Regional News

The Spokane school board has decided to wait until August to approve the district’s budget for next year.

Administrators presented a $460 million plan Wednesday night. But board members say they want to take a few more weeks to consider using about four million dollars that were destined for a reserve account to restore proposed cuts.

The Spokane school board last night [Wednesday] approved its part of a land exchange that involves the schools, the city and its parks and libraries.

The city will deed land it owns to the school district for middle schools in the Mullan Road neighborhood on the South Hill and the Foothills area in the northeast.

Today on Inland Journal, we’ve spent two programs during the last month talking with the candidates for Spokane mayor. Now we talk with the man they’re hoping to replace.

With five months to go in his administration, David Condon is still moving ahead on a variety of issues, including homelessness. For example, the city is planning to buy a building to renovate for a homeless shelter in east Spokane, near the city’s border with Spokane Valley.

But we asked him about something else: a city proposal to create its own facilities to handle people charged with misdemeanor crimes.

A Seattle child psychiatrist was the featured witness in a hearing Wednesday in Spokane County Superior Court. He evaluated the now 17-year-old boy accused of the fatal shooting at Freeman High School in 2017.

The result of the hearing will determine whether the teen will be tried as a juvenile or an adult.

Today on the Inland Journal podcast, we talk with two of the most powerful people in Spokane County who are not elected. We’re talking about Theresa Sanders, the administrator of the city of Spokane, and Gerry Gemmill, the CEO of Spokane County. They join us to talk about how their entities work together on a range of issues and which issues are getting their attention.

Today on the Inland Journal podcast, we focus on a ballot measure submitted by the Spokane County Library District for the August 6 primary election. The district wants to adjust the level of the property tax levy that provides most of its funding. The district operates 11 libraries outside of the cities of Spokane and Liberty Lake, including two in Spokane Valley, and one each in Airway Heights, Cheney, Medical Lake and Deer Park.

Patrick Roewe is the district’s executive director.

Spokane’s Hutton Settlement Children’s Home is holding a centennial celebration this week.  The center has raised disadvantaged children for a century.

The Hutton Settlement, situated in the Spokane Valley, has been a home to about 1,500 kids since its doors first opened in 1919.

Today on the Inland Journal podcast, we finish our Spokane city candidate interviews. Steve Jackson talks with one final candidate for Spokane city council president. Mike Fagan is near the end of his second term on the council as a representative from the Northeast district. In addition to his council duties, Fagan is co-director of a political action committee that advocates for lower taxes and hosts a radio talk show.