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  • Potential North Dam Park improvements discussed

    Jacob Wagner|Dec 16, 2020

    Would you like it if North Dam Park had new tennis courts, lighted ball fields, new playground equipment, and more flowers? We want to know. Commissioners for The Coulee Area Parks and Recreation District last week discussed improvements that could be made at North Dam Park, which it manages. The improvements could potentially be paid for, at least in part, with money from various grants. The commissioners at their Dec. 9 meeting agreed to each look into various estimates for certain improvements to gain firmer cost ideas for any grant writing... Full story

  • School board chairman talks about education

    Jacob Wagner|Dec 16, 2020

    Education looks far different today than when George LaPlace was in school, and he thinks its future is likely to see more amazing changes even though funding inequities currently in place still need work. LaPlace has served as a school board director in the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors since the 2014-15 school year. As chairman since January of this year, he answered questions from The Star over email covering topics ranging from the role of the board, education during...

  • Coulee Cops

    Dec 16, 2020

    Grand Coulee Police 12/5 - A woman said that she confronted two women stealing tires at apartments on Coulee Boulevard, and that she was almost run over by them. She said that when they drove off in a blue Chevy truck with a red rack she was almost pinned between their truck and hers. The woman never followed up with the police in reporting missing items. 12/8 - A man reported damage to his fence near Lakeview and Nu Coulee Boulevards. Police photographed the fence, which appeared as if someone had driven through it. The man also showed police...

  • Firefighters douse house and car fires

    Scott Hunter|Dec 9, 2020

    A car fire in Coulee Dam and a burning house in Grand Coulee kept local firefighters busy this week. Very early Monday, Grand Coulee and Electric City volunteers were dispatched to a house fire on Roosevelt Drive in Grand Coulee. A police officer arrived first and made sure the occupants were outside and OK. Firefighters said they found the home filled with smoke and a storage room in the basement filled with smoke and smoldering fire, which they extinguished. "The home sustained smoke damage...

  • Colville Tribes Enforces Public Health Rules

    Dec 9, 2020

    Public safety laws on the Colville Reservation will be strictly enforced during the current spike in COVID-19 cases, a Dec. 9 press release from the Colville Tribes says. “The Tribal Health Department is issuing specific orders to infected or exposed people which are intended to control the spread of the disease,” the release reads. “These orders may be for an individual to quarantine or isolate and avoid all contact with others. Any violation of a Tribal Health order is a criminal Class A violation of the Colville Tribal Criminal Code punis... Full story

  • Eleven additional Grant County resident deaths associated with COVID-19

    press release, Grant County Health District|Dec 9, 2020

    Grant County Health District is reporting 11 additional confirmed COVID-19 associated deaths of Grant County residents. Ten deaths were associated with Long Term Care Facilities (LTC) outbreaks first reported on Nov. 20. All those residents had underlying conditions putting them at higher risk for severe complications due to a COVID-19 infection. Lake Ridge Center in Moses Lake has had a total of 15 confirmed COVID-19 associated deaths during the recent outbreak. There are 3 known additional deaths pending death certificate review. These most r... Full story

  • Updated: School board changes own Covid rules to allow older kids back Monday

    Jacob Wagner and Scott Hunter|Dec 9, 2020

    The return to school for seventh- through 12th-grade Lake Roosevelt students on Monday, Dec. 7 continued under a plan modified in an emergency school board session Friday night that sets a much higher threshold for the number of local Covid cases it would take to stop in-person schooling. The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors held an Emergency Board Meeting tonight via Zoom where they voted 4-1 to modify the plan, previously approved on Nov. 9, for junior/senior high students to return part time to physical school on Dec. 7....

  • No late fees mean lost revenue for cities and utilities

    Jacob Wagner|Dec 9, 2020

    A COVID-era rule intended to help individuals has meant lost revenue for cities, and utilities. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s Proclamation 20-23, first issued in March of 2020, doesn’t allow utilities to be shut off for a resident, nor for late fees to be charged. That has meant that those who charge for utilities, such as local cities and electric companies, are holding higher amounts of their customers unpaid bills than usual, and that they also haven’t been able to bring in money from late fees like they have before. Locally, the city of Gr...

  • He'll be back

    Dec 9, 2020

    Paul Stout delivers an empty grocery bag to a doorstep in Coulee Dam Saturday. The Scouts BSA boys and girls troops 24 and 52 will be picking up those bags, which they left all over the community last week, this coming Saturday after you fill them with food. The full bags of food will be delivered to the local food bank, which will be glad to get them since food drives have been more difficult to organize in the year of Covid. - Scott Hunter photo...

