News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

Articles written by R


Sorted by date  Results 1 - 25 of 7095

  • Teacher named Educator of the Year

    Scott Hunter|May 14, 2025

    A teacher at Lake Roosevelt Jr/Sr High School thought he was just attending a pep assembly Friday when his name was called to receive a statewide award as educator of the year. Derek Atkins, who graduated from Lake Roosevelt, teaches science there now and revived a club that was important to his own development and direction. The pep assembly turned out to be a well-kept secret to surprise him. Shawn Brehm, a Wellpinit teacher who serves as the chair of the Washington Education Association's Cau...

  • Who's running for office What spots still open

    Scott Hunter|May 14, 2025

    This year’s election season will focus on local positions: city councils, port districts, school boards and such. Last week was the week to file intentions to seek such an office. Here’s a look at who filed. Three candidates are seeking the mayor’s seat in Grand Coulee, including incumbent Ruth Dalton and challengers Micah Seekins and Chantel Crowe, who is currently a deputy clerk at city hall. Voters will pick two of those three in the Aug. 5 Primary Election to go on to the General Election on Nov. 4. Janet Christy filed to keep the counc...

  • Gov. Bob Ferguson signed three bills to protect immigrant rights this week

    Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero, Washington State Standard|May 14, 2025

    These included measures to strengthen state power to inspect private detention facilities, prevent coercion in the workplace, and prohibit bail bond agents from enforcing immigration laws. Lawmakers put forward the legislation at a time when President Donald Trump is trying to crack down on people crossing into the country illegally and as his administration presses to deport immigrants already in the U.S. without legal authorization. Here's a look at what the new state laws would do. Detention...

  • No gifts from foreign states

    Scott Hunter editor and publisher|May 14, 2025

    “No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” Seems pretty clear, practical, wise. Like they could see this coming. When the Framers wrote the Constitution, they didn’t want a grifter in chief ruling the nation for profit, but obviously they could foresee such a person coming along someday. So they told him i...

  • Standing Up for Law Enforcement

    Dan Newhouse Congressman 4th District|May 14, 2025

    Every May we honor our law enforcement during National Police Week and reaffirm our commitment to ensuring they have the resources and authority needed to keep our communities safe. We are lucky here in Central Washington to have some of the best-trained local and tribal officers, and they deserve recognition for their work to keep us and our families safe. This National Police Week, my colleagues and I in Congress are passing common-sense legislation that sends a clear message: we stand with our local law enforcement. When a situation...

  • You can keep the cost down

    Roger S. Lucas|May 14, 2025

    What couples spend on weddings is mind boggling. I was in Southern Idaho, and my future wife, Dorothy, agreed to marry me. I didn’t know anyone except the family, and she wasn’t interested in planning a wedding, so we did the only thing left: we eloped. Spending a lot of money to get married seems ridiculous. Some families spend a lot more than the down payment on a home. The amount you spend has nothing to do with how long the marriage will last. We spent a couple of hundred dollars and our marriage lasted 69 years, until I lost her because of...

  • Student arrested after dropped gun fires at a school

    Scott Hunter|May 7, 2025

    An accidental gunshot incident got a student at the Lake Roosevelt Alternative School in Grand Coulee kicked out of school for a year and booked into a Chelan County Juvenile Detention facility last week, one week after it happened. The student — who is not yet 18, which prevents school officials from releasing a name — lost footing while riding a hoverboard in a classroom around other students when the board bumped into another student’s foot. A handgun fell out of the suspect’s jacket at that point, hit the floor and discharged, sending...

  • Electricity demand in Northwest could double in next 20 years, forecast finds

    Alex Baumhardt|May 7, 2025

    April 29, 2025 5:25pm Demand for electricity in the Northwest could double by 2046, according to a new energy forecast from regional experts. Over the next two decades, demand could increase by between 1.8% and 3.1% annually, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council heard April 29. The projected growth will come primarily from companies building more data centers in the region, more electric vehicles on roads, electrifying buildings, computer chip manufacturing and the production of “green hydrogen” created by running an electrical cur... Full story

  • Not my first rodeo

    Jase Graves|May 7, 2025

    Recently, my wife and I took one of our semi-grown daughters and her friend to the American Rodeo Championship Weekend at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. But we weren’t there to see the adult, full-contact petting zoo that is a championship rodeo. Instead, for around the cost of the latest iPhone, we bought four tickets to see country music heartthrob (and darn good singer) Riley Green and the almost-as-lovely-as-my-wife (in case she reads this) Ella Langley perform mid-rodeo. Because the concert was sandwiched between the final and c...

