News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Lake Roosevelt schools could move to a four-day school week in the 2025-26 school year, and an informal survey of the community showed a majority of respondents support the idea so far. Superintendent Rod Broadnax presented the school board Monday with the results from the voluntary six-question survey he put out to the public on the district website and Facebook page, asking people’s thoughts on how a four-day week would impact families, student learning, attendance and other metrics. 260 people responded. To the big question – “Do you feel...
Grand Coulee will make an appearance in an independent coming-of-age/road trip movie coming out next year. At least one iconic location in town could show up on the silver screen. The filming crew for "Evergreens" stayed in town a couple of nights in late July to shoot one of the scenes, following the route the two lead characters take as they get to know the state and each other. The story starts in Spokane and continues across Washington, ending up in the Hoh Rainforest on the peninsula....
Only one person applied to be mayor when it came open this spring. But the council will have a few more choices for the open Grand Coulee City Council seat and may appoint a new member as soon as next week. Those seeking the spot were asked to write a letter explaining their interest, which was due Monday. The council will interview candidates at their regular public meeting at City Hall on Aug. 20, 6 p.m. They may take a vote to appoint the new council member at the same meeting. Four people applied, and all four will be interviewed. The candi...
At the chamber's First Friday event Aug. 2, we asked people who visited our booth to write down their "One Wish for this place" - something that would make the Grand Coulee Dam Area better, safer, healthier, or more fun. We got some good responses from people who jotted their wish on a card and dropped it into our little makeshift wishing well. "Fix potholes," "clean up the neighborhood," and "more boat docks" were each on at least somebody's wishlist. Two people wrote down the same thing:...
Pavement maintenance and road repair jobs will mean detours and parking restrictions over the next six weeks in Coulee Dam, Grand Coulee and Electric City. The $1.9 million project, funded entirely by a state grant from the Transportation Improvement Board, or TIB, begins on Monday, Aug. 12. The contractor has 30 working days – until the end of September – to substantially complete the job. The exact order of which street segments get completed when was not available by press time, but Granite Construction Company will have multiple crews wor...
Around one in five Washington households qualify for a $200 credit toward their power bill–including residential customers in the Coulee area. It is fast and free to apply online, but applications must be in by September 15. The credit is available to customers served by Grant County PUD, the Town of Coulee Dam, Nespelem Valley Electric Co-Op, Ferry County PUD, Avista and some 40 other utilities across the state. More than 675,000 households in Washington will qualify, according to a press release from the Washington Department of Commerce. T...
It wasn't supposed to be in the cards this year. But an unexpected cash injection from a Medicare lump sum adjustment led CMC's board of directors to earmark funds for demolition of the four grain bins across Highway 174 from the hospital, probably this fall. At the CEO's request, the board authorized up to $275,000 to pay for the work, necessary for "employee safety and creating room for expansion," according to the formal resolution. "We decided, in keeping with the idea of hopefully getting...
Official relations between Coulee Dam and Grand Coulee police departments have returned to “status quo” after a meeting of mayors last week. But Coulee Dam Mayor Bob Poch declined to characterize it as a “working relationship,” and Grand Coulee Mayor Ruth Dalton said “there may be” underlying tensions to address, “but that’s for another day.” “In speaking with Mayor Bob Poch, we came to the agreement that mutual aid will continue as necessary,” Dalton said in a phone call Tuesday. “If they need a backup call, they will call for us, and us for...
Temps may be heading right back into the 100s, but you can have it made in the shade this Friday under North Dam Park's ponderosa pine trees as the First Friday summer pop-up market returns this week. The fair is set for Aug. 2 after taking July off in order to focus on Festival of America at the dam. From 4 to 9 p.m. folks can hear live music, relax in a 21+ beer garden, chow at Charro Birrieria, and browse booths of local and regional artists, craftsfolk, and community organizations,...
Curbside recycling bins could be coming to the Coulee — if at least 300 people are willing to sign up. Residents of the four local towns can expect to receive instructions for a voluntary online survey in city utility bills, asking everything from what seems like a reasonable price, to whether it matters if they offered single-stream (all materials added into the same bin) versus separate sorted bins for plastics, cans, cardboard and so on. Dion Gotti, owner of Sunrise Disposal, the Omak-based company providing curbside trash pickup to the f...
Road repairs, closures and detours in commercial districts can be a pain point for nearby business owners – sometimes measurable in loss of revenue if potential customers avoid the area. But the owners of one longstanding business in central Grand Coulee would like to see the lower portion of Spokane Way – closed for an emergency sewer line repair since April – remain closed to traffic permanently. Carrie Riechmann owns the TeePee Drive-In restaurant along with her husband Jesse. She said her family has serious safety concerns after witne...
Increased electricity use among industrial customers led to a new high-load record at Grant PUD during the first week of the heat wave this month. The public utility provided 1,107 megawatts of electricity to customers in the 98823 zip code on July 9. “Every day during that hot streak topped the old all-time record of just over 1,000 MW, set during the sub-zero cold snap in January 2024,” said Christine Pratt, Grant PUD public affairs officer. Energy use for Grant PUD typically peaks twice a year, she said, during the coldest days of win...
