News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 160 - 184 of 6741
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...
Candidate Filing Week in the state began on Monday, May 5 online and at county elections offices across the state. Declarations of Candidacy and full payment must be received by 5 p.m. on Friday, May 9. In the local area, 55 positions are open for citizens to declare candidacy. Across the state, eligible Washingtonians can declare candidacy for over 3,200 seats ranging from county positions to school boards and cemetery districts. Candidates file through their county elections office. Applicants are encouraged to file online. Complete...
April 29, 2025 5:25pm Demand for electricity in the Northwest could double by 2046, according to a new energy forecast from regional experts. Over the next two decades, demand could increase by between 1.8% and 3.1% annually, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council heard April 29. The projected growth will come primarily from companies building more data centers in the region, more electric vehicles on roads, electrifying buildings, computer chip manufacturing and the production of “green hydrogen” created by running an electrical cur... Full story
Nobody gets out of here alive, but before the inevitable, we'd all like to keep living the best life possible. Evelyn Wright has had some success at that, but in her later years (she's 92 now) she's had to accept that she can't really go it alone. "I'm extremely healthy, but that may be not the same six months from now," Evelyn said in an interview April 24. "I don't know what's going to change for me, but it was tough for me to finally admit that I have to turn over most of my life to my...
The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs Sign Memorandum of Agreement OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (CTCR) formalized a partnership Monday aimed at enhancing services for Native American veterans and their families. The collaboration is made possible by a memorandum of agreement (MOA) which allows WDVA to provide in-kind support and resources to the Tribe’s veteran service officers. This MOA under...
Rainen Pakootas takes the top spot in the Junior Boys Steer Ride with a 70-point score at the Nespelem Junior Rodeo Sunday. The two-day event offered 44 competitions across four age categories and starts the local rodeo season. The Colorama Festival starts next week, with the Ridge Riders' Cleatis Lacey Memorial Bull Riding & Ranch Broncs event on Thursday to kick things off. More photos and junior rodeo results are on page 5. - Scott Hunter photo...
Grant County commissioners said last week that they are seeking interested citizens to serve on a homeless task force, and they want someone who knows what they’re talking about. It’s a “Lived Homeless Experience” vacancy on the Grant County Homeless Housing Task Force (HHTF), and if you’ve never been homeless you don’t qualify. Once appointment, the selected candidate will serve a two-year term as a voting member of the HHTF. Applicants must reside in Grant County, be of at least 18 years of age, either currently identify as homeless or...
A small pile of significant tax bills is getting delivered to Gov. Bob Ferguson. Collectively, they form the financial linchpin to the state’s next budget and would generate the revenue needed to erase a chunk of a shortfall Ferguson has pegged at $16 billion over the next four fiscal years. The tax package is expected to net around $9.4 billion over that time. Democrats drew up the bills. They used their majorities in the House and Senate to pass them over the opposition of Republicans and a few moderate Democrats. It is not known if the first...
Protesters on a break in front of the U.S. Post Office Saturday laugh at a suggestion they're participating in a "sit-in." The group had been walking steadily for over nearly an hour in a weekly exercise of free speech to object to President Donald Trump's policies and direction. They'll walk next at noon this Thursday, May 1, as part of MAYDAY 2025. - Scott Hunter photo...
OLYMPIA – The Employment Security Department will host a virtual job fair on May 15 for current and former federal government workers who live and work in Washington. The job fair, part of Employment Security’s rapid response efforts, will connect federal workers with state, county and city government job opportunities. “We recognize the dedication, skills and experience federal workers bring to the job market,” Employment Security Commissioner Cami Feek said. “Partnering with employers from state and local government will help federal wor... Full story
Directors of the two school districts impacted by a recent policy change got together for a meal and sometimes spirited discussion Tuesday night. The full Nespelem School District Board of Directors and two from Grand Coulee Dam School District met at Hometown Pizza, a meeting prompted by discontent at Nespelem over a new policy at GCD that will not allow students from other districts to participate in their sports programs, beginning next school year. Its passage laid bare perceptions that came out during the discussion. Nespelem didn’t a...
