News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1201 - 1225 of 6735
Raider and Lady Raider basketball fans helped raise $1,469 for Wellness Place in Wenatchee in the fight against cancer. Pink shirts were sold at Saturday’s games as part of the charity drive. “I am truly grateful for the teams and parents who want to donate to Wellness Place,” Executive Director Julie Lindholm of Wellness Place said in an email to Camille Pleasants who helped organize the charity drive. “We have quite a few cancer patients from your area that contact us for our free services. The most requested service is gas cards to get to...
EPHRATA, Wash – Grant PUD commissioners Tuesday unanimously chose Rich Wallen as the utility's new general manager and chief executive officer. Wallen has served as interim general manager since Jan. 1, after former general manager Kevin Nordt stepped down to focus on his health and take on a new role ensuring the utility a reliable energy supply. Commissioners pointed to Wallen's knowledge, experience gained at Grant PUD and benefit of mentoring by Nordt for their decision. "This process with t...
Local photographer Emily Rehn captured life among the frozen recently, as a deer seems to pose in front of the freezing fog and rime-coated brush along the cliffs of Steamboat Rock. - Emily Rehn photo...
Business owners may be finding that they need to renew their business licenses with the Washington State Department of Revenue’s Business License Services department rather than with their city. Licenses purchased for one town are still honored in the other three local Coulee community cities, with Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee D am, and Elmer City all having codes that state as much. In Electric City, for example, the code refers to businesses serving one or more of the four towns as “reciprocal businesses,” and states that those busines...
Homeless people would have quick access to shelters and other facilities under a $815 million, multi-agency plan supported by Gov. Jay Inslee. Flanked by Democratic officials from King County, Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma, Inslee on Feb. 3 pressed the state Legislature to pass Senate Bill 5662. The law would create an intergovernmental coordination office to reduce the number of homeless camps by helping people get into permanent housing. “We have to move more quickly and compassionately to serve the thousands of people who are now living u...
Grand Coulee Police 2/2 - Police spoke to a man staying in a trailer on property on Kelso Avenue and said he was allowed to be there after police received a report of possible trespassing. Police knew that the man had stayed in the trailer in the past. The man called the homeowner who confirmed to police that he was allowed to be there. - Police responded to E Street for a noise complaint and spoke to a man and woman in a car parked in a driveway where they were listening to music loudly. They agreed to turn the music down. Police returned...
It may make sense that a school board would have good communication with students, being that students are the reason schools exist. That need may be addressed in the Grand Coulee Dam School District in the 2022-23 school year by a pair of student representatives, a junior and senior, being chosen to represent the student body at school board meetings. Sophomore Celeste LaPlace, daughter of School Board Chairman George LaPlace, made a presentation to the district’s Board of Directors Jan. 24, leading to the approval of moving forward with t...
Local voters are casting their ballots on two school district levies that would replace three levies expiring at the end of this year, with passage of the educational levy coming with a bonus of $700,000 in "assistance funds" from the state annually for the four-year duration of that levy. On Feb. 8, election day, ballots will be counted for the two levies in the Grand Coulee Dam School District. If passed, the two levies will bring in an estimated $1.4 to $1.7 million to the school district... Full story
With almost four times the population of Washington state in an area a quarter of its size, Taiwan has suffered comparatively little of the economic devastation that has taken hold in this state and nation in general. They never even shut down the bars. Why? They all wear masks, contact tracing is fast, and they follow strict protocols with visitors. Aside from that, life is normal in the island nation off the coast of the People’s Republic of China. Coulee Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sam Hsieh just got back from visiting family t...
The Raiders' and Lady Raiders' Saturday night games in Coulee Dam this weekend will also host an anti-cancer fundraiser. The Raiders vs. Manson Trojans games will, in addition to senior night, be "Pink Out Night" for the Raiders' Fight Against Cancer. "The parents of the boys' and girls' basketball teams have raised $1,000 so far, which will be donated to a local cancer organization," Camille Pleasants, wife of Lady Raiders Head Coach Peewee Pleasants said in an email to The Star. "During the...
Approximately $31,000 in work is being done on a sewer line along Main Street in Grand Coulee and is expected to be done by the end of the week. Public Works Director Dennis Francis told the city council Jan. 18 that about 500 feet of sewer line on Main Street from around Loepp Furniture to around Teepee Burger was collapsing, although not completely blocked, and requires an emergency fix. "Our best bet is to dig it up and replace it," he said. "We need to get it done, real quick." Francis said...
If anyone in the Coulee area has a few hours a week to volunteer at Lake Roosevelt’s junior high school for a good cause, now is your chance. “We are looking for some dependable volunteers who are willing to commit anywhere from two to six hours per week to help in the junior high school,” Principal Sara Kennedy told The Star in a Jan. 28 email. “We need help with lunchtime and hallway supervision, hall monitors, and support in classrooms.” “Support in classrooms would entail being an extra set of hands during activities such as science exp...
