News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1180 - 1204 of 1840
Man, you’d think we’d just come out of a long winter and every part of the community was now straining with fresh green shoots of progress at the first rays of sunshine. The buds are everywhere: a rebuild at Coulee Dam’s town hall, plans for patching in Electric City, a needed new crosswalk in Grand Coulee, a new building for mosquito district equipment, kids performing in a musical and a junior rodeo. And those are only the buds we had room for this week. News is fun when it’s full of good stuff. We’ll have more next week, having to do with o... Full story
An article in last week’s Star, written on an event that occurred at deadline, accurately reported the event on which we had limited information available — except for one word. “Vandalism” was the wrong choice in the headline of “Daylight vandalism” over the photo caption that relayed our reporter’s eyewitness account of a pickup truck crashing through the fence at the Lake Roosevelt High School athletic field, then spinning in circles, throwing up turf and damaging the grounds before taking off up the road and getting stopped by a police o... Full story
A high speed chase ended on Peter Dan Road when two vehicles, a car and a truck, both crashed into the landslide that spans the road. A woman, apparently a nearby resident, told The Star that two suspects then took off on foot, and that police were going to houses looking for them. The resident also said that a SWAT team was on the scene in full uniform with guns drawn. No further info is yet available. A witness in Coulee Dam said a car speeding down the hill at Grand Coulee Dam hit the bottom... Full story
Coulee Dam’s new wastewater treatment facility got big push ahead last week as the town council approved interim financing to get the project started, then approved the bid to build it for more than expected, but with more cost-saving features. The council awarded the construction bid Wednesday to McClure and Sons Construction of Spokane, which bid $5,609,399.07. That award was contingent on the approval of supplemental funding from the US Dept. of Agriculture for extra work engineers deemed prudent to lower long-term operating costs. The t... Full story
The Bureau of Reclamation is asking for comments from interested parties on a planned overhaul of 18 generators in the left and right powherhouses of Grand Coulee Dam. The generators have been in service for some 70 years and need repair, the bureau has said. Doing the work would keep them making electricity for another 30 years. In a draft environmental analysis, the bureau lays out its preferred of three alternatives: Do the upgrades on two generators at a time and complete the work between 2018 and 2029. Another alternative would extend the... Full story
The local PTA is looking for support to continue filling in an important gap in the curricula offered by local school districts. Each year the group funds or sponsors a variety of worthwhile events, the latest being the science fair at Lake Roosevelt Schools. Next up, it will bring the Missoula Children’s Theater to town so local students can get a taste of a subject not offered here — drama. In a world focused on what is viewed as practical — science, math, engineering — it’s important to remember that those critical disciplines focus on... Full story
The little shop on Main Street that opened with coffee, knickknacks and T-shirts three years ago now plans to expand its restaurant offerings outside. Junkers, which began offering subs and wrap-style sandwiches in January 2016, will add outdoor seating within a month, say owners Richard and Mandi Button. That seating will be offered under a shade canopy Richard has built and will install in the grassy area he leveled and built up at the corner of Main and Spokane Streets in Grand Coulee, about a block off Midway Avenue. With the canopy,... Full story
Okanogan County commissioners declared a state of emergency Monday, due to threat of flooding and debris problems on county roads. Commissioners passed the resolution after county roads suffered damage from heavy precipitation recently. They acknowledged the continued threat of heavy rain has created a danger to public health and the safety of those using county roads. The Charlton Complex and other wildfires stripped vegetation from hills in the county, resulting in flash floods with mud and debris being swept over roadways. Commissioners... Full story
At one point it seemed that for several years, the local community slipped by without a home burning down. That was unusual, a local fire chief and I agreed, hoping the trend would continue. It didn’t. Although home fires are reportedly less common in recent years than in the decades earlier, they still happen too often. Families in this community have suffered three in the last few months, including one on the front page of this issue. Firefighters remind us to keep batteries in smoke alarms, and change them about every six months. Figuring ou... Full story
After years of court dates and a life put on hold, a former Lake Roosevelt High School Spanish teacher had a burden lifted by Okanogan County Superior Court Monday, when it dismissed charges of identity theft and forgery. After receiving a call from a woman in California four years ago, Coulee Dam police checked the Social Security number Guillermo Guzman-Romo had used to apply for the Spanish teacher job at Lake Roosevelt High School. It was the same number he'd used as he worked to put... Full story
Leaders at Coulee Medical Center will submit to its federal funding agency by the end of the week a plan to turn the facility around financially. That plan will show a reduction in wage and benefit costs of $2.1 million a year following decisions made by Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Owens to cut staff in non-patient care positions. “People understood that we needed to adjust where our focus was in the facility,” Owens said of the general reaction in the hospital, which has employed as many as 225. “If it wasn’t a direct patient care positio... Full story
Some 34 injured veterans and 20 host boat captains made a day of fishing on Banks Lake Sunday, the first of what organizers said they hope is an annual event. The Fallen Outdoors organization takes veterans on outdoor excursions and says its mission is to "film and show real-life American soldiers balancing duty for their country and passion for the outdoors." Eastern Washington Team Leader David Atteberry said the event had been planned for March 10 but was postponed because the lake was... Full story
