The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

Coulee Medical Center's chief executive tendered his resignation with a required 90-day notice last Thursday, offering to stay on until the end of that time but stating his intention to seek "liabilit...

The statewide 911 outage has reportedly been mostly corrected. The problem reportedly occurred in Sheridan, Ore. but affected 911 centers across Washington. Officials will be looking into the reason no backup systems kicked in. --- The State E911...

Grand Coulee is gaining a reputation among University of Washington students interested in rural medicine. Coulee Medical Center is among the smallest of a handful of facilities used by the...

"Are you fed up?" asked Dave Wilson of chamber of commerce members last Thursday. "I'm still waiting to meet the first person that's not fed up" with "the disfunction in Congress." Wilson hopes to...

A room full of teachers and staffers addressed the Nespelem School Board last week, declaring that Principal Superintendent John Adkins is doing a very good job. Board Member Pat Morin said it was the biggest crowd he’s seen in five years. Teacher...

A young father and son drowned March 30 in an accident in the canal above Summer Falls, and the father's body still hasn't been found. This morning, Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones issued a media advisory on the matter. In 25 years of journalism, no...

A corner was likely turned this week in the months-long hospital controversy that saw Coulee Medical Center’s healthcare providers and other employees pitted against administration. Public Hospital District 6 commissioners Friday afternoon...

The chief of staff at Coulee Medical Center was given a statewide award at the annual Washington Rural Health Association’s Northwest Regional Health Conference in Spokane Wednesday. Dr. Andrew Castrodale was awarded the Dr. John Anderson Memorial...

Public Hospital District 6 commissioners will gather in a special meeting Friday at 3 p.m. to consider the tendered resignation of Commissioner Greg Behrens. Commission President Jerry Kennedy confirmed that Behrens had given his letter of...

The local chamber of commerce will offer three runs and a walk on Colorama Saturday, all featuring a route over the Grand Coulee Dam. The Run The Dam will take place the Saturday of Colorama weekend, May 10. It will feature 5-kilometer, 10K and half...

Voters in the Colville Tribes’ Omak District Sunday voted in a longtime member to fill a vacancy on the Colville Business Council, seating him next to his son, whom they had voted in for another vacancy March 1. Mel Tonasket, a one-time chair of...

For nearly three decades, Coulee Dam has benefited from the reliably calm and deliberate approach taken by Councilmember Bob Poch, who announced his resignation last week. While it’s understandable that after 28 years he’s decided to step away,...

Revelations and rancor dominated a two-and-a-half-hour hospital commission meeting that culminated with steps taken toward the possible ouster of Coulee Medical Center's CEO and for an independent...

An accident and resulting fire that put the John W. Keys III Pump Generating Plant at Grand Coulee Dam out of commission last fall has cost the Bureau of Reclamation $990,000 for cleanup, fire response and incident investigation alone, and will lead...

Here is an interesting video that highlights a technology that will soon begin to impact our community, our lives: 3D Printing. Someday, you'll "print" the sweater you plan to wear the next day. Or,...

An investigation, or lack thereof, of missing public records and a town computer has been to Olympia and back via Waterville, where it may soon end up anyway. Coulee Dam Mayor F. Gregory Wilder, finding nothing but a brand new, unused computer in...

Hospital District 6 commissioners will meet tonight at 7 p.m. at the Coulee Dam Town Hall, a new venue picked because meeting rooms available at the hospital were expected to be too small to accomodate all those wishing to attend. Two executive...

A health care provider of nearly 20 years at Coulee Medical Center is resigning from her full-time position, citing adverse health affects from working with what she calls an incompetent and hostile administration. Dawn Lovelace, a nurse...

Whether he believes he’s making all the right decisions as a manager or not, Coulee Medical Center’s CEO should resign if he cares at all for the community asset he’s tried to lead since 2009....

The chamber of commerce named two of its own to awards last Thursday night as the "Achiever of the Year," and "Business of the Year." The awards are made by the vote of members of the Grand Coulee...

Large groups wanting to use North Dam Park will be charged according to a new fee schedule approved recently by the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District Commission. Individual users and small family groups will not be charged, but organizations...

Both the girls’ and the boys’ Raider basketball teams will play Saturday in loser-out games for a shot at second-place in the league championship. They each beat their opponents in Wenatchee Wednesday to earn that chance. The Lady Raiders will...

This week's photos are now online. More than 80 photos taken in the last week, some we really wish we could have used in the paper, are ready to view. Here's a slide show:...

Facing another litany of complaints about mismanagement, hospital commissioners Monday directed changes in two key policies that have angered community members and medical staff. The commission directed CEO Scott Graham to find a legal way to...

