3/24/2022
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Spokesman-Review
Zoom out, in-person meetings back in
MacKenzie Scott announces donations nearing $4 billion to 465 nonprofits
Barbecue season safety tips (ed. note - reportage on homeless camp fires from propane bottles included)
HUD awards $4.3M in funding to local homeless, domestic violence programs
KREM
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Spokesman-Review
Zoom out, in-person meetings back in
By Colin Tiernan
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
After two long years, Zoom’s stranglehold on local government meetings is loosening.
In-person meetings are back – or nearly back.
Local governments have been allowed to meet in-person for the better part of a year, but most have opted against it until recently.
Spokane, Liberty Lake and Cheney city councils returned to in-person meetings this month, either just before or soon after Gov. Jay Inslee lifted the statewide mask mandate. The Spokane Valley City Council has been meeting in-person since July, and Deer Park City Council has been back since September.
The Airway Heights City Council and the Spokane County Commission are the remaining stragglers. Both intend to return to in-person meetings early next month.
In-person local government meetings probably haven’t been missed by many. Even before the pandemic, few people attended them.
There haven’t been throngs of local political junkies champing at the bit to watch policy debates from the front row of the Spokane City Council Chambers. And some local government fanatics now prefer watching meetings from the comfort of their sofas. They may never return to city halls or the county courthouse now that livestreams are ubiquitous.
Still, politicians and residents generally agree in-person meetings have value, even if that value’s hard to quantify. At the very least, in-person meetings give the public more opportunities to interact with their representatives.
Spokane Valley City Council member Ben Wick, who was mayor last year, said he was eager to return to in-person meetings as quickly as possible.
“I think discussions are easier to go through and have in person,” Wick said. “You can kind of see the body language a bit easier and have more of a true, focused discussion.”
The Spokane County Commissioners often met in-person last year, but they only allowed the public to attend their meetings via Zoom.
That approach appears to have violated Gov. Jay Inslee’s public meetings proclamation, according to Mike Faulk, the governor’s press secretary. The proclamation allowed governments to meet in person, with restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19. It includes the following passage: “Any person wishing to attend in person a public meeting with an in-person component must be able to do so at a physical location meeting the requirements herein, either in a primary meeting location or an overflow physical location that provides the ability for all persons attending the meeting to hear each other at the same time.”
The Spokesman-Review attempted to attend a County Commissioner meeting in person over the summer but was turned away.
The newspaper repeated the request minutes before the commissioners’ Jan. 11 meeting, this time alerting the county to the language in the governor’s proclamation. The county denied that request, too, but the commissioners stopped meeting in person that day and have met virtually since.
Jared Webley, Spokane County’s spokesman, said the county always had public safety in mind and never violated the proclamation on purpose. He also noted that the county was experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases in January, due to the omicron variant.
County Commissioner Al French said the commissioners abandoned in-person meetings on the advice of legal counsel. The commissioners held an executive session Jan. 11 to discuss pending litigation due to open meetings.
French also noted that Commissioner Mary Kuney, the commissioners’ chair, hasn’t been fully comfortable meeting in-person. Kuney succeeded Kerns as chair in January and has often been the lone commissioner to wear a mask at public meetings.
Spokane County isn’t the only government to meet in person while prohibiting in-person public attendance.
The Liberty Lake City Council held some in-person meetings even though the public had to attend virtually, interim city manager Jen Camp said. Camp said the city only kept the public away because it was fixing its HVAC system at the time.
The county has also been doing renovations that affect its ability to hold in-person meetings.
For months, the county has been upgrading its public hearing room. It’s a more than $90,000 project that will dramatically improve the technological capabilities of the space and allow the county to livestream meetings.
“This gets us from the ‘90s into the 2020s,” Webley said.
Supply chain delays have slowed down the upgrade effort, Webley explained. Important electronics that the county ordered months ago still haven’t arrived.
Kuney has said in recent weeks that she doesn’t want to return to in-person meetings until the hearing room is ready, which should be around April 11.
The hearing room has enough seating capacity that attendees will be able to spread out, Kuney said, whereas the commissioners’ conference room is small and can only seat about 30 people. She added the thought of holding a public meeting in a jam-packed conference room makes her uneasy.
Kerns has pushed back against Kuney and said that the county should resume in-person public meetings sooner.
The conference room is sufficient, he said, because hardly anyone attends county meetings anyway.
