Just half an hour after this week's Spokane City Council meeting started, more than two dozen pro-Palestinian protestors shut down the meeting with chants of "free, free Palestine." Council members quickly abandoned the meeting. Police flooded into the room and looked on for 30 minutes as protestors gave speeches. The protest was prompted by a council resolution passed unanimously in October supporting Israel's "right to defend itself" after Hamas' attack on the country that killed roughly 1,400 people. Since then, Israel has invaded Gaza, killing more than 10,000 people, according to Gaza's health ministry. Local activists have protested the resolution — calling it "racist" and saying it lacked community involvement, Palestinian voices and historical context. Monday night's disruption began when local activist Justice Forral refused to stop referring to Council member Jonathan Bingle (who wrote the resolution) by name. Council members recently began enforcing a rule they interpret as preventing speakers from naming council members. Forral and other activists have said the rule limits free speech and makes it difficult to hold officials accountable. In a brief interview, Forral hinted at possible future disruptions if the rule isn't changed. (NATE SANFORD)
ALPHABET SOUP
The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to regulate a harmful chemical found in vehicle tires that rapidly kills salmon and other fish when tire particles run off roadways in stormwater and get into waterways. At the request of the Port Gamble S'Klallam, Puyallup and Yurok tribes in Washington and California, the EPA announced in a letter last week that it will create a rule restricting the chemical known as 6PPD. That chemical, which is added to tires to prevent them from breaking down, degrades into 6PPD-quinone. Through decades of detective work, Washington researchers discovered in 2020 that the degraded chemical can (and does) kill coho salmon in just hours, and is likely toxic to other aquatic life. According to the Nov. 2 letter from the EPA, the goal is to finalize a rule by 2025. (SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL)
MONEY FOR SCHOOLS
Spokane Public Schools is getting ready to ask voters for more money. Last week, school board members unanimously approved sending voters a $200 million bond and a nearly $300 million levy that will both be collected over a three-year timeline. If approved by voters on the February 2024 ballot, the total property tax impact will sit at about $6 per $1,000 in assessed property value for the next three years. While levies are meant to make up some of the district's operating budget, bonds are solely meant to fund construction projects. The upcoming bond proposal takes a similar approach to its $495 million predecessor in 2018, which built three entirely new middle schools and replaced three others, just on a smaller scale. This time, the focus will be on elementary school replacements and secondary school modernization. The district carried over $50 million from its 2018 bond and will receive nearly $40 million from the State Schools Construction Match, which means that if this $200 million bond is approved by voters the district will have nearly $300 million for new schools. (COLTON RASANEN)
