News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1763 - 1787 of 6735
From left, music teacher Karen Pace, BrieAnn Whittaker, Skylar Armstrong, Nathan Weldon and Channell Smith gather in the student Hub at Lake Roosevelt High School to sing a few tunes and read some tributes for scaled back Veteran's Day non-assembly Nov. 11 via a Zoom connection with dozens attending remotely. Inset: the choir's view of their sound equipment and the audience on Zoom. - Susan Duclos photos...
Public health authorities are asking anyone from multiple communities who attended a large wedding near Ritzville Nov. 7 to get tested for COVID-19 and self-quarantine through Nov. 21. Grant County Health District said it knows of nearly 40 cases in their county resulting from the Adams County event with more than 300 attendees. More cases are being added daily. Weddings are supposed to be restricted to no more than 30 attending. “Due to the multi-jurisdictional impact of this large event, GCHD felt it was necessary to notify the public,” GCHD...
Coulee Dam residents will likely soon pay about another $1 a week to have their trash picked up at the curb. The city council in a Monday budget workshop found that a hike of about $4 a month is likely inevitable, following a boost in dumping fees Grant County’s landfill near Ephrata will charge the Delano Transfer Station to haul garbage there. That, coupled with the city taxing its own funds with a large B&O tax as a means of systematically transferring funds to its “current expense” general spending account has led to a shortfall in payin...
Elmer City residential sewer rates will likely go up by about 20% in 2021. The raise was discussed by the city council during a budget discussion meeting Nov. 12. A sewage lift station pump replacement in the Lone Pine area may cost up to $25,000, Public Works Director Jimmer Tillman explained. With 166 sewer customers, the council and mayor discussed, a $10 boost in rates would raise $19,992 a year, which would go towards the pump and any future sewer-related expenses that may come up. In-town rates would go from $51 to $61, and out-of-town...
Grand Coulee Police 11/7 - A woman at the Hill Avenue apartments reported a boy threw a bottle at her window. No damage was caused. The boy’s mother said he knew better and isn’t allowed near the other woman’s apartment. 11/10 - A woman driving a blue Honda Element was heading west on SR-174 and neglected to yield to a man driving a green Mazda driving north on SR-155, striking him at the four-corners intersection on the passenger side, causing damage to the passenger side mirror and door. - A woman at the Center Lodge motel reported that...
Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High School students will start returning to in-person school on Dec. 7 with a phased approach. The Grand Coulee Dam School District board of directors again discussed reopening in person school to 7th- through 12th-grade students at their Nov. 9 board meeting. Just two weeks ago the board chose not to bring back Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High students until maybe the second semester, which starts Feb. 1, 2021. Kindergarten through sixth graders are already going to in-person school part time. During Monday’s m...
After Washington families were asked last week not to gather with people outside their households over the coming holidays, the governor added more details and broader restrictions in a modified order Sunday. If you get together for Thanksgiving with people not living with you, you'll be going against that ask, - unless you had already begun to quarantine by Friday and you keep it up until Thanksgiving, or keep it up for seven days prior and get a negative COVID-19 test result within 48 hours... Full story
All four local counties: Grant, Okanogan, Lincoln, and Douglas, have seen an uptick in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. As of Nov. 10: Okanogan County has had 1,188 total cases, including 13 deaths. There have been 15 cases in Coulee Dam, five in Elmer City, and 34 in Nespelem. The county has had 33 new cases in the past 14 days, making for an incidence rate of 77.2, up from 37.4 on Oct. 27. Grant County has had 3,809 total cases; 28 deaths; 15 cases in the Grand Coulee Dam area, nine in Coulee City; and an incidence rate of 279, up from an... Full story
SOAP LAKE, WA – Grant County is experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak in one long-term care facility (LTC), McKay Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Soap Lake, WA, with over 30 cases reported in residents and staff. At this point in time all COVID-19 residents have been moved out of the facility. Unfortunately, one resident has recently died due to COVID-19 complications, which was reported in yesterday's press release. McKay had remained COVID-19 free since the on-set of the pandemic. F... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District's Supplemental Educational Programs and Operation passed with 51% of the vote last Tuesday. Results of the Nov. 3 general election show that Okanogan County voters liked the levy more than voters in Grant, Douglas, and Lincoln counties, and liked it enough to help it pass. A majority of school district voters in Grant County voted against the levy 544-481; in Douglas County said no by a 98-89 vote; and in Lincoln County 55% voted no, 105-86. But in Okanogan...
Voters hung the fate of Electric City’s proposed Ice Age Park in the cold November breeze as a levy for funding maintenance for the park failed to pass last week. The levy failed with 303 (62%) against it, and 182 (38%) for it. The one-year levy asked for 14.2 cents per $100,000 in property value, or $14.22 for a $100,000 property, and would have gone towards maintenance of the park estimated at $7,000-$10,000 a year. The levy itself costs about $5,000 to get on the ballot for the Nov. 3 general election. Now that the levy has failed, the c...
The group that puts on popular events such as Colorama and the Harvest Festival is seeking to raise funds in a virtual auction and dinner to help them to keep functioning and hosting these events. With a slew of events canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce has lost out on a lot of revenue to pay expenses such as rent and wages for its lone employee. “We really want the chamber to survive into the future when we can do live events again,” said board member Solveig Chaffee, who is wor...
When Robert Moïse was sent home from work last March as the federal government responded to the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic, he had a long way to go to his east Coulee Dam home. He was in Africa at the time. Moïse, a consulting anthropologist, has spent a lot of time there, and he's been tapped to share his insights, derived from a career of helping big organizations trying to do good in small communities, in an upcoming Rotary meeting open to the public via Zoom. Moïse will be the guest sp...
