News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 201 - 225 of 883
Many of us are familiar with how our school districts are funded. Construction costs, maintenance updates, teacher salaries, and more are funded by local taxpayers. With local property taxes, levies, and bonds, superintendents and school district administrators work to ensure our students receive the high-quality education they deserve. Over the past several years, many of our school districts have expanded to accommodate growing numbers of students. But what happens when a school district is on or surrounded by federal land? To fulfill our...
Construction was started on October 13, 1938 of the first boat to navigate what would become Lake Roosevelt. The project was started on the east shore of the forebay, just above the dap. It was to be 64 feet long, with a 24-foot beam and designed to draw 5 feet of water. The boat, which was sponsored by the Bureau of Reclamation, was also going to be used by the Works Progress Administration to help clear debris from the lakebed of the future reservoir. Afterwards it was to be used for...
“Standing at the foot of History” were the titles of Roger Lucas Reporter’s Notebook in the Star. This is really true in the Grand Coulee Dam Area. We live under the shadow of one of the Greatest Project ever built, Grand Coulee Dam. But there is some much more history in the Grand Coulee Dam Area than Grand Coulee Dam which visitors from all over the world flock to this area to see. I am glad that Roger and his family have had to the opportunity to visit so maybe places of history around these United States. I was born in Seattle and because a...
Fire razed several buildings in Electric City early Tuesday morning, including an unoccupied house. When the call went out about 12:30 a.m., the fire was already well underway, said Mark Payne, fire chief in Electric City. The fire at the house at 118 Fifth Street near the edge of the city also started a small wildland fire that burned about an acre near the edge of the city on a windless night in dry brush. Payne, who could be heard asking dispatchers to call out more firefighters and brush...
Another step toward starting a major new hydropower project that would tunnel beneath the city of Grand Coulee happened Monday when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation published its intent to take proposals for a lease for generating electricity using Lake Roosevelt. The Bureau published in the Federal Register that it will take applications from non-federal entities for a “lease of power privilege” (LOPP) for a “pumped storage hydroelectric” project that creates power by pumping water up to Banks Lake, then letting it back down through generators t...
The second time was not a charm for that yellow house at the top of the hill on the highway to Wilbur last week after a combine somehow started a fire in a wheat field, the second in three weeks, that totally destroyed the house and tens of thousands of dollars worth of wheat. The Sorenson Road Fire started at the end of that road, near the Herdrick home, Lincoln County Fire Protection District 8 Chief Dennis Pinar said. Pinar said the same three houses threatened in the Highway 174 Fire July...
Grand Coulee Dam's Third Powerhouse was renamed last week, a press release from the office of Rep. Dan Newhouse, who represents the state's 4th District in Congress, announced. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said the renaming is in honor of a father-son duo who were "instrumental in the conception, construction and implementation of operations at the dam." The announcement was made during a virtual roundtable event hosted by Newhouse (R-WA) and comes on the heels of Secretary Bernhardt's...
Grand Coulee Dam’s Third Powerhouse will be renamed, the secretary of Interior announced, according to the following press release from the office of Rep. Dan Newhouse, who represents the state’s 4th District in Congress. Press release: WASHINGTON, D.C. – On August 12, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced the Third Power Plant at Grand Coulee Dam would be renamed as the "Nathaniel 'Nat' Washington Power Plant," in honor of the father-son duo who were instr...
A fire in the "Wilbur Hill" area, called the Neal Canyon fire, burned about 70 acres of grass brush and light timber on July 24. The fire, the cause of which is still under investigation, started on a hill near milepost 27 on SR- 174 at roughly 11 a.m. on July 24 and had "high spread potential," according to Veronica Randall, public information officer for the Colville-based Northeast Washington InterAgency Communication Center. The fire had been moving toward wheat fields above the hill, where...
A wildfire burning in the "Wilbur Hill" area, near mile post 27.5 on SR-174, is mostly contained, fire fighters say. The fire, which started roughly at 11 a.m. today, July 24, had been moving towards wheat fields above the hill, where firefighters concentrated their efforts. The fire is also approaching the highway, and firefighters are keeping an eye on it, with traffic being stopped and one lane of travel being allowed at a time. Grand Coulee Fire Chief Ryan Fish, serving as incident command...
More local events that have become traditions have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Run the Dam running event, as well as the Harvest Festival, have both been canceled this past week. Both were originally scheduled for the third week in September. The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce announced on July 17 the cancellation of what would have been the ninth Harvest Festival on their Facebook page. Their board of directors "have explored all possible options to keep this...
A new multimillion-dollar hotel in Grand Coulee is being planned with optimism towards the area growing. Blackfly, LLC, owned by Bill Stevens, a farmer from Soap Lake, and Caleb McNamara, a contractor from Moses Lake, bought property along Midway Avenue that includes Pepper Jack's Bar and Grille, another nearby building, and surrounding lots. The property consists of three parcels of land along Midway Avenue purchased from Norman and Carlene Worsham for $285,000 and a fourth purchased from...
