News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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It's smoky outside, not as smoky as last year, but health experts advise being mindful of the amount of smoke in the air and how it affects you. Here are some tools to help with that. On the Air Quality Index on purpleair.com, which uses a color-coded gradient that measures air pollution on a scale from 0-500, the Grand Coulee Dam area ranged from 139-153 as of 11:30 a.m. on August 6. AQIs of less than 100 are generally considered to be healthy. The Environmental Protection Agency's Particulate...
KELLER – Keller Ferry users will get a two-week reprieve on a terminal repair project closure, with work now starting in September. Initially, the 14-day closure and repair was scheduled to be complete by Aug. 30, but delays in obtaining materials have pushed back that work.The ferry vessel M/V Sanpoil will now be out of service for two weeks in mid-September. The closure dates have tentatively been set for the evening of Friday, Sept. 13, through Friday, Sept. 27 - but those could be pushed back if any fires in the area restrict first r... Full story
A fire burning on the Colville Indian Reservation, upstream from the Keller Ferry in the Hellgate Game Reserve area has scorched 18,000 acres and was 25 percent contained, as of Tuesday night, as firefighters have contended with snakes, bears and smoke too thick for airplanes to help. The Williams Flats Fire started Aug. 2, after a band of early morning thunderstorms with lightning moved across the eastern portion of the Colville Indian Reservation, according to Inciweb, a government-run...
Is technology bringing us closer together, tearing us apart, or just sucking up our time in general? A recent poll shared to The Star’s Facebook page just scratched the surface of the complex issue of smartphones, tablets, and their roles in our lives, gathering responses from 23 people on the topic. Respondents were evenly spread out between ages 25 and 65-plus, with no one 24 or younger responding. Four people claimed to look at their phone immediately after waking up, while the majority, 14, said they first looked at their phone from half a...
Jill Fraser has been passionate about dogs her whole life, grooming her first one at age 10 when she decided her aunt's cocker spaniel could use an upgrade. Since then, she's pursued a career around dogs, showing breeds at 16 after leaving Spokane for California on her own, then getting into the grooming business in Portland, Oregon that year when she worked for a veterinarian as the boarding and grooming manager, she says. "I know what dogs are supposed to look like, regardless if it's a show c...
Someone illegally flew a drone into the temporarily restricted airspace over the Williams Flats and Lundstrom Butte Fires Tuesday, forcing a stop to all flights by firefighting aircraft. “The incursion caused all firefighting related aircraft — helicopters, Fire Bosses and large retardant planes — to suspend operations and return to the airport,” Northwest Interagency Incident Management Team 8 said in a late fire update Tuesday night. No flights were allowed in the area until it could be verified that the drone had left it. “During the suspe...
Spring Canyon and Keller Ferry are two National Park Service sites listed Tuesday for possible closure next week during a project to redo or upgrade all asphalt surfaces in the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. The project is part of a national paving maintenance effort led by the Federal Highway Administration. Last spring, the NPS announced it would stop taking reservations for the park because, beginning July, contractors would be resurfacing and restriping all National Park Service-managed asphalt surfaces within the boundaries of...
Man drowns in Lake Rufus Woods A 26-year-old Bridgeport man drowned Sunday near Chief Joseph Dam while swimming with friends, Douglas County Sheriff Kevin W. Morris said. Responding to the call, deputies found Manuel De Jesus Galarza-Martinez lying on the shore unresponsive. Deputies attempted lifesaving measures, but were ultimately unsuccessful. Martinez had been swimming with friends when he went under the water. After he did not resurface, friends dove in, found him unresponsive, pulled him to shore, and then called for help. No flame...
Grand Coulee Police 8/1 - A gas station attendant at Jack’s Four Corners turned in a brown paper bag found in the parking lot by a customer. The paper bag had a plastic bag and a small condiment container inside, both containing crystal-like substances. One substance tested negative for methamphetamine, and resembled sugar. The other substance tested positive for methamphetamine. Everything was destroyed as per department policy. - A man gave a pistol he deemed unsafe to police, wanting it to be disposed of property. The weapon was cleared, r...
Two fires were started early Tuesday by suspected arson in the Osborne Bay area near the gravel pit on the east side of SR-155 on July 30. Electric City Fire Chief Mark Payne said there were two fires started about a quarter mile apart in the area. Outbuildings and recreational vehicles in the area were threatened, he said. A man camping there told police he smelled smoke half an hour after a vehicle, possibly a Jeep, had driven through his camp early in the morning, according to Officer Adam Florenzen of the Grand Coulee Police Department....
A wave boarder gets up to speed on Banks Lake Monday afternoon in not-too-hot conditions. Check the mostly sunny weather forecast on page 8. - Scott Hunter photo...
The school district will draw on reserves to run Lake Roosevelt Schools for the next couple years, a budget approved last week shows, but financial losses are projected in later years, an issue the superintendent hopes to solve. Grand Coulee Dam School District directors at a July 22 meeting approved a 2019-20 school year budget of approximately $12.9 million in expenditures, up from $12 million last year. With an anticipated enrollment in kindergarten through 12th grades of 701 students, that makes for an average of $18,400 per student. Much...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) introduced a bill in Congress last week that would rename the Third Power Plant at Grand Coulee Dam as the “Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Washington Power Plant.” “The designation recognizes the work of Nathaniel “Nat” Washington, Sr., and his son, Nat Washington, Jr., who were instrumental in the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam and in harnessing hydropower as a renewable energy source for the Pacific Northwest,” a press release from Newhouse’s office states. Introduced on July 23, H.R. 3937 recognizes lif...