People walked the sidewalk on Midway Avenue in Grand Coulee on Saturday, April 19, holding signs to protest various policies of the Trump Administration. Signs addressed a plethora of issues Trump has addressed, often with executive orders but sometimes by shrinking the employee base of the federal agencies charged with handling them, with courts sometimes ruling the administration's actions illegal. Among the signs: "Keep the Refugees, Deport the Racists", "When Injustice Becomes Law,... Full story
Kids dash to pick up eggs on the Saturday before Easter. Once they get past toddler stage, kids get increasingly adept at spotting and picking up plastic eggs with prizes inside. It happens every year in the annual Lions Club Easter Egg Hunt at the former Middle School in Grand Coulee. To see winners of the prize baskets, see page 7. - Scott Hunter photo...
Democratic state lawmakers dropped their bid Monday to repeal a voter-approved limit on property tax growth in Washington, excising one of the most controversial revenue-raising ideas they’ve pursued in this year’s legislative session. The proposal, embedded in House Bill 2049, sought to allow an increase in the growth factor from the current 1% cap to as much as 3%. It would have applied to a state levy that supports schools, and for cities and counties, as well as special purpose districts. But Rep. Steve Bergquist, D-Renton, the bil...
Flu was worse than COVID-19 this season, which the Grant County Health District said last week is pretty much over. The Grant County Health Officer, Dr. Alexander Brzezny, has officially announced the end of the epidemic phase of the 2024/2025 respiratory illness season. Since March 2025, emergency department visits in Grant County related to COVID-19, influenza (flu), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have remained below thresholds set by the health officers in our region. Other indicators show that respiratory virus activity is...
Customer information is not affected by a data breach that compromised the personal data of nearly 850 Grant PUD employees and recent retirees on the payroll from March through April 2024. “Customer data has not been compromised,” Glen Pruitt, senior manager of Compliance and Risk, said Tuesday. “The source of the breach is understood and contained. This was not a cyber attack. There is no open portal to Grant PUD information.” As a security measure, Grant PUD is not releasing details about how we learned of the breach while the investi...
Seth Rose, the manager at Les Schwab in Grand Coulee, pictured with Nespelem Junior Rodeo Queen Kareese Palmer and Princess Brylee Cate, shows the saddle Les Schwab of Omak and Grand Coulee donated to the 46th annual Nespelem Jr. Rodeo, which takes place April 26-27, with Grand Entry starting at 10 a.m. - Gwen Hilson photo...
by Scott Hunter Electric City residents let the city council know in no uncertain terms that they wanted action. A property at 105 5th Street was perpetually in unacceptable condition, as they described it, and they wanted the city to do something about it. One man, who didn’t give his name, told the council April 8 that neighbors a couple doors down “have an abundance of trash that’s high as the ceiling, been there for last two and a half years, and … it’s starting to smell.” John Avey, who has lived next door to the property in question fo...
A police officer with plenty of local experience has been approved to take over as Grand Coulee’s chief of police. Matt Ponusky, who has worked for Coulee Dam’s police department for three years, will move up to the chief’s spot in Grand Coulee. He had also served as an officer at Grand Coulee for eight years before making a move to Coulee Dam. The Grand Coulee City Council voted to approve the hire Tuesday night by a unanimous vote. Ponusky, who was not present at the meeting, will likely be sworn in this week, City Clerk Lorna Pearce said....
The Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department was busy Saturday, starting at 12:30 a.m. when Reclamation Fire called for mutual aid for a reported fire at the John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant at the top of the dam. Crews assisted in shuttling water and with ventilation of the facility, after a trailer brought inside to use as an office caught fire. Then at 11:46 a.m. crews responded the Lakeview Terrace area for a utility pole power line problem....
Janet Christy will fill the Position 1 seat on the Grand Coulee City Council following the council's decision Tuesday night. A Roosevelt Drive resident, Christy said she retired from USBR a year-and-a-half ago after 10 years there, following a 27-year career in the U.S. Army, retiring as a master sergeant in 2015. Asked by Councilmember Tom Poplawski if she had experience with budgeting, she said she did in the army. "I don't know everything," Christy said. "I can learn."...
