Bloglander

Lisa Waananen

There are new plans for the spot that was Berg's Shoes for many decades.

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In August, Berg’s Shoes in downtown Spokane closed after more than 70 years in the same location on Sprague Avenue across from the Davenport. The shelves were emptied, and the shop looked vacant for the past couple of months.

Now there are signs of what’s to come papered across with the windows. Spokane architecture and design firm HDG, which designed neighboring Fire Artisan Pizza and moved into new digs earlier this year, is planning to open a restaurant called NUDO. The new branding indicates it will be a soba noodle shop.

HDG posted a photo on Facebook today with the comment: “We are bringing a little funk that will go well with our neighbor, Fire Artisan Pizza!! BOOM”

HERE

Spokane Sheriff Knezovich says several deputies applying for better paying jobs at Spokane Police Department. (KREM) The Sheriff's Office also filed an unfair labor complaint against its deputy union as it prepares for arbitration. (S-R)

Spokane also closing visitor center because it's too hard to get to from Interstate 90. (S-R)

Three injured after truck crashes into home in Coeur d'Alene. (KHQ)

THERE

Moses Lake carbon fiber plant key for BMW electric cars. (Seattle Times)

Deceased city councilman headed toward re-election in Aberdeen, Wash. (The Daily World)

ELSEWHERE

International man of whistle-blowing Edward Snowden apparently tricked co-workers with NSA into giving him their passwords. (Reuters)

Obama apologizes for canceled plans under Obamacare. (WaPost)

CBS apologizes for inaccurate Bengazi "60 Minutes" piece, saying reporters misled by source. (NY Times)

WinCo

The Coeur d’Alene WinCo opened today! The Boise-based, employee-owned chain opened a new store in California today, too. Stock up on bulk candy before all the little kids stick their hands in there.

The South Perry winter market begins today, across the street from the outdoor spot at Buddhio yoga studio.

This Saturday the downtown Sweet Frostings is celebrating its 2nd Anniversary with $1 cupcakes all day. Stop by and keep them company — all the other ground-level businesses in the Hutton Building have cleared out ahead of the STCU remodel.

Alberta Bake Shop opened on Tuesday, and you can read more about it in this week’s Entree newsletter. There’s also more on the Trickster’s expansion and Mad Bomber Brewing opening.

Coffee equipment worth $10,000 was stolen from a closed-up espresso stand in Hayden last week.

Chef Bob Rogers, who’s been the chef at Masselow’s since it opened in 2009, has been promoted to the position of Executive Chef for all of Northern Quest Resort & Casino, overseeing its 14 bars and restaurants.

If you’re thinking about Startup Weekend, or needing an excuse to find out about it — Fire Artisan Pizza is donating a ton of pizza.

Paragon Brewing in Coeur d'Alene has been looking for a home for a while, and it sounds like they'll officially be moving into Sully's Irish Pub come spring.

The new Total Wine & More in Spokane Valley is planning on a Nov. 21 grand opening.

This isn’t local, but it’s a favorite of mine: The Lagunitas seasonal Brown Shugga is back at Rocket Market and Rocket Bakery on 1st.

Seasonal beer at Rocket Bakery

A number of restaurants are creatively using local beer in their food offerings, and Saranac Public House ups the ante this week with a dessert special featuring two local beers: a chocolate stout pudding made with No-Li Wrecking Ball Stout, garnished with a Laughing Dog Imperial Coffee Porter brown sugar cookie.

Finally, the annual Snowlander Expo is much better this year with the addition of the PowderKeg Brew Fest. There will be lots of beer and cider, and this week’s issue has a few to be excited about in particular, like the new Saison d'Froid from Ramblin' Road. Each brewery or cidery will have one or two offerings. To answer a reader question earlier, yes, Ninkasi will be pouring its Sleigh'r seasonal ale.

Some other locals: River City will be pouring its new Midnight Marmot Imperial Stout — but if you can’t wait for the Expo, they tapped the first keg Wednesday at the reopened Wild Dawgs, which we also featured this week. Orlison will have its dark Underground Stout Lager, and Hopped Up will have its Spruceter Winter Ale. Wallace Brewing will be bringing its 1910 Black Lager and winter seasonal.

Banana, an albino Burmese python, made an appearance at the Inlander office for a photo shoot. As the photo studio was prepared for her, she was given a little time to relax, attracting the attention of several Inlander staffers. Some took photos of her, while others also petted her. Look for Banana to appear in a future issue of the Inlander.

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Young Kwak

Banana rests before her photoshoot.

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Young Kwak

Inlander staffers pet Banana.

