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

The Star is seeking nominations for the annual Volunteer of the Year honor to be awarded to one individual who deserves to be acknowledged for their unselfish efforts to help others or the community. To nominate someone you think is deserving of the...

Hospital District Commissioner Jerry Kennedy said Monday that a commission meeting that had been scheduled for Dec. 18 has been rescheduled for Dec. 26. Kennedy said the commission discovered that a regular monthly meeting can only be rescheduled...

A small group of parents with concerns about bullying, buses and more met Monday night to discuss ways to help the local school district improve. But if response to a posting on The Star’s Facebook page is an indication, the issues are a hot...

This week's photos, including those not used, are up on our photo site. Here's a slide show you can share: 12-11-13 Star - Images by Scott Hunter...

Doctors and other health care providers at Coulee Medical Center have vowed to quit if the hospital’s chief executive officer doesn’t leave, one frustrated doctor finally told The Star last week. Dr. Jacob Chaffee said the situation is critical a...

Only Wenatchee and East Wenatchee put more kids on NCW Youth Football fields than the local effort that fielded 60 kids from 8 to 12 years of age this year. "That's awesome, considering we are one of...

A semi loaded with cement crashed at the bottom of the hill below Grand Coulee Dam on highway 155 Wednesday morning. The big rig pulling double tanker trailers, reportedly full of cement (the dry...

Directions in the management of Coulee Medical Center are aimed at providing for the long-term survival of the hospital, despite shorter-term difficulties, its top administrator and board chairman said this week. Chief Operating Officer Scott Graham...

The top administrator at Coulee Medical Center narrowly avoided a vote of no confidence from his board Monday night, with a decision by the hospital district commission that clearly disappointed members of his staff. In a special meeting of the...

A Bureau of Reclamation employee was critically injured Monday as a fire started at a switch in the John W. Keys III Pump Generating Plant. Daniel McCulloch, 54, was flown to Harborview Medical...

The Lake Roosevelt Raider basketball players will play against each other on Tuesday to raise funds to feed families for the holiday season. They're hoping to raise enough to feed 50 needy families,...

Students and staff at Grand Coulee Dam Middle School were on pins and needles Friday morning, gathered for a special assembly with a secret subject ... Until they saw the TV camera and anchors....

Among the most frustrating regulations that citizens run up against when trying to fight city hall are zoning laws. But some of the most obvious problems this community faces result from a lack of them, or of their past enforcement. Zones in a city...

Three of four commissioners of the public hospital district that runs Coulee Medical Center have called a special meeting of the commission for Monday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. Special meetings must adhere...

An accident two miles north of Keller has resulted in a death, the Washington State Patrol stated this afternoon. A WSP press release indicates the single-car collision took place on SR21 at milepost 119 in Ferry County at 3:50 p.m. today (Nov. 14)...

The public hospital district that runs Coulee Medical Center is aiming for zero next year. That is, a net gain of nothing on its bottom line, which would be an improvement over this year and last. Commissioners for Douglas, Grant, Lincoln, Okanogan...

• The Missoula Children’s Theater, which the local PTA paid to put on an impressive musical with local kids in less than a week, is a happy symptom of a depressing malady in society. We need more resources to go toward such humanities efforts,...

A meeting called by three of four hospital district commissioners, cancelled by the commission president on Friday, will take place anyway, a commissioner said. President Greg Behrens cancelled the meeting on the advice of the district’s attorney,...

A Bureau of Reclamation employee was flown to Harborview Medical Center with injuries after a fire Monday in the John W. Keys III Pump Generating Plant, which a bureau press release said is believed...

A standing-room-only overflow crowed packed the monthly meeting last week of the hospital district commissioners who oversee Coulee Medical Center, speaking out on issues some feared are weakening...

Tribal police are investigating the death of a 29-year-old woman whose body was found in Nespelem, just before 5 p.m. Oct. 31. Colville Tribal Police Chief Cory Orr said in a press release that the woman had been identified at Maria Victoria...

If citizen involvement is a key ingredient in the health of a community, this one should feel pretty good about itself. The upside of people complaining about what they think is going wrong is that they care and they act as caring citizens should:...

A tribal store in Ferry County has been cordoned off by police following a bomb threat, according to the Washington State Patrol. WSP says Ferry County officials advised them of the bomb threat, reported at 3:42 this afternoon. The Tribal Waters...

NESPELEM (Nov. 1) — Tribal police are investigating the death of a 29-year-old woman whose body was found in Nespelem, just before 5 p.m. Oct. 31. Colville Tribal Police Chief Cory Orr said in...

Residents of Coulee Dam reported hearing, and feeling, a loud explosion coming from Grand Coulee Dam Wednesday afternoon. It was basically man-made thunder. Workers getting ready to test a generator under repair in the left powerhouse opened a gate...

