News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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The phone service outage in the Grand Coulee Dam area still has no end in sight. Crews will be working through the night on the cable damage. From a power outage and from excessive water. Here's the latest full press release from the company: A CenturyLink customers in Coulee Dam and surrounding areas out of service SPOKANE, WA. – CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) Due to an earlier power failure and extensive water damage, cables in downtown Coulee Dam are out of service impacting approximately 1,000 voice customers in Coulee Dam and the surroundin...
Coulee Medical Center turned in postive financial results for the often-gloomy month of December, a high spot on what has been a bumpy landscape for the hospital this year, and a consulting finance expert sees a smoother road ahead. Its $192,243 gain for the month gleams compared to losses in recent months and a total loss for the year of a whopping $5.7 million, due mostly to a decision to stop spending huge amounts to upgrade its electronic health records system. Even without that large cost showing up all at once instead of ammortized over... Full story
After National Park Service officials announced last week that a marina that serves the north end of Lake Roosevelt would close, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers fired off a quick request for the NPS to reconsider and extend the current concessioner’s contract while the NPS answers several questions. Those five questions appropriately hone in on the specifics of the problem at Kettle Falls, where a marina and houseboat operation’s concessioner contract is up at the end of April. It’s possible that a much broader inquiry would be well worth the t... Full story
After losing 58-53 last night in Tonasket against the Lady Tigers, the Lady Raiders will play in the third round of league playoffs today in Bridgeport at 3:30 p.m. Lake Roosevelt will face Liberty Bell, which lost to Brewster last night 58-44, competing for the third- and fourth-place spots in the 2017 CWB League 2B Girls Basketball Tournament. LR beat Liberty Bell in a comeback win 46-40 in mid January. If the Lady Raiders win, they’ll play in the 2017 District 5/6 2B Girls Basketball Tournament at 3:15 p.m., Feb. 14 at Eastmont Junior H...
Nespelem Elementary School has canceled school for Monday, Feb. 6. due to too much snow." Th"ere will be no preschool at all tomorrow, nor will breakfast be served, the school announced Sunday evening. Lake Roosevelt Schools will start two hours late....
Citizens and town council members argued Wednesday over whether to OK an application for a grant that would help save an old “steam building” behind Coulee Dam Town Hall, developing it into a trailhead for Candy Point Trail — with a bathroom, including a shower. The “Candy Point and Crown Point Trailhead Development” proposal asks the state Recreation and Conservation Office for $108,450 of a total project cost of $135,650, with the town making up the $27,200 match. Mayor Greg Wilder said half of that would come from “in kind” work, and don... Full story
Coulee Dam expects to award a construction contract in late March to build a new multimillion dollar wastewater treatment plant, the mayor and consulting engineers told the town council Wednesday. The town got a “verbal OK” earlier in the day from the Colville Tribes’ planning department following a unanimous vote during its meeting with Varela and Associates, the engineers on the project. The matter will still need a formal vote of the Colville Business Council later this month. The project plan had also seen a quick turnaround after submi... Full story
An environmental group that sued to force changes at Grand Coulee Dam says it has reached a settlement with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Columbia Riverkeeper announced last week that the Bureau had agreed to investigate the possibility of replacing petroleum oil-based lubricants with “eco-friendly lubricants” or switch to using non-lubricated equipment in places where those lubricants touch the water. The settlement is based on a similar outcome in 2014 when the group settled a suit against the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. That agency has... Full story
The Nespelem School District has plenty of cash right now, but fewer federal funds may be coming for the year than previously planned. The district, which budgeted for the year based on an expected enrollment average of 110 students, has seen that number at 133 this year. Financial officer Tanya Bunting told the board Monday night that the district is in a good cash position currently, but cautioned that federal Impact Aid funding may not come in as expected. The district's budget includes... Full story
Both Lake Roosevelt and Nespelem schools will start two hours late again on Thursday, both schools said late Wednesday as warming temperatures put a slick watery surface atop built-up road ice. Nespelem School will also not hold preschool again Thursday, and no breakfast will be served....
The Colville Tribes will repay the federal government nearly a quarter million dollars to settle allegations it submitted false Medicaid claims in connection with bills submitted by a mental health contractor for services allegedly never rendered, U.S. Attorney Michael Ormsby announced in Spokane late Tuesday. The tribes, which have not admitted to any wrongdoing, agreed to pay $245,860 for alleged “billing irregularities” between January and August 2010, said a press release from Ormsby, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of W... Full story
It's entirely possible The Star could be late tomorrow. As I write, freezing rain is pelting the ground, the National Weather Service is warning of an ice storm with up to a half inch of ice locally, and roads are becoming hazardous. Just for fun, here's a video of the frozen drops bouncing of the ice-encrusted snow in front of The Star tonight as we finish up tomorrow's paper. Freezing rain from Scott Hunter on Vimeo....
Lake Roosevelt Schools and Nespelem School with start two hours late Wednesday. At Nespelem Elementary there will be no preschool at all for the day. Also, breakfast will not be served at Nespelem on Wednesday. Freezing rain was pelting much of the area Tuesday night, making roads very slick....
