News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1851 - 1875 of 7269
Once upon a time there was this rock along the Snake River just out of Melba, Idaho. It was an Indian map rock where ancient natives had etched the route of the Snake River along with other helpful information. While a reporter for the Idaho Free Press, I did a story on the rock map that later was picked up by the Salt Lake Tribune magazine. When living in the Boise Valley, I had visited the rock many times. Friends of mine, Myron and Gwen Finkbeiner, reported to me recently that they went out to see the rock and it was gone. Myron has been...
By mid-September, there was no one left to call. The West, with its thousands of federal, state, and local fire engines and crews, had been tapped out. Wildfires across the West had consumed the labor of all available wildland firefighters, and though there were fewer fires burning, those fires were larger and more difficult to contain. They consumed 13 million acres -— an area almost the size of West Virginia. In the midst of the 2020 wildfire season, John Phipps, the Forest Service’s deputy chief, told Congress that this “was an extra...
The final days of the 2020 legislative session last March presented some real challenges. The Legislature worked diligently to wrap up its session as some of the first cases of COVID-19 in the United States were confirmed in our state. Lawmakers approved all three state budgets (operating, transportation, and capital) along with a $200 million COVID-19 response bill. In those final session days and in the days that would soon follow, the governor began issuing his statewide executive orders. One of the earliest included a statewide closure of...
Eleven people in a Tonasket facility have died of COVID-19, Okanogan County Public Health, stated in a press release Monday night. All of the them were residents at North Valley Extended Care, a 42-bed facility where 32 residents have tested positive for the illness. “Multiple caregivers” are also under quarantine and two employees have been hospitalized, “reportedly doing well,” the agency said. “OCPH sends their heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones,” the release stated. The 11 confirmed deaths bring the t... Full story
Free COVID-19 testing will be offered to all community members in the Grand Coulee Dam area tomorrow, Dec. 8, from 3-8 p.m. at Lake Roosevelt High School. Look for Lifeline Ambulance in the athletic field parking lot. All are welcome, not just residents of Okanogan County. The testing will be drive-thru, at the football field parking lot near the tennis courts. Look for LifeLine Ambulance vehicles and personnel on site. Pre-registration is encouraged at https://forms.gle/UMVVBjjf8f9GBeut8 but on-site registration also available. "Results will... Full story
The return to school for seventh- through 12th-grade Lake Roosevelt students on Dec. 7 will continue under a plan modified in an emergency school board session Friday night that sets a much higher threshold for the number of local Covid cases it would take to stop in-person schooling. The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors held an Emergency Board Meeting tonight via Zoom where they voted 4-1 to modify the plan, previously approved on Nov. 9, for junior/senior high students to return part time to physical school on Dec. 7.... Full story
With the surging of the coronavirus around the country and even in local counties, there’s still enough evidence to give experts confidence that schools are not major spreaders of the illness, if managed for it and if local COVID cases aren’t out of hand. So what, exactly, do Lake Roosevelt Schools do to keep COVID off the campus? Health officers from Region 7 (Okanogan, Grant, Douglas, Chelan, Kittitas) counties have set up a protocol for screening for COVID-19 at schools, which Lake Roosevelt follows. The protocol allows students and sta... Full story
Nespelem School, which had planned to start bringing students back to part-time, in-person school in November and to have them all back full time in January, delayed those plans indefinitely. A Zoom meeting on Nov. 4 between the school district and parents and community members was held to see how they felt about returning to school. Principal and Superintendent Effie Dean told The Star on the phone on Tuesday that on that day COVID rates started “going through the roof,” which changed how people felt about returning to physical school. Dean sa...
The Hughes household in Grand Coulee includes two geese and a duck, all named after violent gangsters. A duck named Allie was originally named Al Capone, but when she started laying eggs, her name was changed. "Duck eggs are delicious," Ben Hughes noted, speaking with The Star about his family's pet flock over email. Allie, along with a goose named Pablo, after Pablo Escobar, both came from North 40 Outfitters in Omak. The other goose, named Chapo, or El Chapo, comes from NorthWest Seed & Pet...
Lake Roosevelt High School’s Associated Student Body will lose revenue from restrictions imposed from a new state law. House Bill 1660, which passed the state Legislature earlier this year and affects the current school year, will prevent schools from charging students who qualify for free or reduced lunches for ASB cards, as well as for admission into sports games. Their guests over the age of 65 might also not have to pay admission into sports events, or would pay a reduced entry fee. The bill aims to create more equity in schools, saying tha...
I just can’t shake it! I have a suggestion for Bureau officials concerning the stalled fire station. It would be incredible if someone from the Bureau would step up to the plate and tell the story of what went wrong at the fire station, what this is costing us taxpayers and what will be done about it. Dream on! Transparency ...
The current wave of coronavirus spread is more ominous than the first in Washington for reasons that give doctors cause to fear the near future, including those at Coulee Medical Center, where “we’ve been pretty lucky thus far,” says Dr. Jacob Chaffee at CMC, but they’re also feeling upbeat about coming vaccines. “Hospitals across the state are becoming saturated both on their medical floors as well as their ICUs, and so our biggest fear is that if we see our rates climb significantly, we’re not going to be able to transfer patients wh... Full story
Robert Fields has been wanting a big piece of art on the side of his garage facing the highway to Bridgeport for more than a decade, and he got it this summer in collaboration with his longtime friend and artist Keith Powell. A closeup of a billowing American flag brings the steel siding on Fields' shop to life, the stripes undulating like the Palouse hillsides near Pullman, which is not what Fields had originally thought he'd get. "I just got way more than I dreamed I would," said Fields, who...
