News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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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...
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...
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...
As the Indian Education Director at Grand Coulee Dam School District, I witness every day the incredible impact our schools have on students, families, and the community as a whole. Our schools are more than just classrooms; they are centers for growth, connection, and opportunity. They are where children learn not only math and reading but also the rich cultural heritage and values that make our community unique. The levy is the backbone of so much of what we do. It supports the programs that set our schools apart—programs that empower our s...
Jean Graff passed away peacefully at The Cottages in Spokane, Washington, on January 17, 2025. With the given name of Emma Jean Iva, she was born March 18, 1927, to Edward and Iva (Sherman) Bammerlin on the family ranch near Burton, Nebraska. She went to a one-room country school until high school, when she moved in with her grandmother in Springview, Nebraska, during school weeks. After graduating high school in 1944, she attended business school for a short time until she got a federal job wor...
Star reader Robert Fields promised last June in a letter to the editor that if by the end of July a pile of scrapped used concrete eyesore had not been moved he would be calling regional Bureau of Reclamation authorities for an explanation. On Tuesday, Fields took this photo of that pile being removed from alongside SR-174 near the 230 Switchyard, which is now owned by the Bonneville Power Administration. - Robert Fields photo...
In a historic light show, various colors of blue, green, red and amber lit up Grand Coulee Dam for New Year's Eve, decades after a fire ruined the display's control panel. The light show will continue to illuminate the dam from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., nightly until March 6. The Bureau of Reclamation Visitor Center has a free parking area for viewing. The Bureau of Reclamation recommissioned the historic light show on the spillway of Grand Coulee Dam from 5 to 7 p.m. on New Year's Eve, a landmark...
When he approached the broken city hall front door from the inside late Saturday night, the suspect in widespread vandalism there saw the targeting dots on his chest from an officer's taser and immediately complied with an order to lie down. Coulee Dam's Officer Mathew Ponusky, driving by on patrol just before 11 p.m., had noticed the broken glass door on the front of the building and stopped to investigate. Ponusky could hear glass breaking at the southwest corner of the building, and, looking...
D Delores Jean Mueller, 91, died on December 17, 2024, in Spokane, Washington. Jean was born on May 20, 1933, in Wagner, South Dakota, to William (Bill) McCabe and Emma LaBarge McCabe, and spent her childhood in Lake Andes, South Dakota before graduating as a Registered Nurse from Sacred Heart School of Nursing in Yankton, SD. In 1955, she married Robert (Bob) Mueller in Lake Andes, and they began their life together in Huron, SD where Bob worked for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Their...
The Bureau of Reclamation, in accordance with 43 CFR 423 Subpart B, is providing public notice announcing the temporary closure of Reclamation owned lands at Osborn Bay near Electric City, WA from Jan. 31, 2025, through Feb. 6, 2025. Camping and outdoor recreation will not be permitted on Reclamation land surrounding Osborn Bay on the east side of Highway 155 during this period. For more information, please contact Julie McPherson at jmmcpherson@usbr.gov....
. 10. Details of those meetings will be posted on the project website early in the new year, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. To learn more about the project or to submit public comment, visit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers website. This article was first published by the Idaho Capital Sun, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions:...
Sandra E. Green, 84, from Grand Coulee, Washington, passed away peacefully on December 8, 2024. She was born in Mandan, North Dakota on July 27, 1940, and moved to Spokane, Washington with her family when she was a little girl. Sandra was the mother of three children, Greg Edmunds (and wife, Dawn Edmunds) of Osburn, Idaho, Debbie Van Brunt of Rockville, Maryland, and Brenda Edmunds of Spokane, Washington. She was grandmother to seven: Sarah, Matthew, Meghann, Jeremy, Rachael, Joshua, and...
Ivetta Jane Morgan was born in 1936 to Clifford and Mary (Hansen) Morgan at her Grandmother Hansen's home near Lebanon, MO. She died December 14, 2024 at home with her loving family beside her. From Missouri, Ivetta's parents moved for a year to CA, and in 1948 the family moved to Electric City, WA. Ivetta graduated at Grand Coulee, WA as Salutatorian of her class. Robert Eylar and Ivetta were married Sept. 10, 1955 and moved frequently while he was employed by the Bureau of Reclamation,...
Federal agencies to revise environmental study for Columbia River Basin dam operations by Mia Maldonado, Washington State Standard December 19, 2024 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation announced Tuesday that they will update an environmental study on the management of federal dams along the Columbia and Snake rivers. The agencies will prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement analyzing new environmental data that a 2020 study, which evaluated the operations and maintenance of the 14 federally managed dams...
