Bloglander

HERE

New records detail alleged threat that ended former Assistant Chief Scott Stephens' career with the Spokane Police Department. (Inlander)

Roommate of Nine Mile murder suspect compares crime scene to "Breaking Bad." (KREM)

Regional developer Marshall Chesrown files $72 million bankruptcy. (S-R)

Cheney teen wins car, immediately hands keys to BFF. (KXLY)

THERE

U.S. Army downsizing Tacoma-area forces, dropping one Stryker Brigade as part of restructuring. (Seattle Times)

Snohomish County sheriff sergeant charged with protecting/promoting bikini coffee stand prostitution. (Q13)

ELSEWHERE

In a highly anticipated new decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act. Justices also opened the door for same-sex marriages in California. (WaPost)

More coverage of the Supreme Court decision. Because it's kind of a big deal. (NY Times)

Dramatic filibuster blocks wide-reaching anti-abortion bill in Texas Legislature. (Texas Tribune)

And Obama sings Daft Punk. Enjoy:

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Behind private prison walls in Boise, six gang members attacked eight inmates with a slew of makeshift weapons. One prisoner was stabbed 18 times. And that’s just one problem.

In a lawsuit against Corrections Corporation of America, the private company that runs a prison in Boise, Idaho, the eight prisoners claim that prison officials have lied about staffing hours, ceded control to prison gangs, and failed to protect inmates from gang assaults.

AP Boise reporter Rebecca Boone has been covering the problems with the private prisons for years. But recently, she learned that CCA’s defense attorneys brought a motion to seal most of the documents related to the case. Many documents, the attorneys argued, involved potential confidential information, some of which detailed security procedures.

“This is a company that is paid $29 million a year by the state of Idaho, by its taxpayers,” says Todd Dvorak, correspondent in charge of the AP Boise Office. “There’s a lot of responsibility to run their prisons. There’s a question, an issue of government accountability. Are we getting what we pay for. If not, why not?”

The AP didn’t want to take a risk that a crucial document wouldn’t be available to them. The AP gathered together 16 other media organizations, including the Spokesman-Review and the Coeur d’Alene Press, to file a legal challenge against the motion. Last year, with many of the same organizations, the AP successfully challenged Idaho’s limitations on reporters viewing executions.

The coalition hired the same attorney, Charles Brown of Lewiston, to challenge the court order being sealed. The Ninth Circuit requires balancing the need to keep documents sealed with the public interest, Brown argues, but the blanket order would be much too broad.

“We think that the court records should be open to the public and the news agencies. At its essence, this is a case about whether it’s safe for inmates in Idaho’s prisons, and whether that company is playing by the rules,” Dvorak says. “We take our job of doing accountability reporting very seriously.”

Construction on the McEuen Field Park is cramping downtown Coeur d’Alene’s style, especially when it comes to parking. But fear not, Lake City and your infinite number of confused tourists! The Downtown Association, Kootenai County, Citylink and the City of Coeur d’Alene have devised a solution: free shuttle bus.

Parking in downtown CDA has been limited since McEuen Park construction began in May, when it destroyed the popular Third Street parking lot and blocked street parking on Front Street. The new park will boast a two-story parking structure, but in the meantime, downtown patrons have been competing for street parking, crowding the library parking lot and otherwise trying to avoid paid lots.

Now the shuttle can take you to and from two free parking lots: one at City Hall and one at Memorial Field. Both lots will be flagged as free public parking.

The shuttle loops around downtown via Lakeside between City Hall and Memorial Field every day of the week. The loops are meant to take 20 minutes total, depending on traffic, both vehicular and human.

The first shuttle starts at 9:30 am and the last will turn in at 6:30 pm, every Monday through Saturday until September. The Sunday shuttle has limited hours of 11 am to 5 pm.

Here’s the route. 

Just when the weather started to rid our city from all of the happiness and cheer of the summer season, the music gods up above gave Spokane beautiful creations, news and happenings to be jolly about. 

