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  • Protest march set for Saturday

    Scott Hunter|Mar 5, 2025

    People with concerns and picket signs can gather on Grand Coulee's Midway Avenue (SR-155) from noon to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 8. The march will take place on the same day as a nationally advertised march for women, but it will be the fourth in a series of local, loosely organized events for expressing solidarity with others concerned about the recent changes in the federal government, including layoffs, forced resignations and coming RIFs, abolishing entire agencies established by Congress, and... Full story

  • Raiders fall in first round, but play today

    Scott Hunter|Mar 5, 2025

    Lake Roosevelt on Tuesday sent off the Raider boys' basketball team to the state tournament at the Spokane Arena. "We knew we're going to be tough this year," Coach Ed Wolfe told the assemble student body. "Here we are. We put in a lot of work from summertime till now. We believed in ourselves from the very start." Scheduled to play Tri-Cities Prep in game 11 of the state tournament, they'll meet the Jaguars at 12:15 in Wednesday's "Round of 12" in a loser-out contest to see who goes on to the...

  • Nordine honored for food bank work

    Scott Hunter|Feb 26, 2025

    A couple months after she and her husband John, moved here in 2010, Carol Nordine had found the local food bank. She's been volunteering at the Care and Share Food Bank ever since, the last seven years as its manager. Just in time to see a growing need. A roomful of volunteers and friends gathered at La Presa Saturday to honor that service, eat, and enjoy each other's company. Shawn Neider also volunteers at the food bank, as well as pastoring the Zion Lutheran Church. He recalled the growth...

  • Chief: See it, report it

    Scott Hunter|Feb 26, 2025

    Coulee Dam’s police chief published a statement Monday asking people to report crimes to police, not just post it on Facebook. “If we don’t know about it, we can’t do anything about it,” noted Chief Paul Bowden. Bowden said the don’t consider Facebook posts as a proper way to report police issues. “This is a reminder to PLEASE report any criminal or suspicious activity such as thefts, car prowls, break- ins, etc. directly to the Police Department by calling MACC Dispatch at 1-888-431-9911.” Bowden also addressed comments he’s heard that there...

  • City hall vandalism repairs add up

    Scott Hunter|Feb 19, 2025

    After a vandal hit Grand Coulee City Hall Jan. 4, the city was left with cleanup and repairs. Those are coming in at about $74,000 to fix broken windows, damaged floors and walls, office equipment and police cars parked outside. The city council Tuesday night OK’d spending $13,450 on new windows, including a couple not damaged in the incident but old enough to be replaced with more energy-efficient windows. The council also voted to declare surplus five of those now-unused police vehicles outside, which had served the police department when it...

  • People urged to stay off Banks Lake ice

    Scott Hunter|Feb 19, 2025

    Ice fishers and other recreators are urged to stay off the ice on Banks Lake, which will soon become unstable if it isn't already. The Bureau of Reclamation at Grand Coulee Dam will begin pumping water into Banks Lake, beginning Saturday, Feb. 22, at 10 p.m. This influx of water may result in unstable ice conditions that present serious safety risks to all ice fishers and recreationists, Reclamation announced this week. The change in operation will conclude on Monday, Feb. 24, at 6 a.m.... Full story

  • Utility costs up in Elmer City

    Scott Hunter|Feb 19, 2025

    Elmer City residents may notice their city bill gets a boost next month. Effective March 1, each service will cost another $1, following the passage Thursday of an ordinance increasing the monthly fee for garbage, water and sewer service by a dollar each for the bill that comes due in April. The council also passed an ordinance instituting an ongoing, planned utility rate rise of 1.5% every year, beginning in 2026. Both the $1 rise this year and the future 1.5% annual increase starting next year were discussed during council budget discussions...

  • More Trump protesters march in Grand Coulee

    Scott Hunter |Feb 19, 2025
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    Citizens unhappy with the direction of the federal government under President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who heads up the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, marched with signs Monday from noon to 1 p.m. along Midway Avenue in Grand Coulee. A week earlier, Sheri Edwards had walked the route alone. On Monday, President's Day, the number climbed to 13 like-minded people. Several said they were pleasantly surprised by positive responses, and no negative ones, from passersby honking horn...

