Bloglander

HERE

Detectives investigating body pulled from Spokane River near Gonzaga. (KXLY)

Dirty Shame Saloon goes up in flames in Nine Mile Falls. (KHQ)

Darn kids. Pullman-area minors now ordering fake IDs online from China, as explained by DJ Goldfinger. (Daily Evergreen)

The MarQuee Lounge in downtown plans to close its doors. (Inlander)%uFFFD

THERE

This week in brinkmanship: Washington lawmakers finally agree on budget, appear to avoid government shutdown. (Seattle Times)

Idaho introducing new stricter gun permits in hopes other states will honor the concealed carry license. (Idaho Statesman)

ELSEWHERE

This week's DOMA decision opens new pathway to citizenship for gay immigrants. (NY Times)

Newly discovered tomb provides insight into civilization before the Incas. (WaPost)

And enjoy these adorable red pandas (the most communist of pandas), straight from the Birmingham Zoo:

Have a good weekend. %uFFFD

After five years filling a unique niche in Spokane nightlife, the MarQuee Lounge is closing.

The club announced the news today, citing the end of the lease agreement. Earlier this year it was voted Best Dance Club by Inlander readers in the annual Best Of poll. Tonight is its last-ever Thursday night party.

Here's the full news release/obituary: 

In case you missed it, the writing of this week’s Food Blotter was interrupted by the surprise announcement that MarQuee Lounge is closing after this weekend. We’ve seen indications that both entrepreneurs behind the nightclub have some new projects in the works, so we’ll keep you updated on that.

For now, back to the regularly scheduled programming: 

The Bistro Box has arrived! A few weeks ago we told you about the beloved Renton-area food truck relocating to Spokane, and it apparently didn’t waste a single day in getting here. It’s licensed and ready to go for Hoopfest weekend, tentatively scheduled for a weekend debut on Main Avenue between Bernard and Washington.

click to enlarge

In print this week, we’ve got a full story about the exciting summer for Santé and an update on Luxe Coffee House.

Just less than a week ago, Patit Creek Cellars opened its new downtown Spokane tasting room on West Sprague across from the Davenport. The Walla Walla winery has a popular wine club and we’ve heard good things about the riesling and the cabernet sauvignon, but you’ll probably just need to taste everything they’ve got.

Last week we mentioned that a new Total Wine location was in the liquor licenses — sure enough, the next day they announced the new Spokane Valley store. We’ve still got some time to debate which is going direction, the drive way up North Division to the current store or the drive out the Valley, is going to be the less unbearable route to warehouse booze.

Finally, the locally owned Coeur d’Alene IHOP that got hit by a car in May is reopening, fully remodeled, at 6 am next Monday, July 1. The restaurant shut down for repairs after an intoxicated driver crashed into the south side of the building on May 19. Here’s the whole press release via the Spokesman’s Huckleberries blog.

Read previous food news here.

Three days before the end of a second special session, Washington lawmakers have agreed on a $33.6 billion operating budget for the next biennium. For real this time. 

Flanked by Republican and Democratic Senate and House leaders, Gov. Jay Inslee announced at a press conference late this morning that business as usual will go on next week. Dozens of state agencies won't close and thousands of public workers won't lose their jobs.

"Washington will be at work Monday," Inslee told reporters.

Inslee spokesman David Postman said negotiators hope to have a finalized budget for the governor to sign by 5 pm tomorrow.

“You'll see the big fat thing soon," Postman said.

Details on the new budget are sparse. According to a statement from Sen. Andy Hill, R-Redmond, the spending plan sets aside $1 billion for public schools and freezes college tuition. Negotiators also agreed to end an $85 million tax break on landline phone services. 

Lawmakers probably won't go home even after the budget passes, Postman said. The Legislature may still vote on a transportation package and new DUI laws before the special session ends.  

Spokane hoops fans will have their eyes on the draft board this evening as Gonzaga's own Kelly Olynyk, who announced this spring that he'd forego a redshirt senior season to play pro ball, waits to hear where he'll start his NBA career. NBADraft.net currently has him as the #17 pick and headed to Atlanta in their latest mock draft.

The draft begins tonight at 4:30 pm on ESPN. 

