Thursday, July 27, 2017
As the summer days continue to burn bright and very hot, and your backyard or beach reading list continues to grow shorter, consider adding a book by Spokane-raised author Sarah Hulse to your list.
Hulse's debut novel Black River, published in 2015, has been chosen as the 2017 featured title for Everybody Reads, a community reading program that encourages residents across the Palouse and Snake River Valley to come together over a shared love of reading. Everybody Reads is very similar to Spokane's community reading program, Spokane is Reading, which hosts community events with each year's featured author in the fall.
For Everybody Reads, opportunities to meet and hear about Hulse's writing process are scheduled at venues in Pullman, Lewiston, Moscow and Nezperce, Idaho in early November.
A gritty and memorable debut, Black River tells the heart-wrenching story of 60-year-old Montana native Wes Carver as he deals with the fresh grief of his wife's death from cancer, and the long-lingering anger of being held hostage during a riot at the state prison where he worked as a corrections officer. The latter event, two decades prior to the book's present-day setting, left irreversible trauma on Carver's mind and body, and was inspired by true events of a Montana prison riot in 1959.
Hulse — who publishes as S.M. Hulse — is a Spokane native who currently teaches English at the University of Nevada, Reno. Black River was named a PEN/Hemingway Finalist and an American Library Association Notable Book.
Founded in 2001, Everybody Reads is now in its 17th year. Previous featured writers include Jess Walter, Chris Crutcher, Jim Lynch and Anthony Doerr.
Tags: Arts & Culture , Everybody Reads , Black River , Sarah Hulse , S.M. Hulse , Image
ON INLANDER.COM
NEWS: Fairchild Air Force base is a global force; nevertheless, some still worry about its future.
NEWS: Has the public been kept in the dark about major changes to the Riverfront Park renovation?
IN OTHER NEWS
Three sides to the story
Last week, we wrote about how KHQ failed to get all sides of the story when one of its reporters seemed to mock a homeless encampment and called city code enforcement on those living there. The Spokesman-Review reports that the homeless camp has now been cleaned out. The original version of the Spokesman story included KHQ's role in the controversy, along with the Inlander's coverage of it. Within hours, those sections were deleted. (Note: KHQ is owned by the Cowles Company, which also owns the Spokesman-Review).
Sold to a giant
Liberty Lake company Telect Inc., a telecommunications hardware company, was sold to Amphenol Corp, a much larger company based in Connecticut. Now known as Amphenol Telect, the company will keep its 230 employees in Liberty Lake. (Spokesman-Review)
Latah County homicide
New details have emerged in the death of Tim Reeves, the young man allegedly killed by Keagan Tennant, son of Pullman police commander Chris Tennant. Court documents say Reeves and Tennant were playing Russian roulette with guns when Tennant's rifle went off, shooting Reeves in the face. Tennant, 17, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and attempted murder, among other charges. (KREM)
Justice Department: Gay people aren't protected from discrimination
On the same day President Trump announced on Twitter that transgender people would be banned from the military, the Department of Justice filed court papers arguing that a major civil rights law does not protect from discrimination based on sexual orientation. (New York Times)
Tags: homeless camp , Fairchild , parks , Donald Trump , Latah County , Telect , News , Trump , Justice Depertment , discrimination , sexual orientation , Image
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
ON INLANDER.COM
Making policy by tweet
President Trump announced on Twitter early this morning that people who are transgendered will not be allowed to serve in any branch of the U.S. military, in any capacity. The decision reverses more than two years of Pentagon policy; an estimated 5,000 transgendered Americans serve in the active military or reserves. (via New York Times)
MUSIC: What do Tone Lōc, Lee Greenwood and Crystal Gayle, Silversun Pickups, Naughty by Nature, Vince Neil and Sarah Jarosz have in common? They're all playing in Spokane or Coeur d'Alene in September and October.
IN OTHER NEWS
School board member resigns
Paul Schneider, a Spokane School Board member elected in 2015, has resigned after allegedly hitting a cyclist, two street signs and a power pole while driving drunk on June 21. Schneider, a local high school teacher, had filed to run for state Senate in early June. (Spokesman-Review)
Fool me once...
Former Texas governor and current Energy Secretary Rick Perry is the latest victim of a pair of Russian pranksters, who successfully impersonated the Ukranian prime minister on a phone call lasting 22 minutes. Previously, they've fooled Sir Elton John and Sen. John McCain, among others. (Washington Post, Bloomberg News)
Try, try again
After the latest effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act was rejected last night, here's what's next in the Senate health care debate. Trump's latest Twitter target in the Senate? Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who's not having it. (The Hill, ABC News)
11 states sue EPA
Washington and Oregon are among 11 states suing the Environmental Protection Agency over its reversal of Obama-era safety rules pertaining to oil refineries and chemical plants. (KUOW)
No merit badge for oratory
The 29 most cringe-worthy lines from Trump's unprecedentedly political and partisan speech to more than 30,000 Boy Scouts at the 2017 National Scout Jamboree in West Virginia, and the thin line between openness and recklessness. (CNN, NPR)
A nation divided
A new national poll reveals a lot about America six months into Trump's presidency. (Gallup)
Football and brain injuries: another link
A study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association on the brains of 202 deceased football players, 111 of them NFL veterans, has bad news for current players regarding the degenerative brain disease known as CTE. (JAMA, New York Times)
Tags: Trump , tweet , transgender , U.S. military , Paul Schneider , resigns , school board , Rick Perry , pranked , Senate , health care , EPA , lawsuit , Boy Scouts , speech , poll , MFL , football , CTE , brain injuries , News , Image
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
The fall concert calendar is filling up with sounds spanning decades and musical styles, so you'll have to make some decisions on where to spend your hard-earned dollars. Here are a few of the shows announced in recent days:
SILVERSUN PICKUPS
The bombastic Los Angeles-based guitar-rockers are winding up the tour in support of their fourth album, Better Nature, but not before stopping at the Knitting Factory for a gig on Oct. 31. Minus The Bear joins them for the Halloween show. Tickets are $29.50, and go on sale Friday at 10 am.
SARAH JAROSZ
An Americana ace whose most recent album, Undercurrent, won this year's Grammy for Best Folk Album, Sarah Jarosz is coming to the Bartlett for a show on Saturday, Sept. 30. Tickets are $25 and on sale now, and this is one of those "don't-miss" shows for anyone into folk, bluegrass or just damn fine songcraft.
Tags: Music , Silversun Pickups , Knitting Factory , Sarah Jarosz , the Bartlett , Northern Quest , Lee Greenwood , Crystal Gayle , Naughty by Nature , Tone Lōc , Vince Neil , Image
ON INLANDER.COM
NEWS: A hearing is scheduled today in a Spokane Valley marijuana grow case that could send at least one man to prison for life.
NATION: President Donald Trump keeps attacking Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying Sessions has taken a "VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes." This comes a day after he called the AG "beleaguered" in a tweet. (via New York Times)
NATION: Senate Republicans are headed toward a vote today on health care, but nobody really knows exactly what they will be debating. (via New York Times)
IN OTHER NEWS
Justice served
Donna Perry, a transgender woman and convicted serial killer from Spokane, has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for three murders she committed in 1990 as Douglas Perry. (Spokesman-Review)
Wildfire season
The Bissell Fire in Stevens County has grown to 411 acres and is forcing people out of their homes. The fire, which started on Sunday, has forced a level three evacuation for everyone within a one-mile radius of 3987 Bissell Road in Gifford, near the Columbia River. (KXLY)
Rail measure goes to ballot
Spokane City Council voted last night 5-1 to put a proposal on the November ballot that, if passed, would fine coal and oil trains passing through downtown Spokane. (KREM)
Tags: Senate , Republicans , health care , Donna Derry , wildfires , Donald Tump , Jeff Sessions , News , coal trains , oil trains , Spokane City Council , Image
Monday, July 24, 2017
In a marijuana grow-operation case that could send at least one man to prison for life and others to prison for decades, attorneys continue to spar over the contents of federal drug enforcement reports summarizing "free talks" between prosecutors and four of the defendants.
Federal prosecutors acknowledge that the reports themselves were not previously turned over to the defense, but argue that the information contained in them is not new. Plus, United States Attorneys say in court documents, that information learned from free talks is generally not disclosed until "all efforts to resolve the case have been exhausted," if it's revealed at all.
Defense attorneys disagree.
"The defense understands the need to protect cooperating witnesses, but not at the expense of the constitutional rights of the defendants," federal defender Alison Guernsey argues in court documents. "If the government were truly concerned about balancing its obligations to cooperators and defendants alike, then it could have sought the Court's review of the free talk materials years ago."
Defense attorneys argue that the five-year-old reports should have been revealed years ago, and suggest that the government's failure to do so is a basis for dismissing the case altogether.
Tags: News , marijuana , Jerad Kynaston , medical marijuana , U.S. Attorney's Office , Alison Guernsey , Image
ON INLANDER.COM
NEWS: A human trafficking crime in San Antonio over the weekend has claimed the lives of at least nine people. A total of 39 people, suffering from heatstroke and dehydration, were packed into a tractor-trailer when it was discovered in a Walmart parking lot. The truck's driver was taken into custody and will be charged. (via New York Times)
NEWS: Spokane County Democrats face more PDC problems.
WHAT'S UP? This week's event highlights include concerts from Herb Alpert & Lani Hall at the Fox, Parker Millsap at the Bartlett, and the return of Unifest to downtown Spokane.
IN OTHER NEWS
Jared's talking
President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner denied colluding with Russian officials before a closed-door meeting with Senate investigators this morning. Kushner is a central piece of the Trump-Russia puzzle. (Washington Post)
No relief from fires
Multiple fires are burning in western Montana as Gov. Steve Bullock declared a state of emergency. The Lodgepole Complex, the state's largest fire, has burned about 226,000 acres and consumed a dozen homes in the northeastern part of the state. Closer to home, evacuations were ordered in Stevens County as a 200-acre wildfire burns near the town of Hunters. (The Missoulian, Montana Standard, Spokesman-Review)
No resolution in Olympia
Washington legislators have left the state capital without resolving a rural water-rights dispute or addressing a $4 billion construction budget. (The Olympian)
Phelps vs. shark? Not so much
U.S. Olympian Michael Phelps, a 23-time gold medalist, didn't actually race a great white shark last night; people who tuned into the Discovery Channel to watch the much-hyped spectacle aren't real happy about it. (New York Times)
Tags: San Antonio , human trafficking deaths , Spokane County Democrats , PDC , wildfires , Montana , Stevens County , Jared Kushner , Trump , Russians , Senate , Washington legislature , budget. Michael Phelps , great white shark , News , Image
Sunday, July 23, 2017
We're shutting down July with a week full of fun to be had throughout the Inland Northwest. You can find myriad options in our event listings and Staff Picks. Here are some highlights of the week ahead:
Monday, July 24
LIVE BANDS | Baby Bar hosts a packed night of righteous rock, featuring Casual Hex, Hyane, Peru Resh and Mala Vida.
OUTDOORS | Head to the Shadle Library for a Fly-Tying Basics class. It's never too late, nor to soon, in life to become a fisherman/fisherwoman.
Tuesday, July 25
FILM | The Garland Theater's Summer Camp series tonight features an underappreciated gem of the Tom Hanks canon, The 'Burbs. It's pretty weird, features Carrie Fisher and Bruce Dern (and the surviving Corey), and generates a few decent laughs. Here's the trailer:
Wednesday, July 26
THEATER | Spokane Valley Summer Theatre's production of The Secret Garden continues its run at Central Valley High School. Read our story about the show here.
Tags: What's Up? , Image , Video
Friday, July 21, 2017
If you're hiring an attorney to respond to a serious Public Disclosure Commission complaint, you probably can't do much better than Michael Connelly. He's not only an attorney, he's the former commissioner and chair of the PDC.
So when the Spokane County Democratic Party was facing an state attorney general investigation into months of late-reported, unreported and misreported Public Disclosure Commission reports, Connelly was exactly who they hired to review their response.
Now, another PDC complaint has accused the Spokane County Democrats of yet another PDC violation — for failing to report the money they paid or owed Connelly.
"I think it just annoyed me that they were not even trying to be in compliance, considering the fact they are in court with the AG right now," says complainant Glen Morgan, the Thurston County Republican responsible for a number of recent PDC complaints against Democrats. "It just confounds me."
Morgan writes in his complaint that the Spokane County Democrats hired Connelly to respond to his previous PDC complaint, and alleges that the Democrats have received bills from the attorney. But he says he can't find their evidence on the PDC filings. Morgan argues that the legal bills should have been recorded as payments, debt or an in-kind contribution.
"However, the [Spokane County Democrats have] chosen to violate the law instead, possibly and astoundingly in cooperation with a former PDC commissioner as legal counsel, who absolutely knows better than allowing his client to overtly violate the law like this," Morgan writes. "This specific violation of the statute is exceptional and unexplainable in this context."
But Andrew Biviano, chair of the Spokane County Democrats, said that shortly before the Inlander alerted him to the complaint last Friday, his team had already identified the error and amended their filings to include the money the Democrats owe Connelly. He says that, in fact, Connelly has not been advising or reviewing the PDC reports the Democrats have been submitting.
Tags: Public Disclosure Commission , Andrew Biviano , Glen Morgan , Michael Connelly , Spokane County Democrats , PDC , News , Image
ON INLANDER.COM
KHQ's anti-homeless patrol
The Inlander digs into a controversial KHQ segment where a reporter appears to make fun of a homeless camp without ever talking to the people who were living there. After the reporter called Spokane city code enforcement to complain about the camp, it was dismantled.
Apple care
How eating two cups of fruit and two to three cups of veggies a day can help keep the doctors away.
IN OTHER NEWS
Don't tell KHQ
More than 300 units of housing for the homeless are going up on Catholic Charities’ Sisters of the Holy Names property. (Spokesman-Review)
Want a horse?
Four horses recently rescued by SCRAPS are up for adoption. (KXLY)
Saturday Night Massacre fever
Just four of the stories involving President Trump that have broken in the past 24 hours: Trump's team has been investigating Special Counsel Robert Mueller, seeking ways to call his integrity into question. Trump's personal lawyer and his legal spokesman both resigned. Speculation is increasing about the idea that Trump is preparing to fire Mueller. Oh, and earlier this morning, White House Press Secretary/Melissa McCarthy impersonator Sean Spicer resigned as well. (The Atlantic, CBS News, Washington Post, New York Times)
Tags: morning headlines , News , KHQ , homeless , President Trump , Robert Mueller , Sean Spicer , Image
Moonshine: Artisan Night Market & Moonlit Movie @ Commellini Estate
Wednesdays, 5:30-10 p.m. Continues through Aug. 27
