News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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A state agency has raised the question with Electric City of whether it might consider re-annexing some of the land it de-annexed last year after annexing it several years ago. Mayor Diane Kohout told the city council last week that some of the land the city had been advised could not be developed into valuable real estate actually could be. Land owned by the state's Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, can be developed with local partners. In fact, the land on which Sunbanks Lake Resort...
OLYMPIA, Wash. – Legislators are considering financially supporting police departments large and small as they try to hire new officers in the name of boosting public safety. Speaking at a hearing in the Senate Law and Justice Committee Tuesday morning, State Senator Jeff Holy (R-Cheney) said Seattle police had one of their best recruiting years in 2024, drawing in 84 new officers. However, he said a large number of existing officers left, ultimately adding two or three officers on net. "...
Local voters will be asked to decide whether to approve continuing to tax themselves to support schools next month. The election date is Feb. 11. Mail-in ballots were to be mailed yesterday, Jan. 22, but the Post Office says to allow a week for your ballot to arrive. The Grand Coulee Dam School District is seeking a levy of about $2.13 per thousand dollars of assessed property value. That would replace the current levy, which expires at the end of 2025. The new one would bring in over $967,461 in 2026 and rise yearly if property values continue...
The Bigfoot I am writing about roamed the hills in Idaho’s Owyhee County in the 1850s. He was born to a white man and Cherokee woman and was named Starr Wilkerson. He later got his name “Bigfoot” partially because his foot measured 17.5 inches. He was given the name by native people at the time. He initially got in trouble while traveling a wagon train west when he took a liking to a woman on the train. Nothing wrong with that except another man had the same desire and the two had it out. As a result, Starr left the wagon train and came under t...
The Raiders beat back a brutal Bulldog offense at home Friday night, lost by their lowest score this season the next day at home to Freeman, but blasted Manson last night, more than doubling their score. All of that earns the Raiders the best overall and in-league win-loss records in the Central Washington 2B League (12-2, 4-0), and lists them in the top four teams in the state as of Tuesday night. Okanogan is a better team than Raider Head Coach Ed Wolfe had expected, he admitted after the...
The Lady Raiders lost by eight points twice last week, but won last night by 20. Facing Okanogan at home Friday, the LR girls lost a rough-and-tumble game that didn't get slowed down too much by foul calls. The Lady Bulldogs (3-0, 10-7) won 50-42. The next afternoon, LR's girlss hosted Freeman (4-1, 11-3) for another loss, 44-36. Freeman is at the top of their Northeast 2B-South League. The Lady Raiders (2-2, 7-8) beat Manson last night in a league game 42-22, putting LR in the middle of the...
If you notice a few 10th-graders in the greater downtown Coulee Dam area around lunchtime next week, they're not skipping school. The Grand Coulee Dam school board Monday voted to give the class of 2027 an off-campus priveleges trial period. The decision followed a presentation by the class officers asking for relief from a decision made about some earlier sophomore class that apparently had had discipline issues off campus. "We have never had a chance to go out and prove ourselves," Jaci Clark...
Elmer City leaders will consider a method of building in minimal annual raises on utility rates to keep from falling behind costs of providing the services. City Clerk/Treasurer Kelly Ross asked the town council Thursday to consider the step and hold a public hearing on it at the scheduled February meeting. The council approved a resolution for increasing the percentage of water and sewer service sales that is sent to the city’s reserve funds from 1.5% to 2.5%. Ross suggested a $1 annual increase on each rate for garbage collection, sewer, a...
Washington state voters want legislators to cut spending but also support spending more on specific programs, according to a recent poll. “People are not anti-government,” said pollster Stuart Elway during a legislative preview session Jan. 9. “People want government to work and to provide needed services but done efficiently and effectively.” Elway established the Cascade PBS/Elway Poll in 1992. This year, 403 registered voters across Washington state were surveyed between Dec. 26 and 30, with phone calls, text messages and online survey...
The last four years of inaction at the southern border resulted in over 10 million illegal immigrant encounters nationwide and a record-high number of violent, illegal criminals encountered throughout the United States. By terminating catch-and-release policies, ending the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program and a full stop on construction of the border wall, President Biden and Vice President Harris have created a crisis that now permeates through the entire country. Last week, to address the ongoing crisis caused by an unmanaged border, the House of R...
The Raiders took down the 1-A Cascade Kodiaks by 50 points last night, highlighting a five-game winning streak away from home. Now 11-1, the Raiders left the Leavenworth team with a 2-9 record overall. The Raiders are ranked third in the Central Washington 2B League, but fourth among the 54 teams in the state at their 2B level, according to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. Columbia (13-1), at Burbank, and Colfax (11-1) are listed first and second, and Freeman (8-1) at...
The Lady Raider wrestlers took seven wrestlers to Connell Saturday, and they all placed. Lake Roosevelt took third place in the 31-team tournament with schools sizes ranging from 1B to 4A. LR’s 120.5 points earned their third place. Prosser took second with 132. Othello won it with 147 points. “It was a tough tournament for the girls but good prep for the state tournament,” Head Coach Victor Landeros said. “They are working hard every week, making small adjustments to fine tune their wrestling,” Landeros added. “All of us coaches like where...