Earlier this week, Olynyk and his long, luscious Canadian hair, sat down with Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose of ESPN's Grantland.com for a "job interview." Check out the video and see how he did. Personally, I'd hire him, but we don't have much use for post moves and dunks in the newspaper business.

HERE

Holy hell. Hoopfest is coming. Grab your Air Jordans and get ready to hit the court. Here's a quick look behind the scenes. (KXLY)

Detectives search jail cell of murder suspect in West Central killing. (KREM)

After historic Supreme Court decision, same-sex couples still out of luck in Idaho. (S-R)

NEAR

Washington state Senate waters down aggressive new DUI law. (Seattle Times)

An in-depth look at the radical changes at the Oregonian newspaper in Portland and the future of print news. (Willamette Week)

ELSEWHERE

Texas executes 500th person since return of death penalty in 1982. (USA Today)

Zimmerman trial continues over controversial shooting of Trayvon Martin. (NY Times)

Hair style archeologist disputes widespread theories on ancient wigs. (WSJ)

Nelson Mandela shows improvement, daughter criticizes media. (BBC)

Young Kwak

One-way traffic on West Main Avenue.

In this week’s paper, we have a story about how city staff, several City Council members, local businesses, and the Downtown Spokane Partnership allsupport the idea of downtown’s Main Avenue becoming a two-way street again.

In researching the topic, however, I wanted to understand how downtown turned intoa mass of one-way couplets. If one-ways are bad for businesses and the downtown climate, why did Spokane create them in the first place?

I dove into Google Archives, through old issues of the Spokesman-Review andthe Spokane Chronicle.

This is what I found:

1950-1951: State highway officials insisted that Second and Third become one-way streets. City officials asked for more time, at least until freeways couldbe built at either end. But highway officials argued that the experience withone-ways in Olympia has been wonderful, and that the change increases trafficflow and decreases traffic accidents.

Most interestingly, they make the counter-intuitive argument that studiesshow an increase in business for retail stores after a one-way isinstalled on their street. A year before, Portland had installed40 miles of one-ways, with surprisingly successful results.

Part of the problem was that, with an interstate freeway more than a decadeoff, Second and Third served as the major arterials, and extensive traffic flowstudies showed that traffic on those two streets justcrawled along. If you were traveling from Coeur d’Alene and Spokane,traveling through Spokane was a slog.

1952: In an editorial, the Spokesman-Reviewpraised the Spokane City Council for the conversions of Post and Wall toone-ways. While the full conversion had yet to take effect, the paper saidthat “… the plans for this diversion and speedup appear to be well conceived andconducive to general public cooperation.”

Noting rush-hour congestion remains a serious problem, the paper says theconversion to Second and Third turned into major successes.

1956: Spokane drivers continue to struggle to comprehend the concept ofone-ways, but a police campaign against making improper turns off the streets reducesthe problem. 

1959: To remedy the traffic problems and hazards to pedestrians, Main Avenue, between Lincoln and Monroe, is changed to a westbound one-way.Ironically, today, Main Avenue stops being a one-way street at Lincoln.

1964: Frustration over downtown Spokane’s one-way grid came to a head. The city manager and Elmer Leland,the city traffic engineer, found themselves besieged by angry merchants at aChamber of Commerce meeting at the Davenport Hotel.

Today, River Park Square is a major force skeptical of changing back to atwo-way on Main, specifically worried it would drive away out-of-town customers.

But back in 1964, The Bon Marche (located where Macy’s is today at River ParkSquare) led the frustration to what had happened to out-of-town customersbecause of the one-ways. While residents eventually learned the flow of one-waytraffic, it remained confusing for visitors.

"Spokane, more than any other community of its size that I know of, isdependent on people from small towns in Montana and Idaho — but we're losingthis market," said Phillip Alexander, managing director of The Bon, “Ourcommunity will cease to exist if we continue to decentralize.”

In defense, Leland presented the best traffic modeling understanding at thetime, that the one-way system would make traffic move faster.

“I’m trying to move traffic more efficiently,” Leland said. Besides Leland,the lone voice of support for the one-way system came from the bus line owner,who said buses moved 27 percent faster under the new system.

