News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 256 - 280 of 3281
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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....
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."...
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...
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...
The term “public health” takes in a lot of territory, and even in relatively less populated Grant County it takes a lot to do the job of watching out for the public’s health. This is public health week, and Grant County Health District met with local media last week to encourage some coverage and enhance understanding of just what’s involved. GCHD has a staff of 38 people in several departments, all working to keep our air and water clean, ensure our food is safe, prevent disease, and promote healthier communities. “From ensuring food safety th...
In a sign that there is hope for a better government, a bipartisan bill in the U.S. Senate seeks to reassert the authority over trade granted to Congress in the Constitution. The Congress abdicated (delegated is actually the word they’ll use) that responsibility to the president back in 1934 in the midst of the Great Depression after the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act had deepened it in an attempt to protect American businesses. But that was back in the day when Americans expected and demanded normalcy and decency in a president, not when they c...
Norm Luther’s accusations against Congressman Baumgartner are baseless, written in ignorance, and only echo left wing talking points. Mr. Luther accuses Congressman Baumgartner of undercutting Zelenskyy by saying that he is not doing a great job. That does not undercut him. Zelenskyy has been at war for quite a while now and continues to back out of cease fire deals. The U.S. has given hundreds of billions of dollars to Ukraine. We are now finding out that much of that is unaccounted for. It’s our duty to be critical of where our tax money goes...
Three hospital leaders trekked to the other Washington last week to make the case at Congress for support of Coulee Medical Center. "During our meetings with Sen. Patty Murray, Sen. Maria Cantwell, and Rep. Dan Newhouse we discussed CMC's workforce housing needs, overdose prevention efforts and recent success in increasing breast cancer screening, as well as the significance of federal Medicaid funding to maintaining accessible healthcare services in our region," Chief Executive Office Kelly...
When Sam Peterson got the call, it was already too late. The National Park Service was offering to give him his job back, but he'd taken a job in Oregon and three days earlier signed a lease on an apartment. He needed to follow through on the commitment. "We have bills," Peterson said, "and a dog." Peterson, 26, had just started as a federal employee in June 2024 and was still in probationary status in February when the Trump administration started its Valentine's Day Massacre of federal...
Dozens of local students attend schools out of the Grand Coulee Dam School District, according to numbers compiled for the school board at their request. Director Alex Tufts had asked earlier this year that the district develop an exit interview as a matter of course to track reasons for students choosing to leave. The district has averaged 645 students across all grades this year, but is currently down by 22 students from the beginning of the school year. Director Rich Black asked at the March 24 meeting what reasons are for the migration. “So...
Rep. Michael Baumgartner is, figuratively speaking, “all-over-the-map” about Ukraine — but effectively supporting Russia. He agrees that Russia clearly started the war and was/is the aggressor, and he’s assured Thrive International Ukrainian refugees that he opposes their deportation. But he completely undercuts that by his Ritzville Town Hall statement, “I don’t think [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy is doing a great job,” and by his outlandish calls for Zelenskyy to resign after President Donald Trump humiliated Zelenskyy. Co...
Students at other school districts will no longer be able to participate in Lake Roosevelt’s sports programs following a vote Monday night by the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors. The new policy takes effect in the next school year. Currently, and for many years, students whose own nearby schools have not offered a sport have been able to arrange to participate in practices and play in Raider sports. But recent changes have drawn attention to the policy. Athletic Director Casey Brewster told the board Monday that the d...
A sixth-grade teacher at Lake Roosevelt Elementary will leave to join her husband in Astoria, Oregon. The school board voted Monday to let her out of her contract to leave before the end of the school year. Ashley St. Aubin-Clark's husband, Sam Peterson, was a first-year National Park Service employee at Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area when the Trump Administration started cutting federal jobs across government services, starting with employees in probationary status. St. Aubin-Clark...
You’ve no doubt noticed them: all the empty commercial buildings in Grand Coulee. Or maybe you’re so used to them you no longer notice. Either way, the city council is talking about a new approach to dealing with the problem of blighted properties — empty buildings that don’t get used but just deteriorate. “I know this could be controversial. I know it could upset some people,” said Councilmember Tom Poplawski. “But on the other hand, I think we need to get it out there and talk about it, because our city has a whole lot of vacant busine...
By Scott Hunter Supporters filled the meeting room at La Presa as the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a dinner to honor local businesses for their accomplishments in 2024 March 13. Coulee Hardware was voted Business of the Year for being far more than a hardware store. The store "also provides a lot of other services," noted Nancy Zimmerman-Boord, chamber executive director," listing its UPS package shipping center, retail rentals, garden supplies, fresh plants every spring,...
March 18, 2025 WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has begun the process of reinstating tens of thousands of fired federal workers, though most are just being placed on administrative leave as the government cites the "burdens" of rehiring, court filings reviewed by States Newsroom show. The documents also show, agency by agency, the wide swath of firings that swept across the federal government in February and early March. A federal judge in Maryland last week ruled the recent terminations...