News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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A man driving a Grant Transit Authority bus out of Moses Lake was pursued by police on Wednesday morning, with the chase ending in Electric City at the intersection of Hillcrest Avenue and SR-155 where the driver hit a stop sign and came to a stop. The bus had been reported stolen at about 7 a.m., and Moses Lake Police and other agencies were watching for it when a Grant County Sheriff's deputy spotted it about 30 minutes later. The driver, 62-year-old Richard D. Manley of Grand Coulee, was on...
US 2 is closed in Pine Canyon, just above Orondo, due to a rock slide, Washington State Department of Transportation is warning. There is no detour available, and no time estimate for when the road will reopen. A rock slide in the same area closed the route to Wenatchee from Waterville several years ago for many weeks.... Full story
Rep. Dan Newhouse’s vote to impeach the president took guts. There’s no two ways about that. Representing a red meat Republican district, he rose to meet his obligation to defend the Constitution when he saw what clearly took place in the capitol on Jan. 6 — a mob incited by the president, angered after months of listening to him insist that that there was no way he could lose, unless the other side cheated and then direct them toward the People’s House. Newhouse, newly elected to another term, may have enough time on his side to quell the ang...
Okanogan County’s computer and phone systems were attacked early Saturday morning and were still down Tuesday, leaving most county services open on a limited basis only. The county’s IT department was working with an outside company on restoring service, Emergency Management Director Maurice Goodall said just before noon Tuesday, while other departments were trying to catch up using the “old time way of doing things” without computers. Goodall didn’t know the nature of the attack, whether it was a “ransomware” attack or some other kind. S...
The Colville Tribes has lifted the Covid-related curfew in Keller a week after it lifted the same restriction in Inchelium. The Keller 9 p.m. curfew was lifted as of tonight, Jan. 14. "Fortunately, the spike of COVID-19 cases seen in recent days in the Keller District has trended downward enough that the Business Council is able to lift the curfew at this time," explained tribal Chairman Rodney Cawston in a statement issued Thursday evening. "Thank you to all in the Keller community who have... Full story
Coulee Medical Center will host a drive-through vaccination event Friday, injecting arms to inoculate the first tier of people prioritized to get the shots. Friday’s event will inoculate people in the top 1A tier, including those who work in high-risk health care settings, first responders, residents and staff of nursing homes. People in the 1B category may not be inoculated Friday, Ramona Hicks, chief executive officer at CMC clarified Wednesday afternoon. The 1Bs include people who are generally at high to moderate risk, including anyone 7... Full story
A stapled packet of religious “propaganda” left in teachers’ rooms over the weekend has stirred security and other concerns at Lake Roosevelt Elementary. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner emailed a letter out to the district Tuesday to say the incident is being investigated and lamenting that the issue had hit social media, “fueling the fire.” Just over 11 pages of black and white copies feature the writings of Kim Clement in “prophetic songs,” Turner said. Clement’s prophesies are for sale in several books on Amazon...
A Grand Coulee man faces at least five years in prison if convicted of lighting a fire in the building housing the Spokane County Democrats last month. Peter James Yeager, 45, was indicted Tuesday by U. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington William D. Hyslop with “Damage by Fire to a Building Used in Interstate and Foreign Commerce,” Hyslop’s office said in a press release. Independent charges have also been filed by the Spokane County prosecuting attorney. State court documents say Yeager drove from his home in Grand Coulee Dec....
Nearly half the staff at Coulee Medical Center got the shot Tuesday to inoculate against SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes the COVID-19 illness. The process was being managed and administered by Prevention Northwest, a company scheduled to manage the process at some 30 facilities by mid-January, according to CEO Jill Harvey. CMC personnel were receiving the Moderna vaccine and will need a second injection 28 days later. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was authorized for emergency use by the Food and... Full story
Right now, as the first two approved vaccines are getting shipped and shot into arms across the country, there’s no lack of confusion about what the smart course of action is, on a personal level or a policy level. As for me, when it’s time for those in my category to get one, I’ll do so if it’s recommended. I’ve had a history long ago of anaphylactic shock (a severe allergic reaction). I’m allergic to certain nuts. Six people in the United States with a history of such problems have suffered them after receiving a vaccine against COVID-19, a... Full story
With the approval of federal health care authorities for two vaccines, some local frontline workers were inoculated against the virus that causes COVID-19 this week, and more will be early next week, along with local long-term care patients. Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ryan Fish took the needle in his arm Friday in Moses Lake. He said Tuesday he has felt no effects from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine delivered through Grant County Health District to Samaritan Hospital, where Fish... Full story
Beginning next week, you’ll see a new feature in The Star aimed at helping local kids practice reading and writing without realizing it. We’ve sourced a very well-done fun page designed to get kids from second through sixth grades reading, writing and thinking. The “Kid Scoop” page pops with fun little puzzles, jokes, riddles and learning tasks, all planned by a curriculum designer who knows how to present a mini lesson plan in a few square inches with kid-friendly graphics complete with relevant educational standards noted for teacher... Full story
A car fire in Coulee Dam and a burning house in Grand Coulee kept local firefighters busy this week. Very early Monday, Grand Coulee and Electric City volunteers were dispatched to a house fire on Roosevelt Drive in Grand Coulee. A police officer arrived first and made sure the occupants were outside and OK. Firefighters said they found the home filled with smoke and a storage room in the basement filled with smoke and smoldering fire, which they extinguished. "The home sustained smoke damage...
