Bloglander

It's Stephen Colbert's first week as the host of Late Night, and early reviews are overwhelmingly positive, citing his brand of humor and intellect. Last night's show featured a candid, teary-eyed Joe Biden talking about his late son Beau, things his mom used to say and whether he has the fight left in him for a presidential run. Watch the two-part interview below.

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Gov. Butch Otter’s veto of a bill that would outlaw “historic horse racing machines” didn’t stick, the state Supreme Court has ruled. (Inlander)

In Pasco, a teacher’s strike is running into its second week. (Northwest News Network)

Spokane has seen a record number of heroin deaths. (KREM)

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Americans remember the 9/11 terrorist attacks today. (CNN)

California is gearing up to get pummeled by rain from an El Nino weather pattern. (New York Times)

In Hungary, a camera operator has apologized for kicking a refugee. (Guardian)

Spokane has been in the spotlight quite a bit this summer, for both the good and the bad, and the in-between. And in another turn of events, the Lilac City has been discovered to have served as the setting for a Spokane-made but not a Spokane-set moment tied to a very undead show being filmed here over the past year.

Last month during his visit to the World Science Fiction Convention/Worldcon/Sasquan here in Spokane, it appears A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin took some time out of his schedule to film a cameo appearance for Z Nation, Syfy Channel's zombie apocalypse series that has so far filmed two seasons in and around Spokane. 

According to Entertainment Weekly, Mr. Martin's second season cameo appears in episode eight, and as photo evidence below clearly shows, GRRM is on team zombie. He also gets punny with the "title" of his book in the show, playing off what's expected to be the title for ASOIAF's forthcoming seventh book. (Remember, we're still waiting for book No. 6, The Winds of Winter.)

Z Nation's second season premieres tomorrow night (Friday, Sept. 11) at 10 pm, and local fans can catch a special big-screen showing of the first episode at the Garland Theater, as part of a benefit for KYRS radio station hosted by the Spokane Film Project.

Last Wednesday, Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich called a press conference to address a petition that called for an “independently-appointed law enforcement oversight commission.”

A year ago, before his re-election, he was supportive of the idea, even looking to hire Tim Burns, the outgoing city of Spokane police ombudsman. “We've used the ombudsman over the past four years about four times for some high profile cases. It's time to formalize that arrangement, because they've done it for free for us,” he said in a KXLY story. “What I'm looking for [is] that third eye, if you will, to come in, review, make sure that everything was done correctly.”

But now, with months of problems with the citizen commission overseeing the ombudsman, and no current ombudsman, Knezovich says the ground has shifted. He dismissed the petition as political, and argued the sheriff’s Citizens Advisory Board, which has been weighing in on issues for 14 years, is the ideal independent oversight tool for the office. 

I took that question up in a story this week. But to do that, I needed to first figure out a simple question: Who’s on the Citizens Advisory Board, anyway?
“Citizens. Everyday walkabout citizens,” Knezovich said. “If you do a public records request, we’ll give you those names.”

An Inlander records request yielded 19 names, and we attempted to contact all of them. I’ve spoken with all of them but Vijaya Pavani, Mehrdad Samadi, Larry Marlett, Carol Lee Crockett and Geoffrey Palachuk. With some, I just got who they are and why they joined, but with others, I had multiple extensive conversations. And one of the first members ever appointed, John F. Bergman, Jr., tells me he’s announcing his resignation because what he sees as the recent politicization of the board. 

The debate about the board centers on how they were appointed, the degree to which they were “cherry picked,” the board’s ideological diversity and how much tough scrutiny they’ve used to examine the sheriff’s department. Read and decide for yourself.

This year, the Idaho legislature overwhelmingly voted to undo its decision to legalize gambling machines called "instant racing" and "historic horse racing machines."

Then Gov. Butch Otter vetoed it, and now Idaho's Supreme Court has ordered the Idaho Secretary of State to find the veto invalid and put the bill into law. 

The machines were sold to the legislature as a way for racetracks to bring in extra money by allowing bettors to wager on races that happened in the past. Technically, the machines did do that. But the machines appeared far closer to slot machines, full of spinning reels, cherries, treasure chests and flashing lights, and the horse race aspect was almost obscured entirely. 

But Otter, a rancher who'd raked in $92,000 in campaign donations from instant racing machine operators, vetoed the legislature's attempt to undo the law, arguing that "a precious part of Western culture is at stake." Without the revenue the racing machines brought to the table, horse racing in Idaho was in jeopardy. 

