News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 626 - 650 of 1887
Having come here in 1985, and having lived in Spokane before that, my idea of a normal summer includes high heat reaching into the 90s. Now, we’re trying to accept the latest triple-digit trend as the “new normal.” That’s a mistake. Just because we live through a heat wave, or “heat dome” two or three times, doesn’t mean it’s OK, normal. It’s not, and our changing weather seems to be changing our landscape, with fire the great change agent. Burn scars don’t always rebound to their prior state. There used to be more sagebrush on the hi...
Firefighters got a stubborn blaze stopped near Leahy Junction Tuesday after a day of fighting in the hot sun. The fire reportedly started about 6:30 a.m. under a Douglas County PUD powerline, but the cause was not yet known, said Douglas County Fire District 3 Chief Cory Allman. Allman said he wouldn't be surprised if it started a lot earlier; he lives just four miles down the road and it was already larger than he expected when he arrived. Called the Nilles Fire for the corner of P and Road 27...
The Colville Tribes has a new executive director in Cody Desautel. "The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation has appointed Cody Desautel to serve as the Tribes' new Executive Director," stated Colville Business Council Chairman Jarred-Michael Erickson in a July 21 press release. The executive director is the administrative head of tribal government and reports directly to the 14-member governing CBC. "Cody is well known to us and to tribal membership due to his prior service as...
In the last couple weeks, this community has shone brightly with examples of strength and good will and a readiness to step up and do what is needed. First, people immediately stepped up to answer a communitywide need: to support an important park at North Dam, home of many community events and activities, giving thousands to keep it in operation this summer, even knowing that a full solution has yet to be found for the basic underlying problem. Next, the Siam Palace and many volunteers arranged to put on a dinner to raise money to help a...
The Colville Tribes has a new executive director, the tribes announced Thursday night. "The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation has appointed Cody Desautel to serve as the Tribes' new Executive Director," stated CBC Chairman Jarred-Michael Erickson in a press release. The executive director is the administrative head of tribal government and reports directly to the 14-member governing Colville Business Council. "Cody is well known to us and to tribal membership due to his prior...
After lab workers mysteriously got sick last Tuesday, forcing an emergency closure, Coulee Medical Center started a phased re-opening Friday morning, starting first with its emergency department at 7 a.m. Tuesday afternoon Chief Executive Officer Ramona Hicks said CMC was back to full operations and that patients had been back in the building for four days with no problems. Widely reported as a "gas leak," Hick said that was in error, noting that there is no natural gas in the hospital. The deci...
Several community members met with park district commissioners last week in a workshop setting to help solve a funding problem that could potentially close North Dam Park, again. The good news is that the community is responding with money and ideas. After the chamber of commerce set up a GoFundMe online donation account for the park, people immediately began donating to help raise its stated $10,000 goal. As of Tuesday night, it had raised over $5,200. Coulee Area Park and Recreation District...
A mystery substance has shut down Coulee Medical Center after three employees in the lab area became ill for unknown reasons Tuesday afternoon. CMC was evacuated and employees sent home, and a hazmat team has been requested to investigate. No one knows what made the lab workers ill, other than an odor, but their conditions were apparently not serious. It started with headaches, then chest pains, shortness of breath and vomiting. They've been checked out and released. No patients were affected,... Full story
After lab workers mysteriously got sick Tuesday, forcing an emergency closure, Coulee Medical Center will start a phased re-opening Friday morning, when it will "move forward cautiously," opening its emergency department first at 7 a.m. The decision to re-open was made mid Thursday afternoon after a meeting with state officials. It had been 20 hours with people in the building following that shut-down and subsequent investigations looking for a possible cause of the noxious odor that caused half... Full story
Don’t let a wet spring fool you. A day after the year’s hottest day so far in the region, Grant County citizens got a reminder of what that can mean when the sheriff’s office issued a Level 2, then Level 3 Evacuation notice Monday afternoon. People in the area east of Soap Lake were told to be ready to go should it come to that, then were told to leave immediately. Responding firefighters sent out the call countywide for help, at least twice. Remember a few summers ago when a fire that started over a half-hour’s drive away eventually put wes...
2 There are several very important words of the pledge of allegiance: I pledge ALLEGIANCE (loyalty or commitment) to the flag of the UNITED (joined together politically for a common purpose) States of America and to the REPUBLIC (a Government where the supreme power is held by the people and their elected officials and president, not a monarch) for which it stands, one nation under GOD, INDIVISIBLE (impossible to be divided) with LIBERTY (being free, within a society, of oppressive restrictions) and JUSTICE (fairness and rightness in the treatm...
The town council in Coulee Dam Wednesday night approved spending $3,020 to "move dirt" in a canyon just above the city hall, a residential neighborhood, and a motel so that police can use it for a shooting range. Officer Josh Watkins introduced himself to the council as the firearms instructor for Coulee Dam's two-officer police department and explained the need for such a space. Watkins said the biggest benefit would be the ability to get free training. Police have training requirements to...
This weekend will feature lots of smiles, as did last weekend. The difference will be in the fact that the average age of smilers will be reduced. Last Saturday, seniors graduated from high school; this Saturday kids get a chance to wear out their parents, or vice versa, at Kids Fest. Whether you love every activity presented is not really important, just remember to enjoy seeing all those smiles. Scott Hunter editor and publisher...
