Bloglander

Around Here

Appeals court won't hear Spokane photo tickets case (KXLY) 

CdA police crack major burglary ring (KXLY)

College music teacher tricked student into stripping (SR) 

Short sentence for WA woman who pimped minors (KREM) 

Out There

U.S. gains factory jobs - with lower wages (NYT)  

Occupy LA protesters build Rose Parade float (LA Times) 

Fire engulfs Russian nuclear sub (Guardian UK)  

Soon it will be free time

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The WSU men’s basketball team isn’t exactly picked to be a powerhouse this year, but they play in a powerhouse conference (the Pac-12, albeit in a bit of a rebuilding stretch) with deep rivalries and some interesting new players (Colorado and the usually basketball-strong Utah), which means their games tend to be electrifying, even when the team itself isn’t.

In a nod to Spokie fans, they open their Pac-12 season play at the Spokane Arena this weekend, hosting the Oregon Ducks on Thursday and the Oregon State Beavers Saturday. Both those teams are picked to land in the middle of the pack (WSU was near the bottom in pre-season polls), too, but all three clubs have had some good wins in pre-conference play. And, you know, even if the Cougs lose, you can at least say you saw Michelle Obama’s bro-bro. He’s the coach for Oregon State. Ballers run in the family.

Watch the Cougar men’s basketball take on Oregon on Dec. 29 at 6 pm and then against Oregon State on Dec. 31 at 3 pm at the Spokane Arena. Tickets: $15-$35 each game or $20-$60 for both

Round here

Pot wrapped as presents land dude in the clinker (CdA Press) 

Group to hand in petition to legalize pot in WA (KREM) 

Stuckart takes oath as Spokane City Councilperson (KXLY) 

Wherever

Can you cheat the 520 bridge toll? (Seattle Weekly) 

Romney and Santorum surge in Iowa polls (WashPo)

Who killed Homer? Oh, and the classics? (NY Review of Books) 

What beat?

A mysterious North Idaho house fire. An anti-tax lawyer hounded by the federal government for alleged tax fraud. An underground bunker with dozens of firearms. An adopted daughter from Kazakhstan who makes allegations of rape.

The story of David Jacquot fascinated me the moment I read of his mistrial on federal child-molestation charges in the Bonner County Daily Bee. For all the allegations made against him, Jacquot — our subject for the cover story of tomorrow’s edition — has yet to be convicted on either molestation or tax fraud charges.

If the allegations are true, Jacquot’s life story seems one of greed, lust, betrayal and lies. If false, Jacquot seems a man beset by his daughter’s betrayal and the misfortune of being targeted by the United States government.

What’s true? What isn’t? What do we know? What don’t we?

Why was David found 200 feet away from his house while it burned down with his wife and son inside? How did he receive the injuries that left him claiming to be unable to speak and having amnesia? Why was a single walkie-talkie and part of a handgun found outside a Quonset hut — which itself appeared to be smeared with blood — near the house? Will the Bonner County Attorney’s Office file charges once the federal charges are resolved? What do they know about the fire that wasn’t publicly released?

I got the sense while writing this story that some of these answers will never surface. Maybe Jacquot himself does not remember the fire. Maybe he does but will never talk. Maybe the strange details of the fire scene will linger on with speculators, suggesting scenarios that never were.

Regardless, the disintegration of a home — and the family inside it — are real enough.

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Slate.com published yesterday a story about Vachel Lindsay, who was one of America's most famous poets in the 1920s, when he lived in Spokane. He resided in the Davenport Hotel between 1924 and 1929 and, at some point in there, my old apartment building in Browne's Addition (at least according to a plaque on one of the exterior walls).

Lindsay's imaginative, lyrical poems made him a star (the poet T.R. Hummer reads two of them in the Slate story), but his "The Congo" also made him a racist, a fact that may have led to academics disowning him years later.

He committed suicide in 1931, drinking a bottle of lye.

Find out more about Lindsay (though not much about his life in Spokane) over at Slate.

OK. Not really. She's only losing part of her district.

A bipartisan plan on how to fit 10 congressional districts into our tiny state was unveiled today, and some big changes are in store for our congresswoman, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. As she faces re-election this year, she'll have less land to roam around in.

Here's what the state's districts have looked like for the past decade: 

Here's what they'll look like starting next year:

The reason for the change is the bump in population reflected in the recent Census. Most of the growth was on the West Side, which is the reason for that strange Eighth District crawling over the Cascades. (Spokane's City Council districts, and the boundaries for county commissioners, are also changing.)