1966: The Division Street Businessmen Association absolutelyfreaks out about the prospect of a section of North Division converting to aone-way. They call the plan “hogwash, window-dressing, and ridiculous.”Businesses and homeowners worry about the road will quickly become a “racetrack” and that the Division-Ruby couplet will quickly lead to aDivision-Lidgerwood couplet.

1967: With the new freeway viaduct scheduled two years away, the City Councilexamines a decision to convert Monroe and Lincoln to one-ways, leaving Riversidethe sole two-way street downtown.

1969: The I-90 freeway viaduct, between Pine and Maple, finally opens,forever altering downtown traffic patterns. From here on, it becomes difficultto separate the impact of a one-way street grid and the impact of the freeway.Could the freeway have solved the downtown congestion problem, even if downtownhad never converted to a one-way system? There’s no way to tell for sure.

Today, the North Spokane Corridor promises to have a big impact on north-south traffic, something traffic planners have to consider when examiningslow traffic along Division and Market.

1977: After Expo 74, a downtown revitalization plan supports retaining the one-way street system.

1985: City planning engineers, once again, explore turning Monroe and Lincoln into one-way streets north of the river to reduce North-South Trafficcongestion.

Today, state-of-the-art “smart” traffic signals can adapt to congestion and vehicular flow. Moving through multiple intersections isn’t as slow as it used to be. And newer cars have improved emissions systems. Cars idling at stop lights don’t spit out smog like they once did.

As the city looks at returning Main Avenue to a two-way street, in other words, it’s a much different world from the ’50s and ’60s.

There are some pretty smart cities on the Palouse, according to a new study that ranks cities by intelligence. Pullman came in No. 10 of 478 urban areas, and Moscow came in No. 29. (The combined Spokane-Spokane Valley, on the other hand, just barely made it into the top half, at No. 227.)

The whole thing is based on Lumosity games, which are described as workouts for your mind — they’re designed on the somewhat controversial notion that people can improve their intelligence through conditioning. Anyone who went online and played a certain number of games was geolocated by IP address and tallied in the group score, with a total sample size of more than 3 million users, the report says.

In some ways it’s not surprising to see Pullman and Moscow near the top — all the highest-ranked places are distinct college towns: Cornell, Penn State, Purdue, etc. They also tend to have large graduate student populations and an emphasis on engineering or high-tech industries.

An Atlantic post quotes a Lumosity data scientist explaining the college association this way:

“College towns tend to do well because education is correlated with cognitive performance. We've seen in our other research that those with advanced degrees tend to perform better cognitively throughout the lifespan.”

That post is written by well-known demographer and urban expert Richard Florida, which lends some credence to the study itself. Because it’s not totally clear who plays these games — are students playing these games for class? Is it just a fun thing to do after studying every night? Are some people trying harder than others? Are the people who are drawn to academia also drawn to little brain puzzles?

Lumosity actively promotes its games for use in elementary, middle and high schools, and with advertisements promoting the “amazing benefits of brain training.”

The company also did rankings last fall specifically for the smartest colleges. Spoiler: Neither Washington State nor University of Idaho are on that list.

But if the Lumosity rankings are not exactly consistent or transparent, it’s at least something new. The study makes a good point that we don’t have a very good system for measuring community intelligence — we mostly rely on “socioeconomic variables like income and education levels” that correlate with intelligence but don’t actually measure it. 

The real lesson here is that if you’re now thinking about checking out those games, and you're not sure if you'll score so well — don’t. We obviously can’t afford to have any newbies bringing down our collective score.

With WA Senate announcing a budget deal and House saying not yet, dysfunction has reached impressive new levels. #WALEG

— Peter Callaghan (@CallaghanPeter) June 26, 2013

Indeed. 

This morning, the state Senate's Republican caucus chair announced in an email that Senate leaders had agreed on a final budget plan with House Democrats, thus averting a drastic government shutdown next week. 

Uh, not so, tweeted Washington state Senate Dems minutes after Olympia reporters began spreading the news on Twitter. 

Sen. Andy Billig, D-Spokane, confirmed to me that no final agreement had been reached. He says he predicts lawmakers will approve a budget deal sometime today, "but a couple of issues remain to be resolved." 

Colleagues,

I’m happy to inform you that this morning we have reached an agreement with Speaker Chopp and the House Democrats on an operating budget that will allow us to complete our work this second special session.