“We rarely saw folks come in for our consent agenda meetings,” he pointed out. “One or two people max was all we ever saw.” Colin Tiernan can be reached at (509) 459-5039 or at colint@spokesman.com.
MacKenzie Scott announces donations nearing $4 billion to 465 nonprofits
By Glenn Gamboa
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott revealed that she has donated nearly $4 billion to 465 nonprofits according to a blog post Wednesday, confirming the gifts that the groups have been announcing on their own for months.
The announcement brings Scott’s publicly disclosed donations to more than $12 billion since 2019, including Tuesday’s announcement of a $436 million donation to Habitat for Humanity International and 84 of its affiliates to create affordable housing.
That donation is the largest publicly disclosed gift from Scott and her husband, Dan Jewett, so far.
Also on Wednesday, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and 21 of its affiliates received its largest gift ever – $275 million – from Scott, who detailed the recipients of $3,863,125,000 in donations, though not individual amounts.
“Our team’s focus over these last nine months has included some new areas, but as always our aim has been to support the needs of underrepresented peoplefrom groups of all kinds,” Scott wrote. “The cause of equity has no sides. Nor can it have a single solution.”
For that reason, she believes in “supporting people directly experiencing inequities is essential, both because it is informed by insights no one else can contribute, and because it seeds power and opportunity within the community itself.”
According to Scott, 60% of the groups she and Jewett donated to are led by women and 75% are led by “people with lived experience in the regions they support and the issues they seek to address.”
Scott, who declines interviews and only discusses her philanthropic choices through her blog posts, explained that she believes in a “diversity of voices” and that belief drives many of her decisions about announcing her giving.
“It’s what underlies my approach to press inquiries – respecting the autonomyand role of journalists by doing nothing to try to influence or control what they report,” she wrote.
Scott, who is worth about $48 billion according to Forbes, signed the Giving Pledge through which many billionaires have promised to donate more than half of their wealth.
Scott’s blog post touched off a wave of nonprofits announcing their plans for thedonations.
HIAS, the international Jewish humanitarian organization, said Scott donated $10 million to its campaign to raise $40 million for its emergency response in Ukraine.
“HIAS has been working in independent Ukraine for over 20 years, working with Ukrainians and launching a Ukrainian-led organization (Right to Protection – R2P) to protect and welcome asylum seekers from other countries as well as displaced Ukrainians themselves,” said Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS.
Community Catalyst, a health care reform nonprofit in Boston, announced it received $25 million and would use the funds to help “create a health system rooted in race equity and health justice.”
Spokane airport to sell surplus property
By Greg Mason
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
The Spokane International Airport is aiming to sell approximately 20 acres of surplus property to a private developer.
Members of the Spokane City Council and the Spokane County Board of Commissioners have signed off on a deal to sell 20.441 acres at South Spotted Road and West Tech Park Drive to West Plains Development LLC for $1,905,477.30. The Airport Board authorized the sale in October.
“Our master plan has been very clear about what we need for aeronautical purposes and what we do not need for aeronautical purposes,” Spokane International Airport CEO Larry Krauter said to the City Council earlier this month.
The principal of West Plains Development LLC is Spokane businessman and investor Tom Tilford. Tilford’s previous investments include the construction of a 315,000-square-foot warehouse along South Hayford Road southwest of Amazon’s fulfillment center. Tilford could not be reached for comment.
The acreage encompasses Spokane Fire Department Station 6. The city leases the property at the moment, though the terms of the deal would see West Plains Development assume the lease.
Meanwhile, a deed restriction would prohibit use of the land for commercial vehicle parking.
The property sale is pending the completion of a binding site plan and a Federal Aviation Administration process in order to release the property for sale, said airport spokesman Todd Woodard.
As an entity jointly owned by the city and county, the airport needs authorization from both to move forward with property sales.
The county Board of Commissioners approved the deal March 8, Krauter said, while the Spokane City Council voted unanimously Monday.
Krauter said the sale is part of a trend over the past few years that has seen more than 200 acres of formerly tax-exempt land returned to the tax rolls.
“We have a significant amount of surplus property that we can continue to leverage through, we think, the appropriate placement of infrastructure and cooperation with our city and county partners,” he said. Greg Mason can be reached at (509) 459-5047 or gregm@spokesman.com.
Barbecue season safety tips (ed. note - reportage on homeless camp fires included)
By Emma Epperly
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
As the snow melts and backyard grills emerge from their dusty covers, it’s important to check propane tanks and connections for safe cooking, said Fire Marshal Lance Dahl.
The Spokane Fire Department responds to about 250 cooking-related fires a year, Dahl said. Recently, there also has been a cluster of tent fires and explosions due to propane used to heat the tents.
One fire in January at an encampment near the Spokane River sent two people to the hospital with serious burns. On March 9, another propane tank being used to heat tents exploded at a homeless camp near Second Avenue and Thor Street. No one was injured.
Most propane-related fires are caused by a connection issue, Dahl said. Most people don’t check their connection for leaks when hooking up propane to their grill, Dahl said.
If the leak is large enough,
See PROPANE, 2
Lance Dahl, a Spokane Fire Department Fire Marshal and head of the Fire Prevention Department, explains the dangers associated with trying to refill one-pound canisters of propane from the larger tanks used on barbecues and other appliances on March 16.
JESSE TINSLEY/ THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Continued from 1
gas can accumulate in the area, then when there’s a spark from the grill, a hot engine or any other flame source nearby, the gas will burn off. If the leak is large enough, the fire could continue at the leak source, Dahl said.
That’s often when the fire department is called in to put out the fire, he said.
The easiest way to check for leaks is to spray soapy water on the connection area; if there are bubbles, the connection isn’t secure, Dahl said.
It’s important to make sure your propane tank is requalified within 12 years, Dahl said. The person refilling your tank should make sure it’s not damaged, corroded, dented or beyond qualifying requirements before refilling your tank, Dahl added.
Older tanks used to not have an over-pressurization valve, but newer tanks – those with a triangular top – do, and it will relieve any buildup of pressure in the tank.
If a tank were to get heated without the valve to relieve that additional pressure, it can cause what’s caused a boiling liquid expanding gas explosion, or BLEGE, Dahl said.
Storing tanks away from the house in a covered area like a garden shed can prevent an explosion in the event of a house fire, Dahl said. The distance can also help residents from breathing in the gas if there were to be a leak.
The cause of some of the recent tent fires at area homeless camps has been not only unsafe heating practices but transfer filling, said Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer.
Transfer filling is when a small portable canister of propane is refilled at home from a larger tank, Dahl explained.
It’s dangerous for a number of reasons. With numerous connection points, it’s easier to have leaks. In a large propane tank, the liquid gas is mainly at the bottom of the canister, which can be hard to reach when transfer filling, meaning the smaller tank is only partially filled and largely filled with gas rather than liquid, Dahl said.
People can also easily overfill the small bottle, and with only a tiny valve to let off extra pressure, an explosion is more likely, Dahl said. The small portable bottles, often used for camp stoves, are designed for one-time use, making reuse unsafe, Dahl said.
“It’s just really not a safe practice,” Dahl said. “You’re filling these up, you’re not checking your connections.”
At a camp site, refills can often take place near a campfire, which is just another layer of danger, Dahl said.
While there is no really safe way to heat a tent, Schaeffer said, it’s important to reduce harm as much as possible. Emma Epperly can be reached at (509) 459-5122 or at emmae@spokesman. com.
HUD awards $4.3M in funding to local homeless, domestic violence programs
Grants will help people find housing
By Greg Mason
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded more than $4 million in grants to support homeless housing, domestic violence support and service programs in the Spokane area.
Here’s a breakdown of the $4,333,859 issued through Continuum of Care Competition awards, according to a release from the city:
• Volunteers of America, $1,539,214
•Catholic Charities, $1,447,301
• YWCA, $663,967
•City of Spokane, $418,456
• SNAP, $264,921 The grants will provide funding for individuals and families to move into permanent housing with access to supportive services, according to the city. The awards will also support projects focused on adding housing to communities, including permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing and transitional housing.
“These funds are deeply appreciated and go a long way toward assisting regional partners in the fight against homelessness,” Jenn Cerecedes, director of the city’s Community Housing and Human Services Department, said in a statement.
The city’s Community Housing and Human Services Department applied for the funding last fall on behalf of the regional Continuum of Care. Greg Mason can be reached at (509) 459-5047 or gregm@spokesman.com.
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KREM
While some parents sided with the district, others believe the school is in a safety and security crisis.
SPOKANE, Wash. — Tonight, Spokane Public Schools held a meeting to look at the district's campus safety.
This comes after Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl sent a letter to SPS's superintendent last week after claiming a "pattern of assaults and threats not being reported by police."
Parents were divided during tonight's meeting. Some sided with the district, saying schools are handling things just fine, while other parents believe schools are in a safety and security crisis and need to involve law enforcement more often.
