The Spokesman-Review -- To create a Spokane-based mobile clinic, WSU has partnered with the Spokane Alliance, a group of roughly 30 churches, nonprofits and other community organizations.

Small business owners, medical professionals, non-profits, community groups and city council members gathered in a packed Saranac Commons on Tuesday to unveil a sick, safe and family leave policy for the City of Spokane. The Spokane Alliance, a coalition of groups in Spokane County, has been conducting outreach and analysis for nearly two years with positive results: nearly two dozen small businesses already endorse the draft policy, city council has announced their intention to pass a policy by summer, and hundreds of stories have been collected that speak to the profound impact of employees having access to paid sick, safe and family leave.

Almost 200 people packed the Spokane City Council chambers and Chase Gallery on Monday night for the council’s final meeting of the year. Most of them came to support an ordinance put forth by Council President Ben Stuckart mandating that a certain amount of work on public works construction projects be performed by apprentices.

Spokane City Council’s last meeting of the year was a marathon session that lasted over four hours and brought out the largest group of people the city’s legislative body had seen all year.