The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

The annual Trees of Sharing project began Nov. 1 and culminated with the delivery of wrapped Christmas gifts to 115 children in 48 families Saturday, Dec. 14. Thank you to every person who enthusiastically supported this project by purchasing gifts...

You don’t know how important your freedoms are until you start to lose them. That’s what is behind the protests going on in Hong Kong. In April the government in Mainland China passed an extradition bill that would allow officials to take...

Don Brunell, who wrote a column on this page, doesn’t know the local Portch family, but he might as well have used them as an example in his column on local business owners who do good for their communities. Like his parents before him, Loepp...

It was so long ago that carbon paper was at the center of the controversy around my first big scoop. As a junior in a high school journalism class, I’d turned in a story about a very popular teacher who would be resigning at the end of the year, a...

In 1964, the United States and Canada ratified the Columbia River Treaty to increase coordination between our countries on power generation and flood control issues, along with critical support of irrigation, navigation, and ecosystem habitat needs....

Bridges shouldn’t have to sink to be replaced. However, at times that’s what it takes. Too often, new projects succumb to years of fighting among interest groups and endless political bickering. In 2013, opposition killed the Columbia Crossings...

Looking back is much easier than looking forward, but it’s not like no one is trying. Two opinion pieces on this page point to turning points in two different areas of society that will converge at some point to change the future, hopefully for the...

Science, technology, engineering, and math – more commonly known as STEM – have become some of the most highly demanded careers in our nation’s economy. Schools across the country and in Central Washington have emphasized education programs to...

This looks like somebody’s off-the-wall dream. We are in an earthquake zone, and I, for one, don’t want any 30-foot water tunnels under me. Also, the tunnels shown are only from North Dam to the Grand Coulee city limits, which is the simple...

We live in a day when the caliber of our elected officials is in question. And for good reason as it becomes apparent that they continually lie to us, often when the truth would serve them better. I like a bumper sticker I saw recently that states,...

November is recognized as National Native American Heritage Month, and I believe this is an important time to remember and celebrate the contributions and history of our Native friends and neighbors in Central Washington and across the United...

At this time of Thanksgiving, we pause to give thanks to those who enrich our lives. At the University of Washington School of Medicine in partnership with Gonzaga University, we are especially grateful for the growing community of friends,...

Representative democracy is based on a simple premise. It’s that ordinary citizens can judge complex public policy and political issues — or at least grasp them well enough to decide who should be dealing with them. But the significance of that p...

Each Thanksgiving, I am reminded that in Central Washington, we have a lot to be thankful for. We are blessed with gorgeous national forests and public lands, powerful rivers and dams, and bountiful farm land. As we gather with our families and...