News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 2088 - 2112 of 6735
Electric City Mayor Diane Kohout declared a state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic, and utility late fees and shutoffs have been suspended for the duration of the situation. A special council meeting was held on March 19 in the Electric City Fire Station in order to observe social distancing as a precaution due to the coronavirus. Kohout told the council that she was declaring a state of emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak creating “extreme risk of person to person transmission for people working in city” and because it “af... Full story
CMC’s Outpatient Lab will move across the parking lot to the tan “Professional Building B as of March 30, the hospital said, to cut down on the number of people entering the facility and lowering the possible entrance of the new coronavirus.... Full story
The cost of making changes to controversial street work being done in Electric City could be high. The city council and mayor in a special meeting last week spoke to representatives from the Gray & Osborne engineering firm over the phone. Those representatives included Mike Meskiman and Don Tulloch. The special council meeting March 19 was held at the Electric City Fire Station to allow for social distancing to guard against the coronavirus. Returning the intersection of Western and Grand Avenue to its former state — a straight shot of W...
Lake Roosevelt Schools intends to continue to pay their staff throughout the duration of the coronavirus epidemic, which has shut down the school at least through April 24. A March 23 Grand Coulee Dam School District board meeting was held remotely via the Zoom telecommunication application. Board members, the superintendent, and more communicated from separate locations due to the social distancing instructions put in place to help thwart the spread of coronavirus. Superintendent Paul Turner said about the school’s budget that “there is a bit... Full story
With schools shut down due to the coronavirus epidemic, the spring sports season is in serious question, but a month of play is possible. Spring sports include: baseball, softball, golf, tennis, and track and field. The topic of athletics was briefly discussed during a March 23 Grand Coulee Dam School District board meeting held remotely via the Zoom telecommunication application. Board members, the superintendent, and more used the app to conduct the meeting from separate locations due to the social distancing instructions put in place to... Full story
The city halls in Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, and Elmer City are closed to the public due to the coronavirus epidemic, but are still staffed to answer the phone to answer questions, and can still take payments for utility bills. Electric City, Grand Coulee, and Coulee Dam have drop boxes where people can place their utility bill payments. A staff member at Elmer City can come outside to take a payment during normal business hours. All four towns also take online payments through debit or credit cards. Some can take online payments... Full story
Workers on Grand Coulee Dam perform maintenance scheduled in conjunction with drawdowns of Lake Roosevelt Friday. Even if the federal facility were owned by the state or even a private entity, they would still be working in the wake of Gov. Jay Inslee's statewide shutdown, deemed essential workers in the electricity sector. - Scott Hunter photo...
A Delano couple wants to formally annex their property into the city of Grand Coulee to make its consolidation with Electric City possible. Jim Keene spoke to the Grand Coulee council at their March 17 meeting. Keene pointed to a map showing that the property he and his wife bought in 1986, located between Electric City and Grand Coulee in the Delano area, would form a contiguous border between Electric City and Grand Coulee if formally annexed into Grand Coulee. A contiguous border is necessary for two or more cities to merge. The Keenes’ a...
Grand Coulee 3/16 - The driver of a truck with a badly damaged windshield was reported by multiple people, and pulled over near Jess Ford. The man was intoxicated, and was cited for driving under the influence, driving with a suspended license, and being in possession of a stolen Bureau of Reclamation sign. 3/17 - A woman reported that her vehicle had been prowled at her Boulder Avenue residence. She heard the faint sound of a car door closing and noticed her car door wasn’t fully closed. The registration, which expires in a month, was the o...