We conveyed to the Speaker our belief that, with it being day 15 of the second special session, time is of the essence, and that we can no longer afford to delay action if we hope to avoid a government shutdown. Families need to know that they can keep their 4th of July plans because parks will remain open. School districts need to plan their budgets. Mothers and fathers who work for the state need to be confident that they will receive their paychecks in two weeks to put food on the table for their children. And taxpayers have a right to know that the important services that they have paid for and depend on will be available to them.

This agreement will allow us to complete our work and provide the public with the certainty it deserves.

The Majority Coalition Caucus negotiators fought hard to prioritize funding for education and higher education, and the House Democrat negotiators fought equally hard for prioritizing spending on social-service programs. Neither side got everything it wanted (this is truly a compromise budget), but in the end I think we arrived at a balanced approach that everyone can live with and that brings us closer to the education-first budget many of us envisioned.

Thanks to all of you for your hard work and sacrifices over the last 6 months, and for the continued effort that will be required of you over the next few days. I especially appreciate the work each of you has done in your specific areas of the budget.

If you need to complete that work, please do so. Otherwise, please convene in the caucus room at 11:45am, so that we may brief you in greater detail on the specifics of the budget agreement.

As additional details emerge on the misconduct investigation against former Assistant Spokane Police Chief Scott Stephens, the department has denied reports its SWAT Team sold Stephens a used MP-5 submachine gun.  

Stephens reportedly told a co-worker he would "go home and get a rifle" on Dec. 19. He has since denied making any such alleged threat.

As word spread of the alleged comments, Craig Meidl, who replaced Stephens as assistant chief, voiced concern regarding Stephens access to several personal firearms. Written statements from police officials detail intense debate about how dangerous Stephens might be and whether they should confiscate his weapons.

"[Stephens] owns several guns (he recently bought a used MP-5 from the Spokane Police SWAT Team)," Meidl's statement says.

SPD spokeswoman Monique Cotton issued a statement this morning disputing Meidl's assertion.

"Former Assistant Chief Stephens did not purchase any firearms from the Spokane Police Department," she wrote. "Police officers, like any member of the community, can privately purchase firearms in accordance with state and federal firearm regulations."

Cotton notes Stephens was allowed to keep his duty sidearm, a .40-caliber Glock, upon his retirement in April. She states the department has traditionally allowed retiring officers to keep their sidearms with the approval of the police chief.

Today's SPD statement does not clear up whether Stephens actually owns an MP-5. The SWAT Team uses fully automatic MP-5s, which would typically require a federal firearms license to legal possess.

Stephens' attorney, Bob Dunn, has strongly condemned the allegations against his client, saying Stephens unequivocally denies the department's version of what happened.

"They're all bullshit," Dunn says of the allegations.

The records include many alarmed statements from the SPD command staff regarding Stephens' perceived mental state in the hours after his disputed comments and whether they could ever comfortably work with him again.

"Chief [Frank] Straub and I discussed whether we should send officers to [Stephens'] residence to retrieve his weapons," Meidl wrote, adding, "It was decided the best course of action, and safest for officers, would be to wait until the morning to address this issue with [Stephens]."

Newly promoted Commanders Brad Arleth and Joe Walker both reportedly stated they would have trouble working with Stephens in the future, according to Meidl's statement. Walker reportedly stated he was "not going to let this go."

One SPD official reported his wife was so upset by the alleged threat that she had their children stay at another person's house the next day so they would not be home alone while she ran errands.

The following day, Straub and Meidl confronted Stephens about the reported comments. Meidl reports Stephens denied the statements, but later allowed he "may have" made similar comments while stressing he had no intention of carrying out any threat.

Straub then placed Stephens on administrative leave and ordered him to surrender his badge and sidearm while an internal investigation was conducted.

"Chief Straub had [Stephens] remove his holster with the firearm in it," Meidl notes — an apparent safety precaution.

Dunn argues Stephens has not had an opportunity to challenge the statements included in the investigative records. The attorney called the release of the officers' statements a breach of the city's settlement with Stephens. 

The full statements from Officer Jennifer DeRuwe, Capt. David Richards and Assistant Chief Craig Meidl — as well as the final investigative report from retired Judge Michael Hogan — can be read below:

Spokane Police Stephens Statements