Turns out there was a technicality. The Idaho State Constitution has a rule that requires a veto be returned to the legislature within five days (not counting Sundays) of a decision. And by the time the legislature had received the veto, after Easter Weekend, five days had already passed. The Couer d'Alene Tribe, which has its own complicated gaming pact with the state, sued to try to force the Secretary of State to certify the bill.

After more than a month of construction, 43rd Avenue reopened on Tuesday, and will be "officially" reopened by Mayor David Condon after a media briefing at Rocket Market tonight.

The construction included installation of a 200,000-gallon sewer overflow, new pavement, bike lanes, sidewalks and a pedestrian crossing island near Hatch Street and Rocket Market. The changes were much needed, and will result in higher safety and fewer traffic issues, according to the city.

Following the official opening, Rocket Market will throw a block party including local food, beer, wine and music, with all proceeds benefitting Veteran Community Response, an organization that provides relief and financial help to fire victims and veterans in need in the Inland Northwest. Live music will be provided by Nicole Lewis with local guitar legend Joe Brasch, Spokane band Sidhe, consisting of brothers Michael and Kelleran Millham, and Tommy G.

Rocket Market certainly has much to celebrate, as the road closure dealt quite a blow to their business. According to Rocket Market Manager Alan Shepherd, the closure was “the most challenging thing the market has faced in 16 years of business." That said, Shepherd insisted that the city did everything it could to make it easier for Rocket Market, even including the local business in the design process of the new intersection.

Rocket Market is located at 726 E 43rd Ave. Admission is free and open to the public, and the festivities start at 6 pm. Thursday, Sept. 10. 

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The three Pasco police officers who shot Antonio Zambrano-Montes will not face charges. (Inlander)

Pullman police have confirmed that an object was thrown into a local Planned Parenthood shortly before a fire broke out there. (KXLY)

The U.S. Geological Survey is conducting a study of local waterways to see if they can serve as a model for how streams will respond to climate change. (CDA Press)

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Scientists say they’ve found the remnants of a previously unknown and now extinct species of humans. (Guardian)

The U.S. Justice Department says it will begin prioritizing the prosecution of employees of Wall Street firms that break the law. (New York Times)

Bernie Sanders, a U.S. senator and presidential contender, is running even with Hillary Clinton in the early nominating state of Iowa for the first time, according to a new poll. (CNN)

Three police officers will not face charges in the shooting death of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, who was shot at 17 times, Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant announced during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

Sant's decision comes seven months after three Pasco officers shot the 35-year-old Zambrano-Montes for throwing rocks at them. One of the officers, Ryan Flanagan, has resigned. The other two, Adam Wright and Adrian Alaniz, remain on the force. Sant has made all investigative materials public.

The shooting was captured on cell phone video and sparked protests in the town that's 56 percent Latino; 14 of the 68 Pasco police officers are Hispanic. 

Toxicology tested showed the Mexican national was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the shooting. He had been living in the area for more than a decade, according to new reports. 

"His claim that there is insufficient evidence to establish any crime beyond a reasonable doubt is a pretext for his decision to protect law enforcement from the very beginning of this case," the attorney for Zambrano-Montes' family said in a release. "We are not surprised by this decision but disgusted and disappointed." 

The family has filed a multimillion dollar federal lawsuit against the officers, the police department and the City of Pasco. 

Here is a video of the shooting: 

Here's the lawsuit filed in federal court: 

Zambrano-Montes federal lawsuit

UPDATE: Tonight's OPO Commission meeting has been canceled because notice of the special session was not posted at least 24 hours prior, as required by law. The commission was set to make a hiring decision this evening. Commission chair Deb Conklin says the commission submitted an agenda and notice of the meeting to the City Clerk's Office Monday, but the clerk never posted it.

Our original story continues below: 

Each of the three candidates for Spokane's police ombudsman come with baggage that has raised serious concerns.

Critics point to the selection process and more specifically the selection committee as the source of those concerns. The committee members are Spokane Police Capt. Brad Arleth, who represents the lieutenants and captains' union; John Griffin, who represents the police union; City Attorney Nancy Isserlis; and Jan Dobbs, the CEO of Frontier Behavior Health, who helps train police officers.

It turns out, the process was much different the first time the city hired an ombudsman.

George Critchlow, a Gonzaga University law professor, was one member of the board responsible for vetting possible candidates back in 2009. He says board members traveled throughout the country to meet the top picks and check their references. Critchlow went to California to meet with Tim Burns, who was eventually hired. He says he spent two days in Visalia, California, speaking with Burns and investigating his reputation. 