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Young Kwak

Banana rests before her photoshoot.

On this exceedingly wet day, we give pause to remember the best song about rain ever written, besides Hilary Duff’s “Come Clean”, of course. (Play video below and listen while scrolling through the page).

THURSDAY

Tonight, was supposed to be the start of the Bartlett’s grand opening weekend. But no matter, there’s much more music to be had.

In a last minute FREE show at Boots Bakery tonight at 7pm, the Feral Anthem (formerly Citizen Arms) is back in Spokane to lay some rock down on the scene. Jacob Jones, of Inlander newswriter fame, will open with his singer-songwriter tunes. It shouldn’t last later than 9:30 pm. Perfect for the old folks among us. 

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FRIDAY

In the beginning, Cloud Person was just one. Pete Jordan started the now-six-piece outfit as a solo project. But soon he needed a violin and standup bass to fill out his acoustic guitar sound, then drums and keys. The Seattle band’s sound reminds thoroughly of Neutral Milk Hotel. And, just like NMH was, and is, Jeff Mangum’s band, Cloud Person is Jordan’s project — as seen on the new album Monochrome Places that was entirely mixed, recorded and written by him. Basically, it’s his cloud, he’s just inviting others to come and sit on it with him. Friday, Cloud Person with & Yet, Strangled Darlings and Tyler Aker will take on Mootsy’s at 9 pm. Cost is $5.

Also note KYRS is celebrating 10 years on local radio waves with the help of Son Dulce. Tickets are $15-20 and kids under 12 are free. 

SATURDAY

“I’m with the banned.” Get it? Ha. This cleverly named show, which will begin as a conversation of censorship and punk music coinciding with the release of the 2013 Comic Book Legal Defense Fund's Liberty Annual at 7 pm, will be at Merlyn’s Saturday. After the panel discussion, rockers 66beat, Rice Queen and Bloody Gloves will take over.

AND:
The Bettys and Good Night Venues play Jones Radiator
The Bad Lovers (out of Austin), BBBBandits and DJ Case will be at Baby Bar

SATURDAY & SUNDAY

Spokane Community College is hosting the annual Fall Folk Festival. All sorts of folks are coming out for this one (went there, yes). The event features eight stages over two days. For anyone especially into bluegrass, this is the place for you.

Judges, justice advocates and convicted felons packed side-by-side Wednesday night to offer preliminary public feedback on a recently released draft report from the Spokane Regional Criminal Justice Commission on how to improve efficiency, cooperation and offender outcomes within local law enforcement, court and jail services.

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Jacob Jones

Advocates gathered Wednesday to comment on criminal justice reforms.

Dozens of attendees filled the courtroom at the Gonzaga Law School. Retired Judge James Murphy, who chairs the three-person commission, asked the audience to keep comments short and focused on specific recommendations from the 58-page report.

"This document is a draft," he said. "Your position is important to us."

With at least 43 specific proposals for reforming the local system, the commission's report (released Thursday) has proposed wide-ranging changes across a five-year timeline. The report praised some "pockets of excellence" within the system, but also called out some departments considered to be lagging behind.

"We've probably ingratiated ourselves to some people and we've probably really irritated other people," Murphy told the crowd. "We tried to be as forthright as we could be based on all the information that we gathered and we would welcome your comments."

More than 25 people stepped forward to offer comments, including public officials, activists and family members of offenders currently in the local criminal justice system. Many representatives from the Smart Justice Spokane campaign turned out to thank commissioners for the recommendations, which closely mirrored many Smart Justice priorities and proposals.

Many speakers emphasized the importance of developing a robust and fully funded network for diverting defendants with mental health issues out of the jail system. Offenders with drug and alcohol issues should also have programs that help the address their addictions. Other speakers stressed the importance of keeping families involved in the process.

Bart Haggin, a Smart Justice supporter, said punishment should not be the answer for every offender. He and others commended the commissioners for endorsing a system that would look at "whole people," assessing their needs and risks. They repeated the importance of focusing on "outcomes, not outputs."

"We're trying to do the right thing, not the cheapest thing," Haggin said.

The commission report targeted some of its strongest criticisms at the county's District Court, saying the court lacked cohesion and appeared resistant to reform. Judge Randy Brandt with the District Court disputed many of those conclusions, saying the court had introduced several innovations in recent years.

"We feel that the report is somewhat unbalanced," he said, noting the court agreed with many of the proposed goals in the report.

Brandt argued the District Court had led efforts to use alternative DUI monitoring programs and the use of electronic warrants. He said the District Court also introduced specialized therapeutic courts for veterans and defendants with mental health issues. 