  • Volunteers needed for delivering food to seniors

    Jacob Wagner|Dec 9, 2020

    If you have a drivers license and an insured vehicle, you could help local senior citizens by volunteering to deliver meals to them. “We are in desperate need of volunteer delivery drivers,” Senior Meals Director Chay Heilman said. Deliveries have gone up during the COVID pandemic since the dining room of the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center, where the food is prepared and normally served, is closed. Heilman said that three drivers are needed for each of the five delivery times throughout the week: at 9 a.m. on Mondays and Fridays, and at 3 p.m... Full story

  • Those were fireworks you heard over the weekend

    Jacob Wagner |Dec 9, 2020
    1

    If you heard loud booms on Friday or Saturday night, it was probably local man Alan Cain lighting them off with about eight of his friends from the Northwest Pyrotechnics Association. The fireworks were lit on Cain’s property along SR-174 near the Lakeview Terrace area. The group obtained a permit from the city of Grand Coulee, whose fire department manages that area, about 45 days in advance. Cain said the group shot off about 50 “cakes” or bundles of various professional-grade fireworks, which they are licensed to use. “It’s sort of a reli...

  • COVID rates still high in state and in local counties

    Dec 9, 2020

    As of Dec. 8, Grant County had reported 5,585 total COVID-19 cases, including 54 deaths, 18 of those in the past week. There have been 22 cases in the Grand Coulee Dam area and 23 in the Coulee City area. The county has had 880 cases in the prior 14 days for an incidence rate of 900, down from 1,104 Dec. 1. The incidence goal is 25 or fewer cases per 100,000 population. All local counties are seeing rates in the multiple hundreds, as is the state as a whole. As of Dec. 8: Okanogan County has... Full story

  • $5 million 2021 budget proposed in Coulee Dam

    Scott Hunter|Dec 9, 2020

    Coulee Dam’s town council gave a preliminary nod to a proposed budget for 2021 Monday night in a special meeting online despite uncertainties about next year’s revenue forecast. The council voted to approve a first reading of the ordinance authorizing use of the $5 million budget proposed by Clerk Stefani Bowden. The council has mulled the budget in several special workshops over several weeks. Mayor Bob Poch said the council could have approved the budget Monday, but he wanted to present it only as a first reading, then pass it at the nex...

  • Curfew imposed on Inchelium due to COVID outbreak

    Dec 9, 2020

    The Colville Tribes has imposed a curfew in Inchelium due to a COVID outbreak there with dozens diagnosed. The curfew is active each day between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to a Dec. 7 press release from the tribes. During that time, all residents or visitors to the Colville Reservation in the area must remain indoors. Travel is allowed only if essential, such as to or from a verifiable place of employment or to seek urgent medical attention. Those who violate the curfew may be cited or prosecuted pursuant to the Colville Tribal... Full story

  • Chamber's online fundraiser is a hit

    Scott Hunter|Dec 9, 2020

    People at a virtual auction last weekend bid each other up as much or more than they do in person and the chamber benefited. With its annual Vintners and Brewers dinner and auction canceled for Covid, the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce licensed online bidding software and held the auction anyway, with most participants buying dinner prepared by PK’s Culinary and heating it up at home. The auction of all-donated items brought in $15,396. “That will keep us going for a while,” said chamber President Natalie Dennis. The chamber has n...

  • Coulee Cops

    Dec 9, 2020

    Grand Coulee Police 12/2 - On Bowen Street, a man and woman agreed to separate for the day after getting into an argument when the man wanted to get his iPad for work. - A woman on Lakeview Avenue complained to officers about various topics, none of which they could do anything about. Complaints included those about people around her rubbing their ears, and about someone breaking her car, on which she didn’t provide any more details. She thanked the officers for their time. 12/3 - A woman at apartments on Lakeview Avenue said a woman had tamper...

