News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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K-12 schools have more guidance on how to conduct active-shooter lockdown drills with a new bill signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee. The bill prohibits schools from conducting drills involving life-like simulations or reenactments of active shooter scenarios that are not “trauma-informed and age and developmentally appropriate.” Additionally, students, teachers and staff will be alerted before carrying out a shooting-safety lockdown drill. Prime sponsor of the bill, Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland, said the legislation is needed to protect sta...
At nearly midnight on March 10, the Legislature adjourned its hybrid session in Olympia on schedule. The 60-day Legislative session consisted primarily of Zoom meetings with some work completed in-person. It was a busy time for me as I continued as the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee’s ranking member. This session was particularly busy for education committee leaders due to continued school issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and school funding issues. I also sponsored a few individual bills and budget requests. In t...
The American Legion Hodges Post 84, Oroville Washington, is requesting that the State Department of Transportation honor the Veterans of the Vietnam War by dedicating State Route 20, from the Idaho border to the Skagit County line in Western Washington. Hodges Post 84 hopes to recognize the sacrifices made by Vietnam Veterans to the State of Washington and to the United States of America with this dedication. I will be asking our State representatives in Olympia and from Washington DC to help support this effort. I will be asking all of the...
Recently, Chris Cargill, Eastern Washington director of right-wing Washington Policy Center, advocated for a parents’ bill of rights to improve our educational system. But how would that help? Shouldn’t students themselves, especially at high school level, have at least equal voice to their parents since their education most strongly affects their own lives? Maybe Cargill thinks students and their parents agree on what would improve their education, but is there evidence of that? Polls show considerable disagreement between high school-age stu...
It’s hard to calculate the costs of misinformation, even of something as simple as child’s false boast of knowing about a threat to a school. Reportedly, something like that caused school to close to students for two days last week, adding to the list of items already causing tensions, long enough even in normal times, which these are not. Kudos to administrators and police for their professionally cool heads sorting it out. And to everyone else, including any parent and student, who these days chooses to back away from an urge to jump immediat...
This is an open letter of thanks to everyone who advocated for, supported, gave a forum for discussion, or assisted us to get the message out, regarding a piece of legislation that would have had a detrimental impact on rural healthcare in Washington State and especially our communities. Because of your willingness to express your concerns about this bill, the Senate listened, and the bill was not enacted. This bill would have had short and long-term devastating effects, and if enacted, would have forced Coulee Medical Center to consider...
One of the biggest misconceptions about Daylight Saving Time is that farmers pushed for it, because “they needed daylight hours to work in their fields”. Nothing could be further from the truth. The adoption of daylight saving time in the United States through the Calder Act, also known as the Standard Time Act of 1918, was devised to conserve energy during wartime. Even then, the agriculture industry spoke out against it. Here’s why: Shifting the clocks back and forth is hugely disruptive for our farmers and ranchers, not to mention any lives...
As the pandemic eases, it looks like no end is in sight for the continuing need for us all to remain flexible in our ideas, schedules, plans and expectations, and that’s a good thing. The human skill at adapting has never been more crucial. Last week, a “Grant County Leadership” online meeting of municipal and health officials, chambers of commerce, journalists, and others, which has been meeting biweekly for months, decided to switch from pandemic mode to recovery mode with a sigh of relief. But even at that, it was noted that switching back...
A while back a person told me I’m always fighting for the underdog. I liked Underdog as a kid but was more of a Popeye fan. I was hoping the GCDSD high brass would not feed me more spinach. However, more cans were opened with leaps of abstraction by the GCDSD Board. Blaming the failure of both levies on the pandemic and reminding us that elections have consequences is unbelievable. These disastrous results are due to their poor decision making over the last few years. This is a self-inflicted wound that they’re responsible for. Now they want to...
As the Congressman for Washington’s 4th Congressional District, my number one priority is advocating for the people who live and work right here in Central Washington, contributing to our communities and economy. That’s why, last week, I voted in favor of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. This legislation not only delivers on many of Central Washington’s top priorities but preserves long-standing conservative principles and takes significant actions to strengthen our national security. Decisions about the needs of our communities shoul...
The town of Coulee Dam is short one person on the city crew, and the city council is debating whether to keep it that way to shift money to maintenance projects. Two council members, Keith St. Jeor and Dale Rey have argued in two meetings in the last month that the city should contract for some work done, including park maintenance, not re-hire for the position left open by the death of an employee. St. Jeor and Rey argued heavily in favor of contracting out for the work last month but wanted to wait on further discussion until Mayor Bob Poch,...
The Lady Raiders competed in the state 2B basketball tournament last week, taking on teams from around the state and capping the year with the best game they've played all year, according to their coach. "That was fun!" Lady Raider Head Coach Peewee Pleasants said about playing La Conner in the Lake Roosevelt team's final event of the tournament at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane on Friday. Pleasants said the Lady Raiders hadn't that quality of competition all season, and the girls...
STCU will sponsor a major aspect of the Colorama Rodeo that provides national television coverage of its events, the Ridge Riders said last week. The Spokane-based credit union that merged with Coulee Dam Credit Union last September noted in a statement that rodeo sponsorship isn't an everyday event, but "we have a long history of supporting cultural events, like Colorama, that reflect the values of the credit union, and the heritage of the community." Area Branch Manager Beverly Rodriguez said...
