News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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OLYMPIA—Gov. Jay Inslee on Monday signed a bill responding to the state Supreme Court’s 2012 decision that the state is unconstitutionally underfunding basic education. “This … recommits the Legislature in 2017 … to fulfill the state’s constitutional obligation to fully fund education,” Inslee said before he signed the bill into law. The bill, SB 6195, establishes a task force to create recommendations about teacher compensation and retention, local school levies’ limits and conditions, and sources of state funding. The bill also requires l... Full story
Most of us would never put ourselves in harm’s way, knowing that a man with a gun might be approaching with evil intent. A few of us just did. Local police were asked last week to block the highway heading into Electric City from the south because a man had threatened to shoot up the school in Coulee City. He didn’t show up here; police caught him outside Soap Lake. But he could have, and police here had to be ready to defend the rest of us from an armed lunatic. Citizens shouldn’t take that for granted. Scott Hunter editor and publi... Full story
Our Okanogan County commissions are considering a grave injustice to families and the future of our county, thinking that a “potential” budget savings solution is to send our presently troubled children out of sight and out of mind. The Omak juvenile detention facility is aged and needs to be brought up to code. But, doing a cost/benefit analysis of capital improvement costs, operating costs and lost jobs against outsourcing this responsibility to another facility 140 miles away is incomprehensible and irresponsible. Do the commissioners have a... Full story
The the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has finalized the classification numbers, and new league alignments have emerged in District 6. For Lake Roosevelt, the changes are minor, but the choices of the other schools in certain sports will increase the effect of the changes. The division of the Blue Mountain League during the classification process was the impetus to the big changes in the Central Washington 2B League. Asotin left for the Bi-County, which will be split into two divisions, North and South. That left Dayton,... Full story
It’s hard to go to work if you’ve got no one to watch the kids. That’s a problem Coulee Medical Center will tackle, at least for its own employees, following a decision by hospital commissioners Monday night. They voted to spend up to $15,000 to fund a refurbishment of the basement of the old clinic building to house a daycare program for hospital employees. A relative lack of daycare facilities was identified as a problem for economic development locally as far back as 2009 by the Horizons study funded by a grant through Washington State... Full story
The Affordable Care Act was signed into law six years ago this month. The uninsured rate is now 11.9 percent, the lowest ever recorded. Approximately 17 million more Americans have health insurance today than before the law was passed. Hospitals across the nation have saved tens of billions of dollars on uncompensated care. Despite this progress, over five million Americans remain unable to access health insurance because they fall into the “coverage gap.” These individuals make too much income to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to be eli... Full story
The Raider boys’ basketball season came to a close Saturday with a big loss in the regional round against Morton-White Pass in Chehalis. This is the third straight year that the Raiders have made it to the regional round on the way to the state tournament and lost. Morton-White Pass is the number-two team in the 2B classification in the state, behind Brewster. The Raiders were in the game at the end of the first quarter. In the second, though, the Timberwolves pulled ahead to a 20-point lead going into halftime. In the third quarter, Morton-Whi... Full story
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office says schools in Coulee City are closed this morning “as a precaution.” GCSO adds only that there have been no injuries and that law enforcement officers are at the school. Reports coming from a person near the school say those officers look “pretty calm” and that the street has not been cordoned off. The sheriff’s office has not said what the nature of the threat is, only that they “will share more information when we can.” Possible update: GCSO is asking the public (at about 9:50 a.m. Wednesday) to a...
Not too long ago, a couple moving into the area told us they felt safe moving here after reading Coulee Cops in The Star for several weeks. They concluded that if that’s as bad as it gets, this must be a very safe community. And they’re still right to an extent. Coulee Dam was recently noted as “one of the safest cities in the U.S.” by Consumer Affairs, ranking number two in the state, right behind Odessa because some algorithm noticed a 100-percent drop in the burglary rate. That’s nice, but feels pretty far off the mark this week. With mult... Full story
Brown, foul-smelling water spewing out of faucets. Children poisoned by lead and other toxic metals. Families with aching joints, brittle bones, and shocking hair loss. These troubling images and more have been flowing out of Flint, Michigan, since late last year as the scope and impact of the city’s austerity-driven water contamination crisis has become increasingly clear. But pollution, contamination, and toxic chemicals that harm children’s health aren’t confined to Flint. America’s children are being exposed to a host of toxic chemica... Full story
Lake Roosevelt senior Jacob Smith led his three Raider wrestling teammates at the state tournament last weekend, coming home with the gold medal at 113 pounds and a place in the books as a state champion. And freshman Tony Nichols took the bronze in the 132-pound bracket. It was Smith's second medal from the big Mat Classic in Tacoma; last year he placed fourth at 113. En route to the championship, Smith pinned Joe Thompson of Illwaco and Gerardo Rios-Lopez of Kittitas. Then in the finals match... Full story
The Raider boys will move on to the regional tournament as the number-four seed from District 5-6, following an overtime loss in a record-breaking, high-point game to Mabton Saturday night in East Wenatchee. Lake Roosevelt will play Morton-White Pass in the regional round this Saturday in Chehalis for a chance to move on to the Spokane Arena for State 2B Tournament. Morton-White Pass is the home team for the game. The Raiders will leave Friday to travel to Chehalis, where the game will be played... Full story