  • Raiders head to district championship game

    Scott Hunter|Feb 19, 2025

    The Raider boys took down La Salle's basketball team by 12 points Saturday at the District 5 tournament to get into the district championship for first or second place Feb. 22 in Moses Lake. The LaSalle Lightning came to play, keeping the margin low most of the game. But the Raiders' dogged determination refused to let up. LR won 69-57. Champ Louie started the scoring for the Raiders in style, hitting two treys back-to-back to establish a six-point lead that proved to be the advantage in much...

  • School levy close but passing

    Scott Hunter|Feb 12, 2025

    A tax levy to support local schools was passing by about a 5% margin Tuesday night. Proposition 1, the Grand Coulee Dam School District's proposal to replace its expiring levy with a new one at the end of this year, seeks to tax property owners $2.13 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. In the four counties the district serves, the proposal was passing by 422-383 votes Tuesday, that is, by about 52.42%. The measure needs a simple majority to pass. If it were up to Lincoln County voters, it would...

  • Lone protester walks Grand Coulee

    Scott Hunter|Feb 12, 2025

    One woman walked through Grand Coulee Wednesday in solidarity with demonstrators in state capitals across the country decrying actions taken by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency over the last few weeks. Sheri Edwards, a retired schoolteacher (and this writer's wife) decided Monday that she would join the protests, but not at Olympia, here locally. Edwards carried a sign that said, "Love thy neighbor as thyself. You and I are neighbors" and, on the other...

  • CMC gets big upgrade for mammography

    Scott Hunter|Feb 12, 2025

    They served pink cookies to go with their pink shirts Monday morning to help celebrate a big gift to Coulee Medical Center and the difference it will make in local detection of breast cancer. After a promotional blitz with a theme of "Now Screening" designed to look like a cinematic release, CMC officials officially cut the ribbon on a new 3D mammography machine. "Early detection is crucial in the fight against breast cancer, and this new equipment will provide higher-quality images, reduce...

  • How much do people pay to support their schools?

    Scott Hunter|Feb 5, 2025

    How much do people pay to support their local schools? After a fundraising dinner cooked entirely by the school's culinary arts students, citizens in Lake Roosevelt Jr/Sr High's HUB Thursday took in those facts and more on the upcoming school levy election. Cory Plager, of D.A. Davidson, a bonding company involved in building schools across the state, shared information he gathered from officials in counties included in the Grand Coulee Dam School District and from the state. "This is no opinion... Full story

  • Improvement comes with support; vote yes

    Scott Hunter editor and publisher|Feb 5, 2025

    Problems always get talked about more than good news. That’s just a basic fact of society, one that applies to the way we view the institutions we all depend on, such as our local schools. That doesn’t mean good things aren’t happening too, or that we should stop supporting them. That’s what the current levy election is about. It seeks to replace the one that will expire this year, and it presents your opportunity to support your local schools. A change in approaches to leadership, professional development, and accountability is always likely... Full story

  • Grand Coulee home burns and claims life

    Scott Hunter|Jan 29, 2025

    A person died in an early-morning fire Monday when a home at the corner of B Street and Second Street in Grand Coulee burned. Fire Chief Ryan Fish said the single-wide mobile home was fully engulfed the first time he saw it, and he lives across the street. Citizens called it in at 5:24 a.m. They also "took actions to save two dogs from the yard," a Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department press release states. Fish was at the scene at 5:29. Fish called for response from the U.S. Bureau of...

  • School board extends Broadnax contract

    Scott Hunter|Jan 29, 2025

    Superintendent Rod Broadnax’s contract with the Grand Coulee Dam School District he leads was just extended by his bosses — the elected school board directors. The board met in a closed session during part of Monday night’s regular meeting to evaluate their employee, then emerged to take a vote, which was unanimous among those present. Director Buffy Nicholson was absent. Broadnax’s three-year contract was extended one year ago, when he was given a pay increase to $160,000 a year, plus cost of living increases. Monday’s action extends i...

  • Park leaders meet new federal team

    Scott Hunter|Jan 29, 2025

    A new team of federal personnel attended the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District meeting at the old middle school Jan. 22, to meet with district commissioners and get a sense of how to move forward during a transition. Bill Dykes, Stefani Utter, Chloe Johnson and Lauriann Mountjoy, all with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation are the new resources group that will work with the district that currently oversees North Dam Park, which is owned by Reclamation. "We're here to see what are options and...