With eight wrestlers, the Raider boys finished fourth among 20 teams at Northwest Christian’s Crusader Classic wrestling tourney last Saturday. “The team finished 4th overall with 8 wrestlers competing. “They finished as the second highest 2B team in the tournament,” Coach Casey Brewster noted. “They wrestled hard and continue to make progress every week, and it shows at every tournament.” Rodger Cate took first at the 113-pound bracket, earning 28 points for the Raiders. Collin Christman, at 106, took second for 16 points. Collin Chaney also...
In a historic light show, various colors of blue, green, red and amber lit up Grand Coulee Dam for New Year's Eve, decades after a fire ruined the display's control panel. The light show will continue to illuminate the dam from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., nightly until March 6. The Bureau of Reclamation Visitor Center has a free parking area for viewing. The Bureau of Reclamation recommissioned the historic light show on the spillway of Grand Coulee Dam from 5 to 7 p.m. on New Year's Eve, a landmark...
When he approached the broken city hall front door from the inside late Saturday night, the suspect in widespread vandalism there saw the targeting dots on his chest from an officer's taser and immediately complied with an order to lie down. Coulee Dam's Officer Mathew Ponusky, driving by on patrol just before 11 p.m., had noticed the broken glass door on the front of the building and stopped to investigate. Ponusky could hear glass breaking at the southwest corner of the building, and, looking...
Accountability and words like it came up repeatedly during a special meeting of the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors Monday night as they hashed out their priorities among a list of recommendations for strengthening the district in a new report. The “Performance Audit Report” commissioned by Superintendent Rod Broadnax is barely 16 pages but intends to offer “a basis for discussion and a roadmap for the future.” The report by “Burns/ Van Fleet” of Houston, Texas, is based on a review of district policies and documents,...
I pick the Grand Teton National Park as one of my favorite places. The scenery, the animals and that wonderful range of mountains make it a grand place to visit. The biggest attraction is how the mountains make you feel. On one visit, I took the raft float trip through the park on the Snake River. It was dirt early in the morning, scheduled so you could see the sun illuminating the snow-capped mountain range. It seemed to change color as the sun had its way with the view. It was cold – bitter cold. There was just me and my oldest son, Paul, t...
This week marks the beginning of the 119th Congress and just the third time in the last 70 years that Republicans have controlled both chambers of Congress and the White House. Over the past four years, we have had an administration that sidestepped Congress and wielded the executive branch to tighten the federal government’s grip on taxpayers, small businesses, farmers and ranchers, and countless other industries while pushing inflation to record levels. I am optimistic about the opportunities that this Congress will provide. As a t...
S Last week I commented on my least favorite place, the entire state of Texas. This week I am commenting about the Hagerman area, a small town with under 1,000 population. The interesting part includes the area within five miles of the town. I first was drawn to Hagerman when I was a college student back in 1956. I had heard about the fossil beds, and a couple of friends and I drove east from Boise some 100 miles. The fossil beds are in a gravel-packed hill above the Snake River. At the time there were no restrictions on digging in the area. So...
E President-elect Donald Trump is claiming a special mandate by winning the popular vote, though only by a little over 2 million (1.5%; and getting below 50% of total popular vote) compared to President Joe Biden’s winning margin of about 7 million (4%; 51%) over Trump in 2020. If the electoral college had already been scrapped, would the popular vote have been significantly changed by the candidates campaigning in all states, not just battleground ones? Why did Washington state have its’ lowest turnout in 28 years? Why was California’s histo...
Republican Dan Newhouse is preparing for a sixth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving one of Washington state's most solidly Republican congressional districts. He's excited. He'll be a member of the House majority again. With Republicans in charge in the Senate and an incoming GOP president, he foresees his party "accomplishing good things for the country." Donald Trump, the former and future commander-in-chief might not be quite as happy. He didn't want Newhouse back this year....
Everyone who has traveled much has his favorite and least favorite places. Texas, all of it, gets my nod as my least favorite place. I have been to Texas on four occasions, but my brother David, was the convincing factor. He like me, got his start with Potlatch Forests, Inc. I worked at Potlatch and he worked at their plant in Lewiston. Along the way he accepted a position with the compliance arm of the outfit that checked construction ptojrcts to see if you were using the lumber quality that was required. They sent him to Texas. My brother...
The death of cursive handwriting reared its ugly head during the recent presidential election. Since 2010, according to Yahoo News, many states have dropped cursive writing from their curricula as they shifted to Common Core State Standards for English. As a result, many Gen Z Americans lack a distinctive cursive signature, which posed a problem for Gen Z voters who used mail-in ballots last month. Since officials had great difficulty matching Gen Z mail-in-ballot signatures to the signatures the government had on file for them, many of their...
In the aftermath of the catastrophic fire which gutted Paris’ Cathedral of Notre Dame in 2019, President Emmanuel Macron announced it would be rebuilt within five years and promised it would be “more beautiful than before!” Macron, who remains head of a divided French government, saw restoration of the 13th Century church as a way to restore national pride and unite fellow French citizens. When interviewed just before Notre Dame’s massive doors re-opened on Dec. 7, Macron called the restoration a miracle—an accomplishment of the unthinkab...
Most of the boys' basketball game with Liberty Bell Friday night seemed to be going according to norms. Tight competition: it ended regular play going into overtime 46-46. And that is where the Mountain Lions apparently decided they would score no more. They kept their score at 46, even as Raiders racked up 60 points. It's not like Liberty Bell wasn't equal to the task, they just didn't do it. Worse, they continually fouled so LR would head to the free-throw line, racking up the Raider win...