"That is an unparalleled and substantial innovation," he said, adding, "These and many other innovations all reflect our attempts to reduce recidivism."

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Jacob Jones

Commissioners listen to public comment.

Dom Felix, a convicted felon who served five years for meth distribution, voiced strong support for the proposed expansion of the county's Adult Drug Court.

"It's really a no-brainer," he said.

At least two other self-identified felons stepped forward to describe their challenges with accessing services. They said they had struggled to get housing and education assistance. One man described his efforts to keep his newborn son.

Both stressed the importance of helping connect newly released felons with services that can provide guidance and structure upon reentry into society. They said such programs had helped turn their lives around.

Breean Beggs, a local attorney and justice advocate, voiced appreciation for the commission's "tremendous" efforts, saying the report offered an honest and clear assessment of Spokane's criminal justice challenges and the ambitious steps necessary to address them.

"I wanted to commend all three of you for your courage in speaking the truth," he told the commission, adding, "I think it's going to be that courage that gets us to the next step."

Beggs and other advocates pledged to support the commission's ongoing reform efforts, committing to a long and potentially difficult implementation process.

"We will stand with you to insist that the plan goes forward," he said.

Commission members Jim McDevitt and Phillip Wetzel recognized the hard work and dedication of many officials within the system. They noted they held 37 public meetings and interviewed more than 400 individuals for the report. They thanked the group for their input throughout the process.

"It was a whole lot harder and a whole lot more work than I thought it was going to be," Wetzel said, but also more interesting.

Murphy assured the crowd their comments would be considered for integration into the commission's final report. He promised that final report would be released by the end of the year. The commission received a standing ovation as they concluded their remarks.

"Here's hoping that we come up with a more efficient, economical and successful criminal justice system as a result of this project," Murphy said. "Thank you all very much."

The initial results on election night didn’t look good for Washington state’s GMO-labeling initiative, I-522 — it trailed 46% to 54%, and only led in a few counties. After a lot more ballots were tallied on Wednesday, the outlook wasn’t much better.

But, despite those gloomy numbers, the Yes on 522 campaign released a hopeful statement late on Wednesday:

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Yes on 522

Message posted by the Yes on 522 campaign Wednesday.

SEATTLE— There are too many votes that have not been counted for this race to be called. Hundreds of thousands of votes have yet to be counted. Additionally, Washington Secretary of State is currently reporting that over 300,000 votes still have to be counted. KOMO News 4 in Seattle even noted that there were more votes to be counted and results are not yet final.

“This race is not over yet,” said Delana Jones, Campaign Manager for Yes on 522. “Due to Washington State’s vote-by-mail system, there are hundreds of thousands of votes still to be counted. Please stay tuned. More results will be available after 6pm Pacific.”

At 8:30 pm Wednesday, the updated totals still came in 54% to 46% against the initiative. (See the state's latest numbers here.) But many ballots still haven’t been tallied, so it is possible that I-522 still has a fighting chance?

Because of Washington’s mail-in ballot system, many votes aren’t counted on election night and the results aren’t formally certified for weeks. The state does post estimates about how many ballots from each county are yet to be counted. (These estimates aren’t perfect, but they’re the best we’ve got.) If every single vote still uncounted on Wednesday night went to the Yes side, I-522 would end up passing with 60% of the vote.

But every single vote is not really possible. So what can we see by digging into the tallies? I-522 is leading in only four counties, but one of those is giant King County — and about 30 percent of King County votes were yet to be counted on Wednesday night. Other big counties — Pierce, Kitsap, Snohomish — also have lots of votes left to tally.

What if you assume each county’s uncounted ballots continue to follow the same percentages — would King County’s presumably high number of uncounted Yes votes be enough to tip the balance?

No. We did the math, and if all the counties continue on their current trajectories, the numbers get slightly better for I-522, but only very slightly — an increase from 45.95% in favor to 46.29%.

Even if you changed that assumption to say every single uncounted King County ballot is a Yes vote, I-522 would still come in just under 50%.

So, for I-522 to have a chance, you have a assume all the ballots not yet counted are significantly more in favor than all the ballots already counted. Of the estimated 422,157 uncounted ballots, 258,527 would have to be Yes votes to gain the majority — that means about two-thirds of all remaining ballots. That’s very, very unlikely. But for those who want to hold onto hope, it’s not strictly impossible until more of the votes are tallied.

Wondering if your vote has been counted yet? You can check here.

