City Hall shut down after threats
The Spokane City Council’s scheduled briefing and legislative sessions were canceled Monday when city hall shut down amid security concerns.
According to reporting by The Spokesman Review, which SPR News has not yet independently verified, the man who previously threatened to kidnap former Mayor Nadine Woodward was responsible for the threats that caused Monday's lockdown.
After the threats were made, Spokane Police shut down City Hall for the day and escorted employees out.
Police said in a statement that the safety concerns seemed to be solely focused on City Hall and there seems to be no threat to the community.
Gonzaga to host Columbia River governance conference
As officials negotiate an update to a decades-old treaty between the U.S. and Canada for operations on the Columbia River, Spokane is set to host a conference focusing on the waterway.
When the Columbia River Treaty went into effect 60 years ago, it was focused mostly on hydropower and flood control.
The treaty that will replace it will be much more complex, according to Joanne Taylor, an environmental anthropologist at the University of British Columbia in Kelowna and the conference's chair.
"We’re dealing with climate change. We’re dealing with different population bases. We have a lot of industry, a lot of pollution," she told SPR News. "And, I think for me, most importantly, we have Indigenous rights, and we’re much, much more aware of reconciliation in the time of truth and reconciliation."
She said the negotiations for a new treaty have included a wider variety of stakeholders, including Indigenous and First Nations representatives from both sides of the border.
And the Spokane conference will include some of those voices.
Events kick off later today with a training session for young people interested in advocating on transboundary water issues.
The conference runs through Thursday, Nov. 14, at Gonzaga University.
Billig hands Senate baton to new majority leader
State Sen. Andy Billig’s time as Washington Senate Majority Leader officially ended Monday, when his successor was chosen.
Democrat Jamie Pedersen of Seattle will lead the majority party when the legislature convenes early next year.
Billig was the Senate’s Democratic leader for six years, and represented Spokane in the upper chamber for 14. His tenure as majority leader was the third-longest in Washington legislative history.
“Part of being a good leader is knowing when it is time to step aside and let others lead,” said Billig said in a statement this past spring announcing his retirement. “I have been incredibly lucky to have served Spokane in the Legislature and fortunate to have the strong support of my family and so many friends and neighbors throughout our community.”
Pedersen was elected to the Washington House in 2006, and to the Senate in 2013. In a statement, Pedersen said he was eager to build on the bipartisan success of recent legislative sessions.
Pedersen is the second LGBTQ+ lawmaker to have a leadership role in the Washington Legislature. Current House Speaker Laurie Jinkins was the first.
Spokane native to paint official Inslee portrait
After a nationwide search, Governor Jay Inslee and his wife, Trudi, decided to stick close to home in selecting an artist to create the governor's official portrait.
Artist Grace Flott’s typical style is a nod to Italian Renaissance painting, using realism and iconography. She said Inslee's portrait will be different from other official portraits hanging in the governor's office.
"It's all about action, forward thinking. These big ideas," Flott told KNKX public radio.
The artist said Inslee wanted his to convey his "can-do" attitude and include his work on environmental justice.
"Obviously the Climate Commitment Act was a huge part of that, and the painting does include an allusion to that particular element," Flott said.
Flott is days away from completing the portrait, but said she can't reveal a whole lot about it before it's unveiled in early January, just before Inslee finishes his third and final term.
Spokane marks Veterans' Day with services and donations
Veterans’ Day is a holiday for some people, a day for reflection or volunteer opportunity for others.
At the Spokane Arena, the Spokane-based non-profit Washington State Fallen Heroes Project held a ceremony honoring current and former Northwest service members who were killed as a result of their service. The organization has created more than 350 banners for departed service members to honor them during events year-round.
Spokane’s Mann-Grandstaff VA Hospital sponsored a drive-through event that dates back to 2020 after the COVID pandemic began. The agency invites military families to come to the hospital and collect food for Thanksgiving dinners.
The event has become so popular that volunteers direct dozens of cars through the hospital’s back parking lot and guide them into a staging area where other volunteers from Second Harvest load their trunks with bags of food.
John Hausmann from the VA says many of the people participating are veterans.
“What we’re here for is to help serve the community and veterans in need because, as veterans, we know we’re all just one giant family. We’re here to help each other out because there’s always someone who needs help and being picked up,” he said.
Hausmann says the drive-through has grown beyond the food distribution. The Spokane Valley Veterans’ Center, Daughters of the American Revolution, Red Cross and Grand Canyon University are among the other vendors setting up booths, offering services to veterans and their families.
At the Community Building downtown, members of Veterans for Peace held a quiet ceremony to remember November 11 as Armistice Day, the original name of the holiday. At 11 am, they rang a bell to commemorate the formal end of World War I, 11 am, November 11, 1918.
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Reporting contributed by Owen Henderson, Doug Nadvornick, Brandon Hollingsworth and Freddy Monarez.