Marshall McLean is working on a new album, with help from Caleb Ingersoll of Cathedral Pearls and Jamie Frost from The Makers, and from the fans who are actively feeding his Kickstarter campaign. As of today, he is at 29 percent of his goal of $4,000. All you cats out there, hop on the Marshall McLean bandwagon ASAP. He's opening for The Avett Brothers in August at the music festival in Sandpoint. This cat is going places. Go along for the ride.

Mrs. Ingersoll is also keeping busy. You most likely know her as one of the talented foursome behind Cathedral Pearls. In her spare time, Karli Ingersoll has been featuring other local groups via CollectSpokane on YouTube. The latest of these Collect Sessions was posted a few days back and features the band Mama Doll. Take a peak, fall in love and show your friends.

Next up is some great news for Folkinception. Thanks to over 100 people, their Kickstarter project has been funded, meaning they can finally record their first full-length album. We loved going to their shows and now in just a short amount of time we can carry their folk greatness where ever we go. Consider us excited.

And finally, we leave our dear local music fan with a joyous reminder. Terrible Buttons is releasing their album RUNT on July 12. Mark your calendar.

The people who say they're behind plans to build a walled city in the mountains of North Idaho where citizens will be armed with AR-15s sat down last week with everyone's favorite angry conservative, Glenn Beck.

"I feel foolish for saying this, but what are you afraid of?" Beck asked the creators of the Citadel, two people who plan to move into the complex and the president of the arms company the group says will fund the Citadel.

"We are not bound by anything except for Jefferson's definition of rightful liberty," idea-man Christian Kerodin tells Beck during his show on conservative network The Blaze. "It is a simple principle and boiled down it means we stay out of each other's business as long as we're not hurting anybody. That's the entire premise of being in the Citadel. It's the way that this country used to be. People minded their own business and they helped each other and it was a community. And I don't know about where most people live but I know that where I live that's not the reality today anymore. … This is our opportunity to choose our neighbors, to choose the kind of people we're going to live with."

We told you about the Citadel plans and how people in the sleepy nearby town of St. Maries were reacting back in February. Since, the group's gun manufacturer says he's been building rifles, but it's no clearer whether the walled compound will ever become a reality.

In the interview, the group talks religion, industry, Kerodin's sketchy background, and what would happen if Idaho outlawed guns (ha!).

The Citadel has also been linked with Beck's "Independence, USA" city idea (on Gawker and The Daily Show), so Beck also took this chance to talk about "my independence village, which is completely different. It's not a stronghold; it's not a shut-it-down. It is a place where people who are dreamers are free to go and create and people come in."

Despite an active blog and website with application forms, this is the first time the generally media-shy survivalist "patriots" behind the Citadel have done a major interview about their plans.

Afterward, organizers posted on the blog: "We feel that Mr. Beck gave us a fair shake and are excited about this opportunity. We talked about the same things that are on our blog and web site, but there is an interesting bit of new information for those who desparately want to label us as racist. See if you can spot it.  :-)"

Dramatic camera pans and a sharp-dressed Beck make the whole thing more fun. The full show requires a subscription, but here are two segments up on the site: 

At a press conference on Monday, an optimistic Gov. Jay Inslee insisted a bipartisan budget deal was on the horizon.

“This was a breakthrough moment that happened in the last few hours, that in my view was the key that can open this lock that has been separating the parties, and allow us to keep this ship of state afloat,” Inslee told reporters.

But by Tuesday morning, a budget deal failed to materialize. Sen. Andy Billig (D-Spokane) says the deadlock between the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democrat-run House has ended.

“What changed this week is it feels like both sides are moving toward a compromise,” he says. “It takes a long time to get 50 representatives, 25 senators and a governor to all agree on a package they feel is responsible...But deadlines are good motivators and we have a hard deadline at the end of the week.”

According to the Associated Press, negotiators in Olympia have agreed on “large components” of the new state budget and are now hammering out the details. But even after an agreement is reached, Rep. Marcus Riccelli (D-Spokane) says it takes at least 40 hours to draft and finalize a budget plan.

So what’s the holdup? And what happens if the Legislature misses its deadline, forcing a government shutdown? Here, The Inlander answers your pressing questions.

What’s keeping lawmakers from passing a budget?

