News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Grant County Health District (GCHD) continues to observe a rise in COVID-19 in Grant County. The increase in COVID-19 activity has resulted in a rising number of people with COVID, including a significant outbreak in a local long-term care facility. The outbreak has affected more than 45 residents and staff, with two lives lost and one additional death under investigation. “Everyone, particularly those 65 years of age and older and children aged 6 months to 23 months of age, should get the updated COVID-19 vaccine,” GCHD said in a release. “Th...
That roadside trail between Electric City and North Dam may get built yet, providing a safe path for pedstrians along the highway. The city council, frustrated with a lack of progress, in July had decided to explore starting over with their new engineering firm, but that firm talked them out of it at their meeting Aug. 12. Marissa Siemens, of TD&H Engineering, said the city's previous contracted engineering firm, Century West, has the plans about 90% complete for the project that would add a...
Nespelem School District Tuesday awarded the job of constructing its new CTE building to Lakes General for $1.38 million. The project may look more like a shop than a typical school builading, and the budget currently allows for not much more than an outer shell and a few rooms, including a bathroom. Add-ons could include specialized rooms for special purposes to fit the Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. The district exceeded its $1 million budget for the CTE building project, a part of the district’s expansion plan that has result...
A boat with a blue light cruises on Banks Lake at sunset Tuesday with a pink sky reflected in the water as thunderclouds rise in the west. - Scott Hunter photo...
Coulee Medical Center has received a Critical Access Hospital Achievement of Quality Excellence award from the Washington State Hospital Association for its Quality Excellence Program. The Association presented the award to Coulee Medical Center during its Rural Hospital Leadership Conference in Chelan on June 25. WSHA represents more than 100 hospitals and health systems in the state, including those that are non-profit, investor-owned, and county, state, and military hospitals. CMC, a 25-bed Trauma Level IV Critical Access hospital, earned...
Patrick Canady, originally of Grand Coulee, right, is sworn in as chief of police by Soap Lake Mayor Peter Sharp at the senior center in Soap Lake Aug. 20 during a city council meeting. About 50 people - citizens, council members, city staff, friends and family, were on hand for the occasion, including his mother, Diane Canady, of Grand Coulee. The new chief actually started the job on Aug. 11. Sharp said he was excited and looking forward to Canady leading the department into the future. Chief...
Several states’ attorneys general, including Washington’s Nick Brown, have reached an agreement requiring the Trump administration to release the full balance of education funding for Washington schools at the heart of a multistate lawsuit filed last month, a release from Brown’s office stated Tuesday. Under the terms of the agreement and as required by law, the U.S. Department of Education must release the funds no later than Oct. 3. Last month, Brown joined a coalition with 23 other states and the District of Columbia in suing the Trump admin...
Coulee Medical Center (CMC) is assuring patients, staff, and the community that its operations remain stable and its future secure, following the release of a recent report that listed the hospital among rural facilities “at risk of closure.” The hospital issued a press release on the matter Tuesday, following a story published in The Star and other papers last week that drew on an analysis report by a research firm. The report, from the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, is based on projections tied to Medicaid funding changes...
Electric City wants to move ahead with discussions on forming a regional fire authority, an option proposed last fall in an all-community meeting called to discuss the future of local emergency services. The city council agreed last week to send a letter stating the city is in favor of moving ahead with talks to pursue the establishment of a regional fire authority with five other entities: Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, Grant County Fire District 14, Lincoln County Fire District 9, and Okanogan...
The Care and Share Food Bank, currently seeking contributions, is open Fridays from 1 to 3 p.m. in the basement of the Church of the Nazarene at 45925 State Route E Hwy 174 (on the way to Wilbur). A story in the Aug. 13 edition of The Star stated incorrect open times....
Gov. Bob Ferguson makes remarks during a press conference at the state Capitol in Olympia, on Aug. 19, responding to a letter he received the previous week from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, threatening to withhold federal funding if the state does not change its approach cooperating on federal immigration enforcement. — Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson swiped back Tuesday in response to threats from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to withhold federal funding and potentially prosecute officials if they fail t...
Larry Hernandez got his lease extended for the Village Cinema last week, with monthly rent coming to $1,500 a month, including $600 plus $900 of in-kind work on the building. The town council wouldn't budge Wednesday on his request to put off the collection of the $600 cash component for another three months. Hernandez approached the town a year ago with a plan to take over the space if he could have a year to get it functional again as a theater and more, with his upgrade work paying the rent f...
A wildland fire put Electric City on evacuation alerts Aug. 6 as firefighters from many agencies helped local firefighters in the steep terrain. The Silver Fire ignited in the rocky, wooded hillsides outside the southeast corner of the city where a small forest rises on cliffs overlooking houses and pastures Wednesday afternoon. By 2:30 a large, blackened area dwarfed firefighters with brush trucks hosing the perimeter closest to homes just off the corner of Sunset Drive and Electric Boulevard....
