News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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As the Congressman for Washington’s 4th Congressional District, my number one priority is advocating for the people who live and work right here in Central Washington, contributing to our communities and economy. That’s why, last week, I voted in favor of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. This legislation not only delivers on many of Central Washington’s top priorities but preserves long-standing conservative principles and takes significant actions to strengthen our national security. Decisions about the needs of our communities shoul...
The town of Coulee Dam is short one person on the city crew, and the city council is debating whether to keep it that way to shift money to maintenance projects. Two council members, Keith St. Jeor and Dale Rey have argued in two meetings in the last month that the city should contract for some work done, including park maintenance, not re-hire for the position left open by the death of an employee. St. Jeor and Rey argued heavily in favor of contracting out for the work last month but wanted to wait on further discussion until Mayor Bob Poch,...
The Lady Raiders competed in the state 2B basketball tournament last week, taking on teams from around the state and capping the year with the best game they've played all year, according to their coach. "That was fun!" Lady Raider Head Coach Peewee Pleasants said about playing La Conner in the Lake Roosevelt team's final event of the tournament at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane on Friday. Pleasants said the Lady Raiders hadn't that quality of competition all season, and the girls...
STCU will sponsor a major aspect of the Colorama Rodeo that provides national television coverage of its events, the Ridge Riders said last week. The Spokane-based credit union that merged with Coulee Dam Credit Union last September noted in a statement that rodeo sponsorship isn't an everyday event, but "we have a long history of supporting cultural events, like Colorama, that reflect the values of the credit union, and the heritage of the community." Area Branch Manager Beverly Rodriguez said...
Free passes on public transportation for young people and upgrades to major bridges are all part of a 16-year transportation funding plan approved by the Washington State Senate. The Senate approved the proposed revenue sources for the $17 billion “Move Ahead Washington” transportation investment package on a 29-20 vote Feb. 15. The bill sponsored by Transportation Committee Chair Sen. Marko Liias, D-Everett, now goes to the House for consideration. The plan includes funding for transit programs, replacement of fish passageways and electrificat...
Small business owners and schoolchildren hurt by the pandemic would see some financial relief with approval of state supplemental budget proposals now under consideration. “We’re looking at the basics, food, shelter, health and cash assistance,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, said. “Those are things in this pandemic economy that are going to make a difference in people’s lives, and that is our focus.” The Washington State House and Senate each released their proposals Feb. 21, just hours before public hear...
Bills in the Legislature are proposing mandating nursing ratios and restricting how health care facilities can contract for on-call professionals, both of which provide the kind of flexibility without which rural, critical care hospitals may not function well at all. Two local doctors wrote to the legislature on the bill currently up for a committee hearing tomorrow (Thursday) in the Senate. The Star was asked to publish their thoughts too, and a third letter, by a nurse who gets into the details of day-to-day needs for flexibility will also...
A bill in the state Legislature that seeks to force hospitals to abide by set staffing levels — to address burnout and an already serious nursing shortage made worse by the pandemic — would likely force cuts in local service, a local hospital leader says. An amended form of House Bill 1868 passed the state House of Representatives Sunday. Its companion bill in the Senate, Senate Bill 5751, seems likely to pass, according to Ramona Hicks, chief executive officer at Coulee Medical Center in Grand Coulee. The bipartisan legislation, supported by...
Good ideas have a way of changing into something else in a committee, and that’s precisely how we tend to govern in America, especially in Washington state in the last two years. Last year the Legislature passed a law widely condemned by law enforcement agencies who warned of unintended consequences. A proposed fix, still controversial, is currently under debate. See that story on page 1. This year, the Leg is considering a similarly well-intended but possibly disastrous effort, one that seeks to address a very real problem with a n...
As you may have heard, the Washington State Redistricting Commission approved maps to rebalance our 49 statewide legislative districts and 10 federal congressional districts in November. This is a process conducted every 10 years in our state based on the federal Census data for population. The process was challenging in 2021, in part because the commission received data later than usual and because of the significant population growth shown in western Washington. Despite approving the plans late, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that...
If you ask almost any farmer in Central Washington these days what their most pervasive problem is, I can guarantee they’ll say labor. Producers across Washington and the country are keenly aware that there simply isn’t enough interest among domestic workers to fill these essential roles. As the breadbasket for the world, the labor crisis creates a threat to our food security and our national security. That is why I have been championing agricultural labor reform since coming to Congress. In 2019 my legislation, the Farm Workforce Mod...
Free passes on public transportation for young people and upgrades to major bridges are all part of a 16-year transportation funding plan approved by the Washington State Senate. The Senate approved the proposed revenue sources for the $17 billion “Move Ahead Washington” transportation investment package on a 29-20 vote Feb. 15. The bill sponsored by Transportation Committee Chair Sen. Marko Liias, D-Everett, now goes to the House for consideration. The plan includes funding for transit programs, replacement of fish passageways and electrificat...
Voters turned down two local school levy proposals by a hefty margin yesterday. Grand Coulee Dam School District’s Proposition 1 appeared to fail by about 58 to 42 percent, with 570 voters selecting No on their ballots, 418 selecting Yes across the four counties the district serves. Proposition 2 was also voted down 538-413, about 57% no to 43% yes. “We got hammered bad,” Superintendent Paul Turner said, noting only the Pateros district appeared close to have a close vote at about 50-50 last night. All others were failing in Okanogan Count...
