From Spokane Public Radio, it’s SPR News Today.
- Both Washington and Idaho have important voting deadlines you need to know
- Central Valley School District is asking voters to approve a levy next month
- Investigators are finding connections between extremist groups and the shooter in last week’s school shooting in Bend, Oregon
- And S-P-R’s Audrey Nelson has the details about the 40th anniversary of the Spokane Sports Commission.
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Some important voter deadlines are approaching for people who want to cast ballots in Washington and Idaho. SPR’s Doug Nadvornick reports.
Idaho voters have until Friday to request absentee ballots from their county elections offices. They can also get them through the Secretary of State’s website.
If you choose not to go the absentee route, you have another early option. You can visit your local polling place to cast a ballot between now and Oct. 30. That’s valid in 38 of Idaho’s 44 counties. The other six, including Benewah, Boundary and Shoshone, allow voters to return absentee ballots in person.
Friday is also Idaho’s deadline to register to vote in the upcoming election. If you don’t make it by then, state officials say, you can show up at the polls on Election Day to register and then cast your ballots.
Monday is the deadline for Washington residents who want to register to vote online or through the mail. After that, you’ll have to visit your county elections office or a county-approved voter service center. Washington also allows Election Day registration and voting.
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As Election Day draws closer, voters are taking a look at three statewide initiatives on the ballot. One of them is Initiative 001.
Initiative 0-0-1 is all about parental rights to their children in public schools.
If voters approve the initiative on the ballot this election, the law would be re-enacted back to its 2024 form.
For example, parents and guardians would have the right to inspect the curriculum used in their child’s classroom. They would be able to opt their child out of certain instruction topics like sex ed.
Parents would need to be provided with their child’s school records within 10 days of the request.
They would also receive immediate notification if law enforcement is questioning their child, except when that parent has been accused of abuse or neglect.
Anna Conner is a mom, substitute teacher and coach with the Mead school district who says she’s going to vote in favor of the initiative.
CONNER: “Even as a substitute teacher, I’ve talked with many kids and even heartbreaking situations where parents maybe aren’t as available or involved in their kids’ lives, but I can’t do a better job than that parent. And so I feel like we need to support the parents and help them be the best parents for their kids because there’s no substitute for that.”
If voters do not approve the initiative, it would stay as it is now.
A parent’s education records access request would need to be granted within 45 days.
Student record disclosures would not go to parents or guardians under investigation for child abuse and neglect, but that extends to health care, social work, counseling, and disciplinary records.
And, parents do not need prior notification when medical services are offered to their child.
Monica Stonier [stone-yer] is the representative for the 49th legislative district in Washington state, running for re-election, and does not support the initiative.
STONIER: “Those parents are going to enjoy the same rights. We still do all of those things for all parents in schools. You can go check out the curriculum, you have dates on the calendar when you can review all of the materials that are taught in school.”
Election Day is November 3rd.
I’m Ember Braun reporting.
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The Central Valley School District is asking voters to approve a levy on next month’s ballot. It’s not a new tax–it replaces the levy voters approved three years ago.
Levies cover programs the school has that the state doesn’t fund. Athletics, performing arts, special education are all on that list, among other items.
JERDON: As a board member, I’ve come to really understand more about how funding works, how the budget works and to be able to maintain the programs and the level of quality that our communities have come to expect. We absolutely need these levies to fill that gap because the funding from the state does not cover some of those services that we, in some cases, are mandated to cover.
That was school board president Stephanie Jerdon. She said the board decided to run this levy in November instead of the traditional February. This is a chance for voters to weigh in on the value of the district’s schools and what they want to see in them.
Central Valley Schools Superintendent John Parker says this levy accounts for about 16 percent of the district’s overall operating budget.
PARKER: So, it kind of helps identify what additional or extracurricular activities, how many nurses we have, what kind of transportation costs we have. It pays for extra, above and beyond what the state allocates for that, and also pays for substitutes and special education, child nutrition, all of those kinds of things.
Again, as a reminder, Election Day is November 3rd.
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Federal and state law enforcement are investigating connections between violent online extremist groups and the 16-year-old shooter who killed three children and a teacher at an elementary school in Bend last week. OPB’s Conrad Wilson reports.
As people in Bend reel from the devastation at Silver Rail Elementary, they are seeking answers and accountability.
Investigators are working to discern the shooter’s motives and whether others encouraged or helped plan the mass shooting.