Locals want to attend public meetings both online and in person, recognizing the benefits and drawbacks of each, a quick survey of readers over the last several days seems to indicate. A short survey posted in The Star online Thursday asked respondents what they thought of public meetings, such as school board and city council meetings, being held online, and how those compare to meetings held in person. The survey only received 18 responses, but those responses show a variety of perspectives, with only one respondent saying they haven’t a...
Chinook salmon have successfully spawned in the San Poil River for the first time in decades after Chief Joseph Dam and Grand Coulee Dam have "prevented the migration of salmon into the northern reaches of the Columbia River and its tributaries for nearly seven decades," The Tribal Tribune reported Oct. 29. In August, Colville Tribal Fish and Wildlife trapped and hauled 100 adult chinook salmon from Wells Fish Hatchery and released them into the San Poil River, a tributary of the Columbia, at...
Grand Coulee Police 11/5 - A woman reported that kids may be throwing rocks at her Spring Canyon Apartments window. An officer didn’t locate any kids but noted strong winds at the time. - A wallet found near Safeway was turned into police, who drove to the Elmer City address on the driver’s license but found no one home. Another officer recognized the driver as an employee from Coulee Gas. An employee there contacted him and he retrieved his wallet from the police. - A woman on Miller Avenue reported that she thought someone stole her cat. Pol...
The ability to hold public meetings of all kinds has become commonplace. We'd like to know what you think about that. Take our 1-minute survey below: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8F7B3XS... Full story
A Main Street property owner is working to change Grand Coulee’s mind toward letting him advertise with signs on his lot, a practice the city says goes against code but which is gaining supporters online. Sam Hsieh, who owns Coulee Plaza on Main Street, was told by the city following a complaint that signs advertising businesses on his property are against City Code Chapter 17.60. That code states that only one freestanding sign is allowed for single-occupancy buildings, as well as for multiple offices or businesses within a structure or planne...
The Colville Indian Reservation will soon have more internet access. The Colville Tribes is one of the first recipients of a spectrum license issued through the Federal Communications Commission and its Rural Tribal Window program. “This license provides the Tribes exclusive use of wireless spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band to connect communities on the Colville Reservation to wireless services,” a release from the tribes announced Tuesday. The Colville Tribes plans to implement this license by deploying wireless broadband in two phases. Phase one...
NPS to burn around lake The National Park Service will be burning piles around Lake Roosevelt this fall. The Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area release plans Monday to burn piles at a dozen locations around the lake, including Spring Canyon and Keller Ferry. “A goal of prescribed fire in Ponderosa Pine ecosystems is to decrease forest fuel loads adjacent to recreation areas, residences and structures,” a press release states. NPS said the benefits of such burning include: Reduced small fuels, which are primary fire carriers, Decreased ris...
PRESIDENT Grant Ok. Lin. Doug. Biden/Harris 7543 5661 1587 6727 Trump/Pence 14101 6272 4466 11241 CongRESSIONAL Dist. 4 Grant Ok. Lin. Doug. Newhouse 15327 6999 7297 McKinley 6103 4942 3064 Governor Grant Ok. Lin. Doug. Jay Inslee 6886 5305 1416 6218 Loren Culp 15074 6799 4715 12006 Lt. Governor Grant Ok. Lin. Doug. Denny Heck 7104 4363 1617 5753 Marko Liias 4507 2796 809 3315 Joshua Freed (W) 2831 Attorney General Grant Ok. Lin. Doug. Bob Ferguson 7244 5480 1534 6374 Matt Larkin 14247 6351 4498 11472 Leg. District 12 State Rep. Pos.1 Grant...
The Nespelem School District will hold a public Zoom meeting with parents of students tonight (Wednesday) to see how they think and feel about students returning to physical school. That meeting will be held on Nov. 4 at 5:30 p.m. at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81107207311?pwd=Y0FoZlhrd3FtMTVnWkVPY1JOVFVWQT09 Principal and Superintendent Effie Dean told The Star on Thursday that kindergarten- through second-grade students would be the first to return, and that the next group of students would...
A minimal garbage rate increase for local residents could result from landfill rates going up in Ephrata. The landfill in Ephrata, to where the garbage from the Delano Regional Transfer Station currently ships, hasn’t raised its rates in 12 years. In March of 2021, those rates could go up nearly 69 percent, from $28.31 per ton to $46.76 per ton, or $49.93 after tax. That would result in about $72,000 more in annual fees for the Delano station, as was discussed at an Oct. 12 Regional Board of Mayors meeting. To cover those fees, rates would rise...
Grand Coulee Police 10/22 - Police arrested a Weil Place woman on a warrant for failure to comply with a judge’s orders. She was compliant with the arrest and taken to Grant County Jail. 10/23 - Police relayed to a Batchelor Square woman that her ex-boyfriend doesn’t care what she does with his old belongings as he lives in Alabama now. 10/27 - A woman reported being approached by a woman behaving erratically near the Electric City Post Office. Police found that woman nearby, sweating profusely in 37-degree weather. She said she was hea...
Elementary students will be at school while junior/senior high students keep on distance learning at home, a decision rendered in a three-hour school board meeting Monday. The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors voted 4-1 to have third- through sixth-grade students return to physical school two days each week in alternating groups, but that 7th- through 12th-grade students must still wait to return, possibly until the second semester starts Feb. 1, 2021. Kindergarten through...