Planning the future of the Grand Coulee Dam Airport was the topic of discussion at a July 29 Grant County Port District 7 meeting, where commissioners were joined by citizens, the airport manager and members of J-U-B Engineers, the consultants working on the airport master plan. The master plan is in the works, and members of J-U-B explained where they were in the process, what the next steps are, and took comments from those present. Ideas discussed for the future of the airport include making fuel available at the airport, installing...
A paraglider comes down from the sky into a field on Strahl Canyon Road just north of SR-174 in Douglas County, after taking off from Chelan Butte July 13, the final day of the US Open of Paragliding. - Chelan 2019. The seven-day event tested the skills of about 170 participants. Seventy of them made their goals on this Saturday. Other tasks on earlier days included flights from Chelan to Omak, Wilbur, Brewster and elsewhere. "Really good day, a lot of happy people," said Matt Senior, organizer... Full story
Coulee Dam's wastewater customers will shoulder an additional $2 a month on their sewer bills after the city council solved two big problems with one vote last Wednesday. The council voted 3-1 to accept an additional $1.2 million in loan and grant money to pay for two new lift stations for pumping sewage to the new wastewater treatment facility. The additional $304,000 in a 40-year loan and $909,000 in grant money, with an additional $39,000 from the town budget, brings the total project cost to...
Every two years, the Washington State Legislature’s House Healthcare and Wellness Committee takes a tour of facilities in rural areas, but they’ve never been to Grand Coulee. That will change Sept. 23, when the committee led by Rep. Eileen Cody ends a tour here with a “robust” meeting at the end of the day. Cody’s staff asked if Coulee Medical Center would be willing to participate, Chief Executive Officer Ramona Hicks told the commissioners of Hospital District 6 Monday. “They’re bringing 20 people in a bus,” Hicks said. In other business at t...
Grand Coulee Police 7/22 - A man on Federal Avenue requested police assistance debugging his truck, which he said his parents bugged. Police told the man they don’t do such tasks and suggested he find a private business to do so. - Police were told a man was driving a power scooter drunk and throwing beers at people. Police were unable to locate him. 7/24 - A syringe was found near the pumps at a gas station on Grand Coulee Avenue. Police collected it to be destroyed. 7/25 - The panic alarm at the credit union’s ATM machine on Midway Ave...
A wildfire in the Hellgate Game Preserve on the Colville Reservation has burned about 2,500 acres, pitting firefighters against steep, rocky terrain, and rattlesnakes. About 45 firefighters are working on the Williams Flats fire some 7 miles southeast of Keller. A press release from the Colville Tribes Dept. of Natural Resources Friday afternoon said one evacuation had been ordered and that one home was threatened in the remote area north of Lake Roosevelt. Tribal officials are asking boaters...
A house in Delano was raided July 16 as part of a larger drug bust in Eastern Washington involving hundreds of officers of multiple law enforcement agencies that served 19 search warrants in three counties. A federal search warrant was issued and executed on a house on Lake View Boulevard on the morning of July 16, confirmed Jodie Underwood, a public information officer at the Drug Enforcement Administration in Seattle. Underwood was unable to say if anyone was arrested at the Delano residence. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and...
A young cowboy rides a bucking bull at the Ridge Rider's Junior Rodeo July 19. The two-day event featured bucking bulls, bucking broncs, barrel racing, and much more for the young competitors. See the results on page 5. - Jacob Wagner photo... Full story
Grant Coulee turned down the idea of turning over a stretch of B Street to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation near where USBR’s new fire station is being built. The idea came up in May at the city’s council meeting with possible benefits including not having to maintain the road and putting the dollar savings towards other streets. B Street is currently closed from where it intersects Division Street to SR-155 because of construction on the USBR fire station being built along SR-155. The street is also used as an alternative route through and aro...
Grant PUD’s credit rating just increased, somewhat easing an area of concern fanned during last fall’s election season. The utility’s debt had become a political issue during last year’s campaigns for PUD commissioner spots, with those winning having been critical of the level of debt carried and others saying it was appropriate, sustainable and better than drastically raising rates. S&P Global Ratings last month upgraded from AA to AA+ the credit rating of Grant PUD’s electric system, citing strong, sustained finances and risk managemen...
Lake Roosevelt Schools' SHARP Kids program, which includes academic as well as hands-on activities, will continue for another five years after receiving a grant that will fund the program with approximately $270,000 a year via the 21st Century grant. "Through the efforts of a substantial number of people in our school and community, and outside of our community (including grant writer Joyce Garrett out of Wenatchee), we were awarded the 21st Century Community Learning Center grant," said Nancy...
It's not easy swimming to the ocean and back. The Grand Coulee Library hosted a presentation titled "Swimming with the Salmon: The Epic Survival Game" June 17, in which children learned "about the life cycle of salmon, as well as efforts river partners throughout the region take to help salmon overcome the obstacles they encounter on their epic journey," according to a press release from Grant PUD which presented the program. "Everyone will get a better appreciation of salmon and their...