News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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There'll be a new superintendent in the Grand Coulee Dam School District for the 2024-25 school year. Current Superintendent Paul Turner told the district's board of directors Monday that he intends to retire after working part time for two more school years. Turner noted the past two years being hard both physically and mentally caused him to look at his personal situation and his future, leading to his decision. A full-time assistant superintendent will be hired to potentially, but not definit...
Grand Coulee Police 2/22 - Police responded to a report of suspicious vehicles on Goodfellow Avenue but found nothing amiss. A loud banging noise heard by the reporting party may have been one of the vehicles getting attached to a trailer. - A vehicle was towed from Dill Avenue for parking in a no-parking zone and for having expired registration. - A woman told police she would move her vehicle on Young Street that was blocking the roadway. 2/23 - A “suspicious” person was reported as knocking on a door on Roosevelt Drive, then leaving in a c...
A man who was unconscious in his burning car gets to continue to live with his family thanks to local heroism. Three Jess Ford employees saved the Ephrata man's life in December. Joshua Bessette, 46, of Ephrata, was on his way to work at the Grand Coulee Dam on Dec. 3 at about 7 a.m. He was driving north on SR-155 at about milepost eight between Coulee City and Grand Coulee near the Million Dollar Mile, when, according to a report from Washington State Patrol Trooper John Bryant, he left the...
With mask mandates set to lift in late March, half of school district personnel are skeptical about the idea, and our readers can voice their own opinions in a brief online poll. Governor Jay Inslee announced on Feb. 17 that Covid-19 mask restrictions will be loosening in March for the state. As of March 21, masks will still be required at medical facilities, long term care settings, public transit, correctional facilities, and at whatever private businesses that choose to require them. They will no longer be required at schools, libraries,... Full story
Free passes on public transportation for young people and upgrades to major bridges are all part of a 16-year transportation funding plan approved by the Washington State Senate. The Senate approved the proposed revenue sources for the $17 billion “Move Ahead Washington” transportation investment package on a 29-20 vote Feb. 15. The bill sponsored by Transportation Committee Chair Sen. Marko Liias, D-Everett, now goes to the House for consideration. The plan includes funding for transit programs, replacement of fish passageways and electrificat...
Small business owners and schoolchildren hurt by the pandemic would see some financial relief with approval of state supplemental budget proposals now under consideration. “We’re looking at the basics, food, shelter, health and cash assistance,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, said. “Those are things in this pandemic economy that are going to make a difference in people’s lives, and that is our focus.” The Washington State House and Senate each released their proposals Feb. 21, just hours before public hear...
Scouts Sonjarai Heldman and A. J. Cannon, of Grand Coulee, and Halley Craddock, right, of Okanogan, work together on lashing together poles in an attempt to build a "Chippawah kitchen" like the one at left during last weekend's Polar Bear Camp at Summit Lake. The event brought together five Scout troops from the region. Scouts, both boys and girls, worked at earning a variety of scout badges at stations set up around the camp. Those included tasks for using a compass, first aid, building a...
NOTICE INVITING BIDS Grand Coulee Dam Airport – Electric City, Washington Airfield Pavement Maintenance Project FAA/AIP 3-53-0025-014-2022 OWNER: Grant County Port District #7 P.O. Box 616 Grand Coulee, Washington 99133 Separate Sealed BIDS for the: Grand Coulee Dam Airport, Electric City, Washington, Airfield Pavement Maintenance Project, FAA/AIP 3-53-0025-014-2022 will be received by the Owner at the Office of the Airport Manager at the Grand Coulee Dam Airport, Ludolph Road, Electric City, Washington 99123 until 2:00 p.m., Thursday March 24,... Full story
Grand Coulee Police 2/18 - Police couldn’t see anything amiss when responding to a report of a loud party on Coulee Boulevard. - Police didn’t see any dogs running at large on Roosevelt Drive after receiving a report of such. - A woman sitting outside a Kelso Avenue residence told police she was waiting to be let in. It turned out she was at the wrong house. When she went to the right address, she was let in by her friends. 2/19 - A Roosevelt Drive man was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after being pulled over on Knute Str...
With roughly 56% of voters voting against two levies in the Grand Coulee Dam School District last week, school board members are looking into running just one levy in November. In the Feb. 8 election, the Educational Programs and Operation Levy failed 631 votes to 483 among voters in the district, while the Capital Levy for Safety, Technology and Facilities Improvements failed 599-477. Combined, the two levies would have brought in a combined $1.4-$1.7 million per year from 2023 to 2026 into the school district. Superintendent Paul Turner...
Fences were built last week to close a popular beach at Steamboat Rock State Park a year after the decision was made to close it. In January of 2021, The Star reported that a stretch of beach, located near the main boat launch in the park, was being closed due to erosion and to protect resources, according to employees from the park as well as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Originally, a fence was going to be built from a point on the beach near the boat launch, up to an access road, around a...
