Welcome to CIVICS, where we break down the week’s municipal meetings throughout the Inland Northwest, so you can keep track of and fight for the issues you care about.
Here are highlights of what’s coming up:
- The Spokane City Council has a new draft of an ordinance that would criminalize homelessness citywide.
- They’re also voting on an emergency ordinance to ban warrantless ICE arrest in “nonpublic,” city property, which would include events at the parks and city streets.
- It’s 4th of July this week, which means there’s a lot of city closures — including libraries and aquatic centers — and a lot of meeting cancellations, hence the shorter CIVICS.
Important meetings this week:
- Spokane City Council
- Liberty Lake City Council
But, before we get into it:
Here’s what we know about the Idaho fire and shootings
To bring you up to speed, about midday on June 29, police say, a gunman set flame to the dry forest on Canfield Mountain just east of Dalton Gardens between Coeur d’Alene and Hayden. As the blaze spread and firefighting crews were investigating how to fight it, he opened fire on them, killing two and wounding one, who was in critical but stable condition Sunday evening. Local, state and federal law enforcement immediately responded and a short time later the shooter was dead. We don’t know whether he died from police gunfire or from shooting himself. Police recovered the body before the fire reached it. Here is what we know:
- There is no evacuation ordered at the moment, but the fire is still burning. Kootenai County Sherif Bob Norris advised local residents to monitor the Kootenai County Alert Center for up-to-date information.
- Several news agencies, including the Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Press, have identified the suspect as 20-year-old Wess Roley; we’ll be digging into his story in the coming days.
- About 300 law enforcement agents responded to the scene, including at least one Spokane-based Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Most were stationed for several hours at Cherry Hill Park, on the east side of the ridge, opposite the attack scene.
- RANGE saw the following law enforcement agencies on scene: the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; US Border Patrol; US Marshals; Washington State Patrol; Idaho State Patrol; Spokane County Sheriff; the Kootenai County Sheriff; Liberty Lake Police Department; Spokane Police Department; Post Falls Police Department; Kellogg Police Department.
- The shooter’s body was located via a stagnant cell phone signal by a federal surveillance helicopter at 3:16 pm and “scooped up” about an hour and a half later, according to Norris.
- Though investigators are still trying to determine a motive, Bruce Mattare, the chair of the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners, referenced Coeur d’Alene’s long history with white supremacy in a press conference. He said his comments were inspired by media speculation that the shooter could be influenced by white supremacy. Here is a lengthy quote from Mattare, which references activity by the Aryan Nations, a white supremacist hate group that was headquartered in Hayden and was later dismantled largely by grassroots activism:“June 29th, 2025 is a day that we will not forget in this community. It is the day evil showed his face, and we lost two outstanding professionals of the highest quality. I cannot fathom why anyone would commit such a heinous act. This kind of senseless violence is unheard of here. This is not who we are as a community, and when you hear how others portray the people who live here on the news, it’s not true. What happened here decades ago is not reflective of fine people who live here today. I want everyone to know that this is a wonderful place to live.”
July 4th Spokane City Closures
Straight from the mouth of the city (and by that, we mean we copied-and-pasted the city press release) here are the closures you should plan for on Friday:
“In observance of the Independence Day holiday on Friday, July 4, City Hall will be closed along with other City facilities, including the Waste-to-Energy facility. Garbage, recycling, and food & yard waste services will be a day late after the Fourth of July holiday, with normal Friday services planned for Saturday…