The latest issue of the Inlander is hitting newsstands today. Find it at your local grocery store and hundreds of other locations; use this map to find a pickup point near you. You can also read through the digital edition here.
This week’s cover story looks at vigilantes and how they thrive in uncertain times — when the status quo is threatened, when people worry about meeting their basic needs, when they doubt society’s institutions are up to the task of maintaining their sense of peace and justice. Jonathan Obert, a college professor who studies vigilantism, tells us: “We’re in the middle of one of those cycles. We’re definitely in an upswing.”
You can see it happening across America and in our own backyard: Average Americans are taking the law into their hands. Locally, we’ve witnessed people pull pistols on suspected shoplifters, chase a Black man and his family in what they wrongly believed to be a stolen car, and hunt down burglars and zip-tie them to chairs. Also, it probably comes as no great shock: Gun sales are booming.
• Also this week: We explore how a local comedian is trying to get laughs during a pandemic, dig into the new menu at Arbor Crest, look back at the incredible life of John Lewis and climb inside the bubble surrounding the NBA.
MASKS, BUT MAKE IT FASHION
Spokane jewelry designers make face masks stylish and functional. MORE
SHAKE-UP AT EASTERN
EWU President Mary Cullinan steps down weeks after vote of no confidence. MORE
HIDDEN COSTS
A global pandemic ravaging America is no time to forget the first rule of American health care: There is no set price. MORE
MORE BELT TIGHTENING
As $600 unemployment checks expire, WA's safety net could strain. MORE
SOUND AND FURY
Between high decibel levels and police inaction, tensions are building between Spokane Planned Parenthood and the pop-up church outside. MORE
