News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 476 - 500 of 2939
In 1974 most congressional Republicans were patriots, forcing then-President Richard Nixon to resign when he tried to overthrow our democracy. Alarmingly, most current congressional Republicans are unpatriotic cowards, caving to former president Donald Trump’s attempt to do likewise. There’s good reason Trump trusted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s word over our own US intelligence: they’re very similar—both ruthless liars craving power. Fortunately, a few current congressional Republicans want to save our democracy. Especially powerful...
This Fourth of July, Americans in Central Washington and across the country are contending with a host of financial worries. Red-hot inflation has contributed to a skyrocketing cost of living and continues to wreak havoc on financial markets, the American supply chain, and Americans’ pocketbooks. As the country deals with record-high gas prices and sparse shelves at the grocery store, it is more important than ever to call to mind what it is that makes our country great—and how we can return to greatness once more. Independence Day gives us...
A mystery substance has shut down Coulee Medical Center after three employees in the lab area became ill for unknown reasons Tuesday afternoon. CMC was evacuated and employees sent home, and a hazmat team has been requested to investigate. No one knows what made the lab workers ill, other than an odor, but their conditions were apparently not serious. It started with headaches, then chest pains, shortness of breath and vomiting. They've been checked out and released. No patients were affected,...
After lab workers mysteriously got sick Tuesday, forcing an emergency closure, Coulee Medical Center will start a phased re-opening Friday morning, when it will "move forward cautiously," opening its emergency department first at 7 a.m. The decision to re-open was made mid Thursday afternoon after a meeting with state officials. It had been 20 hours with people in the building following that shut-down and subsequent investigations looking for a possible cause of the noxious odor that caused half...
Don’t let a wet spring fool you. A day after the year’s hottest day so far in the region, Grant County citizens got a reminder of what that can mean when the sheriff’s office issued a Level 2, then Level 3 Evacuation notice Monday afternoon. People in the area east of Soap Lake were told to be ready to go should it come to that, then were told to leave immediately. Responding firefighters sent out the call countywide for help, at least twice. Remember a few summers ago when a fire that started over a half-hour’s drive away eventually put wes...
2 There are several very important words of the pledge of allegiance: I pledge ALLEGIANCE (loyalty or commitment) to the flag of the UNITED (joined together politically for a common purpose) States of America and to the REPUBLIC (a Government where the supreme power is held by the people and their elected officials and president, not a monarch) for which it stands, one nation under GOD, INDIVISIBLE (impossible to be divided) with LIBERTY (being free, within a society, of oppressive restrictions) and JUSTICE (fairness and rightness in the treatm...
In my last thoughts shared in The Star, I mentioned that I had hoped that the upper brass in the GCDSD would start to be accountable for the downward spiral of dysfunction created by their superintendent. I love our local school district and I’m proud that all of my kids were Raiders, but this organization is at the lowest point I’ve seen in forty years. We need genuine leadership where people are valued and heard, and progressive change is made on necessary prioritized challenges. Instead, we have a pattern of selfish, reactive management whe...
The Biden Administration must be held accountable for failing to serve Central Washington’s veterans. This weekend, details on a draft report from the VA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) broke news headlines, outlining that not only did the new Electronic Health Record (EHR) system rolled out at Spokane (and now Walla Walla’s) VA hospitals cause harm to at least 148 veterans, but that Cerner Corporation, which owns the contract for this system, knew their system was flawed and withheld that information from the Department of Veter...
The town council in Coulee Dam Wednesday night approved spending $3,020 to "move dirt" in a canyon just above the city hall, a residential neighborhood, and a motel so that police can use it for a shooting range. Officer Josh Watkins introduced himself to the council as the firearms instructor for Coulee Dam's two-officer police department and explained the need for such a space. Watkins said the biggest benefit would be the ability to get free training. Police have training requirements to...
This weekend will feature lots of smiles, as did last weekend. The difference will be in the fact that the average age of smilers will be reduced. Last Saturday, seniors graduated from high school; this Saturday kids get a chance to wear out their parents, or vice versa, at Kids Fest. Whether you love every activity presented is not really important, just remember to enjoy seeing all those smiles. Scott Hunter editor and publisher...
A year and a half ago, when President Biden was sworn into office, gas prices were $2.39 a gallon. Today, gas prices have more than doubled, averaging $5.01 per gallon. The Labor Department reported Friday that inflation rose to 8.6% in the 12 months ending in May, its highest level since December 1981. Virtually no sector of the economy was left untouched. Electricity is up 12% from a year ago, groceries 11.9%, and rent 5.9%. It’s not rocket science; the policy decisions being made by this Administration have directly impacted the state of o...
A storm that ripped through the area Sunday afternoon toppled a tree that pulled down a powerline in Coulee Dam, closing River Drive and leaving the area without power for several hours. A 60-foot evergreen tree fell across a front porch at 1015 River Drive but didn't damage the house or a pickup parked in the driveway - under the downed tree. But it did pull down power lines crossing River Drive, which is also SR-155 through town. Coulee Dam fire trucks closed the road while Nespelem Valley...
Officials for the barely funded public agency currently responsible for managing the park that holds major events in the area said Tuesday they may have to close it down. North Dam Park, which is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation but managed by the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District (CAPRD) is the venue for events like Colorama, Run the Dam, summer softball and baseball games, a skate park, the Gehrke Windmills display, countless private events, and more. But CAPRD commissioners Brian Warneke and Kevin Porch said Tuesday that USBR...