Free passes on public transportation for young people and upgrades to major bridges are all part of a 16-year transportation funding plan approved by the Washington State Senate. The Senate approved the proposed revenue sources for the $17 billion “Move Ahead Washington” transportation investment package on a 29-20 vote Feb. 15. The bill sponsored by Transportation Committee Chair Sen. Marko Liias, D-Everett, now goes to the House for consideration. The plan includes funding for transit programs, replacement of fish passageways and electrificat...
Small business owners and schoolchildren hurt by the pandemic would see some financial relief with approval of state supplemental budget proposals now under consideration. “We’re looking at the basics, food, shelter, health and cash assistance,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, said. “Those are things in this pandemic economy that are going to make a difference in people’s lives, and that is our focus.” The Washington State House and Senate each released their proposals Feb. 21, just hours before public hear...
Bills in the Legislature are proposing mandating nursing ratios and restricting how health care facilities can contract for on-call professionals, both of which provide the kind of flexibility without which rural, critical care hospitals may not function well at all. Two local doctors wrote to the legislature on the bill currently up for a committee hearing tomorrow (Thursday) in the Senate. The Star was asked to publish their thoughts too, and a third letter, by a nurse who gets into the details of day-to-day needs for flexibility will also...
A bill in the state Legislature that seeks to force hospitals to abide by set staffing levels — to address burnout and an already serious nursing shortage made worse by the pandemic — would likely force cuts in local service, a local hospital leader says. An amended form of House Bill 1868 passed the state House of Representatives Sunday. Its companion bill in the Senate, Senate Bill 5751, seems likely to pass, according to Ramona Hicks, chief executive officer at Coulee Medical Center in Grand Coulee. The bipartisan legislation, supported by...
Good ideas have a way of changing into something else in a committee, and that’s precisely how we tend to govern in America, especially in Washington state in the last two years. Last year the Legislature passed a law widely condemned by law enforcement agencies who warned of unintended consequences. A proposed fix, still controversial, is currently under debate. See that story on page 1. This year, the Leg is considering a similarly well-intended but possibly disastrous effort, one that seeks to address a very real problem with a n...
As you may have heard, the Washington State Redistricting Commission approved maps to rebalance our 49 statewide legislative districts and 10 federal congressional districts in November. This is a process conducted every 10 years in our state based on the federal Census data for population. The process was challenging in 2021, in part because the commission received data later than usual and because of the significant population growth shown in western Washington. Despite approving the plans late, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that...
If you ask almost any farmer in Central Washington these days what their most pervasive problem is, I can guarantee they’ll say labor. Producers across Washington and the country are keenly aware that there simply isn’t enough interest among domestic workers to fill these essential roles. As the breadbasket for the world, the labor crisis creates a threat to our food security and our national security. That is why I have been championing agricultural labor reform since coming to Congress. In 2019 my legislation, the Farm Workforce Mod...
Free passes on public transportation for young people and upgrades to major bridges are all part of a 16-year transportation funding plan approved by the Washington State Senate. The Senate approved the proposed revenue sources for the $17 billion “Move Ahead Washington” transportation investment package on a 29-20 vote Feb. 15. The bill sponsored by Transportation Committee Chair Sen. Marko Liias, D-Everett, now goes to the House for consideration. The plan includes funding for transit programs, replacement of fish passageways and electrificat...
Voters turned down two local school levy proposals by a hefty margin yesterday. Grand Coulee Dam School District’s Proposition 1 appeared to fail by about 58 to 42 percent, with 570 voters selecting No on their ballots, 418 selecting Yes across the four counties the district serves. Proposition 2 was also voted down 538-413, about 57% no to 43% yes. “We got hammered bad,” Superintendent Paul Turner said, noting only the Pateros district appeared close to have a close vote at about 50-50 last night. All others were failing in Okanogan Count...
Homeless people would have quick access to shelters and other facilities under a $815 million, multi-agency plan supported by Gov. Jay Inslee. Flanked by Democratic officials from King County, Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma, Inslee on Feb. 3 pressed the state Legislature to pass Senate Bill 5662. The law would create an intergovernmental coordination office to reduce the number of homeless camps by helping people get into permanent housing. “We have to move more quickly and compassionately to serve the thousands of people who are now living u...
Living in Central Washington means you’re pretty much as far as you can get from the southern border while remaining in the land of the free, so it’s easy to think President Biden’s open-border policies don’t affect us. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth. President Biden’s open-border policies have allowed fentanyl to flow across the southern border and into our communities. In FY21, there was a 134% increase in the amount of fentanyl found by Customs and Border Protection. The 11,201 pounds of fentanyl that were seized by o...
Setting aside the likelihood that the Grand Coulee Dam School District is not perfect, critics who argue that the fix is voting against its local funding are way off the mark. When the Legislature changed the formula for basic education funding, getting dollares for this district became even more complicated than it already was, restricting funds in different buckets dedicated to specific uses, even more so than they usually are. But administrators here, like others across the state, have had to figure it out. This year, the district is...