The cause of the wildfire that burned in Coulee Dam June 30 is still under investigation. That fire burned around 21 acres on the northern outskirts of town near 12th Street and Central Drive and up towards the sandhill, according to Debbie Caudell, lead dispatch at Mt. Tolman Fire Center. The fire was first reported to Mt. Tolman at about 7 p.m. and resources were called back in at about midnight. Those resources included four type-6 engines, two dozers, a hand crew, and more. Workers returned the next day to mop up the scene of the fire,...
Fireworks caused one fire on Independence Day and another Monday afternoon. On the Fourth of July, a fire across from the Northrup Point boat launch burned about a tenth of an acre, Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ryan Fish told The Star in an email. That fire was put out by the Bureau of Land Management, which had had about 20 firefighters stationed near North Dam and ready to answer regional fire calls. The Bureau of Reclamation contracted with BLM last year to handle wildfires...
Don’t play with fire! Two agencies have issued restrictions on fires as of July 3. The Bureau of Land Management Spokane District has issued a fire restrictions order on public lands administered by the BLM and the Bureau of Reclamation with which the BLM has an agreement to assist with wildland fire suppression on USBR lands. And Okanogan County’s burn ban is in effect and will continue to be enforced until official notice is made rescinding it by the county commissioners. This burn ban is county-wide, affecting all private and county pro...
As I have said in the past and will continue to vocalize in our nation’s capital: Hydropower is truly the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest. From the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest power producing hydroelectric dam in North America, to the dams along the Columbia and Snake Rivers, Central Washington has come to rely on the clean, affordable, and reliable power these dams produce. We should be encouraging innovation and expansion of hydropower as the United States moves toward a clean energy future. These critical water infrastructure p...
It's the Fourth of July weekend, and there's no fireworks show at the Grand Coulee Dam this year, and very few places to light them locally. - Fireworks are not allowed at North Dam Park due to no one applying for a permit from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. -The city of Grand Coulee allows no fireworks in city limits. -Electric City follows state law which allows fireworks to be lit within the city limits from noon to 11 p.m. from June 28 until July 4, when they’re allowed from noon to midnight. -The city of Coulee Dam forbids fireworks y...
The Fourth of July fast approaching, but don’t plan on setting off fireworks from North Dam again this year; it’s still unavailable as a launching location. The chamber of commerce’s Festival of America event, typically held below the Grand Coulee Dam, with fireworks launched from it, also will not be held this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lighting of personal fireworks from North Dam, a popular spot for years, will not be available, as it was not last year. “Last year on July 4, fireworks were not allowed on top of North Dam bec...
Robert (Bob) John Abel, 81, of Medical Lake, Washington, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, June 9, 2020, surrounded in love by his children. Bob spent his formative years in Spokane and attended St. Patrick Catholic School, where he met several of his lifelong friends who still gather once a month. He was a proud member of the Coast Guard before marrying Dorothy O'Connor in 1971. He worked for Diamond Drilling, which took him all over the Pacific Northwest, the Bureau of Reclamation at Grand...
The Grand Coulee City Council approved a $3.57 million, five-year contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Thursday to continue to use the Grand Coulee Police Department to provide additional security services at the Grand Coulee Dam. The contract, approved and effective as of May 22, expires on May 31, 2025. The city’s old contract with the bureau expired in November 2019, which led to a six-month extension while a new contract was negotiated. The Star was unable to obtain specific details of the new contract but reported in February t...
In the face of uncertainty during the COVID-19 restrictions, the chamber of commerce board of directors voted May20 to cancel any planning for the Festival of America over this year’s Independence Day holiday. The annual event, which normally includes vendors and performers in the park below the visitor center at Grand Coulee Dam, draws thousands each year, most to watch the fireworks off the top of the iconic dam. But all of that takes planning and a timeline that has run out. And the host federal agency, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, has n...
There is no known timeline yet for opening the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s visitor center at Grand Coulee Dam, or for the restart of what is normally the nightly Laser Light Show that begins Memorial Day weekend and plays all summer and most of the fall. The COVID-19 pandemic has kept the Visitor Center closed and postponed the laser show and tours of the dam, said Lynne Brougher, public affairs specialist at Grand Coulee Dam. “The impacts to the schedule resulting from COVID are unknown and still developing at this time.” “The reopeni...
A crew of workers makes progress on the new fire station under construction for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation off SR-155 Monday. Two cranes were active on the site, lifting materials to the top of the structure. - Scott Hunter photo...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and Jim Costa (D-CA) last week led a letter to congressional leadership urging the inclusion of critical water infrastructure in the upcoming COVID-19 economic and infrastructure recovery package. Signed by 24 bipartisan members of Congress, the letter outlines the importance of Bureau of Reclamation water infrastructure projects in addressing water storage, conservation, and delivery to rural areas and municipalities across the country. “As we begin debate on how to restart the American eco...
Joseph (Joe) Martin Mitchell's journey of life ended Saturday April 4, 2020 at home in Phoenix Arizona. Joe was born on December 9, 1935 in Denver, Colorado to Martin H. Mitchell and Margaret E. Mitchell. In 1944, the family moved to Boulder City, Nevada. He graduated from Boulder City High School in 1953 where he met Susan L. Dickens, they married on August 21, 1956. Upon graduating High School, Joe continued his education and matriculated from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah....