Friday, January 19, 2018

Posted By on Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 4:41 PM

click to enlarge Here's the Cathy McMorris Rodgers message that won't get played at the Spokane Women's March
The video you won't see at the Spokane Women's #Persistence March on Sunday.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers will not, it turns out, be delivering a video message to the assembled throng of the Spokane Women's #Persistence March this Sunday.

Yes, march organizer Cynthia Hamilton had reached out to Cathy McMorris Rodgers' office a few weeks ago, asking if they'd be willing to participate. She told the Spokesman-Review this morning that McMorris Rodgers would be speaking to the marchers by pre-recorded video.

A number of local progressives, already upset that McMorris Rodgers spoke at the Martin Luther King Jr. rally, were flummoxed by the decision to feature a Republican House leader speaking at an event that had been created, in part, to protest the Republican president.

But this afternoon, McMorris Rodgers team explained the women's march wouldn't allow them to play the video after all.

"Since she can't be there in person, they won't be able to play the video," McMorris Rodgers spokesman Jared Powell says. "I think they had a prior guideline on that that we weren't made aware of."

McMorris Rodgers wasn't able to attend in person, Powell says, because of a prior obligation and because "the government funding situation is currently up in the air, obviously," Powell says.

We've uploaded the video here instead:


On the video, McMorris Rodgers' smiles broadly, her voice cheery and enthusiastic as she describes the gains that women have made recently.

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Posted By on Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 12:42 PM

click to enlarge Independent House candidate Eric Agnew on his plea for moderation — and why he voted for Hillary
Daniel Walters photo
Independent candidate for the Fifth District Eric Agnew is still a little uncomfortable having his name on a big button on his chest

It's a bad time to be a moderate. The difference between the Republican and Democratic parties has diverged ever more sharply. Both parties have been playing to their furious bases.

In most districts, you're more likely to lose a primary by being too moderate than to win crossover votes to succeed in a general election. It seems like nobody, these days, is clamoring for Kumbaya.

Except, perhaps, for Eric Agnew, third-party candidate running against Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Democrat Lisa Brown for Washington state's 5th District House seat. He hates that things have gotten this way.

At a small gathering at Perry Street Brewing Wednesday night, Agnew, a 39-year-old manager at Itron, takes a defiant stand in favor of moderation. And he does it with a little object lesson.

He holds up red and blue strips of cloth tied together, asking volunteers to pull back and forth, showing how the slight shifts in power allow either red or blue to dominate completely.

"It's just this, playing out every day," Agnew says. "People are fed up. They're saying, I don't want to play this extremist game anymore."

Republicans dominate. Democrats dominate. Back and forth.

"Every day for months, I was so frustrated with this tug of war. I felt helpless," Agnew says. "It was always going to be this way. Then I realized, that if you just changed the game..."

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Posted By on Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 10:44 AM

click to enlarge CONCERT REVIEW: Night Ranger's pleasingly predictable night at Northern Quest
Dan Nailen
Night Ranger's Jack Blades


You don't go into a Night Ranger show expecting a lot of surprises. The band hits the stage with a deep catalog of hits at their disposal, and that's what they deliver, with few new tunes or unusual choices mixed in. The Bay Area rockers are the very definition of meat-and-potatoes American rock — hard enough to appeal to the "rock dudes," poppy enough to soundtrack decades of high-school reunion slow dances.

While predictability might be a detriment for many music experiences, it's a highly valued commodity among the so-called "legacy acts" still on the road. Nothing is more frustrating for fans than going to see a long-time favorite and the singer can no longer, you know, sing. Or for fans to show up and the only recognizable member of the band is the bass player (no offense, bass folks).

Night Ranger is pretty high-quality when it comes to these kind of gigs. I've seen them twice in my life, both long after their '80s MTV- and radio airwave-hogging heyday. And both times they band's been rock solid.

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Posted By on Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 9:53 AM

click to enlarge Countdown to shutdown showdown, Straub scandal resurrected and morning headlines
The threat of a government shutdown is a good reminder to make sure to save all your MS Word documents

ON INLANDER.COM

King's Speech
Controversial columnist/activist Shaun King spoke at WSU last night. Remember how the scandal surrounding former Inlander columnist Rachel Dolezal made her life hell?

IN OTHER NEWS...


The costs of secrecy
$56,000, so far. That's how much lawmakers have spent to protect their special exclusion from public record requests. (Seattle Times)

The Straub scandal, now in reruns

Joe Shogan has revived the Condon ethics complaint. (Spokesman-Review)

Like some big unpoppable bubble!
The housing market continues to be very tight into 2018. (Spokesman-Review)

Red hot John Kelly on Donald Trump action!
The conflict between Donald Trump and his chief of staff, John Kelly, heats up. (New York Times)

Shutdown showdown
Good news! The Washington Post has a red government shutdown counter, so you can watch a dysfunctional Washington put off an agreement until the very last minute. (Washington Post)

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Thursday, January 18, 2018

Posted By on Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 3:29 PM


Shaun King, a journalist, activist and leading commenter on politics and race in America, will speak tonight at 7 pm in Pullman as part of Washington State University's annual program celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.

King has gathered a huge following on Twitter and Facebook as a prominent speaker and writer involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, and regularly uses his platforms to draw attention to injustice, discrimination, police brutality, and to raise money for charity.

His speech tonight, "The New Civil Rights Movement," will be live-streamed, and anyone who can't make it to the speech on campus can register to watch the stream for free here.

Over his career, King has been lauded for his work, including helping uncover the identities of some white supremacists who beat a black man during the protests at Charlottesville last August, and covering Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri, with feverish detail.

King has also at times been at the center of controversy, as when conservative media outlets, including Breitbart, tried to question his ethnicity, which led many to draw comparisons to Spokane's Rachel Dolezal. King spoke out against the claims, sharing more about his family history, and many supporters saw the efforts to question King's race as an attempt to sideline BLM.

He's currently a columnist for The Intercept, which he joined last fall after coming off a stint as writer-in-residence at Harvard Law for the school's Fair Punishment Project, and before that he worked as senior justice writer at the New York Daily News.

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Posted By on Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 9:36 AM


ON INLANDER.COM

How many Spokane teenagers are having sex?
And what can we do to reduce the higher than average rate of teen pregnancy in Spokane?

'That is a tasty burger'
For the past two weeks, long suffering Inlander staffers have toiled to bring you the first ever Burger Issue. We rank our favorites, explore non-beef options and spotted some killer burger and a beer specials.


Don't argue with the judge
Rogers High School students will square off in a debate against two Spokane District Court judges.

IN OTHER NEWS

'Miss you Klink'
Washington State backup quarterback Tyler Hilinski was found dead in his Pullman apartment Tuesday of an apparent self-inflected gunshot wound. Current and former teammates, and others in the WSU community, took to social media to remember the 21-year-old. Members of the state House unanimously approved a bill Wednesday that would establish more resources for behavioral health and suicide prevention at Washington colleges. (Spokesman-Review)

Hilinski started WSU's bowl game against Michigan state (a 42-17 loss), and was the presumed starting QB next year. Police found a rifle and a suicide note near his body, and have been interviewing friends to find a motive. (Associated Press)

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Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Posted By on Wed, Jan 17, 2018 at 4:56 PM

click to enlarge Chef Tony Brown plans new downtown Spokane eatery to open spring 2018
Concept art for Disney's Sleeping Beauty by artist Eyvind Earle, the inspiration for Brown's new restaurant project.

Fans of Ruins (and its merged, former sister restaurant Stella’s Cafe) can rejoice over this bit of exclusive news: Ruins’ chef-owner Tony Brown recently signed a lease for his latest culinary creation, and has given us the scoop on what he’s currently planning.

To be located in an 1,800-square-foot space at 225 W. Riverside (the first floor of the Bickett building, recently renovated for second and third floor living units; also located across the street from Garageland bar and restaraunt), Brown’s vision for the space is “a more polished version of Ruins.” That translates to frequently changing menus and a “big” weekend brunch program, he says.

Planned hours are 11 am-9 pm Monday through Friday (and maybe a little later on Friday) and from 9 am-9 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Brown’s tentative name for the eatery is Eyvind, a nod to early Disney background artist/animator Eyvind Earle, whose elegant artistic style is perhaps most famously featured in Disney’s 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty.

Brown is anticipating an opening later this spring, in March or April, and construction on the space is set to begin soon.

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Posted By on Wed, Jan 17, 2018 at 4:49 PM


The Spokane Citizen Hall of Fame is looking for its next class of inductees. Nominations are open now through Feb. 6.

The fourth annual event will recognize six in categories including arts and letters, economic development and business, education, innovation and leadership, public service and philanthropy, and science, health and medicine.

Winners receive a big-o key to the city (the thing's like eight inches long) and finalists receive a city coin.

You can nominate the same person for more than one category, says Sarah Bain, director of development for the Spokane Public Library Foundation, but nominees cannot be current elected officials. Former elected officials  have to have been out of office for at least five years to qualify for a nomination.

click to enlarge Spokane's Citizen Hall of Fame nominations are open, and you're in charge (3)
Courtesy of the Spokane Public Library
Jeanne Ager, 2016 Public Service and Philanthropy inductee, with City Council President Ben Stuckart (left) and Mayor David Condon.

Finalists (three in each category) will be announced in March, Bain says. The winners will be announced during a breakfast May 1 in the downtown public library. Tickets are $50/each and will go on sale in February. The event is open to the public.

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Posted By on Wed, Jan 17, 2018 at 1:22 PM

click to enlarge FILM: What's opening in movie theaters this weekend
Phantom Thread

Oscar nominations are out next week, which means those last few awards season stragglers are finally hitting Spokane theaters. Oh, and a bunch of movies you'll never hear about again that are getting dumped by their studios into the wastelands of January.

Here's what's opening:

12 STRONG
A true story about the first Special Forces who were deployed to Afghanistan in the weeks following 9/11 and witnessed the escalation of the war in the Middle East. Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon and Michael Peña star. Rated R.

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (4 stars)
It's no secret I love this movie — I put it at No. 3 on my top 10 list — and I can't wait to see it again. Timothée Chalamet stars as a 17-year-old American spending a summer at his family’s Italian villa, where he becomes infatuated with his dad’s slightly older research assistant played by Armie Hammer. Rated R.

DEN OF THIEVES
A January release starring Gerard Butler that runs 140 minutes? This oughta be good. Here he’s an LAPD officer on the trail of an elusive group of bank robbers planning to knock over the Federal Reserve. Rated R.

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Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Posted By on Tue, Jan 16, 2018 at 2:22 PM

CONCERT ANNOUNCEMENT: Pennywise heading to Spokane for March 11 show
SoCal punks Pennywise headine The Knit March 11.

Cali punks Pennywise have spent the better part of three decades playing songs that touch on the political and social ills of society.

You think they'll have much to work with on their new tunes?

Actually, their latest collection is a set of old Pennywise songs originally penned in the late '80s when the band was getting its start. The group is re-recording the songs, most of them written by bassist Jason Thirsk who died in 1996, as a means of paying homage to their former bandmate and restarting Pennywise after a brief split with singer Jim Lindberg.

The Pennywise tour in support of the "new, old album" stops by The Knitting Factory in Spokane March 11. Tickets are $27.50 in advance, $30 day of show, and available through The Knit's website starting Friday at 10 am. Strung Out opens the show.

“Losing Jason was a terrible tragedy for all of us and he was such a big part of the Pennywise spirit, so us going back and recording these songs was a huge inspiration because it reminded of us of where we were when we started and why people responded to the band in such a powerful way,” Lindberg said about Yesterdays. “These songs are Pennywise in our purest form and it’s really as much of a gift to us as it is to our fans, many of whom have been waiting for real recordings of these tracks for years. It marks a new chapter for the band while still staying true to the way we started twenty-six years ago.”

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Moonshine: Artisan Night Market @ Commellini Estate

Wednesdays, 5:30-10 p.m. Continues through Aug. 27
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