"It was basically a background check to determine his reputation, his competency, his relationship with people, his style of problem-solving and his propensity to be fair and do the job we were interested in hiring him for," Critchlow says. 

That meant contacting references Burns provided, but also included cold calls to people he didn't offer up. 

This time around, the selection committee only contacted references provided by applicants and didn't make any investigative trips. 

"The selection committee tried to balance the desire to be thorough with quickness and efficiency," Coddington says. "The expectation was that the ombudsman commission would do its own due diligence." 

Not long after the selection committee sent three names to the OPO Commission did concerns about the candidates' baggage surface, asking the question: Did anyone even Google these guys?

Allen Huggins has been critical of the Black Lives Matter movement and protests in Baltimore in comments on the Wall Street Journal website. Speakers at a community forum last week said those comments should disqualify him from the job. 

Robert Breeden retired from his previous position as assistant special agent in charge of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in Miami after an investigation found he violated policies and created a hostile work environment. Breeden also filed a whistleblower lawsuit against FDLE in May that's still pending. 

Raheel Humayun is currently an investigator for British Columbia's Office of the Ombudsperson and would require a work visa, which could take months — a logistic that could thwart his chances of getting the job despite his qualifications. 

Of the three, Humayun is the only one who has not been a cop. 

Coddington says the selection committee did an online search, but he is not aware of the results. He notes that Breeden self-disclosed the lawsuit and circumstances of his departure in Florida. 

"What I find concerning is we're talking about hiring an ombudsperson, someone whose job it is to bring transparency, make recommendations on policies and procedures," says Deb Conklin, acting chair of the OPO Commission. "This job is all about public trust and transparency with the public. Up until the referral of those three names it was all done totally in private. There's a deep irony in that."

She's referring to the fact that the five-member selection committee met in executive session, rather than open public meetings, when discussing candidates' qualifications. The Open Public Meetings Act allows closed meetings for discussions about job applicants for public positions, but there is nothing in the law that says those meetings must be closed to the public.  

Coddington says the executive sessions were intended to protect the 41 applicants, most of whom had other jobs while they were applying. However, after the selection committee announced in May that they'd whittled the pool down to 13, they continued to meet in private. 

"Given the discussions that were happening during the interview process, the committee took the actions they felt were necessary," Coddington says, adding, "They followed a process they felt was going to balance being thorough with being quick and efficient to select the best three candidates." 

Conklin says the selection process has been totally inadequate and points to one applicant she believes the search committee overlooked. 

Andrea Brenneke is a Seattle attorney with a lot of experience in mitigating community and police relationships, yet she didn't make the list of 13. One example of her expertise on the issue is her work implementing a restorative justice circle after a Seattle Police officer fatally shot a First Nations woodcarver.

The conflict resolution method is designed to address issues that can fall through the cracks of the criminal justice system — such as relationships between police and minority communities.  

"It's more of a healing approach," Brenneke told the Inlander in June. "People are using restorative practices to engage conflict in a different way that doesn't look at what was done wrong and who is to blame, but is best served by coming together in a dialogue where we explore the impact and harms and what are the interests and needs of people in that group." 

She adds that restorative justice is not always the answer. Some issues need to be worked out in court. 

"I find it unacceptable that after seven months, we end up with these three candidates with serious unanswered questions and someone who looks like a very attractive candidate doesn't even make it to live interviews with the search committee," Conklin says. "Someone needs to explain how we got here." 

Nancy Isserlis, the chair of the selection committee, has not responded to multiple phone calls and emails. We'll update this post when she gets back to us. 

Tonight, the OPO Commission will meet at 5:30 in the City Council chambers to make a decision. They will either hire one of the three or tell the selection committee to give them three new names. 

"At this point, I honestly can't tell you what the decision will be," Conklin says. 

Remember when downtown Spokane was sporadically shut down for more than a week and people were kinda pissed about that, but then they learned that the closures were because Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were shooting a music video and weren't so pissed anymore?

Well, then the video came out a couple weeks ago and it was a goofy, '70s throwback mishmash of delightful nonsense that made downtown Spokane look pretty sweet.

Now you can take a look at some behind-the-scenes photos by Seattle photographer Zoe Rain around Spokane that just appeared in Vanity Fair. Oh, and be warned, the shots of Macklemore with his new baby daughter are pretty damn adorable.

Here's the link to the slideshow.