News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Christmastime is the season of hope and joy — hope that even when times are dark, we can find the light and joy that follows. The greatest gift the world has received is the birth of Christ and his salvation of humanity. The Christmas season is a time to reflect, to prepare, to spend time with family, and to celebrate. During this time, we must also be grateful and remember the contributions and sacrifices our forefathers and military service members endured to ensure our freedoms. We are blessed to have the freedom to celebrate the season o...
The Raiders topped a mixed weekend with a very large lead Monday night over White Swan in Coulee Dam, beating the Cougars 85-44. The win came on the heels of a one-point loss to Omak on Saturday, which itself had followed a huge victory over Brewster's Bears, 71-60, on their home court, a game about which Raider Coach Jeremy Crollard had not been optimistic due to past experience with uneven officiating. "We left it all on the court when it came to Brewster," Crollard said. The Raiders played...
The Lady Raiders met a challenge by White Swan Monday night, fresh off a defeat by the Omak Lady Pioneers Saturday, to win 64-46. Starting off slow in the first quarter, Lake Roosevelt trailed to finish it behind three points, 11-8. And by the half the Lady Raiders had just reversed the advantage to lead 27-23. The pace was about to change. After the halftime break, Lake Roosevelt went into dominate mode, racking up another 37 points while holding White Swan again to 23 more. "The girls came...
School board directors will study whether to allow weighted grade point averages to be considered for graduation. Considering whether to pass a recommended policy on high school graduation requirements Monday night, Chairman George LaPlace and Superintendent Paul Turner each spoke in favor of tabling that discussion to give time for more discussion with students and staff. Weighted GPAs can add more points for higher-level courses. An honors course might gain half a point on a regular class in the same subject area, for instance. “It takes a li...
Local mayors decided against further studying whether their Regional Board of Mayors could consider taking over the Spring Canyon Cemetery. Meeting as the RBOM Dec. 7, the mayors voted to drop their research into taking over ownership of the cemetery currently owned by the local Lions Club. The club had approached the mayors about that possibility last August, and they’ve been looking into it ever since. Coulee Dam Mayor Bob Poch said his council was not in favor of it. City Clerk Stefani Bowden had asked the Municipal Research Services Corpora...
Sometimes, if it’s not one thing, it’s another when you’re dealing a federal agency that gives you money. Or takes it back. Nespelem’s school board learned Monday that some of their Impact Aid money was being clawed back. Impact Aid is a federal grant program for local educational agencies that have lost local property tax revenue due to the presence of non-taxable federal land. Superintendent Effie Dean explained that the Impact Aid agency had found the school district’s 2019-2020 school year application for Impact Aid faulty, for two years...
As we near the end of 2022, I want to take a moment to look back on some of the work I’ve done in Congress for our district. From passing landmark legislation to securing critical funds for projects in our communities, we’ve accomplished a lot. And as we enter into the new Congress, I’m committed to building off these successes and continuing to fight for Central Washington’s priorities. As a member on the Appropriations Committee, I work to secure funding for much-needed projects in Central Washington while ensuring our taxpayer dollars are be...
A trailer housing two families on E Street burned down Thursday on one of the coldest nights of the year so far, burning one man badly. "This is the devastation that no family should have to go through," Kimberly Minks wrote in an online message the next day. The fire started about 7 p.m. Dec. 1 on E Street, just west of the Bridgeport Highway. A friend, Crysta Harris, posted on Facebook her two kids were visiting at the time. She explained that two families were living in the home - a man with...
City leaders in Grand Coulee met with their engineers Monday to learn about options being recommended for upgrades to their wastewater treatment plant, estimated to cost $10.5 million. The good news is that the Dept. of Ecology has already stated it can fund the project. "You're in a real interesting situation," Gray and Osborne Engineer Nancy Wetch told the city council, noting that she's never seen funding promised without an application even submitted. But funded doesn't mean free. Wetch met...
The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce's first in-person winter event since 2019 was a success Saturday night, as community members turned out for the Vintners and Brewers dinner and auction. The annual auction was held as an online affair in 2020 and 2021 to meet restrictions or advice on in-person gatherings during the COVID-19 emergency. "It was huge," said Executive Director Roni Smith. "We couldn't have done it without all the volunteers, businesses, and community members who bought...
To help prepare students for future careers in fields from chemistry and earth sciences to computer engineering and physics, schools in Central Washington and across the country are emphasizing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education programs. And as the home to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Hanford Site, Energy Northwest, and numerous other science and technology startups, Central Washington’s students have prime examples of the many rewarding careers in computer science, technology, research, or e...
When it was all said and done, the Grand Coulee Dam School District Proposition No. 1 passed in each of the four counties where it was on the ballot earlier this month. The levy election was certified by county election officials in the office of each county auditor, who had to transmit their certifications on Tuesday to the state’s secretary of state. It was a squeaker, with vote tallying and signature checking often showing a winning margin in the 1-2% range and only in one county at times. But the final tally wasn’t as close. Overall, 1,7...
Electric City will set aside some of the money collected from tourists to make improvements to Coulee Playland, which sits on city-managed land. The city learned last month that it would need to invest in the campground to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act with an estimated $1 million in upgrades over coming years. City Clerk/Treasurer Peggy Nevsimal told the city council at their Nov. 22 meeting that the city usually budgets to spend money, itself, from its hotel/motel tax fund, but rarely if ever actually uses that budget line...