The city of Grand Coulee adopted a resolution stating they are against having a local income tax. The council discussed wanting to come out against a local income tax back in November, and at their Jan. 18 meeting, approved a resolution saying as much. The resolution reads: “The City Council hereby declares its position that the imposition of a local income tax on the residents of the City of Grand Coulee is prohibited and respectfully requests that the Governor and our State Representatives consider the will of the people in deciding on s...
Grand Coulee Police 1/24 - A woman agreed to leave her residence on Spokane Boulevard to avoid further conflict following an argument with the man who lives there. The man also asked police about the process of evicting someone. - A Pearl Avenue woman reported two pairs of binoculars valued at about $100 and a $200 sleeping bag taken from her vehicle, which she said she must have left unlocked since there was no forced entry detected. 1/25 - A Dill Avenue man reported a man had banged on his son’s car when they both arrived at the area at t...
Two more deaths and almost 2,000 more COVID-19 cases have been reported in the past week in Grant County, with 68 more cases being reported in local towns, likely the largest case count for a single week since the pandemic began. Coulee Medical Center reports that from Jan. 25-31, out of 105 total tests performed at the Grand Coulee hospital, 30 (29%) came back positive for covid. According to Grant County Health District, two Moses Lake residents in their 70s have been added to the county’s COVID-19 death tally for a total of 233 since the s... Full story
Ice climber Erik Coch nears the top of an ice formation near Devil's Punchbowl above Banks Lake along SR 155 Sunday. Randy Bracht belays him below at right, taking his turn after having ascended the ice a couple times already. - Scott Hunter photo...
Capital levy dollars, with some assistance from grants, have helped upgrade the heating and air conditioning (HVAC), roofing and electrical systems at the gym, as well as to replace asbestos-based wall panels, and could upgrade school facilities further if renewed by voters next month. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner took The Star and The Tribal Tribune on a tour of the Career Technical Education building, also known as what remains of the old high school, to show...
Three school district levies are expiring at the end of 2022, and two proposed levies totaling the same tax rate are on the ballot for the February 8 election to replace them. The levies have collected up to $4.20 per $1,000 of assessed value from property taxes. Two educational “enrichment” levies expiring at the end of 2022 are being combined into one proposed levy, the Educational Programs and Operations Levy, which would collect an estimated $2.50 per thousand dollars of assessed property value. The capital levy would remain at the sam...
Anita Eylar has been selected to fill Council Position #1 on Grand Coulee's city council. The seat was left vacant with former mayor and longtime Councilmember Tamara Byers choosing not to run for reelection in 2021, then the winner of that election, Ben Hughes, moving out of the city. The city received letters of interest from three applicants for the open seat, including Eylar, Kim Christensen, and Ruth Dalton. At their Jan. 18 city council meeting, the council asked Eylar and Dalton...
Five more COVID-19 deaths have been announced in Grant County during the current case surge, which hdas seen 33 additional cases in local towns in the past week, with a 25.5% positivity rate in tests performed at Coulee Medical Center. Grant County Health District announced the five additional deaths on Jan. 20 on their website. The deaths, which occurred in January, were all women from Ephrata and Moses Lake, ranging in age from their 40s to their 90s. Three were not vaccinated and two had an unknown vaccination status. All five had... Full story
The year 2021 saw a higher-than-normal amount of ambulance and fire calls in the local area. Chief Ryan Fish of the Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department shared the year’s numbers at Grand Coulee’s Jan. 18 city council meeting. In 2021, there were 555 ambulance calls, and 72 fire calls. This compares to 2019, when there were 485 ambulance calls and 42 fire calls, and to 2020, when there were 459 ambulance calls and 67 fire calls....
Grand Coulee Police 1/18 - Police responded to King Street and Dill Avenue where a man and woman reportedly were arguing loudly in a vehicle. Both said the argument was verbal only; no physical violence had occurred. They were going to separate places and police left. - Police responded to Kelso Avenue, where a woman had called 911 saying she would have a heart attack if her husband didn’t leave. She told police she was upset he was getting a car repaired, and would trust “some half-Indian guys.” Police asked how they could help before she clos...
Upcoming school levies in the Grand Coulee Dam School District don't have a lot of support among those who took a Star poll. The online survey, found in last week's issue of The Star and shared online, received 59 responses, with 15 (25%) saying they support the Educational Programs & Operations Levy, 39 (66%) saying they don't, and five (9%) saying they aren't sure. Those who support or do not support that levy tended to feel the same about the Capital Levy for Safety, Technology and...
Colville Tribes member Tony Louie is among a group of local tribal members working at carving out a niche in the California film scene. Louie had his film, "HIStory," screened at the 15th Annual LA Skins Fest film festival at the famous TCL (The Creative Life) Chinese Theatres in Hollywood in November. Louie's five-minute short "led the opening night screenings and set the tone for the entire festival," a press release from Louie's team reads. The film "is a spoken word piece poetically...
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office tapped into a grant opportunity through a state agency to get money intended to help offset impacts on local law enforcement from the passage of state laws last year that put restrictions on how police use force. Sheriff Wade Magers said that one such law, ESSHB 1310 addressed use of physical force, deadly force and less lethal alternatives such as de-escalation tactics. In response, the Washington State Department of Commerce asked for proposals from law enforcement agencies to procure “l...