Today's headlines:
- Spokane considers "right to cooling" for renters.
- Council pauses development of new car-centric businesses for a year in large swathes of Spokane.
- Parking rate increases in Spokane might not be just because of the new tax.
- Idaho brings in more revenue than expected, but still less than legislators targeted.
- Private and public funders put millions of dollars towards a new library in Republic, Washington.
Plus, 102-year-old Spokane resident Carla Peperzak lost family members during the Holocaust. She talks to SPR's Kyrsten Weber about remembrance, healing, and the uselessness of hate.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Eliza Billingham, Owen Henderson, James Dawson, Monica Carrillo-Casas and Kyrsten Weber.
Owen Henderson hosts and produces the show. Eliza Billingham provides digital support.
TRANSCRIPT
[THEME MUSIC]
OWEN HENDERSON: From Spokane Public Radio, it’s SPR News Today.
I’m Owen Henderson. It’s Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
On today’s show, landlords are required to keep apartments warm in the winter. But should they have the same obligation to keep apartments cool in the summer? Some Spokane City Council members say yes.
Plus, after a rocky year, a Ferry County town has the money to start creating a new multipurpose building with childcare, community gathering space and a library.
And in honor of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, we hear a conversation with 102-year-old Spokane resident and Holocaust survivor Carla Peperzak.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
[FADE OUT THEME]
Should landlords be required to cool apartments in the summer the same way they’re required to heat them in the winter?
SPR’s Eliza Billingham has more on the latest way some Spokane City Council members are trying to raise habitability standards.
ELIZA BILLINGHAM: If indoor temps get warmer than 80 degrees, that can start causing health issues for people living or sleeping in that heat.
That’s according to research collected by the Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment; and Spokane’s Climate Resilience and Sustainability Board.
It’s one of the main reasons they’re supporting a proposed city ordinance that would require landlords to help maintain cooler, safer temperatures in renters’ bedrooms.
In most cases, that would mean providing a portable air conditioning unit.
Council member Paul Dillon is lead sponsor on the ordinance.
PAUL DILLON: “In June of 2021, under the heat dome, we lost 19 lives in Spokane County, we had over 300 people seeking medical treatment. Most of those were tenants in 65 and up.”
EB: Fellow sponsor Kitty Klitzke clarified that the ordinance would not require energy conscious renters to use the air conditioning units. Landlords would just need to make sure the option was there.
Council will vote on the proposal in a few weeks. If passed, it would go into effect by 2031.
I’m Eliza Billingham, reporting.
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OH: New gas stations, drive-thrus and other car-centric businesses can’t be built in many parts of Spokane for a year.
The City Council passed the moratorium last night, and because it was passed as an emergency measure, it takes effect immediately.
The city planning department says the pause is necessary to prevent more car collisions with pedestrians, cyclists and wheelchair users going to and from bus stops, citing a 2024 study.
Council members Betsy Wilkerson and Michael Cathcart voted against the measure, saying they didn’t see why the pause couldn’t have gone through the council’s standard review process.
The affected areas include most of Division Street north of the river, the Sprague Avenue business district in East Central and large sections of Monroe and Hamilton.
Existing businesses and those with permits that have already been approved in the designated areas won’t be affected by the moratorium.
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Spokane recently passed a 12% parking tax on many commercial lots, but some operators are raising their rates higher than just what would cover the extra fee.
City council member Zack Zappone briefed other council members in a committee meeting yesterday.
ZACK ZAPPONE: “The airport sent us their new rates for parking. One of the rates–the lowest rate, actually–increased more than the parking tax. It went from seven dollars to eight dollars”
OH: That’s closer to a 14% increase.
ZZ: “I've heard reports that other parking lots in the city also increased their rates more than the parking tax…So just want to highlight that for the public that there might be some things that are changing that aren't due to the parking tax, but rather the businesses themselves.”
OH: Residential and student parking spots are exempt from the tax, and underground or multilevel commercial lots are only subject to a 6% rate increase.
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Idaho’s tax collections blew past expectations in March with nearly $60 million more than anticipated. But the state is still dealing with a shrinking bottom line. James Dawson has more…
JAMES DAWSON: State revenue jumped more than 17% above expectations in March, with the majority of that coming from personal income tax.
The latest report from the Idaho Division of Financial Management says that’s mostly because the state issued significantly fewer refunds than predicted.