It's unclear how the change will affect the voting patterns of McMorris Rodgers district, but a quick read could say the proportion of left-leaning voters might have increased a smidge. But given the congresswoman's blowout wins the last couple of cycles, she's probably safe. 

(Images from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer) 

Yesterday, we blogged about the wealth of Washington's Congressional delegation. U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican who represents Eastern Washington, is the second richest politician Washington state sends to Washington, D.C. 

We neglected to talk about Idaho's pols. Thankfully, Alternet put out a little story ranking the richest electeds in the nation's poorest districts. Idaho Sen. James Risch, a Republican, placed fifth.

Here's their write up: 

Sen. James E. Risch, Republican, Idaho

Risch was elected to replace the disgraced Senator Larry Craig (who was arrested for soliciting in an airport bathroom). He's the 16th richest member of Congress, with an average net worth of $54,088,026. A longtime politician and former Idaho governor, Risch apparently came to his wealth through his time as a lawyer. According to the Spokesman-Review, “Risch is well-known in Idaho as a self-made millionaire who built a fortune as one of the state’s most successful trial lawyers while also building a political career as a longtime state senator from Boise.”

Meanwhile, back in Idaho, 15.7 percent of the population are living in poverty, including 80,316 children. Thirty-two percent of the state's Native American population also fall beneath the poverty line. The median household income is only $43,490, and only 1.8 percent make more than $200,000. Ten percent of Idaho's civilian labor force is unemployed, and 12.5 percent were on food stamps at some point in the last year.

Wow: $54 million. Nice work, Mr. Richy Risch.

Each Wednesday on Bloglander, we give you a taste of happy hours going on at bars around town that night. (Read previous posts.)

Dewey's Burgers and Brew, in North Spokane, celebrates happy hour from 2-6 pm. Specials include: $.50 off domestic drafts, including Coors Light and Blue Moon, and $.50 off wells.

John's Alley, in Moscow, serves up happy hour from 2-7 pm. Specials include: $1.50 PBR and Rainier pints and $2.50 domestic pints.

Monterey Café, in downtown Spokane, serves up happy hour from 4-7 pm. Specials include: half priced appetizers and $1 off all drinks.

Rock Bar and Lounge, in Spokane Valley, celebrates happy hour from 4-6 pm. Specials include: any two domestics, including drafts, bottles or cans, for $3.

Most-Viewed Stories

1. Project Censored (Sept. 28) — The truthseekers at Sonoma State University dish on soldier deaths, prison companies, nuclear power and more.

2. Off the Bus (Nov. 2) — Three transexual Spokane teens are kicked off an STA bus for discussing sexuality. (STA apologizes after our story runs.)

3. Elkfest 2011 (June 1) — The starting lineup for the Browne's Addition party, which featured Crickets of Cascadia, Strength, Sallie Ford and more

4. Best of Food and Drink (March 23) — Our readers' picks for the best sushi, pizza, wings and everything else

5. Eating Cheap in the Inland Northwest (Jan. 26) — The scoop on 42 new eateries

Most-Viewed Blogs

1. Spokane River Bigfoot sighting (May 24) — Luke Baumgarten explores video of a local 'Squatch sighting

2. Sasquatch Line-Up Revealed (Feb. 7)

3. Empyrean is closing (Jan. 3) — One of Spokane's hardest-working local-music venues calls it quits

4. The problem with Fringe (May 4) — Daniel Walters gets critical

5. Rod Stewart's son playing for the Chiefs (Sept. 22) — How the hell did Liam Stewart end up in Spokane? (And does he know now the things that Rod knew when he was younger?)

Bonus

These three blogs from 2010 actually garnered more hits than many of our 2011 posts.

Ah, Hillyard (July 21, 2010) — In which I have a freaky bike accident in Hillyard, bad-mouth the neighborhood in frustration and never hear the end of it.

New Year's Resolutions for TV show writers (Dec. 29, 2010) — Daniel Walters, looking forward

Menu Porn: Sushi Maru (Dec. 12, 2010) — People were apparently really psyched about this place opening at RPS (or was it just the "porn" in the title?)

Around Town

Car drives into Spokane house (KXLY) 

Spokistan, er Spokane, has worst new jobs outlook in nation (KREM) 

Spokane rower one boat ride from the Olympics (SR) 

Out There

GOP dishes out the religious lingo in presidential race (NYT) 

Under Obama, a deadly drone network grows (WashPo) 

What's up with Sexonomics? (Chronicle of Higher Ed)

Hello