  • Remembering the Fujimotos

    Roger S. Lucas|May 7, 2025

    When traveling abroad, you meet a lot of people, most of them casually. Not the case with the Fujimotos from Tokyo. It all started here in the U.S. when we got involved with a student FIUTS organization. We were sponsoring a student from Thailand, and sponsors and students were having a get together to get acquainted. In chatting with a student from Japan, I mentioned that I was going there. He said if I would give him my itinerary, he would have his sister show me around. I arrived and was staying at the Okura Hotel, at the time one of the...

  • Webinar offered on planning to be elderly

    Scott Hunter|Apr 30, 2025

    Nobody gets out of here alive, but before the inevitable, we'd all like to keep living the best life possible. Evelyn Wright has had some success at that, but in her later years (she's 92 now) she's had to accept that she can't really go it alone. "I'm extremely healthy, but that may be not the same six months from now," Evelyn said in an interview April 24. "I don't know what's going to change for me, but it was tough for me to finally admit that I have to turn over most of my life to my...

  • Raider boys take second at two track-and-field meets

    Scott Hunter|Apr 30, 2025

    By Scott Hunter Among 17 teams competing, the Raider boys' team earned second place as a team twice in the last week. At the Naches Invite last Friday LR took second with a score of 98, compared to the winning score by 2A Toppenish of 173. Yesterday at the Manson Small School Meet they scored 135.83, just behind Chelan's 140.83. Okanogan took third with 67. "The team aspect of Track & Field is really being experienced by the Raiders," wrote Coach Lori Adkins in an email. "They are starting to...

  • Employment Security to host May 15 virtual job fair for federal workers

    press release, WA State Employment Security Dept.|Apr 30, 2025

    OLYMPIA – The Employment Security Department will host a virtual job fair on May 15 for current and former federal government workers who live and work in Washington. The job fair, part of Employment Security’s rapid response efforts, will connect federal workers with state, county and city government job opportunities. “We recognize the dedication, skills and experience federal workers bring to the job market,” Employment Security Commissioner Cami Feek said. “Partnering with employers from state and local government will help federal wor... Full story

  • Two districts talk about new sports policy and more

    Scott Hunter|Apr 23, 2025

    Directors of the two school districts impacted by a recent policy change got together for a meal and sometimes spirited discussion Tuesday night. The full Nespelem School District Board of Directors and two from Grand Coulee Dam School District met at Hometown Pizza, a meeting prompted by discontent at Nespelem over a new policy at GCD that will not allow students from other districts to participate in their sports programs, beginning next school year. Its passage laid bare perceptions that came out during the discussion. Nespelem didn’t a...

  • Signs of the times

    Scott Hunter|Apr 23, 2025

    People walked the sidewalk on Midway Avenue in Grand Coulee on Saturday, April 19, holding signs to protest various policies of the Trump Administration. Signs addressed a plethora of issues Trump has addressed, often with executive orders but sometimes by shrinking the employee base of the federal agencies charged with handling them, with courts sometimes ruling the administration's actions illegal. Among the signs: "Keep the Refugees, Deport the Racists", "When Injustice Becomes Law,... Full story

  • Plan to raise property tax cap collapses in Legislature

    Jerry Cornfield, Washington State Standard|Apr 23, 2025

    Democratic state lawmakers dropped their bid Monday to repeal a voter-approved limit on property tax growth in Washington, excising one of the most controversial revenue-raising ideas they’ve pursued in this year’s legislative session. The proposal, embedded in House Bill 2049, sought to allow an increase in the growth factor from the current 1% cap to as much as 3%. It would have applied to a state levy that supports schools, and for cities and counties, as well as special purpose districts. But Rep. Steve Bergquist, D-Renton, the bil...