The return to school for seventh- through 12th-grade Lake Roosevelt students on Monday, Dec. 7 continued under a plan modified in an emergency school board session Friday night that sets a much higher threshold for the number of local Covid cases it would take to stop in-person schooling. The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors held an Emergency Board Meeting tonight via Zoom where they voted 4-1 to modify the plan, previously approved on Nov. 9, for junior/senior high students to return part time to physical school on Dec. 7....
Coulee Dam’s town council gave a preliminary nod to a proposed budget for 2021 Monday night in a special meeting online despite uncertainties about next year’s revenue forecast. The council voted to approve a first reading of the ordinance authorizing use of the $5 million budget proposed by Clerk Stefani Bowden. The council has mulled the budget in several special workshops over several weeks. Mayor Bob Poch said the council could have approved the budget Monday, but he wanted to present it only as a first reading, then pass it at the nex...
People at a virtual auction last weekend bid each other up as much or more than they do in person and the chamber benefited. With its annual Vintners and Brewers dinner and auction canceled for Covid, the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce licensed online bidding software and held the auction anyway, with most participants buying dinner prepared by PK’s Culinary and heating it up at home. The auction of all-donated items brought in $15,396. “That will keep us going for a while,” said chamber President Natalie Dennis. The chamber has n...
Eleven people in a Tonasket facility have died of COVID-19, Okanogan County Public Health, stated in a press release Monday night. All of the them were residents at North Valley Extended Care, a 42-bed facility where 32 residents have tested positive for the illness. “Multiple caregivers” are also under quarantine and two employees have been hospitalized, “reportedly doing well,” the agency said. “OCPH sends their heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones,” the release stated. The 11 confirmed deaths bring the t... Full story
Free COVID-19 testing will be offered to all community members in the Grand Coulee Dam area tomorrow, Dec. 8, from 3-8 p.m. at Lake Roosevelt High School. Look for Lifeline Ambulance in the athletic field parking lot. All are welcome, not just residents of Okanogan County. The testing will be drive-thru, at the football field parking lot near the tennis courts. Look for LifeLine Ambulance vehicles and personnel on site. Pre-registration is encouraged at https://forms.gle/UMVVBjjf8f9GBeut8 but on-site registration also available. "Results will... Full story
The return to school for seventh- through 12th-grade Lake Roosevelt students on Dec. 7 will continue under a plan modified in an emergency school board session Friday night that sets a much higher threshold for the number of local Covid cases it would take to stop in-person schooling. The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors held an Emergency Board Meeting tonight via Zoom where they voted 4-1 to modify the plan, previously approved on Nov. 9, for junior/senior high students to return part time to physical school on Dec. 7.... Full story
The current wave of coronavirus spread is more ominous than the first in Washington for reasons that give doctors cause to fear the near future, including those at Coulee Medical Center, where “we’ve been pretty lucky thus far,” says Dr. Jacob Chaffee at CMC, but they’re also feeling upbeat about coming vaccines. “Hospitals across the state are becoming saturated both on their medical floors as well as their ICUs, and so our biggest fear is that if we see our rates climb significantly, we’re not going to be able to transfer patients wh... Full story
Robert Fields has been wanting a big piece of art on the side of his garage facing the highway to Bridgeport for more than a decade, and he got it this summer in collaboration with his longtime friend and artist Keith Powell. A closeup of a billowing American flag brings the steel siding on Fields' shop to life, the stripes undulating like the Palouse hillsides near Pullman, which is not what Fields had originally thought he'd get. "I just got way more than I dreamed I would," said Fields, who...
Nine people have died of COVID-19 at one Grant County nursing home, and two other long-term care facilities tallied 108 infections among residents and staff, Grant County Health said Friday. GCHD said cases at two long term care facilities, one in Moses Lake and one in Ephrata, are linked to a recent large wedding event held in Ritzville. "It is important to note that mass gathering events where COVID is spread will quickly spread into the community and risks the safety of our most vulnerable...
After Washington families were asked last week not to gather with people outside their households over the coming holidays, the governor added more details and broader restrictions in a modified order Sunday. If you get together for Thanksgiving with people not living with you, you'll be going against that ask, - unless you had already begun to quarantine by Friday and you keep it up until Thanksgiving, or keep it up for seven days prior and get a negative COVID-19 test result within 48 hours...
Public health authorities are asking anyone from multiple communities who attended a large wedding near Ritzville Nov. 7 to get tested for COVID-19 and self-quarantine through Nov. 21. Grant County Health District said it knows of nearly 40 cases in their county resulting from the Adams County event with more than 300 attendees. More cases are being added daily. Weddings are supposed to be restricted to no more than 30 attending. “Due to the multi-jurisdictional impact of this large event, GCHD felt it was necessary to notify the public,” GCHD...
Coulee Dam residents will likely soon pay about another $1 a week to have their trash picked up at the curb. The city council in a Monday budget workshop found that a hike of about $4 a month is likely inevitable, following a boost in dumping fees Grant County’s landfill near Ephrata will charge the Delano Transfer Station to haul garbage there. That, coupled with the city taxing its own funds with a large B&O tax as a means of systematically transferring funds to its “current expense” general spending account has led to a shortfall in payin...