The Legislature faces a twofold challenge: A projected $1 billion budget shortfall and a court order to fully fund basic education by 2018. In the 2012 McCleary case, the state Supreme Court ruled that Washington is failing its constitutional duty to amply fund basic education. To comply with the high court’s ruling, a legislative task force estimated that the government would need to pump $1.4 billion into public schools in the next biennium.

Negotiations stalled earlier in the second special session as Republicans demanded policy reforms and Democrats asked for new revenue streams through tax hikes.

Friction between the parties relaxed last week after the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council revised its latest forecast, projecting a combined increase in revenue for the current and next budget of more than $2 billion for 2013-15.

Senate leaders said they would let go of their policy bills so long as House members forgot about new revenue. House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan told the AP%uFFFD that Dems could work on a budget without any additional revenue this year.

Now it seems the two chambers are disagreeing on how and what to spend on basic education. The Senate reportedly wants to make a $1 billion down payment on K-12 schooling, while the House would rather spend less and save more for social services.

Has Washington ever missed the July 1 deadline?

No, but in 1991, lawmakers came close to shutdowning the government. That year, former Gov. Booth Gardner signed and filed a budget on June 30 at 11:58 p.m.

What happens if the government shuts down?

Roughly two-thirds of government agencies would cease or dramatically scale back operations. Twenty-five agencies would not be affected, including the Department of Transportation because its budget was passed earlier this year. Here are some examples of discontinued government services, according to a contingency plan prepared by the Office of Financial Management:

• Closure of state parks%uFFFD
• Suspension of state-only programs such as funding for senior citizens services, county community mental health, and individual and family services for the developmentally disabled
• %uFFFDLack of availability of State Need Grants for fall students at public and community colleges%uFFFD
• Suspension of new requests for GPS tracking information for sex offenders%uFFFD

Yesterday, state agencies began sending potential layoff notices to about 26,000 state workers in case there’s no deal at the end of the month. Inslee sent out a personal note, saying, “I know today will be difficult for many of you. Temporary layoff notices will begin being distributed this afternoon as required by law, and I know those notices will generate a high level of anxiety, uncertainty and frustration … I’m doing everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen — and if legislators send me an agreed-upon budget, it won’t.”

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“We’re in this for the long haul,” Worthy’s wife, Karen, said at the press conference, after joking about calling marriage counselors and divorce attorneys. The impact of a high-rise hotel on downtown Spokane, on Main Avenue, on Riverside, on the kinds of conventions that Spokane could draw to the convention center could be huge.

It seemed certain. It seemed solid. Groundbreaking was supposed to begin in the first quarter of 2013. But not only has ground not been broken, Worthy still hasn’t yet decided whether the hotel will be built at all.

“We’d prefer not to make a comment,” says Matt Jensen, marketing director for Worthy’s Davenport Hotel, said last week when asked about the proposed hotel and the future of Main Avenue. “We have still not made a complete decision about moving forward on that project.”

Jensen says Worthy is still asking companies to provide bids, and so is not sharing any details about his thought process.

In an encouraging sign this Monday, the Worthy Group signed a more detailed “letter of intent” outlining a proposed arrangement with the Spokane Public Facilities District if the Worthy Group were to purchase the land to build the hotel. Kevin Twohig, director of the district, says they had extended the Worthy Group's original letter of intent on two separate occasions. “We stayed in touch to them just to make sure the project wasn’t dead,” Twohig says. The District is extremely supportive of the project.

While the letter of intent still doesn’t mean the hotel will be built, Twohig says he expects a decision within the next 30 days. Jensen estimates it could be as long as two months.

According to today's Spokesman Review story on the letter of intent, "Worthy has held meetings this year with several hotel companiestrying to find the one to affiliate with for the project. Worthy has said the new hotel will succeed only by having a branded nationalcompany as a partner. But Worthy has yet to nail down a workable deal with a hotel group."

Today and yesterday, I shot Jensen a series of emails, asking if the search for a national partner was the only factor weighing on Worthy's decision, or if there were other issues. Did it have to do with finances? Did it depend on local or state-wide incentives? Were there conversations between Worthy and his wife over whether or not they want to invest the time and energy in creating a brand new hotel?