Following a public hearing Nov. 25, school directors decided students will attend Lake Roosevelt Schools for four days each week instead of five, beginning in the fall of 2025. People at the hearing expressed support and concerns, urged the board to consider how it would affect academic progress, and questioned whether enough research had been done into the idea. Superintendent Rod Broadnax assured people the decision would have no impact on the district funds and the board’s decision would have to be based on what’s best for the kids. Boa...
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's rope access team - made up of 11 employees from multiple regions with various disciplines - completed an inspection of the Grand Coulee Dam spillway. The volunteer group started at the top of the dam and worked their way down to inspect the overall health of the spillway. The rope access team inspected an area just under 10 acres and descended more than 12,000 feet of rope in five days, totaling 60 hours, said a Reclamation Facebook post this week. The...
The treaty that has governed how the United States and Canada have managed the Columbia River for the last 60 years was set to expire in September, but the two countries announced in July they had reached a new agreement in principle “on the key elements for a modernized Treaty regime,” according to the U.S. State Department. Next week, you can attend an online meeting to find out what that means for how Grand Coulee Dam, and Lake Roosevelt behind it, will likely operate in the future. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Bureau of Recl...
Grand Coulee Police 10/30 - A man was reported to look suspicious, measuring things with tools and a ladder outside of a Grand Coulee business. He was simply a contractor doing his job. - A Grand Coulee man reported that two pumpkins were stolen from his porch. Security footage showed the pumpkins get taken and placed into a white car that was then parked not too far from his own residence. Police knocked on the door and the culprit answered, admitting to stealing the pumpkins, and was willing to return them. He went to the man’s house, r...
A letter from the city’s attorney to the Bureau of Reclamation official, which the city council ratified last week, confirms that the city of Grand Coulee and the federal agency “have mutually agreed to ‘pause’ or significantly reduce service under the Contract due to the lack of City personnel to fulfill the Contract service requirements.” Along with the city’s current police staffing shortage, the Oct. 2 letter from City Attorney Julie K. Norton to Sandra Snediker at Reclamation’s Pacific Northwest Regional Office in Boise, Idaho, unders...
Grand Coulee has decided to re-advertise its police chief position, signaling an intent to rebuild its own department rather than contracting out with another jurisdiction. “I am recommending here that we go ahead and set out to hire our own chief of police at this point,” Mayor Ruth Dalton told the council at its Oct. 15 meeting. “We need to kind of take care of this as soon as possible here, to get our police department back where it needs to be.” The council approved an annual salary range of $110,000 to $130,000 for the police chief j...
The switchyards that direct the power from Grand Coulee Dam have been owned by that Bureau of Reclamation project since it was all built, but that just changed. On Tuesday, the Reclamation formally handed over ownership of those assets to the Bonneville Power Administration at a signing ceremony in front of the dam, much of which was used to recognize those in each agency who worked to make it happen, many of them for years. Grand Coulee Power Manager Coleman Smith said he has been working on th...
A cooking mishap turned a house to ashes Friday, leaving a family without a home, but well, not including one or more less fortunate pets. Firefighters got the call at 5: 24 that evening, according to a post on the Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department's Facebook. When they arrived, "the fire had progressed enough to determine it would be a defensive attack," the post states, so firefighting would emphasize keeping it from spreading to other structures and the dry grass in the adjacent lot. A...
Grand Coulee Police 9/16 - The Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam police departments assisted tribal police at the casino in Coulee Dam where an intoxicated man with blood on his face had been irate towards security. He was found lying on a nearby lawn. He explained that he had recently gotten out of prison but didn’t explain what happened to his face. Being wanted on a tribal arrest warrant, he was put in wrist restraints and tribal police took him away once they arrived on scene. 9/17 - Grand Coulee Dam security personnel told police about a d...
Participants take off in unison Saturday morning as race director Kelly Buche's air horn signals the start of the 10k race for the annual Run the Dam. Though it was chilly - the night before saw the season's first frost advisory - the grueling climb up "the dam hill" all but guaranteed everyone would break a sweat. Aside from official tours, Run the Dam's 5k, 10k and half marathon events are the only opportunity for the general public to cross the top of the dam, which is closed to general...
It looks increasingly likely the Grand Coulee Police Department won’t exist for much longer. Instead, the city may contract with an outside entity for law enforcement within city limits — potentially the Soap Lake Police Department or the Grant County Sheriff’s Office — based on comments made at Tuesday night’s council meeting, and by outgoing interim police chief Levi Johnson in a phone call with The Star last week. Johnson confirmed he had put in his notice earlier this month, and his last day with the department is next week. Council m...