News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Coulee Dam is hoping to finally get the grant funding it applied for to replace over 30 old maple trees removed during a sidewalk replacement project in 2023. The city applied for a grant, which was awarded in February of 2024 for over $71,000 to do the work. The money comes through the state Dept. of Natural Resources with federal funds awarded to the state-managed program. City Clerk Stefani Bowden told the city council Feb. 26 that a federal funding freeze in February of 2025 kept the project from moving forward. as funding was held up kept...
The Lady Raider varsity basketball team leaves the Lake Roosevelt gym after an assembly Tuesday held to send them off to the state tournament in Spokane. Coverage of their victory at the opening round of state in Wenatchee last Saturday is on page 8. - Scott Hunter photo...
Smoke curls off the top of a house at 412 Roosevelt Drive Feb. 26 where firefighters were called about 12:30 p.m. They doused a front porch fire, then found more flames under the house. Crews from Grand Coulee, Electric City, the Bureau of Reclamation, Grand Coulee EMS and Grand Coulee Police responded, had the fire out, and left the scene by 1:54 p.m. - Jacob Wagner photo...
A proposed reduction in high school secretary hours has become a flash point in the Grand Coulee Dam School District’s broader struggle to close a mounting budget gap, with staff warning of strained student support and administrators describing a years-long squeeze of rising costs and falling enrollment. High school secretary Tammy Norris told the school board that trimming one secretary position from 9 to 7.5 hours a day is more than a simple line-item cut. “In a district our size, there is no extra, there is no cushion,” Norris said during th...
The geologist Nick Zentner will be at Dry Falls State Park Visitor Center this coming Sunday, March 1 at 1 p.m. in one of his "pop up" events, where the popular prof just shows up to talk with the geologically curious. If you're me, that sounds like a perfect Sunday afternoon. (If you're new here, this is one of the most interesting geological areas on the planet.) Zentner, the "Science Outreach and Education Coordinator" at Central Washington University, shares his knowledge in entertaining... Full story
A pair of bald eagles on Saturday appear to be considering moving into a new home in west Coulee Dam. It's not clear what the osprey couple that have occupied the nest for many years might have to say about it when they make their annual return in a few weeks. The osprey pole was erected by the contractors that put up the large high voltage towers that convey the powerlines across the river to Grand Coulee Dam. The nest was originally on a smaller power tower that was replaced by Wilson...
Grand Coulee’s recently adopted Ordinance 1105 is headed back to committee after city officials concluded they need clearer direction on how to enforce it and how quickly property owners must comply. The council briefly revisited the ordinance near the end of its Feb. 17 meeting, focusing not on whether to keep it, but how to implement it. ClerkTreasurer Lorna Pearce told council members that as staff prepared notification letters to business and property owners, several unanswered questions emerged. Chief among them: Who is the designated o...
OLYMPIA – Sens. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, and Curtis King, R-Yakima, rolled out their bipartisan supplemental transportation budget Feb. 23, emphasizing its focus on preservation and maintenance, job creation and safety. Liias, the chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, said the supplemental budget prioritizes the preservation and maintenance of the state's highways, bridges and ferries, as well as responding to infrastructure damages caused by the December 2025 flood. The proposal introduc...
Five Lady Raiders ended their season at the Tacoma Dome in the 2026 WIAA State Wrestling Mat Classic Feb. 19-Feb. 21, scoring 59 points as a team and placing 20th out of 73 teams. Senior Sienna Atchison finished the season with a 33–16 record and placed fourth at the state tournament. After an early loss, she battled back with four consecutive wins before falling in the medal round. She contributed 20 team points. Senior AJ Cannon finished her season with a 22–19 record and was just one win awa...
If you’ve ever dealt with a construction project, you may realize the near certainty of finding more problems than you planned for. Now apply that concept to an industrial plant built decades ago. The Grand Coulee City Council on Feb. 17 approved a significant electrical upgrade at the city’s wastewater treatment plant and advanced several related engineering agreements with Gray & Osborne, Inc., moves aimed at improving safety, reliability, and longterm compliance at the regional facility. The most expensive of the actions was a roughly $24...
Facing a steep jump in sewer treatment costs, the Elmer City Council voted last week to shift its utility rates, raising sewer charges while cutting water rates in an effort to limit the impact on residents. During a public hearing on Ordinance 393, ClerkTreasurer Kelly Ross laid out the numbers now confronting the town. Under an injunction stemming from a legal dispute with Coulee Dam, Elmer City is being billed $98.98 per household per month for sewer treatment and plant loan repayment alone. That does not include the town’s own sewer c...
If you have an old American Flag that's tattered and torn, official protocol calls for a proper disposal. That involves retiring the nation's symbol with respect, not a trash bag. That's where Addison "AJ" Cannon comes in. Cannon, almost 18, is working on getting her Eagle Scout rank, which involves an ambitious project to supply the local area with flag retirement boxes for used flags. She has been working with American Legion Post 157, which will have a key to the boxes. She presented one...