For now, however, Jensen wouldn't elaborate.

"There are several factors at stake in the final decision," he wrote. "As we stated before we prefer not to comment any further at this time."

And, on those unnamed factors, rests the future of the hotel and the future of downtown Spokane.

HERE

Spokane City Council approves smarter, creepier parking meters for downtown area. (KXLY) Our recent story on the efforts to make parking more efficient. (Inlander)

Colville murder suspect taken into custody over death of brother. (KHQ)

Coeur d'Alene schools considering more flexible weapons policy to avoid unnecessary punishment. (S-R)

THERE

News flash: Gallup poll says 7 out of 10 people hate their jobs. (NY Daily News)

But at least they still have jobs: 26,000 state workers facing layoffs after failed budget deal. (Seattle Times)

Judge smites lawsuit attempting to remove "Big Mountain Jesus" in Montana. (Missoulian)

ELSEWHERE

U.S. Supreme Court orders changes to key component of Voting Rights Act after review of data. (WaPost)

Russia declines to extradite NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden as he continues to seek asylum. (NY Times)

German man finally arrested for more than 700 road-rage shootings during five-year spree. (BBC)

WSDOT

Spokane's own Max J. Kuney Construction is in charge of getting the Skagit River Bridge back in business.

MJK was awarded the $6.87 million contract to make permanent repairs to the bridge, a high-traffic section of I-5 between Mount Vernon and Burlington that collapsed in May. It was one of four contractors to bid for the job.

"It's a challenging project, it's a fast project," says Max J. Kuney IV, president of MJK. "It's an exciting opportunity."

The job is currently in its design phase, and Kuney expects to start working on site in the next few weeks. The plan is to build the permanent replacement alongside the temporary repairs. Once the replacement is finished, the bridge will be closed to traffic, the temporary repairs removed and the replacement put in.

Gov. Jay Inslee aims to have the permanent replacement finished before Oct. 1, with the temporary bridge closure after Labor Day weekend. He estimates the damage to cost some $15 million.

The Skagit Bridge collapsed May 23 after a too-tall semi-truck clipped an overhead beam. A 160-foot stretch of the bridge gave in, dumping debris and traffic into the Skagit River below. Three people were rescued from the river with minimal injuries, and no fatalities were reported from the collapse, although Washington State Trooper Sean O'Connell died while directing traffic through the detour in the aftermath.

The bridge was closed and traffic was redirected to alternate routes throughout Skagit County for five weeks while temporary repairs were made. The temporarily repaired bridge opened to traffic June 19.

The bridge was built in 1955, a year before the interstate highway system was born. As a major route between Seattle and Vancouver, the bridge saw approximately 71,000 vehicles across the Skagit River each day. The 58-year-old bridge was classified as "functionally obsolete," meaning that it does the job but doesn't meet current standards for lane width and vertical clearance.

MJK is a local family-owned business that's been operating throughout the Northwest since 1930. The company has dabbled in a variety of construction projects, including building and highway construction, pile driving and bridge building and repair.

"We've kind of evolved through different kinds of construction," Kuney said. "Now bridges are our primary specialty."

Since 1989, MJK has taken on and completed more than a dozen bridge projects throughout the state and region.

So this isn't their first rodeo.

Working nights and weekends? Check. Standing out in the rain to cover some event? Check. Making an embarrassing mistake that manages to air and go viral? Yeah, this is exactly what print reporters’ nightmares are made of.

It’s with much sympathetic cringing that we must share with you the KHQ clip that’s going viral after mistakenly including some rather profane language from reporter Lindsay Nadrich as she reported from the Strawberry Festival — there are multiple instances of the one word we’re not allowed to print here at The Inlander, so it’s possibly NSFW depending on your workplace.

The station attributed the mistake to an editing error, since it wasn’t a live shot. Nadrich apologized. (Keith Olbermann even spoke up on Twitter in Nadrich’s defense.)

OK, we’re all going to go thank our editors now. And make sure they’ve had enough coffee today.