  • Raising a question: Should city now un-de-annex land?

    Scott Hunter|Jan 22, 2025

    A state agency has raised the question with Electric City of whether it might consider re-annexing some of the land it de-annexed last year after annexing it several years ago. Mayor Diane Kohout told the city council last week that some of the land the city had been advised could not be developed into valuable real estate actually could be. Land owned by the state's Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, can be developed with local partners. In fact, the land on which Sunbanks Lake Resort...

  • School levy "town hall" coming up Election is Feb. 1

    Scott Hunter|Jan 22, 2025

    Local voters will be asked to decide whether to approve continuing to tax themselves to support schools next month. The election date is Feb. 11. Mail-in ballots were to be mailed yesterday, Jan. 22, but the Post Office says to allow a week for your ballot to arrive. The Grand Coulee Dam School District is seeking a levy of about $2.13 per thousand dollars of assessed property value. That would replace the current levy, which expires at the end of 2025. The new one would bring in over $967,461 in 2026 and rise yearly if property values continue...

  • Raiders win three of four in full schedule

    Scott Hunter|Jan 22, 2025

    The Raiders beat back a brutal Bulldog offense at home Friday night, lost by their lowest score this season the next day at home to Freeman, but blasted Manson last night, more than doubling their score. All of that earns the Raiders the best overall and in-league win-loss records in the Central Washington 2B League (12-2, 4-0), and lists them in the top four teams in the state as of Tuesday night. Okanogan is a better team than Raider Head Coach Ed Wolfe had expected, he admitted after the...

  • Ladies win one of three

    Scott Hunter|Jan 22, 2025

    The Lady Raiders lost by eight points twice last week, but won last night by 20. Facing Okanogan at home Friday, the LR girls lost a rough-and-tumble game that didn't get slowed down too much by foul calls. The Lady Bulldogs (3-0, 10-7) won 50-42. The next afternoon, LR's girlss hosted Freeman (4-1, 11-3) for another loss, 44-36. Freeman is at the top of their Northeast 2B-South League. The Lady Raiders (2-2, 7-8) beat Manson last night in a league game 42-22, putting LR in the middle of the...

  • LR sophomores get a chance to prove themselves

    Scott Hunter|Jan 15, 2025

    If you notice a few 10th-graders in the greater downtown Coulee Dam area around lunchtime next week, they're not skipping school. The Grand Coulee Dam school board Monday voted to give the class of 2027 an off-campus priveleges trial period. The decision followed a presentation by the class officers asking for relief from a decision made about some earlier sophomore class that apparently had had discipline issues off campus. "We have never had a chance to go out and prove ourselves," Jaci Clark...

  • Elmer City to consider setting annual utility increases

    Scott Hunter|Jan 15, 2025

    Elmer City leaders will consider a method of building in minimal annual raises on utility rates to keep from falling behind costs of providing the services. City Clerk/Treasurer Kelly Ross asked the town council Thursday to consider the step and hold a public hearing on it at the scheduled February meeting. The council approved a resolution for increasing the percentage of water and sewer service sales that is sent to the city’s reserve funds from 1.5% to 2.5%. Ross suggested a $1 annual increase on each rate for garbage collection, sewer, a...

  • Raiders make it five in a row

    Scott Hunter|Jan 15, 2025

    The Raiders took down the 1-A Cascade Kodiaks by 50 points last night, highlighting a five-game winning streak away from home. Now 11-1, the Raiders left the Leavenworth team with a 2-9 record overall. The Raiders are ranked third in the Central Washington 2B League, but fourth among the 54 teams in the state at their 2B level, according to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. Columbia (13-1), at Burbank, and Colfax (11-1) are listed first and second, and Freeman (8-1) at...

  • Lady Raider wrestling team takes third at Connell tourney

    Scott Hunter|Jan 15, 2025

    The Lady Raider wrestlers took seven wrestlers to Connell Saturday, and they all placed. Lake Roosevelt took third place in the 31-team tournament with schools sizes ranging from 1B to 4A. LR’s 120.5 points earned their third place. Prosser took second with 132. Othello won it with 147 points. “It was a tough tournament for the girls but good prep for the state tournament,” Head Coach Victor Landeros said. “They are working hard every week, making small adjustments to fine tune their wrestling,” Landeros added. “All of us coaches like where...

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