  • Pacific Northwest Hub is essential to driving a hydrogen future

    Dan Newhouse Congressman 4th District|Apr 23, 2025

    The Pacific Northwest stands at a pivotal crossroads when it comes to the future of energy. Blessed with an abundance of hydropower resources, the region has an unparalleled opportunity to lead the nation in developing a hydrogen economy. By leveraging both its hydroelectric resources and heavy industry sectors, the PNW can create a new wave of economic prosperity and develop a regional energy hub that will benefit local industry and consumers. Hydrogen is a critical component of our energy future. Clean hydrogen made from hydropower provides...

  • The Trump administration is lying, and it's okay to say that

    Christine Flowers|Apr 23, 2025

    Over the past several weeks, I have been called schizophrenic, whether it be on social media, in emails from readers or jokingly from friends who seem to think I’m all over the map on the Trump administration. I thought a little clarification was due, before I take a flight over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I am a conservative, through and through, and I have the battle scars to prove it. But being a conservative, and not a “Never Trump” liberal light, does not require I agree with everything my president does. It does not mean I have to “take one for t...

  • Ponusky approved for chief at Grand Coulee PD

    Scott Hunter|Apr 16, 2025

    A police officer with plenty of local experience has been approved to take over as Grand Coulee’s chief of police. Matt Ponusky, who has worked for Coulee Dam’s police department for three years, will move up to the chief’s spot in Grand Coulee. He had also served as an officer at Grand Coulee for eight years before making a move to Coulee Dam. The Grand Coulee City Council voted to approve the hire Tuesday night by a unanimous vote. Ponusky, who was not present at the meeting, will likely be sworn in this week, City Clerk Lorna Pearce said....

  • Christy appointed to G.C. council

    Scott Hunter|Apr 16, 2025

    Janet Christy will fill the Position 1 seat on the Grand Coulee City Council following the council's decision Tuesday night. A Roosevelt Drive resident, Christy said she retired from USBR a year-and-a-half ago after 10 years there, following a 27-year career in the U.S. Army, retiring as a master sergeant in 2015. Asked by Councilmember Tom Poplawski if she had experience with budgeting, she said she did in the army. "I don't know everything," Christy said. "I can learn."...

  • Protecting women's sports

    Dan Newhouse Congressman 4th District|Apr 16, 2025

    The growing number of instances of biological men, who identify as women, competing in women’s sports over the last several years has led to states and the federal government taking action to protect women’s sports. Earlier this year, President Trump signed an Executive Order that would revoke federal funding for any schools that allow biological men to compete against women in athletic competitions. The House of Representatives passed, with my support, the “Protecting of Women and Girls in Sports Act” to preserve a level playing field for gir...

  • He wrote the book on promotion

    Roger S. Lucas|Apr 16, 2025

    Al Berro had the most successful tavern in Boise. I’m sure he made a good living with it. But Al had other interests. Mainly, he was known far more as a boxing and wrestling promoter. Al carefully developed fighters, two of them eventually being rated by Ring Magazine, the bible for rating boxers. He carefully got them fights they could win, building up records. It took a long time. Roque Maravilla and George Logan were rated by Ring Magazine. Maravilla was fifth in the light heavy division and eighth for Logan in the heavyweight division. A...

  • Piper Ralph Munro was Washington's Energizer Bunny

    Don C. Brunnell|Apr 16, 2025

    Washingtonians recall Ralph Munro’s distinctive political advertisements, which featured 30 seconds of bagpipe music followed by a brief tagline stating, “This interlude brought to you by the Munro campaign.” As unusual and refreshing as the ads were, they worked! They spared voters from the merciless pounding dished out by sparing politicians and their band of campaign hacks. Munro was elected as our state’s longest-serving secretary of state in 1980 and retired, after five four-year terms, in 2000. While he often ran unopposed, Munro was tir...

  • Hands Off walkers make a statement

    Scott Hunter|Apr 9, 2025

    Nearly 50 people walked along Grand Coulee's Midway Avenue Saturday with signs expressing frustration with the direction of the federal government, about twice the size of the group that has been making the gathering a weekly event for weeks. They were joining a national push to make an impression across the country as millions hit the streets in cities large and small carrying signs and conversing about a range of complaints, from President Donald Trump's rapid changes to the federal... Full story

  • A fifth of Americans are on Medicaid. Some of them have no idea.

    Anna Claire Vollers, Washington State Standard|Apr 9, 2025

    Full story

Page Down