News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1587 - 1611 of 1807
Tribal police are investigating the death of a 29-year-old woman whose body was found in Nespelem, just before 5 p.m. Oct. 31. Colville Tribal Police Chief Cory Orr said in a press release that the woman had been identified at Maria Victoria Sanchez, born May 31, 1984. Orr said police are currently investigating "the cause and circumstances surrounding the female body" and that no other information would be released until after a medical examination scheduled for Sunday. No updates were available as of deadline Tuesday. Community sources,... Full story
If citizen involvement is a key ingredient in the health of a community, this one should feel pretty good about itself. The upside of people complaining about what they think is going wrong is that they care and they act as caring citizens should: they complain. This week we feature stories that reflect citizen concerns: local political races for 11 contested seats because people cared enough to want to serve; and folks confronting the hospital district commission on issues that matter to them. As uncomfortable as such controversy can make... Full story
NESPELEM (Nov. 1) — Tribal police are investigating the death of a 29-year-old woman whose body was found in Nespelem, just before 5 p.m. Oct. 31. Colville Tribal Police Chief Cory Orr said in press release that the woman had been identified as Maria Victoria Sanchez, born May 31, 1984. Orr said police are currently investigating "the cause and circumstances surrounding the female body" and that no other information would be released until after a medical examination scheduled for Sunday. C... Full story
Residents of Coulee Dam reported hearing, and feeling, a loud explosion coming from Grand Coulee Dam Wednesday afternoon. It was basically man-made thunder. Workers getting ready to test a generator under repair in the left powerhouse opened a gate to the penstock that flows water from behind the dam to the turbine that powers G-8, the generator under repair, explained Public Affairs Officer Lynne Brougher. Excess water in that process overflows through a bypass valve and out onto the face of the dam through a large tube that opens onto the... Full story
Coulee Medical Center’s governing commissioners passed a resolution Friday night that sets out Public Hospital District 6’s typical meeting agenda and policies for handling unruly meetings. Resolution 815 adopts normal agendas for regular and special meetings, essentially identical to what the commission has used for years. A section on public comments restricts them to the end of the meeting agenda, allotting three minutes per speaker and other rules, including those set for the removal of “individuals who interrupt the orderly conduct of an... Full story
Hospital District 6 commissioners will meet in a special session Friday night to discuss, in a closed session, to discuss legal matters with their attorney and to consider an employee’s performance. Following the the closed executive session, the commission meetings agenda finishes with “Board Agenda/Order of Business Policy”. By state law, special meetings must adhere to the announced agenda, which must be delivered in writing to each board member and relevant news media 24 hours in advance of the meeting. The announcement was emailed to Th... Full story
This week The Star presents a candidates’ forum, in which we publish the responses of candidates for public office to questions we emailed to each. Not all responded, but many of the candidates seeking voter approval for 11 contested local offices sent in their thoughts to answer the questions posed. Below is the text of the email we sent. Their answers follow inside this issue. Dear Candidate, As a candidate for a contested local public office, you are the subject of an important community focus for the next few weeks — the upcoming election.... Full story
Our diverse region and readership have decisions to make. We hope this week’s Local Candidates Forum provides some help for voters who open their mail-in ballots to cast decisions on races they may not have even realized were occurring. Readers should know that candidates were notified that we wanted them to answer three simple questions, but only via an email and a front-page article in last week’s paper. If you don’t see a reply from them this week, there could be several reasons for that, including that they’ve been away and didn’t... Full story
The Star will publish next week responses to questions recently posed to candidates for local office. Star readers will decide among 22 candidates in 11 local races this year. We sent each candidate an email asking for their responses to a set of questions. If no email address was provided on their candidate declaration on file with the county, we placed a phone call to them. Voters will soon receive their mail-in ballots for the election that concludes Nov. 5.... Full story
Bob Hinkey spends a lot of time, energy and money making Halloween a kick for all those brave enough to trick or treat at his Coulee Dam home. We found him busy Saturday afternoon with preparations for this year's spectacle....