Washington state moved one step closer Monday to creating a personal income tax two years after the Legislature said it wouldn't. Majority Democrats in the Senate advanced legislation on a 27-22 vote to tax households earning more than a million dollars. Passage of the bill followed a three-and-a-half hour debate on whether this will make for a fairer tax code or harm the economy and incite an exodus of Washington's wealthy residents. House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, who watched the vote...
The educational leader who has led Nespelem School District since 2020 will resign at the end of the school year. Dr. Effie Dean, who took over in June of 2020 as the Covid pandemic was disrupting education and society in general, informed the district board of directors Jan. 30. Monday night, directors voted to begin the search for a new superintendent, engaging Northwest Leadership Associates, of Wenatchee, to begin the search and vetting process. Dean’s last official day is June 30. She told The Star on Tuesday that she is not certain of h...
Electric City’s council and administration plans to hold a retreat in March and discussed last week subjects that it would be beneficial to talk about there. Topics brought up at the last city council meeting Feb. 3 included: • the need for animal control • development of a city Facebook page • fire department funding • the location of the retreat (probably the fire station). The retreat is set for March 28....
Blue skies overcome banks of fog below Grand Coulee Dam over the Columbia River Tuesday morning, providing some relief from a week of overbearing low clouds and fog. Check out Bob's Weather Watcher Forecast on page 3 for what's next. - Scott Hunter photo...
In a change from a prior policy considered by the Regional Board of Mayors, the Delano Regional Transfer Station may soon accept credit cards following an Electric City Council vote on Feb. 3. Electric City administers the transfer station operation. It’s workers and administrators are city employees. New Mayor Blake Martin brought up the fact that only cash and checks have been accepted for payment at the transfer station, options that increasingly seem too limited in modern society. “I mean, I know I don’t really carry cash on me,” Martin...
Two Washington tribal leaders could soon snag seats on the state's Board of Natural Resources, which guides logging sales and other management decisions for millions of acres of public land. Sen. Claudia Kauffman, a Democrat from Kent who's the first Native American woman to serve in the state Senate, proposed Senate Bill 5838. On Monday, it was voted out of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. The bill originally called for only one tribal representative to be appointed to... Full story
Protesters Saturday along Midway Avenue in Grand Coulee express their disagreement with Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies, denials of due process of law, and a failure to open the promised Epstein files for public scrutiny. About 36 people attended. President Donald Trump has called in the last few days for Republicans to take over elections in at least 15 places in the United States, despite the U. S. Constitution giving that authority to the states. The Star online will...
The third powerhouse at Grand Coulee Dam happens to be lit up in blue and green lights during Superbowl LX Sunday as the Seattle Seahawks took the championship from the New England Patriots. - Scott Hunter photo...
After years of arguing that Grand Coulee is treating it like a paying customer instead of a co‑owner of the regional wastewater treatment plant, Electric City is turning to the courts. The City Council voted Tuesday to seek a legal judgment on the 1984 agreement that created the joint facility, saying Grand Coulee has ignored board decisions, relied on a costly contractor, and refused to enter mediation. The two cities are parties to a 1984 interlocal agreement that created the jointly owned t...
Two people were arrested Monday afternoon after allegedly breaking into a property in Douglas County and trying to escape from police into Grant County, a release from the Grant County Sheriff’s office said. Their news release follows: Around 2 p.m., Douglas County deputies responded to a burglary in progress at Rimrock Meadows, about 18 miles west of Ephrata. The suspects left the area in a red minivan and drove into Grant County. A Grant County sheriff’s deputy spotted the minivan traveling east on Sagebrush Flats Road. The van fit the des...
Electric City Mayor Blake Martin, right, shakes hands with new Councilmember Joe Higgs after Higgs took the oath of office at Monday night's council meeting. The two knew each other from their prior place of employment, the Grand Coulee Police Department. Higgs is now retired. The city council voted Tuesday night to appoint Higgs into the vacant council position 5. - Scott Hunter photo...
OLYMPIA - A protest at the Capitol Saturday called for the removal of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "everywhere." With more than 1,500 attending, the rally joined similar nationwide protests after the recent ICE-involved killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Evergreen Resistance organized the protest. The group is Olympia's branch of the nationwide organization 50-50-1 (50 states, 50 protests, one movement). "We're a group that does not want our nation to become more...
A big boulder fell from the wall of the Grand Coulee during the night, blocking most of two lanes on SR-155 along Banks Lake. Drivers could still drive around it where it was coned off at a wide spot in the shoulder of the road on an area of light traffic. But drivers Saturday morning found one-lane (mostly on a pull-out) traffic on the highway just south of the entrance to Steamboat Rock State Park. The Washington State Department of Transportation sent out an alert on its mobile app about 3...