During the meeting, officials shared data showing the amount of school suspensions and expulsions, going back to 2014. Those numbers have declined over the years. Obviously 2020 is an outlier since students were learning from home.
The district also shared results of a student survey taken this fall. One question asked them to rank how safe they felt in schools from one to five. The average score in elementary schools was 3.8. Middle and high school students said 3.7.
Board members say mediation and diversion strategies have been effective in improving school safety. While some parents agree, others argue that the data doesn't show what's actually happening.
"They are not criminals, they have behavioral issues, we need to have behavioral specialists address the issues," one parent, Katie Sutch said.
"The FBI doesn't show up unless there's something to look at, these are truths," another parent, Russell Neff, said. "I just hope that there's some transparency and some willingness to cooperate."
A school spokesperson told us teachers should feel safe to call 911 if they or a student is assaulted.
However, an amendment to district policy signed by superintendent adam Swinyard on March 9th says law enforcement should be used as the absolute last resort and only for incidents where police are necessary to address a serious threat to school safety. That includes sex crimes, robbery, 1st degree assault, possession of deadly weapons, suicide and homicide.
This is not the first time SRHD has reported a data breach, as the department experienced a similar situation earlier this year.
SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Regional Health District (SRHD) reported that they have encountered a data breach of personal health information from a phishing email.
According to SRHD, the breach occurred on Feb. 24, 2022. This is not the first time SRHD has reported a data breach, as the department experienced a similar situation earlier this year.
An internal investigation discovered files containing client protected health information may have been "previewed" by the data thief. The investigation did not find any documents had been opened, accessed or downloaded.
This disclosure affects 1,260 individuals from two departments. The first group, totaling 1,060, may have had the following data viewed:
First and last names, initials
Date of birth
Date in emergency department
Source of referral
Provider
Hospital name
Diagnosing state
Whether or not patient was located
Date located
Patient risk level
Staging level
How medication is being picked up
Type of test
Test results
Treatment
Medication and reason prescribed
Meets criteria for expedited partner therapy
Delivery date (baby)
Treatment provided (baby)
Titer (diagnostic)
Medical referrals
Client notes
The second group affects 200 people. Data viewed includes:
First and last names, initials
Date of birth
Phone number
Shelter location
Test date
Notes
According to SRHD Deputy Administrative Officer Lola Phillips, the department has responded to mitigate unauthorized disclosure of information in the future by stopping the current breach, ensuring future connections cannot be made, reinforcing current cyber security training with staff that contains the use of multi-factor authentication and performing additional testing on related systems.
“Much like the rest of the state of Washington, SRHD has experienced a record-level spike in phishing emails and malware installation attempts. In this instance, staff fell prey to a phishing scam which exposed confidential information to data thieves,” Phillips said. “We have a strong commitment to safeguard your personal information, and we are working diligently to reduce the likelihood of future events.”
The people whose information was included in the data breach were notified, according to SRHD.
SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Public Schools Board of Directors is discussing proposed solutions to the district's transportation woes during a special meeting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
In a presentation posted to the district's website, five possible short-term solutions were outlined along with three long-term proposals. The presentation also said that Durham Bus Services, which provides buses for the district, has went from 150-158 bus routes and an average of 170 drivers before 2020, to 91 routes and 85 drivers currently.
The first of the five short-term proposals is a two-part plan, with the first part calling for the elimination of some bus stops and creating more centralized stops. The other part calls on the district to ask families to register for bus service during the previous school year to allow more time for planning.
The second short-term proposal is to extend bus arrival times to allow more time for pick-ups and arrivals. An example of this would be changing the time buses arrive to pick up high school students from 7:40 a.m. to 7:20 a.m.
The third short-term plan would see the district increase the size of the walk-zones around schools, which is the area around a school where student wouldn't be eligible to take the bus. These would remain at one miles for elementary school students, but go up to two miles for middle and high school students. According to SPS, this could lead to increased staff needs.
The fourth strategy that the district could implement in the short term is to buy more Spokane Transit Authority passes for high schoolers. The district already does this for some students.
The final short-term solution proposal would call on the district to explore alternative options for some programs, such as choice programs and early learning.
The board will also discuss three long-term recommendations.
The first proposal is to evaluate its contract with Durham Bus Services, as the contract ends at the completion of the 2022-2023 school year. The second long-term proposal would be to further increase partnership with STA, while the final proposal would see the district move bus services partially or completely in-house, in which case SPS would partner with other area districts for assistance.