The state rakes in its largest monthly revenue in April when taxes are due
Personal income tax collections going into the general fund are within 1% of total expectations.
Despite the uptick last month, overall revenue is down from the legislature’s target set last year.
If collections meet projections for the next three months, Idaho will end the fiscal year about $37 million in the black.
That ending balance is about half of what lawmakers predicted when they adjourned earlier this month.
James Dawson, Boise State Public Radio News.
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OH: After recent delays, the Republic Library is now on the precipice of expanding.
Last week, the Ferry County town was awarded more than nine million dollars for the construction project.
The multi-purpose building will also house early learning resources and a community gathering space.
Library President Diane Engelking says the new funds are from Washington’s Department of Commerce and mining company Kinross Gold.
DIANE ENGELKING: “We're really excited and really fired up to provide something that our community desperately needs. You know, libraries are one of the only places that we really have for gathering together without the expectation of spending money.”
OH: The project has been in the works for several years, but Engelking says several obstacles came up within the last year
That includes the area’s state senator, Shelly Short, pulling her support from an appropriation request after some residents complained about a pride flag hanging in the library.
With these recent awards, Engelking says site prep for the expansion can start later this year.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
The world began observing Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah at sundown yesterday.
It’s a day of special significance for 102-year-old Spokane resident Carla Peperzak, who lost family members during the Holocaust.
She spoke with SPR’s All Things Considered host, Kyrsten Weber:
CARLA PEPERZAK: One of the reasons I talk to the schools and to people, whatever comes up, universities, about what happened, because people don't believe what happened. And so I think it's very important to know, so that this won't happen again. If, you know, in a place like Germany, highly educated and very cultured, maybe the most cultured in those years in Western Europe, if it can happen there, it can happen anywhere.
KYRSTEN WEBER: The event on April 14, is that event at Temple Beth Shalom open to the community?
CP: Absolutely. It's really meant for the community. Because we invite the mayor, we invite the governor, and the mayor often comes. The governor, they send the representative. Yeah, it's really meant for everybody.
KW: And what do you hope that attendees will take away from the service?
CP: The main thing for me, of course, is to be aware that this can happen again, and work against that.
KW: In light of current events, what are you experiencing? What are you feeling personally in terms of the attitude towards our Jewish community members?
CP: The main thing is, as far as I'm concerned, is that they keep on doing what I'm doing and that they're not sitting down and saying, this is awful. I know it's awful, but personally, I can't do anything but try to be good.
KW: You mentioned that you did lose family members in the Holocaust.
CP: Right.
KW: And friends, friends too, I would imagine?
CP: Many, many friends, yeah. I belonged to a rowing club and the members were about 80, well, maybe 95% Jewish and, you know, a lot of them were taken away.
KW: You have experienced over the decades the ebb and flow of anti-Semitism in our society. How does the current climate compare to, say, 10, 15 years ago?
CP: Ten to 15 years ago, nobody really talked about anti-Semitism and lived their own lives, and that has now changed. But actually, personally, I have noticed, but then I'm living in, you know, the retirement community, I'm isolated, but I personally have not noticed it. But I know, of course, what's going on. And this has happened the last thousands of years, two, three thousands of years. It's all ebb and flow, you know. And, you know, if people learn to, not to hate, I think this is one of my messages. Hate is so useless. And if you learn not to hate, be kind and good to people and have respect for them, it will be so much better.
KW: In light of what you have experienced, how have you found that path to choose not to hate?
CP: It took me a long time not to hate the Germans, and I still, it's still difficult.
We went once to Germany and I felt such a bad vibe, so we, you know, went back to the hotel. It's very difficult not to hate the people who killed all your relatives. So, but I guess time does heal a little. But I still have a problem.
KW: Clearly, you have gone on to live a remarkable life. What have you done within yourself so that that hatred, that hurt, that anger hasn't determined the path of your life?
CP: I have been trying to do the best I can, to see the good in people as much as possible. And there is so much good in so many people.
KW: That’s Carla Peperzak. She will attend the Holocaust Remembrance Day event at Temple Beth Shalom, Tuesday evening at 7. The public is invited to attend.
I’m Kyrsten Weber, reporting.
[SHORT MUSIC BED]
OH: SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Eliza Billingham, James Dawson, Monica Carrillo-Casas, Kyrsten Weber and me, Owen Henderson.
I’m also your host and producer. Eliza Billingham provides digital support.
Thanks for listening.
It’s SPR.
