News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Nearly four dozen young adults walked across the stage and out the door Saturday after graduating from Lake Roosevelt High School having already seen some hard reality and ready to take life on. "We are proof that hard times create strong people," is the official motto of the class of 2025. They started high school in 2021 in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic with all its health and cultural complications, steeped in a time that would teach them about the fragility of human life. In the middle...
Two people trekked across the country last week to understand a piece of their Kentucky company's history, with a major claim to fame being the Grand Coulee Dam. Now called Mason & Hanger, theirs was the lead company in the consortium of companies that built the original dam. They're the M in MWAK, the initials for Mason-Walsh-Atkinson-Kier. On Wednesday, Ben Lilly, the president of Mason & Hanger, and Holly Holt, its vice president in charge of marketing, came to town to fill in the blanks in...
People who have been walking Saturdays along Grand Coulee’s Midway Avenue to object to Trump Administration policies plan to do so on June 14 at noon, Flag Day. Their purpose: “Protect democracy from autocratic oligarchs-- protect our rights,” a information email stated Tuesday. June 14 is the date in 1775 that the Continental Congress created the U.S. Army to “stand up against a monarch who claimed absolute power,” the email noted. They’ll walk from noon to 1 p.m. on the sidewalk side of the street and ask anyone joining in to park on the...
Grand Coulee Police 5/24 - A Grand Coulee officer heard over the radio that park rangers at Steamboat Rock State Park had pulled over a vehicle for speeding and that the vehicle took off but stopped when the driver got out and ran on foot into the brush. A park ranger, Grand Coulee officer, and Coulee Dam officer looked for him while another ranger stayed with the vehicle and passengers. They spoke only Ukrainian but were able to call a friend to help translate. Some campers came by and said they’d seen a man running at the north end of the c...
by Scott Hunter It's been 69 years since Nespelem High School graduated a class of students, but that longed-for possibility finally became a reality last week. A class of nine students graduated May 29, 2025, in a commencement ceremony before a gym full of relatives and community members. Nespelem School Board Chair Jolene Marchand, in a commencement address, related the story of the dream now come true. In 1956 the state said it was consolidating schools. Nespelem's high school was closed,...
Matt Ponusky is no stranger to the city of Grand Coulee. He served it as a police officer for about seven years, then transferred to Coulee Dam's police department at the end of 2023. Now, he's back - as the chief of police. Hiring him ends a long slog for the city, which started looking for a new chief before longtime chief John Tufts retired in March, 2024. The post has been filled either by an interim chief or not at all since then. Turns out finding a chief of police is not too easy....
Parents will be able to track their kids as if they were being delivered by UPS. That’s because school bus drivers in the Grand Coulee Dam School District will log on and off each child who rides their bus, with new devices and software to help keep track of the students. And, of course, there’s an app for that. Parents can follow their kids’ buses on their phones and know what time the child will be dropped off, said Superintendent Rod Broadnax at his last “Coffee with the Superintendent” May 27 at Voltage Coffee House. “We’ve had a couple of...
The final 2025–2027 operating budget for Washington state reneges on earlier commitments made by the state in 2022. Funding to expand the Imagination Library of Washington was not included in the final budget, which could impact over 121,000 children currently enrolled in the program. Founded by Dolly Parton in 1995 in honor of her father — who could not read or write — the Imagination Library is the flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation. The program provides children from birth to age 5 with a high-quality, age- appropriate book every...
Scouts and the American Legion baseball team display the American flag before demonstrating the folding of it at the annual Isle of Flags Memorial Day ceremony Monday at Spring Canyon Cemetery, where nine more flags were dedicated to fallen veterans, adding to the more than 600 flags on display. - Scott Hunter photo...
JUNE 1, 2025 8:33 AM This article was first published by TVW. The ink is hardly dry on Washington’s new budget and already legislative leaders are anticipating more fiscal uncertainty. Democrats are focused on threats to health care access if Congress slashes Medicaid funding, while Republicans are warning of renewed legal jeopardy in education funding. In post-session interviews on TVW’s Inside Olympia, House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, D-West Seattle, warned that a U.S. House-passed budget legislation — if enacted — could force Washing... Full story
After a threat against the school was reported, Lake Roosevelt Schools canceled Tuesday classes Monday night before reconvening after the holiday weekend. The school posted a notice on its Facebook page about 9:45 Monday night. A Snapchat between students had been reported in which one student had made threats against the school, officials said. Superintendent Rod Broadnax said Tuesday morning the Snapchat had occurred with up to 30 students on it. He said the chat text had not been recovered yet, so police had not been able to get a warrant...