Coulee Medical Center’s governing commissioners passed a resolution Friday night that sets out Public Hospital District 6’s typical meeting agenda and policies for handling unruly meetings. Resolution 815 adopts normal agendas for regular and...

This week The Star presents a candidates’ forum, in which we publish the responses of candidates for public office to questions we emailed to each. Not all responded, but many of the candidates seeking voter approval for 11 contested local offices...

Our diverse region and readership have decisions to make. We hope this week’s Local Candidates Forum provides some help for voters who open their mail-in ballots to cast decisions on races they may not have even realized were occurring. Readers...

Hospital District 6 commissioners will meet in a special session Friday night to discuss, in a closed session, to discuss legal matters with their attorney and to consider an employee’s performance. Following the the closed executive session, the...

The Star will publish next week responses to questions recently posed to candidates for local office. Star readers will decide among 22 candidates in 11 local races this year. We sent each candidate an email asking for their responses to a set of...

Last Friday, eighth graders at Nespelem Elementary School gained something in common with students in far-flung school districts around the continent intent on making sure students are prepared for...

Bob Hinkey spends a lot of time, energy and money making Halloween a kick for all those brave enough to trick or treat at his Coulee Dam home. We found him busy Saturday afternoon with preparations...

The latest failure of Congress to compromise has shuttered two local branches of federal agencies but not affected operations at Grand Coulee Dam. The federal government went into shutdown mode...

A 34-year-old man hanged himself in the tribal corrections center Sept. 24, a press release from Colville Tribal Police stated Tuesday. Police Chief Cory J. Orr said police responded last week to the Colville Tribal Corrections Center near Nespelem...

Remember when you were a little kid and had to learn, likely through repeated lessons, that you just can’t always get your way? That you have to learn to give a little just to get along in this world? That’s not just a childhood lesson, it’s a...

So, I’m very glad I took out that MedStar membership. Took a ride last night. The good pros at Coulee Medical Center figured out why I was so weak and sent me to Sacred Heart ICU. Turns out I have multiple pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in...

• Congratulations to local firm Taylor Enterprises, LLC for landing a $4.2 million contract to provide the Grand Coulee Dam with janitorial services. • Electric City’s planning commission should think carefully if asked to alter what kinds of...

Hoping to make a bigger impact for local business and jobs, the chamber of commerce told Coulee Dam leaders last week of its more ambitious plans for marketing the area in 2014. Peggy Nevsimal, the manager of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of...

• The Columbia River Treaty between the United States and Canada, which the two countries will start renegotiating soon, is one international news story the local community needs to watch. It can affect everything from how much water remains in loc...

Five people in two canoes got as close as they dared to Grand Coulee Dam Saturday on a “Sea to Source” expedition in craft carved from trees by school kids and others. Their purpose is to call...

Anyone who has ever tried to work in community economic development has heard it repeatedly: “You guys should just get a grant.” Easier said than done, most of the time, but opportunities do...

Family and friends are grieving for a young man killed in an electrocution accident last week. Dakotah Holt, a 2011 graduate of Lake Roosevelt High School, was following his chosen career as a...

Along with many others, we were saddened this week by the news of Dakotah Holt’s death, and our hearts go out to his family and loved ones. As a child, Dakotah was a Star newspaper carrier for a time. He was a bright, ambitious kid who seemed...

Some local municipal councils have passed laws banning local participation in what appears to be on the way to becoming a legitimate enterprise: growing marijuana. With the state’s passage of Initiative 520 last year, and with the guidance last...

The Grand Coulee Dam Cooperative Preschool is about to start up again for fall. The cooperative, which has operated for decades in the area, is currently taking applicants for two age groups of...

A powerful storm packing high winds and lightning has knocked out power in parts of Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam. Sketchy reports, unconfirmed have come in about trees down all over, some across mobile homes in Lakeview Terrace , transformers knocked...

It happens repeatedly in Coulee Country, even when we invent ways to try to get around our biggest road block to progress. In a community with four town councils and four mayors, we’ve needed to find ways, institutions, to make it possible to...

Park commissioners Monday night barely passed a motion to allow the chamber of commerce to hold another beer garden event at North Dam Park next month. Commissioners expressed frustration with...

The cause of the fire that destroyed the Colville Tribes’ administration building July 29 is still unknown, Tribal Police Chief Cory Orr said Tuesday. Orr said private investigators had been unable as yet to determine a cause and federal...

Star Online readers, This site will be down tonight as the site is migrating to faster servers. Downtime will start about 11:30 p.m., so you probably won't notice. I know I won't! IT guy says it...