It’s times like these that make you wonder if there’s something to astrology. There is always turmoil somewhere in the world, but when it rears its chaotic head in local communities, it begs the profound question, What the heck? With months of...

With their constituents voicing impatience, hospital district commissioners took no actions after coming out of a closed session last week, but they voted in new leadership and streamlined committee...

A large majority of registered nurses at Coulee Medical Center have signed cards asking to be represented by a union, an organizer said Tuesday night. Austin DePaolo, of the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local 1439, said more than 70...

Colville Members for Justice will meet Saturday morning in Elmer City to discuss the status and updates on their effort to sue the Colville Business Council over decisions on how much of a $193 million settlement with the United States government to...

People are understandably anxious about the lack of resolution of the issues embroiling Coulee Medical Center. While we feel obliged to report on the controversy, it’s not as easy, and much more technical, to report on the hospital’s progress. Al...

County sheriffs in the region have been collaborating on finding out who has been stealing from rural residents and getting their property back. Last week, the sheriffs of Grant, Lincoln and Adams...

On any given week, Star photographers take far more photos than can be used in the newspaper. But the best of the rest are included on a website anyone can explore, and it has just been redesigned....

Got some good shots at the LRHS Raider basketball game against Oroville Friday night and decided to get a slideshow up for you: _psEmbed("http://coulee.photoshelter.com"); To see photos larger, click on them at this site: http://o...

A worker burned in an accident at Grand Coulee Dam last November is due to be released from hospital today, the Bureau of Reclamation has informed an irrigation district. The Columbia Basin Development League reported to members in its email...

It was uncomfortable at first, but the nursing staff at Coulee Medical Center has made a cultural adjustment for transparency in the service of improvements to patient care at the hospital. So said...

Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers last week awarded Wilbur resident Seth Coffman for his role in the saving the life of a woman thrown from a boat near Keller Ferry Marina in 2011. Magers gave Coffman a letter and a “Lincoln County Sheriffs...

Authorities clamped down on a local fire chief this week, who said he didn’t know burning the kinds of materials he had in his burn pile was illegal. He’s not alone in a lack of understanding of this state’s laws regarding outdoor burning....

A majority of hospital district commissioners voted Thursday to immediately hire new legal counsel, then went into closed session with the new attorney. Commissioner Jerry Kennedy said the board’s reasons for changing attorneys had been compounded...

One of the doctors who felt his reputation was unneccessarily harmed by a notice sent to his patients and placed in the newspaper, last week explained the work he had been up to. In an interview, Dr. Andrew Castrodale said the “HIPAA” notice, mad...

by Scott Hunter A draft budget for the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District could be slashed in half, or not, depending on what other agencies do. The $57,005 bottom line for the agency with no direct revenue of its own would have to be altered...

A computer used by Coulee Dam’s former mayor is missing, and the new mayor has asked the sheriff to investigate the possible theft of public property and destruction of public records. Newly elected Mayor Greg Wilder said when he entered the...

A special meeting of the commission that governs Coulee Medical Center, originally called for last night, was postponed, likely until Thursday night, Jan. 9, because an attorney central to the agenda could not make it out of Spokane due to snowy...

An Omak woman was injured and flown to a hospital after the car she was driving hit black ice Friday morning. Maya Best, 31, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with unspecified injuries after the 2007 Ford Freestyle she was...

A fire that scrambled area fire departments to the Third Powerhouse at Grand Coulee Dam last week started in an air filter. It put out a lot of smoke, but, unlike fires in other power plants at the dam last year, didn’t affect power production. A...

A committee formed to try to heal a critical breach between health care providers and administration at Coulee Medical Center recommended hiring a consultant to investigate what the committee heard from staff and community members over the last five...

An Omak woman was injured and flown to a hospital after the car she was driving hit black ice Friday morning. Maya Best, 31, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with unspecified injuries after the 2007 Ford Freestyle she was...

A new mayor and two new council members were sworn in at Coulee Dam last Monday. Mayor-elect Greg Wilder, and council members-elect Gayle Swagerty and Duane Johnson all took their oaths of office at...

Four individuals with records of service to the community have been nominated for the annual volunteer of the year honor, and the community will now choose. It could be a difficult choice, but the one chosen will ultimately serve as an example, as...

Several people have taken the time to write out some great explanations as to why they believe their particular nominee deserves to be recognized as the 2013 volunteer of the year. We hope readers...

A special meeting for Tuesday night has been called of the commission that governs Coulee Medical Center. A majority of the five commissioners set the special meeting to consider, among other things, hiring a different law firm, a proposal that died...