Editor’s note: If you don’t get our email newsletters, you might be unfamiliar with the joy of our Friday news round-up, Wide RANGE, where we give you a fun, irreverent and QUICK rundown of the news happening in the Inland Northwest. You’ll not only find links to our stories and podcast, but stories from all our brilliant colleagues at other news outlets in our area, the good, bad and embarrassing news of the week, a tiny bit of national news and even things to do each weekend. This is just a special peek into what we send out every week, so don’t miss out and be sure to subscribe here!
Happy Friday and welcome to Wide RANGE, where we keep track of (and joke about) the news, in case you didn’t have the time or energy to. The county and the city are back to beefing, SpoVal Council Member Al Merkel and his fellow council members never *stopped* beefing and the state of Texas used Washington Flock cameras to track a Texas woman getting an abortion. Don’t know what we’re talking about? Read on!
RANGE News
You may have noticed it’s been a quiet week for us on the “publishing stories and sending you emails” front. We promise, we have a good excuse: Luke’s laid off, Erin was on vacation, Hedge is event-planning a community forum on incarceration justice and Val’s just trying to fundraise and keep everything else afloat. Rest assured, we’ve got our irons in the fire and we’ll be back to filling your inbox next week like usual. ~ ES
The Pod
The Spokane connections to the Seattle Christian nationalist event
Val and Aaron explore the networking and marketing tactics — including those of at least one church in Spokane — of the Christian nationalist movement that staged an event in the Cal Anderson Park (named for a gay legislator) in Capitol Hill, Seattle’s historically queer neighborhood, where 23 protesters were arrested last weekend. The incident, which took place May 24, has gained national headlines, spawned more protests/counterprotests and drew the gaze of prominent watchers of Christian supremacy to Seattle.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.
In Case You Missed It
The neverending story
Since he took office, Spokane Valley City Council Member Al Merkel and his coworkers on the council have been at odds — and that’s putting it probably far too gently. Allegations about Merkel’s behavior sparked a couple of investigations, lots of news coverage and even a new state law that limits transparency in public records about what info people can request about city investigations. The next update in the saga? SpoVal is pulling back $350,000 in funding they planned to spend on cops to instead spend on “legal costs associated with Merkel.” Read the full story from Nick Gibson at The Spokesman here. ~ ES
Back taxes and bad vibes
We highly recommend you read this whole story from Emry Dinman and Nick Gibson at The Spokesman because this issue is pretty complex, but here’s the gist: Spokane County may owe Spokane city a LOT of back taxes because of a utility facility located within the city’s borders. There was apparently a handshake agreement between former Mayor Nadine Woodward and the county exempting the county from paying the tax, but nothing was put in writing. Now, the city wants what could be up to $57 million in back taxes. Stay tuned on this fight, it’s likely to turn messy (and probably legal) and impact other county/city collaboration efforts. ~ ES
Title IX against trans people
The federal government has announced its investigation into the state of Washington over the state’s refusal to discriminate against transgender students who want to play sports and use bathrooms that align with their gender identity. The way the government is going about the investigation is out of the norm, with former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO (and current Secretary of Department of Education) Linda McMahon claiming Washington’s policies “covertly smuggle gender ideology into the classroom,” and violate discrimination protections. Maggie Mertens for Cascade PBS has a breakdown on the investigation here. ~ ES
The Good, The Bad & The Embarrassing
The Good: After a particularly deadly year of crashes in 2023, preliminary data from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission shows that deaths across the state were down in 2024. And unlike some other statewide trends, that pattern extends to Spokane, where traffic deaths dropped from 60 in 2023 to 55 in 2024. We consider this bittersweet news: we love to see things getting even a little bit better, but it doesn’t do anything for the 265 people who have died in Spokane County from 2020 to 2024. ~ ES
The Bad: Refusing to tax the rich has real consequences. Right now, those consequences are for kids and families in Washington, where both the federal and state governments have cut funding for early learning programs. Everyone say: “thank you, Governor Ferguson and President Trump.” ~ ES
The Embarrassing: It’s really hard to narrow down “the embarrassing,” when RFK Jr. did like eight all by himself this week, but here’s one: he and former television presenter, current Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Oz are pressuring hospitals to stop providing gender-affirming treatments for kids. At what point can we say his brainworms are transphobic? ~ ES
The National: For a bit of bad national news with a local tie-in, Texas cops searched data from Flock cameras all over the nation (including Washington), trying to track a woman who left the state to get an abortion. In case you missed it in CIVICS, Spokane County could be getting a whole bunch of new Flock cameras, which opens up a big can of worms on data protection: cops can currently search the whole nationwide network of cameras without a warrant. We might be a sanctuary state for immigrants and people seeking reproductive or gender-affirming healthcare, but what happens when Texas cops (or ICE agents) start pulling *our* Flock data? ~ ES (shoutout to multiple RANGE readers bumping the Flock issue to the top of our radar)
Things You Can Do
🍅🍞 Celebrate Farmers Market Szn: It’s officially *that* time of year and this one is extra special: the long-awaited permanent farmers market, Scale House Market, is holding its grand opening Saturday in Spokane Valley. Also, our pals at KYRS are doing a live radio broadcast from the market, so you could even be on the radio. The Outdoor Market will be open from 8 am to 2 pm and the indoor Mercantile will be open from 8 am to 4 pm on Saturday. (We’re also especially excited that our very own Great Harvest Bakery is a vendor for their Wednesday markets, so you can find delicious, nutritious and worker-owned bread there too!)
There’s also all the other weekend farmers markets: El Mercadito, Liberty Lake, Brownes Addition, Millwood and Spokane Valley. ~ VO
🤓🗳️ Apply to be on a Pro or Con committee: Ever wonder how the pro and con positions in the city’s official voter pamphlets are made? It’s members of our community (like you!) who come up with them, appointed by Spokane City Council. In June, the council will appoint members to the pro and con committees for the park levy that will be on November’s ballot. The committees prepare arguments in favor of and against the ballot measures and rebuttal statements. So dust off your debate team skills and reach out to Council Office Director Giacobbe Byrd (gbyrd@spokanecity.org) by 5 pm on June 13, 2025. ~ VO
🍃🌀 Go a little mad: Learn all about how the devil’s lettuce leads to ruin with a showing of the political satire Reefer Madness: The Musical by Spokane Falls Community College’s Spartan Theatre. Showings are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm and tickets are $20 for general admission. ~ VO
📜🖌️ Zine it up: It’s time for the annual celebration of all things zines, artsy self-publication and just plain cool stuff. The Spokane Zine Fest is Saturday from 11 am to 4 pm at the Spokane Central Library and is free this year. There will also be workshops throughout the day and opportunities to create something yourself. More info here. ~ VO
🏳️🌈🤣 Have some laughs: Queer improv? Sign us up! (Except Erin, who *is* queer but is also allergic to improv theatre). Blue Door Theater and Odyssey Youth Movement are sponsoring a night to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community with performers who are all part of it. The show is for 16+ audiences and on Sunday at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $9-11 and you can get them here. ~ VO
