News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1792 - 1807 of 1807
The mayor of Coulee Dam would like help from other towns putting on the annual July 4 festivities. He should get it, and be willing to take the concept several steps further. Mayor Quincy Snow notes the expense of putting on the entertainment. On the cheap, it’s around $15,000 by the time you add up band expenses, staging and lighting and sound technicians. He’s right to think the town shouldn’t put all of it on without help. He’s not quite right in thinking that it does. Coulee Dam has not been alone in funding the annual event. The overloo... Full story
A grant-funded study will determine the feasibility of each aspect of a community/wellness center for the region following the award of a contract to Gary Leva, director of the Benewah Wellness Center in Plummer, Idaho and principal at the Gary Consulting Group in Spokane. Leva was instrumental in the formation of the community center serving the Plummer, Idaho area and several others. Last summer, a steering committee rekindled a three-year-old effort to establish a community/wellness center in the area. Self-named the Coulee Region Community... Full story
Coulee Area Park and Recreation District commissioners heard a proposal to use North Dam Park as a venue for a regional karaoke contest this summer. Electric City Mayor Jerry Sands proposed a contest over three monthly events, culminating in a Sept. 1 grand finale with cash prizes awarded in a “Coulee Idol” contest. “I’m for pursuing it,” CAPRD Chairman Phil Hansen said. The commissioners agreed, voting to “look into it.” In other business, commissioners discussed a timeline for determing a contractor to maintain North Dam Park this summer.... Full story
By Feb. 19, The Star’s online readers fill find a new website with better features and a cleaner interface with bigger photos and easier ways to get around the site. A month later, full access to the site will require a subscription. Stories will all be available online, as opposed to just most newspaper stories now. And online readers will discover new features we haven’t been able to smoothly integrate into the old site. I’ll spare you the technical details, but the new site will allow us to better integrate experience-completing featu... Full story
The body of an adult woman was found in an empty lot in Grand Coulee today, Grant County Sheriff’s Deputy Kyle Foreman said. The body lay in a lot between an occupied home and an empty building downhill from SR 174 about three quarters of a mile toward Spokane from the main Four Corners intersection with SR 155. Foreman said a nearby neighbor found the body about 4 p.m. this afternoon. It has apparently been there for some time, preserved by the cold weather. Foreman said there are no outward signs of violence apparent and police do not s... Full story
Nespelem School District is hoping for a good Valentine’s Day present, passage of its four-year maintenance and operations levy. Nearly 400 voters received their mail-in ballots recently to approve a four-year levy for $118,000 in funding. Although that’s among the very lowest levy amounts in the state, Superintendent John Adkins notes, it accounts for far more critical funds to the district than just the levy dollars themselves. Passage of the levy would also make the district eligible for state “Local Effort Assistance” or levy equalization f... Full story
A bill in the state Legislature would likely put the new Coulee Medical Center out of business within three years. That’s according to J. Scott Graham, CMC’s chief operating officer, who spoke to the chamber of commerce Thursday. House Bill 2130 would affect 38 “Critical Access Hospitals” in the state by changing the way they are reimbursed for expenses under Medicaid, a federal and state program that helps pay for care to millions of people who can’t afford it. “Instead of being in a financial... Full story
An eighth-grade girl won the spelling bee at Grand Coulee Dam Middle School last week, and will continue to the broader competition, which almost didn’t get organized at all. Prevailing on the word “ecstatic,” Sydney Matheson won the local contest among a dozen of the school’s best spellers. Rylee Pitner, a sixth-grader, came in second on “envoy.” Office Assistant Tammy Norris said the bee came together, despite being notified by Scripps National Spelling Bee that the past regional sponsor, Th... Full story
Lake Roosevelt High School basketball standout Ty Egbert has been nominated as a player at McDonald’s All American Games next month, when McDonald’s sends the best high school players in the country to Chicago. Final selection will happen this month. Ricardo Colunga, the manager of the Omak McDonald’s, made the announcement Saturday night at Lake Roosevelt between the boys’ and girls’ basketball games. He presented a framed certificate to Egbert. The 6-foot, 8-inch senior, already recruited... Full story
Although officials with the Bonneville Power Administration are no doubt dealing straightforwardly with the town of Coulee Dam, local officials are right to insist on taking a closer look at BPA’s plans to occupy town property for a year. Federal officials have a goal, a set agenda, set methods of operating and they’re behind schedule. Human nature may not allow them to always look out for the best of interests of the town. That’s up to the mayor and town council, who recognized last week that BPA is planning a big intrusion for very littl... Full story
About a dozen people who showed up for an informational meeting about a wastewater treatment plant project got assurances from two Gray & Osborne engineers that the extent of change was necessary to meet agency requirements. Jeff Stevens and Dave Van Cleve of G&O stated that the different elements of the project were as low as possible in cost and would allow considerable growth. The remodeling of the existing 40-year-old plant will likely begin in 2013 and take from 12 to 18 months to complete,... Full story
A fund that has boosted Grant County’s development by hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade is on hold, possibly permanently. The county’s “Strategic Infrastructure Program” has made it possible for large and small projects around the county to attract other grant and loan funding, resulting in economic gains from Grand Coulee to Royal City. The program added $250,000 of leverage to the funding package that built Coulee Medical Center. It helped pay for improvements that attracted Microsoft and Yahoo! to Quincy, and it was ins... Full story
Democracy is not easy for couch potatoes or cowards. To work, it demands much of us, including our attention, our willingness to be publicly right or wrong, and a recognition by the general public that at some point we’re each likely to end up on either side of an argument that makes us uncomfortable. Two instances in the last week reminded me just how much we hate such discomfort. First, Electric City Council members were thinking they should vote on a public matter (electing a new member) with a secret ballot. That’s against the law for the... Full story
Chinook salmon eggs were delivered Wednesday to the Grand Coulee Dam Middle School, which had received special equipment to support them before winter break, donated by Grant County PUD. Bob Tuck, of the Yakima Basin Environmental Education Program, delivered the eggs from the Priest Rapids Hatchery. Nearly 100 schools are participating. Every school district in Grant County received a similar donation from the PUD, and Yakima and Kittitas counties schools’ participation was funded from a s... Full story
A bill in the state Senate would take a small step toward correcting a major gaffe embraced by the Legislature last year, the Discover Pass. The wrongheaded attempt to close budget gaps by making public land users pay to stop alongside the road is wrong on so many levels it could unite socialists and libertarians, but nobody plugging a $2 billion budget hole is in the mood to hear that this year. Instead, they may address a flaw that may make the whole concept of paying to access public lands a little less onerous. At least your $30 annual... Full story
Lake Roosevelt students will be locked in battle next week as the boys try to outdo the girls in a fundraiser for ASB funds and school spirit. The stakes are high, with sacrificial representatives of the losers subjected to the “Polar Plunge” at the end of the week. This has something to do with a kiddie pool, dry ice and bare feet for five minutes. Perhaps even better is the positive incentive to stuff the guys and gals donation cans at the office with collected cash donations. Principal Brad Wilson has agreed to a temporary ear piercing if... Full story