If a Grand Coulee officer calls to request backup at the scene of a crime, they can’t count on Coulee Dam PD to respond, according to an email obtained by The Star. In the email from Grand Coulee Interim Police Chief Levi Johnson to Coulee Dam Police Chief Paul Bowden on July 8, Johnson wrote, “It was brought to my attention, you told your officers they are not to assist Grand Coulee Units. I heard this from a couple of our officers. If this is true, I would like to hear it from you.” The next day Bowden confirmed in his reply: “That is corr...
An improved park in Grand Coulee may need a couple more improvements because of increased usage, a city council member proposes. The chair of the city council’s safety committee wants the city to take another look at installing a few more parking spaces next to Grand Coulee City Park, perhaps in the adjacent alley running parallel to Grand Coulee Ave. and Roosevelt Drive. At the council’s June 25 meeting Councilmember Tom Poplawski also proposed petitioning the state Department of Transportation to install a crosswalk with button-activated fla...
Elevated levels of neurotoxin were detected in the middle section of Rufus Woods, according to a monitoring website that tracks toxic algae blooms. A sample pulled June 25 from the "Mid Lake" region of the reservoir showed 13.760 micrograms of anatoxin-a per liter of water–well over the state Department of Health's guidelines for anatoxin-a in "recreational water bodies," which is 1 microgram per liter of water. Anatoxin-a is a naturally-occurring substance produced by cyanobacteria, s...
Triple-digit temperatures over several days can pose a challenge for almost anyone. For those living in homes with inadequate AC, and for people living outdoors, it can be deadly. “More people die from extreme heat than extreme cold,” said Molly Morris, team lead at Grand Coulee’s STAR Hub, a division of Rural Resources Community Action. “We are not strangers to this type of heat, but when it first occurs each year we have to reach back to our early training on how to cope.” With the current h...
Seven years ago, Coulee Medical Center was in trouble. Financial challenges going back to 2012 combined with an administration publicly described by staff as "incompetent and hostile" had led to layoffs, unpaid bills, and high-profile provider resignations at the public hospital. In summer of 2017, the CEO hired to turn things around had resigned - after just one year on the job. To alarmed community members at the time, the hospital itself appeared to be in critical condition. It was then that...
The senior center lost approximately $70,000 this year to a contractor with a documented history of scamming clients in Washington, and it looks like the money is gone for good. The board president of the local 501(c)3 nonprofit organization reportedly wrote the check based on an unrealistic, unclear and over-valued contract with no specified end-date - an expense that, according to the senior center's own bylaws, should have gone before both the full board and the general membership for approva...
Grand Coulee officially has a new mayor. The council quickly voted Tuesday to install Ruth Dalton who, as the city's mayor pro tempore, had already assumed the duties of the office since Mike Eylar resigned in May. She was also the only candidate to apply. "I have lived and loved this community for the last 38 years and now I bring a special community interest to the table," Dalton wrote in the letter of interest she submitted earlier this month. She referenced a "varied career with experience...
Proponents of a future 50- to 80-bed senior living facility in Grand Coulee learned last week that their request for $5 million in federal funds for construction costs will not make it into the 2025 Congressional budget. But local partners continue to finesse the $17 million project, with an eye toward the state's legislative session opening next January and to future requests to the federal government for additional funds. "We know the funding strategy is a multi-year, multi-source strategy,"...
Coulee Medical Center’s request for $3 million made it into next year’s Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration appropriations bill, released by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee last week. The housing project, called “Relief for Rural Health Workforce,” had won the support of Rep. Dan Newhouse of the 4th Congressional District. “Providing critical care in this large service area takes a unique toll on the health care providers and medical professionals that often have multi-hour commutes, necessitating a designate...
Despite threatening skies that occasionally burst into rain, lightning and wind gusts to topple a shade canopy, around 150 kids and their family members came out for Koulee Kids Fest, the car show, or both last weekend. For Kids Fest, families visit participating local storefront businesses, where kids do free activities and get their event "passports" stamped, to be entered in a drawing. Based on numbers from the chamber of commerce, most families chose to focus on businesses in central Grand...
After a process going back more than two years, the Banks Lake Golf Course will soon be owned and operated by descendents of the area's original people: the Colville Confederated Tribes. Grant County Port District #7 Commissioners quickly voted to approve moving forward with the $1.2 million purchase and sale agreement after Commission Chair Jim Keene gave a presentation on the negotiations and terms at a June 11 Port Commission meeting. It was the only item on the agenda. "I'll just say that...
The opening for Grand Coulee mayor netted one candidate, Ruth Dalton, who serves on the city council and has been the stand-in mayor for the last month, since the previous mayor resigned. Letters of interest were due Monday, and the council had planned to interview applicants at their June public meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday, June 25 at 6 p.m. However, with the sole applicant already being a member of the council, the council may appoint Dalton as mayor at the June meeting without a formal interview, as allowed under state law, City...
The Colville Tribal Museum opened for the season last week, and they've already had visitors from multiple states stop in to learn local history and culture from the Tribes' History/Archeology Department. This year, staff have installed new exhibits you have probably not seen before - even if you are local. These exhibits include twined basket work by Omak mixed-media artist and tribal member Joe Feddersen, an old dendroglyph on a San Poil ponderosa pine, and a section dedicated to the crisis...