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

Doctor wants to represent you

A woman who wants to represent you in Olympia has scheduled a “coffee talk” at the Voltage Coffee House this Friday from 7:30 to 9 a.m.

Running for the state’s 12th Legislative District as an independent, Ann Diamond is a family physician and clinic owner in Winthrop. She’s running for position 1 in the House of Representatives for the 12th.

Fire season gets started

A wildfire on Sunday burned four buildings in Schawana, in Grant County, but firefighters stopped it before it jumped a highway.

Grant County fire districts 10, 11 and 8 got a call for a large wildfire on the west side of State Route 243 at the town of Schawana. The fire burned one temporary residence and three non-residential buildings. Several other homes and buildings were threatened and Level 3 evacuations for the Schawana area were ordered through the night. Firefighters were able to keep the fire from jumping SR-243.

Assisting on this fire were Grant PUD linemen, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Patrol and Washington Department of Transportation. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Grant County Fire Marshal. A countywide burn ban is in effect from June 1 through Sept. 30 every year.

Gas price up in state

Gasoline prices in Washington have risen 0.7 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $3.42 per gallon on Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 2,666 stations in Washington by the crowd-sourced price monitoring website. This compares with the national average that has fallen 1.9 cents per gallon versus last week to $2.94 per gallon, according to GasBuddy.

“Average gasoline prices on June 4 in Washington have ranged widely over the last five years: $2.83/g in 2017, $2.61/g in 2016, $3.06/g in 2015, $3.90/g in 2014 and $3.89/g in 2013,” the company reported.