LILACS to the Spokane School Board for allowing a new Monsters of Rock show to go on at Albi Stadium, with liquor sales allowed. I won’t be attending personally, not being a heavy metal fan, but it brings back a lot of memories for people who were at the huge show in 1988. Kind of cool to give the stadium one last hurrah. Of course, I’m not-so-secretly hoping it will spark a movement to save it from the wrecking ball.

LILACS to the state Supreme Court for ruling that turn signals are always required when changing lanes. It used to be required only when public safety is affected, but it makes it safer for all of us when it is an automatic reflex. Making it optional led to people getting in the habit of not signaling at all, which has caused confusion for at least this writer.

LILACS to local writer Jess Walter for landing on former president Barack Obama’s year end favorite books list. We Live In Water is a collection of stories of people on the edges of society, who are not always looked upon favorably but nevertheless live lives of honor.

LILACS to U-Haul International who, beginning this month, will no longer hire smokers or vapers. Smokers raise health insurance rates and lead to lost productivity due to cig breaks and sick days. As a nonsmoker, it’s easy for me to get on my high horse, but when habits affect coworkers and the bottom line, it seems like a good decision. The more smoking is demonized, the fewer will take up the habit and we will all win.

LILACS to the Spokane Public Library for moving the Shadle Library to Northtown for a few years while the branch is being remodeled. Putting services like this in shopping malls helps fill their empty space and makes them town centers. Both malls and government offices need to keep thinking outside the box. See next item:

LEMONS to Amazon as they keep decimating retail in America while we all keep drinking the Kool-Aid, lamenting the loss of our favorite stores while continuing to order online to save $1.43 on stockings. Ever wonder how a small country can completely wipe out their entire supply of trees for economic gain? We’re doing it to ourselves right now, kissing our entire way of life goodbye, a la Gone With The Wind. In a recent copy of the Spokesman-Review, multiple retail stores announced Going Out of Business Sales; all blamed Amazon. Goodbye Mountain Gear. Goodbye Jigsaw. Goodbye Sears. Goodbye Payless Shoes. Goodbye Dodson’s Jewelers. All canaries in the coal mine.

LILACS to the Spokane Comedy Club for booking Stormy Daniels to Spokane on February 17. It will be interesting to see how she mines comedy gold from her liaisons with the president. When compiling a list of her greatest attributes, we probably wouldn’t have put “sense of humor” near the top of it; if nothing else, we think it’s good she can wring laughs out of her travails.

LEMONS to Spokane employers who had people working at a buck or two above the new minimum wage and didn’t raise their pay when the minimum wage went up to $13.50 per hour. If you’ve slowly worked your way up from $10 per hour to $13.50 or $14 and then new hires get practically the same as you, it can be demoralizing. Wages wouldn’t need to all go up by the same amount, but to let employees go for merely asking questions about how the minimum wage increase affects their pay seems wrong.