Four sources with knowledge of the investigation, including law enforcement officials, spoke to OPB on the condition of anonymity because the active investigation into the shooter’s motives is still in early stages.
Those law enforcement sources said investigators have so far developed a profile of a highly online and socially disaffected teen.
Multiple sources said law enforcement is investigating the shooter’s connections to what the FBI classifies as “nihilist violent extremist” groups, an overarching term the bureau uses to describe groups that “glorify violence, mass killers, and self-harm.”
Investigators suspect at least some of the Bend shooter’s conversations took place on Discord – an online gaming and chat app. Law enforcement has issued search warrants to Discord and other online platforms.
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Saturday, Oct. 24 is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. In Washington, many local law enforcement agencies will accept unneeded prescription medications from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
In Spokane, you can drop meds off with the Spokane Police Department. Officers will be set up at the Safeway on North Market Street.
Over 16 years, Take Back Day has removed more than 10,200 tons of medication from circulation.
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For 40 years, the nonprofit Spokane Sports has helped bring major sporting events to Spokane. As SPR’s Audrey Nelson reports, that work has shaped the city — for sports fans and non-fans alike.
Go ahead — ask Marit Jacobs if Spokane is a sports town.
MARIT JACOBS: Absolutely. Absolutely yes.
Jacobs is the Director of Partnerships and Impact at Spokane Sports. Originally known as the Spokane Regional Sports Commission, the organization works to attract sporting events to the city.
MJ: National governing bodies, or event rights holders, they put out RFPs, a request for proposals from cities to host their events.
Those RFPs contain specific requirements: venue size, seating capacity, how many hotels should be nearby.
MJ: And so Spokane has really invested in that infrastructure. And we submit a bid to the rights holders, including the hotels that are coming to the table, the facilities we have, how we operate, our volunteers, how we show up as a host city.
If Spokane’s bid for a sporting event wins, then the event comes here.
That happens…a lot, actually.
USA Wrestling’s Northwest Bigfoot Battle. The 2026 NCAA Division Three cross country regionals. The first two rounds of the 2027 NCAA Division One men’s basketball tournament.
Those are all events taking place in Spokane and Spokane Valley just in the next six months.
Spokane might be best known for homegrown competitions like Bloomsday and HoopFest. But these days, Jacobs says, versatile facilities and out-of-state events are what really make Spokane a sports town.
MJ: Prior to The Podium being built, prior to The Course being built, we could host state championships, regional qualifiers, that sort of thing. But we're in a position now where we're hosting national and international championships, world championships, and we're competing on a way bigger stage than we were before.
Jim Murphy is a retired Superior Court Judge who served as Spokane Sports’ first track and field commissioner.
He agrees that venues like the Podium — a 135,000-square-foot facility that opened in 2021 — have helped draw sports tourism to Spokane.
JIM MURPHY: It looked like an unreasonable expectation to be able to do that. Where were we going to do it? How were we going to afford it? What should it look like? … We were able to answer those questions, and the next thing you know, we have the Podium.
Today, sports tourism in the region generates a staggering $113 million in annual economic impact.
JM: If you build it, they will come, yes.
Marit Jacobs says when people who aren’t sports fans wonder what this is all for, that economic impact…is what she points to.
MJ: I work with a partner of Spokane Sports who their exact words were, I don't care about sports, I care about Spokane and what you do for Spokane matters.
Jacobs estimates that every $1 that Spokane Sports invests in sports tourism returns $17 to the city.
MJ: The purpose of Spokane Sports is to strengthen our community through the power of sports. And that really is focused on bringing outside visitors to our region for sports specifically. But what they're doing is they're staying in our hotels. They're spending money in our restaurants and local businesses. And they are the people sustaining our economy in Spokane.
And for those folks that are sports fans?
JM: You get a chance to see the great ice competitors, ice skaters.
Jim Murphy again.
JM: You get to see and engage in great hockey matches. You get to see Gonzaga basketball when it’s playing against Duke or it’s playing against LSU or something like that.
All that — without ever leaving your hometown.
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SPR News Today is a production of Spokane Public Radio.
Reporting today was contributed by Doug Nadvornick, Ember Braun, Audrey Nelson, Conrad Wilson and me, Lisa Leinberger, today’s host and producer.
Web support is provided by Anna Gyure Havlek.
Thanks for listening. This is SPR.
