Bloglander

ON INLANDER.COM 

• This week's cover story explores issues facing transgender people in the midst of the latest American culture war. (Officials from 11 states have filed lawsuits challenging Obama's sweeping directive that all public schools allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity.) 

• Willie Nelson is working with one local weed grower to produce Willie's Reserve, his own brand of weed.

• Got warrants in the city? Get 'em taken care of June 9th, no questions asked. 

• Councilman Breean Beggs has answers, but will the city listen? 

IN OTHER NEWS: 

• An apparent murder-suicide on UCLA's campus yesterday left two dead. Police identified the shooter as Mainak Sarkar. The victim has been identified as UCLA engineering professor William Klung, who Sarkar accused of stealing his computer code and giving it to someone else, the LA Times reports. Additionally, a woman on a "kill list" in the suspected shooter's home was found dead in Minnesota, according to the Associated Press.

• Spokane gives the (third) most bang for your minimum wage buck, according to a new study. (Spokesman-Review)

• One man has been waiting on Rikers Island for six years to stand trial. Eighty-seven percent of Rikers' approximately 10,000 inmates have not yet been tried, according to a report from The Intercept.

• Spokane Valley City Council names six finalists to fill two vacant seats. They are: 

1. Jonathan "Caleb" Collier — letter carrier, precinct committee officer for the Republican Party. 

2. Pamela Joan Haley — Spokane business owner

3. Frank Edward Hutchison — owner of Hutchison Solutions

4. Michael J. Munch — president of Able Construction LLC, former treasurer of Stevens County Republican Party

5. Michelle René Rasmussen — director of parking and transportation at EWU. 

6. David Wiyrick — former Spokane County undersheriff, small-biz owner.