UPDATE: Here's a quick look at where things stand after more ballots were counted on Thursday. It was an encouraging day for those hoping things could turn around, with the Yes side edging up to 47.05% of the vote so far. The overall number of estimated ballots increased, especially in King County — not surprising, they have the most to keep track of — and that did make a difference in favor of I-522. Still probably not enough, though. Here are updated charts showing the difference between Wednesday and Thursday, and the updated trajectory based on ballots counted so far.

UPDATE (11/13): Since the last update, the count has continued much the same way: The Yes votes have continued to gain ground, but almost definitely not enough. At the end of Tuesday, the vote stood at 48.25% yes, 51.75% no — the closest yet. But, because there are fewer votes left to count, it’s actually less likely that 522 will pass. It would need to get 83% of the outstanding votes.

No ballots were counted on Monday because of Veterans Day. The counties making the most progress with tallying votes since last week are the big ones like King, Pierce, Snohomish and Whatcom. Many smaller counties list somewhere from 25 to 200 ballots left to count, and don’t plan to count again for a week or two when all ballots have surely arrived.

UPDATE (11/14): After votes were counted on Thursday, the Yes on 522 campaign officially conceded. With nearly 49% of the vote, it was close — but there are no longer enough uncounted ballots to make up the difference. The numbers will continue to shift a bit as the rest of the votes are counted and results are properly certified, but this is the end of our daily tracking. Here's the full post-mortem, this time showing the precise number of votes so you can see how the total increased as ballots arrived the first few days after the election.

HERE

Washington State Patrol trooper injured during collision on Highway 395. (KXLY)

Stevens County to open new rehabilitative veterans court. (S-R)

The role of PACs in Coeur d'Alene elections. (CDA Press)

Police chief resigns in Spirit Lake after less than a year, citing frustrations with mayor. (KHQ)

Election Results: Not much movement on local races after updated ballot counts yesterday.

THERE

Labor activists behind $15 minimum wage campaign look to target Seattle. (Seattle Times)

Montana prison worker fired for shredding inmates' requests for mental health services. (Missoulian)

ELSEWHERE

New FDA rules to "all but" ban trans fats in food. (NY Times)

Rumors than Mexican Coke would replace sugar with corn syrup debunked. (LA Times)

Newly released test results show former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had high levels of radioactive polonium in system at time of death, but unknown if deliberately poisoned. (BBC)

Young Kwak

Anthony Schnettler, left, and Giovanni Soto outside of a closing Blockbuster in Cheney earlier this year.

Blockbuster, the once-mighty video-rental chain, announced today that it will close all its remaining stores — about 300 of them — by January.

The news should come as no surprise in the Inland Northwest, where Blockbuster quietly faded from existence earlier this year. The Blockbuster in Cheney closed in February and the Wandermere location closed shortly after. The Hayden location closed in March.

At the time of the Cheney store closing, we wrote about the end of an era:

Video rental stores once ruled movie night. We hunted well-stocked aisles with an electric sense of possibility. By the thousands amassed rows and rows of films unseen: comedies, campy horror flicks, Disney classics and the coveted New Releases.

Picking a movie was a team effort. Together we scoured the shelves, comparing titles and actors, systematically narrowing our selections. We bickered and bargained over our choices, seeking out a laugh, a good scare or just a mindless escape.

Upon consensus, we took the empty videocassette box up to the counter to exchange it for the real copy in a plastic case. Maybe we snagged a box of Milk Duds or licorice at the register. With DVDs and Blu-ray, the ritual remained the same.

But those days have gone.

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Young Kwak

Karli and Caleb Ingersoll at The Bartlett in September.

After much hype, The Bartlett’s grand opening weekend has been postponed due to extenuating circumstance. The event that was supposed to host such artists as Blouse, Typhoon, Terrible Buttons, Cave Singers and many more Thursday through Sunday has been moved to January.

While the owners of the all-ages venue, Karli and Caleb Ingersoll, feared this might happen, in the past week it had really seemed to the pair that things were falling into place to make the celebration weekend a reality.

Here’s what the owners said in a statement posted on the Bartlett’s website this morning:

“Due to some unfortunate circumstances we are forced to postponed our scheduled grand opening weekend. We have worked so hard to avoid this worst-case scenario, but many things are out of our control. Hard work, planning and lots of volunteers has put us right on the edge of opening, but a few big things linger which are keeping us from final inspections and occupancy permitting.”

According to Karli, the shows already on the schedule in the coming weeks, such as the Marshall McLean CD release party on Nov. 16 and Blitzen Trapper on Nov. 19 will still happen.

UPDATE: Indiegogo ticket holders will be able to use those for the four shows in January, Karli says, everyone else will have their tickets refunded. Note, the same lineups can’t be promised due to scheduling.