Care and Share Food Bank is running short of some items and is hoping for some community assistance. “We are really in need of some canned goods, especially tuna and chili,” Manager Dave Noggles said. Although food bank volunteers will make the trip this week to get food from Second Harvest in Moses Lake, Noggles said, they needed to put the word out now about the need because that source is also tight on supplies. “We are not expecting the amount that we usually receive,” he said. “They have informed us that they are having trouble, also, wit... Full story
Aug 11, 2025 North Central Washington’s rural hospitals from Quincy to Omak, Brewster to Grand Coulee, are staring down an uncertain future after Congress approved sweeping federal health care cuts that could gut Medicaid funding. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA), passed by the House and Senate and signed by President Donald Trump in July, makes deep reductions to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act programs. Health experts and state officials warn the fallout could be devastating in rural areas. According to a study from the University of N...
He was at work, and Randy Adolph's grandchildren were all asleep as fire began consuming their home last month. "Could have been worse if Tim didn't knock on the door," Adolph said Monday, referring to neighbor Tim Lynch who lives a couple blocks down Camas Street in Coulee Dam. About 10 a.m. that Monday, July 14, Lynch, retired, had been headed to the post office and intended to next drive to the Downriver Trail for a walk along the Columbia River. Then he saw the smoke. It was "thick, black...
KELLER – Until further notice, Keller Ferry users who travel across the Columbia River on State Route 21 should find alternate routes. The Keller Ferry (M/V Sanpoil) is currently out of service due to power failure at the north landing site. Crews are waiting on an electrician to restore power service to the landing site to resume normal operations. Travelers planning a trip across the Columbia River on SR 21 should choose an alternate route during the closure via SR 25 or SR 155 and SR 174. Drivers should also plan additional time for t... Full story
Chantel Crowe, Grand Coulee's deputy city clerk, attracted a majority of the votes in the three-way race for the mayor's office in Tuesday's primary. Crowe and Mayor Ruth Dalton will face off in the general election that concludes Nov. 4. The two were selected over Micah Seekins in the primary election. Seekins garnered 12 votes, or almost 8%. Of the 155 ballots cast, Dalton got 54 votes (35%) to Crowe's 87 (56%). There were two votes for write-in candidates, who were not listed in the Grant...
Thunderstorms have kept firefighters busy in Okanogan County and the Colville Reservation, but local area firefighters only got in about an hour's work fighting one fire this week. That was Thursday when a fire was called in alongside SR-174 in a rocky area on the right across the highway from East Heights. Firefighters quickly knocked it down. But that same day, the Mount Tolman Fire Center saw the start of the Kinkaid Creek fire that developed into a "complex" of smaller fires. That one includ...
A group of people that recently adopted the name The Wayfinders meets at Voltage Coffee House Saturday discussing their effort to raise awareness and support for school supplies this year in the face of extra challenges for school budgets. They're putting flyers out listing desired supplies for Lake Roosevelt and Nespelem schools, and solicited support from local cities to help with the cost of clear backpacks for school and public events, a safety item. The group is the same one that has been...
Brook and Fawn, right, dish up free ice cream for shoppers at Harvest Foods and Variety in Coulee Dam for their anniversary celebration Friday, Aug. 1. - Scott Hunter photo...
Chinking in armor riprap - A 100 ton Manitowoc Speed crane is distributing smaller rock among the large individual armor rocks. Even these big rocks could be moved by the wave action if not protected with the smaller rocks in the interstices which wedge the big rocks firmly together, and also cover up large exposed surfaces. - June 22, 1950...
Flanked by his crew, Larry Hernandez cuts a ribbon to formally declare the Village Cinema open July 19 as about a dozen patrons applauded. Hernandez has spent the last year getting the old theater into shape, upgrading it, adding equipment, cleaning and refurbishing it, investing heavily in time and money, and most recently, hiring people. The cinema has been open since May, and even before, for several special events and recently started a regular schedule of movie runs. Hernandez got together...
Update: Below is the current update for the wildfire incident: As of 5:53: Rebecca Lake to Convalescent Blvd is closed to HWY 155. HWY 155 to Rebecca Lake is closed. 07//30/2025 5:41 PM Fire Name: Kiser Canyon Fire Location: 1 Mile South of Agency Campus Estimated Size: 500 Containment: 0% Fire Behavior: Wind Driven in grass and sage brush Cause: Under investigation Structures Threatened: Yes Evacuations/Closures: Click the link to see the evacuation map. You can type in your address to verify... Full story
Two local school districts passed budgets for the next school year on Monday after a Friday when the Trump Administration relented on withholding billions that were supposed to have been transferred to states by July 1. In Coulee Dam, school district directors OK’d a budget that plans to spend $416,000 less than in the 2024-25 year just ended, but still will end up next summer with less than a quarter of what it will start the 2025-26 year with amid declining student enrollment. The district will start with just under $2.5 million next month, a...
