert. University president Kirk Schulz is also set to retire this coming summer.

Icons burn

The region may have escaped the kind of devastating wildfires that ripped through Spokane County last year, but there were still smaller fires that destroyed several iconic pillars of their respective communities.

The Big Eddy, a remote inn and restaurant along the St. Joe River popular with summer recreationists, was destroyed by a fire in May. In July, a suspected arson leveled the Sandpoint Army Surplus store. And in September fire razed the Wolf Lodge Inn Steakhouse, long a staple of the Coeur d’Alene area, in the middle of Labor Day.