From work-at-home options to the school closure or now your business or job closing to help battle the coronavirus pandemic, we've all had a lot to deal with, and we're interested in what you have to say. Please take our survey and tell us how it's going: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Q8ZX7SZ... Full story
Local institutions are rapidly adjusting on the fly after a series of cascading emergency announcements from state and national authorities mandating increasingly harsh measures to stop the spread of the new virus that has infected nearly 190,000 worldwide and killed more than 7,500 as it overwhelms some healthcare systems. Preventing that kind of quick and overwhelming spread is what the new restrictions are all about. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced March 13 that schools statewide would close. Then Monday, he said restaurants, bars, thea... Full story
You can attend tonight's school board meeting from the comfort of your own home. The Grand Coulee Dam School District's board meeting, scheduled for tonight at 5:30 p.m., will be accessible via Zoom, a website and application available on your phone or tablet that lets you "attend" a meeting remotely. The meeting is being held via Zoom, with board directors using the application themselves, in keeping with the social distancing protocol being used globally to stem the spread of the coronavirus.... Full story
Grant County Health District issued three advisories Saturday — a day when the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 jumped from 11 to 18 — urging people in high risk groups to “shelter in place,” leaving home only if absolutely necessary for medical reasons. Of the seven new cases of the disease confirmed Saturday, which increased the confirmed number by 64 percent, five were in Quincy, two in Mattawa, the two most impacted communities in the county. A statement issued at 5:20 p.m., however, no... Full story
Students in the Grand Coulee Dam School got their first taste of bus-delivered meals Friday with 215 of them picking up meals delivered by bus two hours after their normal bus pickup time. Superintendent Paul Turner said the school board meeting on Monday will hopefully occur via Zoom, a teleconferencing software service available for free to anyone with a Mac or Windows computer or a mobile phone or tablet running iOS or Android. Tuner’s update with more detials on other aspects of the school shutdown, upcoming academics, schedules and m... Full story
School meals will be delivered Friday morning to students who meet the bus at their regular bus stops two hours later than they would normally meet it on a regular school day. “Understand that we do not have any way to know how many meals we will need,” Superintendent Paul Turner says in his nightly update embedded below. \”We have packaged what we are expecting and will probably have to adjust on Monday. Please be understanding and work with us as we develop potential meal counts.” The Grand Coulee Dam School District will resume classes... Full story
The Grand Coulee council voted at their March 17 meeting not to shut off anyone's utilities for non-payment during the COVID-19, coronavirus epidemic. The council decided to review late fees for non-payment on a case by case basis.... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam will continue to operate as usual, but its visitor center will be closed to the public, and tours of the dam, which had been scheduled to start April 1, will be delayed until further notice. “Today, the Bureau of Reclamation temporarily closed public visitation to the Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center in support of the recommended guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”, a March 19 press release from the bureau reads. "The health and safety of the public and our employees is our number one pri... Full story
Lake Roosevelt Schools will continue to feed and teach students, just not in the school. Following Gov. Jay Inslee’s announcment March 13 that schools statewide would close, the Grand Coulee Dam School District released a parent and community update Monday outlining how Lake Roosevelt Schools are being affected by the coronavirus response. Superintendent Paul Turner noted that there were seven confirmed cases in Grant County. “Our job will be to continue enhancing our position to help reduce the spread of this virus and hopefully keep it out... Full story
Electric City will seek an extension for their Ice Age Park grant through the state’s Recreation & Conservation Office. At the March 10 city council meeting, Mayor Diane Kohout told the council that the city received a letter from the RCO saying the city either needed to begin construction on the park before the end of March, or request the extension. The delay comes from trying to get the cost of the park down. The target cost for the park is a total of $515,000 to be paid in part with $257,500 in RCO grant money, and with a match from the cit...
Ted Piccolo walks on a concrete pad outside the master beadroom of a new house in Elmer City just built on speculation by the Northwest Native Development Fund in an effort to affect the local housing market, which he says isn't supplying housing in a price range that young professionals can afford. Piccolo is NNDF's executive director. The 1,500-square-foot house is not quite finished, but Piccolo expects the price be quite competitive in the local market. - Scott Hunter pho...
Larry Hall is sworn in to his new duties as a member of the city council in Coulee Dam. Hall served the city for many years as a police seargent until his retirement, was appointed to a vacant seat on the council March 11. He took his seat immediately at Wednesday's meeting. - Scott Hunter photo...
Construction may resume soon on controversial street projects in Electric City, and city council members spoke on the topic at their March 10 meeting. A parking lot in front of city hall was built over what had been a stretch of Western Avenue, causing additional turns for those who use that route, including the local fire station. Sidewalk work on Coulee Boulevard, Electric City’s main street along SR-155, is another controversial project due to it limiting parking for businesses there. Mayor Diane Kohout told the council that she received n...
Grand Coulee Police 3/10 - A man on Kelso Avenue said his air compressor, which he built himself, had been stolen, valued between $375-$500. An officer had him draw the air compressor. The man said two other men he saw in the area were possible suspects. 3/12 - A suspicious person was reported on Midway Avenue peering into a business window with a flashlight. The person turned out to be the business owner who was working on a window, and was there with tools and other workers around 11:20 p.m. - A man wanted on an arrest warrant was arrested on...
Effective Monday, March 16, The Star is closed except by appointment in keeping with official requests to limit social interaction to address the coronovirus outbreak. Our office doesn’t have to be open to the public for most of our services; we can work from home for much of our work, as advised by health leaders. Those subscribers who have been picking the paper up at our office will receive them in the mail until further notice. Those who must access a public fax/copy service can call 509-633-1350 for an appointment if absolutely n... Full story
OLYMPIA – The arrival of spring typically means drivers in Washington have until March 31 to remove studded tires. However, this year the Washington State Department of Transportation is extending the deadline to Thursday, April 30, due to COVID-19 virus concerns and in support of Gov. Jay Inslee’s guidance to help reduce the spread of the virus by limiting social interactions. “Washington is experiencing some extraordinary challenges with COVID-19 right now and we recognize this is not a time for ‘business as usual,’” said WSDOT Maintenance... Full story