A bill in the state Legislature that seeks to force hospitals to abide by set staffing levels — to address burnout and an already serious nursing shortage made worse by the pandemic — would likely force cuts in local service, a local hospital leader says. An amended form of House Bill 1868 passed the state House of Representatives Sunday. Its companion bill in the Senate, Senate Bill 5751, seems likely to pass, according to Ramona Hicks, chief executive officer at Coulee Medical Center in Grand Coulee. The bipartisan legislation, supported by... Full story
There have been 35 additional cases of COVID-19 in local towns in the past week. The week’s 35 cases contrast with the week prior when The Star reported an additional 54 cases on Feb. 9, and 68 on Feb. 2. Coulee Medical Center reports that out of 108 total tests performed at the Grand Coulee hospital Feb. 8-14, 16 came back positive for covid, for a positivity rate of 15%, down from 24% the week prior, and 29% the week before that. Health districts in Grant and Okanogan counties have been updating their case counts once a week recently, rather... Full story
The amount of force a police officer uses must be “proportional and reasonable,” a bill approved recently by the State Senate says. The bill also specifies officers will also be allowed to engage in vehicular pursuits as long as there is “reasonable suspicion” when making a traffic stop. The Senate voted 31-18 on Senate Bill 5919 on Feb. 9 with a handful of Republicans joining the majority Democrats. The bill cleans up language adopted last year on the use of force that many in the law enforcement community said was confusing and contradictory....
In the wake of the pandemic, Seattle Children’s Hospital reports an increasing number of children need outpatient mental health treatment, but not enough providers exist to meet the demand. “The devastating consequence of the inability to access outpatient care is that you’re likely to get worse and need emergency department or crisis level care,” said Kashi Arora, from Seattle Children’s Hospital. House Bill 1800, now under consideration in the state Legislature, creates a behavioral workgroup to identify barriers to behavioral health services...
Aijanae Young is a birth postpartum doula, a person who delivers non-medical care after birth. She said she didn’t realize the value she brought to her clients until she was the one in need. Young said before her doula arrived, she felt her pain and symptoms weren’t being addressed, and she had to fight to have the support she needed. “My doula listened to my cries, saw my struggles, she said. “I was afraid and suddenly didn’t know what to ask.” Doulas can provide physical, emotional, and informational support during and after pregnancy,...
Washington State Parks announces its annual statewide recruitment for park aide and senior park aide positions. The available park aide and senior park aide positions are non-permanent. Each summer, State Parks employs around 350 park aides and up to 40 senior park aides to work in Washington state parks from April through September. Park aides register campers, maintain trails, clean campgrounds and comfort stations and perform a variety of custodial maintenance chores. They also may work in park offices, interact with visitors and help with...
Grand Coulee Police 2/7 - Police responded to King Street where a woman was reportedly attempting to break the windows of another woman’s car. The woman by the car told police that the woman at the residence had sold her the car then stolen it back. The woman at the residence said it was her car. Police ran the car’s information through their system and found it was registered to another woman entirely. She told police that she had loaned the car to the woman at the residence and that she was supposed to be getting it back tonight. The wom...
Free passes on public transportation for young people and upgrades to major bridges are all part of a 16-year transportation funding plan approved by the Washington State Senate. The Senate approved the proposed revenue sources for the $17 billion “Move Ahead Washington” transportation investment package on a 29-20 vote Feb. 15. The bill sponsored by Transportation Committee Chair Sen. Marko Liias, D-Everett, now goes to the House for consideration. The plan includes funding for transit programs, replacement of fish passageways and electrificat... Full story
Tracks in the snow tell the tale of which of two dozen or more holes in the ice of Crescent Lake have been most popular with fishermen in recent days, as two of them tend their poles Saturday. Consistently cold weather has made decent ice for the sport on local lakes this winter. - Scott Hunter photo...
Electric City is anticipating building a pathway this year connecting the Coulee Playland area to Banks Lake Park by North Dam and to implement an 800-yard speed limit decrease in the same area. Construction of the pathway, anticipated to be done this summer, will likely reduce the current 45 miles per hour speed limit zone to 35 for about 800 yards. The pathway would narrow the roadway to an extent, and the path alongside it would require the speed limit change. Last year The Star conducted a poll asking how people felt about the speed limit...
Voters turned down two local school levy proposals by a hefty margin yesterday. Grand Coulee Dam School District’s Proposition 1 appeared to fail by about 58 to 42 percent, with 570 voters selecting No on their ballots, 418 selecting Yes across the four counties the district serves. Proposition 2 was also voted down 538-413, about 57% no to 43% yes. “We got hammered bad,” Superintendent Paul Turner said, noting only the Pateros district appeared close to have a close vote at about 50-50 last night. All others were failing in Okanogan Count...
Sunrise Disposal, which empties your garbage cans each week in Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, and Elmer City, is raising the rates it charges those towns by 15%. The rate increase, announced in a Jan. 20 letter to the Regional Board of Mayors, comes in response to the Delano Regional Transfer Station’s 33% rate increase, which is being implemented in response to a rate increase at the county landfill near Ephrata. Sunrise’s and Delano’s increases take effect on April 1. The individual cities will decide, in the meantime, how much...
Four more deaths and 1,515 more COVID-19 cases have been reported in the past week in Grant County, with 54 more cases being reported in local towns. Coulee Medical Center reports that out of 98 total tests performed at the Grand Coulee hospital Feb.1-7, 24 came back positive for covid. According to Grant County Health District’s Feb. 3 update, four more deaths have been added to the county’s COVID-19 death tally for a total of 237 since the start of the pandemic. The deaths include two men and two women, three with underlying health con... Full story
Mental health victims and juveniles can be restrained by law enforcement when responding to requests for assistance from crisis responders. That is the thrust of House Bill 1735, which passed the state House with a 90-5 vote and is now under consideration in the Senate. The bill is intended to end confusion caused by the adoption of last year’s House Bill 1310 which prevented crisis responders from receiving police assistance in detaining or transporting people. “We’re talking about hands-on…whether law enforcement can physically interac...