You hear all the best teachers talk about it, and last Thursday night anyone who attended the PTA’s science fair at Lake Roosevelt Schools got a little taste of it, as well. “It” would be the “Aha!” factor, the real reward that teachers crave when that light comes into the eye of a student excited for having just learned something new. Talking with each of the students who entered their science experiments, it was apparent they’d taken great interest and care in putting together some fairly sophisticated evidence and arguments, and accepted th... Full story
A young Electric City man was killed and another man injured last week in a one-car rollover about a mile south of Electric City. Brandon Buche, 23, had recently finished a tour with the U.S. Navy, where he served as an electrician’s mate. He was employed at Safeway in Grand Coulee while working to pursue a career with electricity. Around 2 a.m. Wednesday morning, Buche was driving a 2006 Jeep Wrangler on Bay Area Drive near Coulee View Road when he failed to negotiate a curve in the road, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office reported. The Jee... Full story
If we could partake of the pain of others, and so lift a small portion of it from them, how would it change the world? Perhaps not much, judging by the reaction and feelings spread throughout the community when news hit of young man, full of promise, cut short. The sharing of some small portion of the pain of his family by a large part of the community seemed very evident over the last week — from Facebook posts to meetings canceled, even by some not directly affected. The loss of such a life is not something we can, or should, get over. I... Full story
After racking up multi-million dollar losses in four of the past five years, Coulee Medical Center will put in place a turn-around plan to “stop the bleeding,” CEO Jonathan Owens said, “sooner, rather than later,” and that will include some strategic job cuts. Owens said CMC will be operating in the black within eight months, predicting the restructuring plan will produce a nearly $6.6 million turnaround in 2017 and $3.6 million per year thereafter. The hospital is currently in debt to Grant County and out of sorts with its mortgage loan co... Full story
A former vice principal at Lake Roosevelt Elementary School was sentenced in federal court Monday to seven years in prison for receipt of child pornography. Nathan Piturachsatit, 38, pleaded guilty to the charge Nov. 29, 2016. Sentenced by United States District Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr., Piturachsatit will be supervised by the court for 10 years after release and must register as a sex offender. He also surrendered his iPhone, with which he had traded sexually explicit images with a 14-year-old Wisconsin girl using Instagram. Piturachsatit... Full story
A contractor will be on site next week to start work on a new fire station for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which means two portions of local roads will be closed for that project. Innovative Construction & Design Ltd., a small business based in Post Falls, Idaho, was awarded the $13.6 million construction job last September. The company is scheduled to be on site Monday, March 13, Public Affairs Officer Lynne Brougher said Monday. The portion of B Street from Division Street to Industrial... Full story
It’s not easy to get used to driving 10 miles per hour slower on a short stretch of highway you’ve been traveling daily for decades. That’s a problem many folks face trying, straining, braking to navigate the multi-lane stretch of highway 155 by the Bureau of Reclamation’s Grand Coulee Project, which the bureau slowed from 40 to 30 mph because it’s building a new fire station across from Pole Park. Even if traveling more slowly in front of a fire station is warranted, slowing the entire stretch seems a bit much. Admittedly, that complaint sound... Full story
Three student athletes who placed at the state wrestling tournament in Tacoma last month were treated to lunch at The Siam Palace with the Grand Coulee Dam Rotary Club Wednesday. Lake Roosevelt Raider wrestling Coach Steve Hood introduced Kaleb Horn, Tony Nichols and Jon Shelley, all of whom had also just been awarded at a school assembly for high academic marks. At the state tournament, Horn took first place in the 113-pound division for 2B schools; Nichols took third at 138 and Shelley took... Full story
Remember that long, narrow lunchroom at the old middle school? She what the Raiders are using it for now. That second hit would have been at least a base hit. Batting practice from Scott Hunter on Vimeo....
Faced with a mid-week holiday date for an expensive festival designed for tourists, the chamber of commerce is planning its “Festival of America” to start on June 30 this year, with the annual fireworks off the dam on Saturday, July 1. Executive Director Peggy Nevsimal approached the Coulee Dam Town Council last Wednesday to broach the idea with the town that hosts the festival and helps fund it with a lodging tax charged on every motel night spent in the town. Nevsimal said the chamber’s board of directors had struggled with the idea, prefe... Full story
After 40 years working at the hospital, Lorale Johnson said she has no plans to retire soon. "Who wants to go home and just sit?" she said. Johnson was honored last week for her four decades of work in the facility that is now called Coulee Medical Center, with co-workers describing her on a bulletin board full of cards with words such as "Never Ending Dedication!," "energy", "blessing," and "joyfully." Johnson has seen a lot of changes in the healthcare industry over the years and in her own... Full story
Yet again, local cities are forced to waste time, effort and money in a disagreement that wouldn’t exist if they did what may be the logical thing and merged. Electric City is objecting to a spike in their metered sewage flow into Grand Coulee costing Electric City more than a month does on average. If the two cities were one, it would be a technician’s problem only, with nobody else even needing to be aware of it. Like every other time the two cities have disagreed — police services contracts, charges for water or other intercity servi... Full story