Last Friday, eighth graders at Nespelem Elementary School gained something in common with students in far-flung school districts around the continent intent on making sure students are prepared for the future that’s already here. Each Nespelem eighth grader received a new laptop computer to use for all their school work. While many “one-to-one” districts are opting for cheaper tablet computers (the Los Angeles Unified School District just launched a $1 billion program), the Nespelem Schoo... Full story
The latest failure of Congress to compromise has shuttered two local branches of federal agencies but not affected operations at Grand Coulee Dam. The federal government went into shutdown mode Tuesday as the U. S. Senate and the House of Representatives failed to compromise on a continuing resolution that would allow the government to pay the bills already spent and approved by Congress. Locally, barricades and recorded messages greeted many who tried to contact federal agencies or receive... Full story
A 34-year-old man hanged himself in the tribal corrections center Sept. 24, a press release from Colville Tribal Police stated Tuesday. Police Chief Cory J. Orr said police responded last week to the Colville Tribal Corrections Center near Nespelem and found Aaron J. Swan in a cleaning closet. “Mr. Swan had hanged himself with a bed sheet,” Orr stated. Swan had been in the facility for two days, held on tribal charges of rape and indecent liberties, the release said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Dis... Full story
Remember when you were a little kid and had to learn, likely through repeated lessons, that you just can’t always get your way? That you have to learn to give a little just to get along in this world? That’s not just a childhood lesson, it’s a basic principal that undergirds the healthiest societies, keeps disagreements civil and greases the wheels of democracy. It makes civilization itself possible. But a new faction within the Republican Party rejects that premise, insisting that compromise is evil. Many in the House of Representatives got el... Full story
So, I’m very glad I took out that MedStar membership. Took a ride last night. The good pros at Coulee Medical Center figured out why I was so weak and sent me to Sacred Heart ICU. Turns out I have multiple pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in lungs). Yes, that’s bad. A surgery or two is coming up, along with some lengthy recuperation. Life is what happens when you had other plans. So, although your submitted photos are always welcome in The Star, they will be more so in the coming weeks. You can email them to gwen@grandcoulee.com, along wit... Full story
• Congratulations to local firm Taylor Enterprises, LLC for landing a $4.2 million contract to provide the Grand Coulee Dam with janitorial services. • Electric City’s planning commission should think carefully if asked to alter what kinds of buildings are allowed within the city. Understanding why restrictions are in place should be the first step in either removing them or keeping them. Decisions like that affect everyone’s property values. • In our special triathlon section this week, read about a remarkable young athlete who registere... Full story
Hoping to make a bigger impact for local business and jobs, the chamber of commerce told Coulee Dam leaders last week of its more ambitious plans for marketing the area in 2014. Peggy Nevsimal, the manager of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber wants to buy more advertising on the west side of the state to market the area, but it takes a lot of money. Coulee Dam, like Electric City and Grand Coulee, collects hotel/motel taxes on every room rented in the town, the funds from which must be used to promote tourism.... Full story
• The Columbia River Treaty between the United States and Canada, which the two countries will start renegotiating soon, is one international news story the local community needs to watch. It can affect everything from how much water remains in local lakes to whether, as some very hardy canoeists on the front page would like, we build fish ladders around Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams. • Even while trying to form a better advocate for growing tourism via a local tourism board, the chamber of commerce continues in the interim to entice local... Full story
Five people in two canoes got as close as they dared to Grand Coulee Dam Saturday on a “Sea to Source” expedition in craft carved from trees by school kids and others. Their purpose is to call attention to what they consider to be deficits in the soon-to-expire Columbia River Treaty between the United States and Canada. Under that 1964 treaty, which addresses power and flood control issues, three dams in Canada and Libby Dam in the United States were built. Tribes and conservationists now wan... Full story
Anyone who has ever tried to work in community economic development has heard it repeatedly: “You guys should just get a grant.” Easier said than done, most of the time, but opportunities do exist. Finding them is often the problem. But not one that would stop Birdie Hensley. Hensley has had a goal for years of founding a local museum that would showcase the area’s rich history and its pioneers. In the last year she has turned to focusing on that goal. With that in mind, she helped arran... Full story
Family and friends are grieving for a young man killed in an electrocution accident last week. Dakotah Holt, a 2011 graduate of Lake Roosevelt High School, was following his chosen career as a lineman in Kansas Thursday when a new power pole he and other workers were setting up fell against a nearby power line after wind twisted it from the grapple hooks on a boom truck, according to news reports quoting the Barber County Sheriff’s Office. Holt, 20, an apprentice lineman with Track Utilities a... Full story
Along with many others, we were saddened this week by the news of Dakotah Holt’s death, and our hearts go out to his family and loved ones. As a child, Dakotah was a Star newspaper carrier for a time. He was a bright, ambitious kid who seemed eager to do well as we followed his progress through high school. The world is diminished without him in it. Scott Hunter editor and publisher... Full story
Some local municipal councils have passed laws banning local participation in what appears to be on the way to becoming a legitimate enterprise: growing marijuana. With the state’s passage of Initiative 520 last year, and with the guidance last week from the federal Justice Department on how that will jive with federal drug enforcement efforts, local leaders might need to consider to loosening up a bit. Voters passed the initiative to legalize recreational marijuana last fall, and not because they all want to get high. Most just recognize t... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam Cooperative Preschool is about to start up again for fall. The cooperative, which has operated for decades in the area, is currently taking applicants for two age groups of children: those who will be 3 years old by Nov. 1 for the regular preschool, and those who will be 4 by Sept. 1 for the pre-kindergarten class. Classes are taught by Becky Loch, who said she had only two openings left for the Pre K class on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., which costs $100 a month She said there were still several...
A powerful storm packing high winds and lightning has knocked out power in parts of Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam. Sketchy reports, unconfirmed have come in about trees down all over, some across mobile homes in Lakeview Terrace , transformers knocked out in Coulee Dam and Grand Coulee. Highway 155 from Coulee Dam to Grand Coulee is blocked due to a downed powerline near Pole Park and likely will be for 5-6 hours. Another line is down at the south edge of the town of Coulee Dam at SR-155 and Grant Avenue, but there is a detour down Stevens... Full story