More training, less paying

Thanks to a new lease agreement with the Spokane County Raceway in Airway Heights, county sheriff’s deputies will be gaining nearly 100 training days a year on the track in exchange for a reduction in the raceway’s annual fees.

The Spokane County Commissioners approved the agreement last week, dropping raceway operator Craig Smith’s payment from $32,500 per year to about $10,000.

“This was a way to get the fee reduced and bring in more police training, which is good when you sit around and look at all the crime that’s going on around us,” Smith said.

Under the 2018 contract, law enforcement em...