No after-school activities for Nespelem today Nespelem School will send it’s kids home right after school today (Tuesday, Jan. 17) at 2:45 and will not hold after-school programs, the school said this morning. With freezing rain frequently on Tuesday morning and ice storm warning for this evening and tomorrow morning, administrators thought it best to get the kids home early. There normally would have been after-school activities until 4 p.m. No decision has yet been made on starting school Wednesday morning....
Wintery weather and slickness headed to region The National Weather Service warned Saturday that a fresh round of troublesome winter weather is likely headed our way beginning Saturday afternoon and continuing through Sunday night. We could end up with 1 to 5 inches of snow, followed by some rain and freezing rain that will glaze surfaces enough to "make walking hazardous," not to mention driving. Now might be a good time to stock up on groceries for the next day or so. Below is the NOAA's...
Advanced planning has never been an apparent strength in this community born of the Great Depression, which is why anytime the subject of zoning comes up, wise people flee to the hills. But this time it must be different. Grand Coulee’s planning commission and the citizens it serves have an important and urgent task ahead: rezoning the area that contains the former Center School, while balancing the needs of its neighbors and the rest of the city. Zoning — the statutory planning of development and growth within a community — is tricky busin... Full story
Grand Coulee got first place, but not necessarily the type of first place you’d want to receive. An FBI report for the state of Washington shows that Grand Coulee, for its size, was rated first in the state for burglaries for the year 2015. Statistics show that Grand Coulee had 23 burglaries for its population of 1,056, a statistic skewed because it doesn’t account for the population of Electric City, which the Grand Coulee Police also support, noted Police Chief John Tufts. Two other nearby communities on the list include Winthrop, which was... Full story
A small-town newspaper must be more these days, and over the last decade-plus, we’ve been learning, along with the rest of the industry, just what that means. In 2017, our goals at The Star involve a better implementation of what we’ve learned in ways that will benefit our readers and advertisers, making The Star a better value and stronger paper. Be prepared to talk; we’re going to ask questions. We need to be better listeners and askers. We need to know how you think various topics should be explored. What are we not covering now that we sh... Full story
It had never been done here before, but by the time they pulled it off, about 250 hospital employees were trained in what to do if an "active shooter" ever enters Coulee Medical Center. No one knew exactly what scenario would play out or how long it would take Nov. 5, when the hospital's parking lot looked like a law enforcement/fire/EMS show of force. Multiple agencies from across the region wanted the chance to learn how to respond to such an event in a facility like a hospital, which cannot... Full story
A winter weather advisory from the National Weather Service advises that we should expect snow to imapct travel, starting late tonight. Here's their advisory: URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 322 AM PST MON DEC 19 2016 ...MODERATE SNOW IS EXPECTED TODAY...WITH MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW EXPECTED TONIGHT AND TUESDAY... .A PAIR OF WINTER STORM SYSTEMS WILL MOVE INTO THE REGION ON MONDAY...WITH A SECOND FOLLOWING CLOSE BEHIND LATE MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. FORECAST...
Smiles and tears accompanied song and prayer last week as members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation gave an appreciative sendoff to 10 armed forces veterans who were heading to an international protest to stop a pipeline being constructed in North Dakota from crossing under the Missouri River. They were joining thousands of other veterans from Indian Country across America headed to the Oceti Sakowin protest camp on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation south of Bismarck,... Full story
A group of some 22 Coulee Dam citizens met in Electric City Monday night, intent on allying in an effort to impress their town council to fix the sidewalks. The issue of fixing sidewalks has been gaining attention since Fred Netzel, who called the meeting, decided to walk the town and gather signatures on a letter about them. It’s an issue Mayor Greg Wilder readily acknowledges is serious. But the group meeting at the Vets Hall Monday doubts that Wilder’s approach to tackle it is the best one. They want a quicker fix for the worst pro... Full story
Coulee Dam’s sidewalks are in need of repair and the town will have to decide how to fund a longterm solution or to make smaller repairs a few at at a time. Solutions discussed at the town council’s preliminary budget hearing last week ranged from putting off buying a new snow plow in favor of repairing heaving walkways to adding a sidewalk fee to the monthly utility bill. “The town is basically running out of money to fix the sidewalks, prune the trees and do everything else,” including keep staffed-up police and fire departments with the requ... Full story
With 6,500 ballots left to count, two races for county commissioner seats in Okanogan County are still up in the air. The county’s election department issued the latest count taken Monday afternoon, which showed fewer than 700 votes separating the contenders for both District 1 and District 2 commission seats. Current District 1 Commissioner Sheilah Kennedy, who represents this southern end of the county, is trailing challenger Chris Branch by just 667 votes, 5,575 to 4,908. In the race for the District 2 seat to represent the western half of t... Full story
With more than a third of the ballots left to count Tuesday night, Chris Branch’s bid to take Sheila Kennedy’s District 1 seat on the Okanogan County Board of Commissioners was ahead 53 percent to 47 percent. In Grant County, Superior Court Judge David Estudillo’s bid to keep his job was hanging on by a 1.42-percent margin. Branch was leading 3,613 votes to Kennedy’s 3,199. The county Auditor’s Office said 7,427 ballots remain to be counted, plus ballots from drop boxes. The next count will occur Monday by 5 p.m. Another close margin separates... Full story