Nespelem School District directors Tuesday voted to reject a proposal for a combined sports program with the Grand Coulee Dam School District. Directors said it was too restrictive and unfair and reacted to it taking obvious offense. I clause outlining “participation restrictions” sparked resentment. Board Chair Jolene Marchand read it out loud: “Nespelem School District may not initiate, offer or support any independent high school sports program for the duration of this agreement. Should Nespelem launch or sanction any such program, the f...
Three local women with a history of getting things done spoke with Grand Coulee's city council May 20 to advocate a new approach to tackling an old problem that the city was just beginning to explore again. Earlier this year, Councilmember Tom Poplawski proposed a possible ordinance to encourage owners of vacant buildings to either actively use them or sell them so someone else can. The council set up a "Town Hall" meeting to discuss that possibility and encouraged business owners to attend it,...
Banks Lake shimmers Saturday as a family on a pontoon boat are dwarfed by the surrounding landscape. - Scott Hunter photo...
Fears over Columbia Basin dams, hydroelectricity grow as agencies lose hundreds of employees by Alex Baumhardt, Washington State Standard May 20, 2025 Grand Coulee Dam is among the most powerful energy-generating dams on earth. It's the bedrock of the federal Columbia River Power System - a network of 31 dams supplying more than half of the hydropower in the Northwest. Grand Coulee alone, overseen by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, generates one-quarter of that. But critical operations at...
The Isle of Flags' annual Memorial Day Flag Dedication ceremony will take place Monday at 11 a.m. at Spring Canyon Cemetery. Nine new flags will be dedicated to those who served in the military and have passed on, with families invited and community members to witness it. The new flags will be added to over 500 that fill the cemetery with patriotic expression each year. They will be dedicated to: Thomas A. Benton, David "Dude" Chapman, Louis S. Dewey, MD, Donald "Don" Fischer, Clifford H....
People walk the sidewalk along Midway Avenue to protest the actions of President Donald Trump's administration with many signs emphasizing protecting democracy. They gather each Saturday at noon and on other occasions. - Scott Hunter photo...
A teacher at Lake Roosevelt Jr/Sr High School thought he was just attending a pep assembly Friday when his name was called to receive a statewide award as educator of the year. Derek Atkins, who graduated from Lake Roosevelt, teaches science there now and revived a club that was important to his own development and direction. The pep assembly turned out to be a well-kept secret to surprise him. Shawn Brehm, a Wellpinit teacher who serves as the chair of the Washington Education Association's Cau...
A bronc looks his would-be dominator in the eye while ascending above him during the "ranch bronc" event at the Ridge Riders' Cleatis Lacey Memorial Bullride Thursday night, which ushered in the Colorama Festival Friday and Saturday. More photos and results are on page 8. - Scott Hunter photo...
The National Park Service says it will offer its Fish Fest event at Spring Canyon again this year. The event, put on with the intent of teaching kids how to fish and more, was a popular day last year. It’s scheduled for Sunday, June 8, from 1-4 p.m....
This year’s election season will focus on local positions: city councils, port districts, school boards and such. Last week was the week to file intentions to seek such an office. Here’s a look at who filed. Three candidates are seeking the mayor’s seat in Grand Coulee, including incumbent Ruth Dalton and challengers Micah Seekins and Chantel Crowe, who is currently a deputy clerk at city hall. Voters will pick two of those three in the Aug. 5 Primary Election to go on to the General Election on Nov. 4. Janet Christy filed to keep the counc...
These included measures to strengthen state power to inspect private detention facilities, prevent coercion in the workplace, and prohibit bail bond agents from enforcing immigration laws. Lawmakers put forward the legislation at a time when President Donald Trump is trying to crack down on people crossing into the country illegally and as his administration presses to deport immigrants already in the U.S. without legal authorization. Here's a look at what the new state laws would do. Detention...
With faces displaying a range of human emotions, first-graders start off in their race at Lake Roosevelt Schools Miini Bloomsday races Friday, the day before the big race in Spokane. See more photos and available results on page 6. - Scott Hunter photo...
An accidental gunshot incident got a student at the Lake Roosevelt Alternative School in Grand Coulee kicked out of school for a year and booked into a Chelan County Juvenile Detention facility last week, one week after it happened. The student — who is not yet 18, which prevents school officials from releasing a name — lost footing while riding a hoverboard in a classroom around other students when the board bumped into another student’s foot. A handgun fell out of the suspect’s jacket at that point, hit the floor and discharged, sending...
Two faces you may recognize will head up the Colorama Parade as the honorary parade marshals on Saturday - Janet Doughty and Vickey Steffens. Both have been working with the Ridge Riders for decades and probably sold you a ticket or two to the rodeo. Janet Doughty has been a Ridge Rider member since 1967, some 58 years. Her Granny Hobart got her started riding, and Janet got her whole family involved from play days and riding drill team to helping with organizing the first junior rodeos held in...