  • 11 die of COVID-19 in Tonasket

    Scott Hunter|Dec 2, 2020

    Eleven people in a Tonasket facility have died of COVID-19, Okanogan County Public Health, stated in a press release Monday night. All of the them were residents at North Valley Extended Care, a 42-bed facility where 32 residents have tested positive for the illness. “Multiple caregivers” are also under quarantine and two employees have been hospitalized, “reportedly doing well,” the agency said. “OCPH sends their heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones,” the release stated. The 11 confirmed deaths bring the t... Full story

  • Sheriff's office closed for Covid

    Dec 2, 2020

    The Grant County Sheriff’s Office in Ephrata will be closed as staff tested positive for Covid. The closure is in effect as of Dec. 8 until further notice, GCSO said in a notice Monday evening. “This temporary closure is due to four members of Corrections Division who have tested positive for COVID-19,” GCSO said. “Close contacts of any of these four people have been notified. There are no reported cases with any inmates.” Front office support staff will be working remotely, and the public will still be able to reach the administr... Full story

  • Free Covid testing Tuesday, Dec. 8 at LR field parking lot

    Scott Hunter|Dec 2, 2020

    Free COVID-19 testing will be offered to all community members in the Grand Coulee Dam area tomorrow, Dec. 8, from 3-8 p.m. at Lake Roosevelt High School. Look for Lifeline Ambulance in the athletic field parking lot. All are welcome, not just residents of Okanogan County. The testing will be drive-thru, at the football field parking lot near the tennis courts. Look for LifeLine Ambulance vehicles and personnel on site. Pre-registration is encouraged at https://forms.gle/UMVVBjjf8f9GBeut8 but on-site registration also available. "Results will... Full story

  • School board changes own Covid rules to allow older kids back Monday

    Jacob Wagner and Scott Hunter|Dec 2, 2020

    The return to school for seventh- through 12th-grade Lake Roosevelt students on Dec. 7 will continue under a plan modified in an emergency school board session Friday night that sets a much higher threshold for the number of local Covid cases it would take to stop in-person schooling. The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors held an Emergency Board Meeting tonight via Zoom where they voted 4-1 to modify the plan, previously approved on Nov. 9, for junior/senior high students to return part time to physical school on Dec. 7.... Full story

  • Notice of Emergency Board Meeting of the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors

    Dec 2, 2020

    The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors will be holding an Emergency Zoom Board Meeting today, Friday Dec. 4th at 5:00 p.m. to discuss 7th-12th grade re-opening. The meeting can be accessed via Zoom at https://gcdsd.zoom.us/j/677070515 The board previously decided on Nov. 9 for 7th-12th grade students to return to in person school, starting with one day per week, beginning on Dec. 7. Kindergarten through sixth grade students have already been going to in person school part time. Since then, there has been a surge in COVID cases... Full story

  • How are schools keeping COVID off campus?

    Jacob Wagner|Dec 2, 2020

    With the surging of the coronavirus around the country and even in local counties, there’s still enough evidence to give experts confidence that schools are not major spreaders of the illness, if managed for it and if local COVID cases aren’t out of hand. So what, exactly, do Lake Roosevelt Schools do to keep COVID off the campus? Health officers from Region 7 (Okanogan, Grant, Douglas, Chelan, Kittitas) counties have set up a protocol for screening for COVID-19 at schools, which Lake Roosevelt follows. The protocol allows students and sta... Full story

  • Nespelem School keeping at a safe distance from COVID

    Jacob Wagner|Dec 2, 2020

    Nespelem School, which had planned to start bringing students back to part-time, in-person school in November and to have them all back full time in January, delayed those plans indefinitely. A Zoom meeting on Nov. 4 between the school district and parents and community members was held to see how they felt about returning to school. Principal and Superintendent Effie Dean told The Star on the phone on Tuesday that on that day COVID rates started “going through the roof,” which changed how people felt about returning to physical school. Dean sa...

  • Boys and girls collecting food next week

    Dec 2, 2020

    Local boys and girls this weekend will be delivering grocery bags to the doors of the community that they hope you will fill — with food. The BSA Boy and Girl Troops will come back the following Saturday to pick up your bag of food items to help the families of the Grand Coulee Dam Area. The local food bank is particularly looking for canned vegetables, canned fruit, and boxes of Mac’n’cheese. Note that they don’t want Costco giant sized cans, and that they can’t accept expired food items. Donations will be picked up on Saturday, Dec. 12,... Full story

  • COVID cases soar in local counties

    Dec 2, 2020

    COVID rates are up across the map in local counties. As of Nov. 30, Grant County had reported 5,019 total cases, including 36 deaths. There have been 21 cases in the Grand Coulee Dam area, 18 in the Coulee City area. The county has had 1,060 cases in the prior 14 days for an incidence rate of 1,085, up from 565 on Nov. 17. Grant County Health said in a Facebook post Tuesday night that rate may be starting to trend downward, but it was too early to tell if that was due to a Thanksgiving lag in testing. The incidence goal is 25 or fewer cases... Full story

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