There are birds aplenty in the world, the country, the state of Washington and in the Grand Coulee Dam area, and if you need something to do, looking for birds is one option. "There are many opportunities locally for bird watching, wildlife observation or wildlife photography in general," said Eric Braaten, a local biologist for the state Department of Fish & Wildlife, in an email to The Star. "With a mixture of private and public lands, our area is species-rich most of the year with different...
As of Monday, school is intended to continue as planned, with high COVID numbers in local counties, but not in the area itself. At Monday’s Grand Coulee Dam School District board meeting, Superintendent Paul Turner presented a document outlining the current COVID-19 pandemic situation in relation to the school. Turner explained that although COVID numbers are currently high in local counties, in talking with county health officials, spikes are related to incidents outside of the Grand Coulee Dam area, such as in northern Okanogan County and d... Full story
I appreciate the opinion and feedback that was shared in the Nov. 18 newspaper regarding my public comments at the Nov. 9 school board meeting. Sharing our opinions on various subjects, knowing that we don’t have to agree on everything, and being willing to hear various perspectives as we shape our own understanding is part of the beauty of our country. Part of our responsibility in sharing those opinions is being sure that our facts are correct. Regarding the school board policies on public comment, please see the district website and read P...
Steptoe Butte lies 12 miles north of Colfax, the Whitman County seat. Its elevation is 3,612 feet, hovering over the Palouse wheat fields. It is said that on the horizon you can see the high mountains in Montana. For me, the view affords me a visit to many of the places that made my Palouse childhood so pleasant. To the southeast are the hills in Idaho where my family spent many a fall day picking huckleberries. The picking was always good, and my dad would scout the area so we would have success. I spent many a day probing huckleberry bush....
Nine people have died of COVID-19 at one Grant County nursing home, and two other long-term care facilities tallied 108 infections among residents and staff, Grant County Health said Friday. GCHD said cases at two long term care facilities, one in Moses Lake and one in Ephrata, are linked to a recent large wedding event held in Ritzville. "It is important to note that mass gathering events where COVID is spread will quickly spread into the community and risks the safety of our most vulnerable...
Billboards along Main Street in Grand Coulee will be allowed to stay, at least until leases for the billboards are over, and a committee will be looking at ways to possibly allow them to stay indefinitely. Following a couple of complaints, Sam Hsieh, who owns Coulee Plaza, a lot of grass and picnic tables on Main Street, was told he’d have to take down his advertising signs that line the property. The money brought in from those signs helped pay the mortgage and maintenance costs of the property. After being told he’d have to take them dow...
After Washington families were asked last week not to gather with people outside their households over the coming holidays, the governor added more details and broader restrictions in a modified order Sunday. If you get together for Thanksgiving with people not living with you, you'll be going against that ask, - unless you had already begun to quarantine by Friday and you keep it up until Thanksgiving, or keep it up for seven days prior and get a negative COVID-19 test result within 48 hours...
The fate of Electric City’s potential Ice Age Park may be decided at the city’s Dec. 8 council meeting. At their Nov. 10 meeting, the council discussed the park following the failure of a levy to raise funds for maintenance of the park for one year. That levy failed 330-192 in the Nov. 3 election. During the public comment period of the meeting, Mayor Diane Kohout read aloud an email signed by Ian and Cara Turner. The email offers “some insight from the perspective of a community member, planning commissioner, and parent to young child...
Public health authorities are asking anyone from multiple communities who attended a large wedding near Ritzville Nov. 7 to get tested for COVID-19 and self-quarantine through Nov. 21. Grant County Health District said it knows of nearly 40 cases in their county resulting from the Adams County event with more than 300 attendees. More cases are being added daily. Weddings are supposed to be restricted to no more than 30 attending. “Due to the multi-jurisdictional impact of this large event, GCHD felt it was necessary to notify the public,” GCHD...
Coulee Dam residents will likely soon pay about another $1 a week to have their trash picked up at the curb. The city council in a Monday budget workshop found that a hike of about $4 a month is likely inevitable, following a boost in dumping fees Grant County’s landfill near Ephrata will charge the Delano Transfer Station to haul garbage there. That, coupled with the city taxing its own funds with a large B&O tax as a means of systematically transferring funds to its “current expense” general spending account has led to a shortfall in payin...
Elmer City residential sewer rates will likely go up by about 20% in 2021. The raise was discussed by the city council during a budget discussion meeting Nov. 12. A sewage lift station pump replacement in the Lone Pine area may cost up to $25,000, Public Works Director Jimmer Tillman explained. With 166 sewer customers, the council and mayor discussed, a $10 boost in rates would raise $19,992 a year, which would go towards the pump and any future sewer-related expenses that may come up. In-town rates would go from $51 to $61, and out-of-town...
Just a comment on Scott Hunter’s thoughts on starting in-person learning again: In my 70s and raising a now teenager who says I am an (old fashioned, crazy, crabby old lady), I often wonder if she is right. I have answered the questionnaires, polls and spoken to school administration a few times. I keep up with the Covid stats for WA, and so far I am for keeping distance learning for, who knows how much longer. Thank you, Scott, for your like opinion. I just heard tonight (Nov. 15) that Gov. Inslee is on the brink of closing the state down a...