The Lady Raiders' season came to an end last week as the Tonasket Tigers won in overtime 60-56 at the District 5-6 tournament in East Wenatchee. The Thursday night game at Eastmont High School ended the 2016 season for the Lady Raiders, who present an overall win-loss record of 14-8. Lake Roosevelt will lose Lachelle Bearcub and Jocelyn Moore to graduation this spring and will be looking to the many returners to fill in. The Lady Raiders were taken aback by the aggressive Tigers and fell behind... Full story
Boaters in Washington state born after Dec. 31, 1954, now need to take a boater education course and carry a state Boater Education Card. An online course is offered by a private company for $29.50 at boat-ed.com, but the Boat US Foundation is also offering a free online course. (Thanks to reader Randy Semanko for that tip.) And the Grant County Sheriff’s Office is offering a course, in person, for free as listed below. February 20: Moses Lake – 1274 Lowry Street (Sheriff’s Substation) May 7... Full story
Below are this year’s nominations for The Star’s annual Volunteer of the Year award. Each of them are highly deserving of the honor. When chosen by our readers, they will stand for the honor meant to recognize the many in the community who give of their time and talents for the sake of others. Read the nominations, then help your community deicde which to choose. You can let your choice be known: • by mail to Volunteer, PO Box 150, Grand Coulee, WA 99133, • in person to The Star, 3 Midway Ave., Grand Coulee, or • use the poll below. Responses... Full story
The Raider boys kept their dreams of the state basketball tournament alive Saturday with a dramatic one-point, at-the-buzzer win over Liberty Bell after fighting back from a 13-point deficit at the District 5/6 Tournament in East Wenatchee. The win came after a surprising first-round loss to Kittitas on Wednesday, when the Raiders could not slow down Brock Ravet who scored 41 points that placed him in a three-way tie for fourth place in the District 6 single-game scoring tournament record with... Full story
Four Raider wrestlers earned a trip to the Tacoma Dome for the Mat Classic as they qualified at the end of the Central Washington Regional Tournament Saturday. Kaleb Horn, at 106 pounds; Jacob Smith, at 113; Tony Nichols, at 132; and Renford Sanchez, at 220, will travel to Tacoma tomorrow for a chance to place at state. Wrestling at the Mat Classic begins Friday and will finish on Saturday. “We wrestled well and are excited to make the trip to the dome and wrestle for state championships,” Head Coach Steve Hood said. Jacob Smith is the Central... Full story
The Lady Raiders vanquished a foe in the final seconds of a playoff game in East Wenatchee last Wednesday, earning the right to face an unbeaten team who would best them by a greater margin on Saturday. The Lady Raiders are still in the District Tournament, with a game tomorrow against Tonasket at 7:45 p.m. in the Eastmont High School Gym. If the Lady Raiders win it, they get to play on Saturday in a game to determine third and fourth place in the District 5/6 Tournament. "This was a productive... Full story
An after-school program promoting values, leadership, family and education received a multi-state award last week when its director, Kim Stanger, was in Washington D.C. to encourage more funding from Congress. The Cultural Enrichment Early Out Monday program at Lake Roosevelt Schools received an award as an "Exemplary Program" in Region 6, the Northwest, of the National Johnson-O'Malley Program in the Bureau of Indian Education. The program takes advantage of the schools' "early out" Mondays... Full story
A popular educator and rising young school administrator was taken from Lake Roosevelt Schools in handcuffs last week, after a Seattle-based task force on Internet crimes served warrants to search his home, office and vehicle. Nate Piturachsatit, 37, was arrested at the school Feb. 3, after law enforcement officers from several agencies, all part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, arrived at 10 a.m. with a warrant to search his office and computer. When they left, they didn't... Full story
A levy to support Nespelem School District passed by a large margin Tuesday night with only 14 percent of the ballots in Okanogan County left to count. As of Tuesday night, 52 voters said yes to the measure that will tax property owners at about $2.49 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation, compared to 17 against it. The 75.36-percent margin assures the passage of the levy, which will directly bring in only about $34,000 a year, but makes the district eligible to receive state “levy equalization” funds of nearly $318,000 more. The fou... Full story
A levy to support Nespelem School District passed by a large margin Tuesday night with only 14 percent of the ballots in Okanogan County left to count. As of Tuesday night, 52 voters said yes to the measure that will tax property owners at about $2.49 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation, compared to 17 against it. The 75.36-percent margin assures the passage of the levy, which will directly bring in only about $34,000 a year, but makes the district eligible to receive state “levy equalization” funds of nearly $318,000 more. The fou... Full story
The arrest last week of a popular educator is an emotionally wrenching trauma for a significant portion of the community, not just for him and his family. If he’s guilty of what the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force say he is, they’ve either stopped a budding deviant or just a mid-life crisis that strayed far afield from the norm, ruined his future and hampered the futures of many others. Whatever the case, the community in general will need to rebound from severe disappointment. The good news is, it will. Part of that rebound wil... Full story
I am sickened and disturbed after reading the article about the $150K bonus that was received by [four] employees at CMC. You obviously think that you built and ran CMC by yourselves; that is what bonuses are paid for: employees who exceed expectations, and you did not. I also find it hard to believe that these bonuses were not known by the board. Where are the checks and balances as these checks are written and signed. Again, shame. I am quite sure that it is too late to prosecute these immoral people, but to them I would like to say, gift... Full story
What do you call it when the federal government targets legitimate businesses and causes them to be shut down, not for illegal activity, but because they are deemed undesirable by the Administration? Answer: federal regulatory intimidation. Last week, I voted to effectively stop one such effort: “Operation Choke Point.” We must ensure federal regulators are held accountable to stay on the right side of the line between enforcement of the law and regulatory intimidation. Operation Choke Point was a secret U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ant... Full story