China has been buying up American farmland, and, for some reason, people aren’t worried about it. Maybe they’re unaware that China’s American agricultural land holdings have increased over tenfold in the last decade. Maybe they’re unaware that at the beginning of 2020, investments from China held $2 billion of American agricultural land. Maybe they’re unaware that 2021 was the 10th straight year America’s trade deficit with the Chinese eclipsed $300 billion. Maybe they’re unaware that China owns 50% of the global reserves of corn. But I’m...
The town council in Coulee Dam Wednesday night approved spending $3,020 to “move dirt” in an area just above the city hall, a residential neighborhood, and a motel so police can use it for a shooting range. Officer Josh Watkins introduced himself to the council as the firearms instructor for Coulee Dam’s two-officer police department and explained the need for such a space. Watkins said the biggest benefit would be the ability to get free training. Police have training requirements to keep up with, but scheduling time at the U.S. Bureau of Re...
While he’s right about the diverse energy portfolio the state of Washington boasts, and about the necessity of an all-of-the-above energy solution, for now, Rep. Dan Newhouse would better advance the goals of energy independence by not including the divisive rhetoric he seems to think is necessary at every turn. We include his column on this page because he represents us in the U.S. House of Representatives, but even a piece about his bringing members of Congress to his district to show them local energy solutions obligatorily starts with an a...
With public health agencies now reporting two-week-old covid case rates and home testing widely available, hospital admissions seem a more reliable indicator. Those are trending up, even locally. Coulee Medical Center CEO Ramona Hicks told hospital district commissioners Monday that more tests at CMC for COVID-19 are showing its presence, with the positivity rate rising from 10% last Friday to 18% by Tuesday, including some admissions to the hospital. Statewide, too, hospitals are recording an...
Andy Clark is an LR alumnus and was a very talented Raider and UW Husky track athlete. At LR he was coached by Randy Spotts, who was the best high school distance coach around. Randy was very organized, methodical, expected the best from his athletes and coached several state champions and medalists. Coach Spotts always kept things fun with his bizarre sense of humor. Even when his runners were tops in the state he would yell at them to run “Faster, faster, faster.” Then when their events were over he’d tell the coaches jokingly, “Boy, could I...
Over the past year and a half — under the Democrats’ one-party rule — rural communities like ours in Central Washington have been harmed by the failed, anti-energy policies coming out of our nation’s capital. Gas prices have hit all-time highs, and American families are facing high inflation and supply chain interruptions thata threaten our way of life. It is more critical than ever that our nation establishes a strong, reliable, all-of-the-above domestic energy portfolio. Fortunately for us in Central Washington, we have a prime example...
Two school boards learned Monday night that a major source of funding education for local students is apparently coming to an end if local officials can’t find a way to appeal a recent “review” of their method of sharing federal funds. An agreement to funnel “Impact Aid” from Nespelem School District to Grand Coulee Dam School District hasn’t been correct for years, a federal “reviewer” recently informed the Nespelem superintendent, a finding that will have a large financial impact on Lake Roosevelt Schools. For decades, the two districts h...
The annual Isle of Flags, with its Memorial Day ceremony, will honor 15 more veterans whose families have requested a flag be flown in their honor. The annual event, which started in 1976, continues to add more flags every year to the spectacle that community volunteers (more needed) will start putting them up at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 28, at the Spring Canyon Cemetery. They will be flying 599 American flags. A Veterans’ Center Memorial Day Breakfast will be offered free of charge to all Saturday from 7 to 11 a.m. at the Vets Center in E...
Electric City is making the correct move in considering whether it should plan for expansion to its south. Like the rest of the country, the local area is running short of housing, and that’s a major obstacle to progress for a better community. Local employers have trouble recruiting employees to the area when they can’t find a place to live. Our largest employers in the Grand Coulee Dam area — the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Coulee Medical Center — run into the problem repeatedly. The hospital keeps eight rentals of its own just to have a...
As Memorial Day approaches each year, I reflect on the debt that each and every American owes to the heroes who have fought to preserve our freedoms. Throughout our history, more than one million Americans, in Lincoln’s words, “gave their last full measure of devotion” in our nation’s defense. This Memorial Day will be the 155th in our nation’s history, and rather than simply marking the beginning of summer, as Americans we should take the opportunity to honor those who have given their all. This year is especially memorable for Central W...
After a few decades of interviewing high school students two or three times a year, certain traits start to seem universal, including eager optimism mixed with a little nervousness about the unknown coming up. Last week, I had the absolute pleasure, once again, to talk with a few local seniors, one on one, about their plans for the future and what high school has been like for them. Whether they hoped to go to college, pursue a certain career, or begin a new adventure, these young adults — vibrant, bright, and hopeful as they are — carries at...
The Lady Raiders defeated their Okanogan rivals tonight at the District 6 championship game on the state top-ranked Lady Bulldogs' home diamond. The Lake Roosevelt girls have a good chance to win the state championship tournament in Yakima May 27-28, where they're likely to face Okanogan for a fourth time this year. The Bulldogs will face either Brewster or Tonasket this Saturday in a game for second place in District 6....