Homeless people would have quick access to shelters and other facilities under a $815 million, multi-agency plan supported by Gov. Jay Inslee. Flanked by Democratic officials from King County, Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma, Inslee on Feb. 3 pressed the state Legislature to pass Senate Bill 5662. The law would create an intergovernmental coordination office to reduce the number of homeless camps by helping people get into permanent housing. “We have to move more quickly and compassionately to serve the thousands of people who are now living u...
Living in Central Washington means you’re pretty much as far as you can get from the southern border while remaining in the land of the free, so it’s easy to think President Biden’s open-border policies don’t affect us. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth. President Biden’s open-border policies have allowed fentanyl to flow across the southern border and into our communities. In FY21, there was a 134% increase in the amount of fentanyl found by Customs and Border Protection. The 11,201 pounds of fentanyl that were seized by o...
Setting aside the likelihood that the Grand Coulee Dam School District is not perfect, critics who argue that the fix is voting against its local funding are way off the mark. When the Legislature changed the formula for basic education funding, getting dollares for this district became even more complicated than it already was, restricting funds in different buckets dedicated to specific uses, even more so than they usually are. But administrators here, like others across the state, have had to figure it out. This year, the district is...
With almost four times the population of Washington state in an area a quarter of its size, Taiwan has suffered comparatively little of the economic devastation that has taken hold in this state and nation in general. They never even shut down the bars. Why? They all wear masks, contact tracing is fast, and they follow strict protocols with visitors. Aside from that, life is normal in the island nation off the coast of the People’s Republic of China. Coulee Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sam Hsieh just got back from visiting family t...
Previously I’d mentioned how much I appreciate The Star seeking input by polling our community about the upcoming school levies. People need to be heard and I’m proud of those who’ve studied the issue and logically responded. Maybe the only real avenue they have. It takes courage to go against the establishment, but I can tell you these folks are not against kids. They see a lack of balance and dysfunction over time. Most of us love our local school district but the elected officials and superintendent are out of touch in many ways. Looki...
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office tapped into a grant opportunity through a state agency to get money intended to help offset impacts on local law enforcement from the passage of state laws last year that put restrictions on how police use force. Sheriff Wade Magers said that one such law, ESSHB 1310 addressed use of physical force, deadly force and less lethal alternatives such as de-escalation tactics. In response, the Washington State Department of Commerce asked for proposals from law enforcement agencies to procure “l...
The Grand Coulee Dam School District (GCDSD) is seeking voter approval for two separate levies in the upcoming election on February 8, 2022. The intent of my letter is to provide the facts regarding these levies and enable voters to make well-informed voting decisions. The first of these levies is the educational programs and operations levy—commonly referred to as an “enrichment” levy; and the second is the capital levy for safety, technology and facilities improvement, or simply, “capital levy.” Both of these levies have been approved...
In life it is very important to make progress from being fully aware of current reality and learning from the patterns involved. We should always strive to improve and find balance from our mistakes. This is not happening at the highest levels in our school district. There are excessive fiscal requests and repetitive unanimous decisions that are not logical to me. We need servant leadership, a diversity of viewpoints with equity in mind. People need to be valued and heard with genuine collaboration so progressive solutions can be found....
School sports restrictions have been tightened up again with the Omicron COVID-19 variant becoming prevalent in the area. The Grant County Health District detailed the restrictions in a press release for "Region 7," which includes Grant, Chelan, Douglas, Kittitas, Adams, and Okanogan counties. The extra precautions include items like some limits on attendance at games, indoor masking requirements, eating in a designated area, and following the covid attendance rules set by a statewide school...
It’s not going away if we accept defeat, it will just keep attacking. Complaining about the unfair, changing “rules” is useless. There are no rules but one: Don’t give up. A good friend who knows better couldn’t help recently expressing that feeling of resentment, which is held by probably everyone who’s been alive over the last two years. No, it isn’t fair, whatever you imagine that might mean in the context of a non-thinking clump of reproducing molecules that can make you or your loved ones sick to death, literally, not just of masking yo...
Trees of Sharing 2021 culminated Saturday, December 18 with the delivery of wrapped Christmas gifts to 118 children in 54 families. The Trees of sharing Committee thanks every person who supported this project by making a cash donation or purchasing gifts for children who might not have otherwise received one this Christmas. Trees of Sharing extends special appreciation to Spokane Teachers Credit Union, Coulee Family Medicine, Harvest Foods, North Cascades Bank, and Safeway Pharmacy for help with collecting children’s names and/or displaying t...
The National Weather Service just advised, just after noon Jan. 6, that we should expect continued heavy snow and freezing rain through this evening, specifically warning of another inch of snow and a tenth-of-an-inch of ice in the local area. From the NWS alert: HEAVY SNOW AND FREEZING RAIN TODAY CONTINUING OVER MOST AREAS THROUGH THIS EVENING WITH THE THREAT OF HEAVY SNOW CONTINUING OVER THE MOUNTAINS THROUGH FRIDAY... Moderate to heavy snow will continue to impact the parts of the Inland...