Lake Roosevelt's senior class trip to San Diego got a thumbs up from the school board Monday night, a reward for hard work at fundraising. "I have yet to see these kids not make goal," said class advisor Brandi Hansen. "They know what they want to do, and they're great at it." Their big trip at the end of May will take them on a tour of the USS Midway for at least three hours, to a nearby amusement park, and to the San Diego Zoo. The Midway is an aircraft carrier that was decommissioned in 1992...
Last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that distillate inventories (which include diesel) were at their lowest levels since 1951—currently we only have a 27-day supply remaining. That means if all production is halted and we maintain our current usage, we will run out of diesel fuel in 27 days. And while this shortage impacts folks in rural communities the most, every single community will feel the effects. Farmers rely on diesel to fuel the equipment to harvest your food. We rely on diesel trucks to transport the f...
Law enforcement officers from several agencies descended on a mobile home in Electric City Monday afternoon, after a bail bondsman reported he'd been shot at from inside the home and returned fire. He was there with a warrant to collect Christopher Morgan, 38, who had failed to appear for a court date in Spokane, according to Grand Coulee Police. The mobile home sits at the corner of Fifth Street and Sunny Drive toward the northwest corner of Electric City's residential neighborhood close to...
The National Weather Service is warning us to expect heavy snowfall from Tuesday night through Wednesday night, Nov. 29-30, that may make travel "difficult or impossible." An alert issued early Tuesday morning says people in the area from Highway 28 north, reaching to Wauconda and Republic, can expect 5-9 inches of snow, with mountain areas getting up to 10-15 inches. The snow is expected to start about 7 p.m. Tuesday night. Areas south of Highway 28 (the highway that connects Soap Lake and... Full story
Leaders in Electric City Tuesday night approved a slightly revised contract for police services with Coulee Dam after clarifying some language in it. The Electric City Council voted unanimously to approve the contract that will put the city’s law enforcement in the hands of Coulee Dam instead of Grand Coulee for the first time in many decades. Coulee Dam’s council voted last Wednesday to approve the contract with clarifications that had been worked out the prior two days after its last special meeting to consider the contract. Those inc...
The powers that Google and Facebook have over economic and political power in society - especially over the news industry - has caught the attention of lawmakers in Washington, DC. After a close election and many worries over the quality of public debate, many ask if social media have played a role in the misinformation that erodes our free press and plagues our democracy. Nowhere is this power more daunting than in the social media giants' use of news organizations' reporting, which the...
We’ve been visiting the area for 15 years and recently purchased land for our retirement home. The culture of the GC community is reminiscent of the small towns we grew up in and we intend to get involved. Reading about the plan to allow Dollar (General) to invade the area was dismaying! Not only do these stores undermine local merchant stability (just like Walmart) but they are notorious for L&I infractions! Corrine Behme...
In Central Washington, we have so much to be thankful for. This Thanksgiving, as we come together with our friends and family, don’t forget to take a moment to give thanks to our hard-working farmers, processors, and food bank workers throughout Central Washington who work to provide the food on our plates. From the turkey to the stuffing, our farmers probably played a part in your Thanksgiving dinners. Many of the potatoes, onions, winegrapes and other Thanksgiving favorites you consume were grown right here in Central Washington, making up a...
The local school levy was passing by a better margin after vote tallies continued Tuesday in the four county election offices involved, with more ballots yet to count in two counties Thursday and Friday. With a total vote so far tallied at 630-571 in favor, Grand Coulee Dam School District’s Proposition No. 1 was winning in all counties but Grant by 52.46% of the vote as of 6:13 p.m. Tuesday night. That 4.92% margin had slimmed down from 5.66% an hour earlier after Grant County counted another batch of ballots, bringing their uncounted e...
Electric City will change from hiring Grand Coulee’s police department to enforce law in its city to contracting with a city slightly further away — Coulee Dam — after reviewing proposals from both departments for future police services. Details are still being smoothed out following a Monday city council meeting in Coulee Dam in which council members asked for clarifications, but their consensus was to accept the agreement in principle after clarifications were made. The deal will require Coulee Dam’s two-man department to double personn...
School board members Monday night accepted new “tuition agreements” between districts that have already been doing for decades what the new contracts will make legal, in the eyes of federal regulators. Grand Coulee Dam School District directors voted to OK the so-called “tuition” pacts with Nespelem and Keller school districts, whose students eventually attend junior high and high school in Coulee Dam, bringing with them federal “Impact Aid” funds to help pay for it. Because those schools get paid at a higher rate than the Coulee Dam distric...
I read the recent Star news article appearing in the October 26th issue of the Star. It was reported, at the October 18th Grand Coulee City Council meeting, during the public comment period an attendee, Darryl Hackworth, spoke. Mr. Hackworth said he had been working with “Dollar General” regarding setting up a retail shop in Grand Coulee on property located on Federal Way, behind where it intersects with Midway Ave. As an area resident, I personally feel the possibility of a Dollar General locating in Grand Coulee would be deleterious to our...