A storm that ripped through the area Sunday afternoon toppled a tree that pulled down a powerline in Coulee Dam, closing River Drive and leaving the area without power for several hours. A 60-foot evergreen tree fell across a front porch at 1015 River Drive but didn't damage the house or a pickup parked in the driveway - under the downed tree. But it did pull down power lines crossing River Drive, which is also SR-155 through town. Coulee Dam fire trucks closed the road while Nespelem Valley...
Officials for the barely funded public agency currently responsible for managing the park that holds major events in the area said Tuesday they may have to close it down. North Dam Park, which is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation but managed by the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District (CAPRD) is the venue for events like Colorama, Run the Dam, summer softball and baseball games, a skate park, the Gehrke Windmills display, countless private events, and more. But CAPRD commissioners Brian Warneke and Kevin Porch said Tuesday that USBR... Full story
The town council in Coulee Dam Wednesday night approved spending $3,020 to “move dirt” in an area just above the city hall, a residential neighborhood, and a motel so police can use it for a shooting range. Officer Josh Watkins introduced himself to the council as the firearms instructor for Coulee Dam’s two-officer police department and explained the need for such a space. Watkins said the biggest benefit would be the ability to get free training. Police have training requirements to keep up with, but scheduling time at the U.S. Bureau of Re... Full story
While he’s right about the diverse energy portfolio the state of Washington boasts, and about the necessity of an all-of-the-above energy solution, for now, Rep. Dan Newhouse would better advance the goals of energy independence by not including the divisive rhetoric he seems to think is necessary at every turn. We include his column on this page because he represents us in the U.S. House of Representatives, but even a piece about his bringing members of Congress to his district to show them local energy solutions obligatorily starts with an a... Full story
With public health agencies now reporting two-week-old covid case rates and home testing widely available, hospital admissions seem a more reliable indicator. Those are trending up, even locally. Coulee Medical Center CEO Ramona Hicks told hospital district commissioners Monday that more tests at CMC for COVID-19 are showing its presence, with the positivity rate rising from 10% last Friday to 18% by Tuesday, including some admissions to the hospital. Statewide, too, hospitals are recording an...
Two school boards learned Monday night that a major source of funding education for local students is apparently coming to an end if local officials can’t find a way to appeal a recent “review” of their method of sharing federal funds. An agreement to funnel “Impact Aid” from Nespelem School District to Grand Coulee Dam School District hasn’t been correct for years, a federal “reviewer” recently informed the Nespelem superintendent, a finding that will have a large financial impact on Lake Roosevelt Schools. For decades, the two districts h...
The annual Isle of Flags, with its Memorial Day ceremony, will honor 15 more veterans whose families have requested a flag be flown in their honor. The annual event, which started in 1976, continues to add more flags every year to the spectacle that community volunteers (more needed) will start putting them up at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 28, at the Spring Canyon Cemetery. They will be flying 599 American flags. A Veterans’ Center Memorial Day Breakfast will be offered free of charge to all Saturday from 7 to 11 a.m. at the Vets Center in E...
Electric City is making the correct move in considering whether it should plan for expansion to its south. Like the rest of the country, the local area is running short of housing, and that’s a major obstacle to progress for a better community. Local employers have trouble recruiting employees to the area when they can’t find a place to live. Our largest employers in the Grand Coulee Dam area — the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Coulee Medical Center — run into the problem repeatedly. The hospital keeps eight rentals of its own just to have a...
After a few decades of interviewing high school students two or three times a year, certain traits start to seem universal, including eager optimism mixed with a little nervousness about the unknown coming up. Last week, I had the absolute pleasure, once again, to talk with a few local seniors, one on one, about their plans for the future and what high school has been like for them. Whether they hoped to go to college, pursue a certain career, or begin a new adventure, these young adults — vibrant, bright, and hopeful as they are — carries at...
The Lady Raiders defeated their Okanogan rivals tonight at the District 6 championship game on the state top-ranked Lady Bulldogs' home diamond. The Lake Roosevelt girls have a good chance to win the state championship tournament in Yakima May 27-28, where they're likely to face Okanogan for a fourth time this year. The Bulldogs will face either Brewster or Tonasket this Saturday in a game for second place in District 6.... Full story
Alonzo Adams signed a celebratory letter of intent May 5 to attend Pacific University in Oregon, where he'll play basketball and study hard. In a small ceremony in the Lake Roosevelt High School HUB with family, friends and teammates, Adams signed the letter saying he intends to play basketball for NCAA Division III school in the 2022-23 school year. A table of basketball mementos from his high school years also included a framed certificate of admission to Pacific University as a "trustee...
The hulking shell of a construction project will be revived at some as-yet-unknown date, but a tangle of legal problems has been resolved to allow the Bureau of Reclamation's fire station project to move forward. The agency announced an agreement with the insurance company April 28. The bureau said in a press release that Berkley Insurance Company has selected J.S. Held LLC to coordinate the project with National Native American Construction, Inc. "The mobilization date is unknown but is...