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 low cloud pattern happens to catch the sun just right near Crescent Bay for dramatic effect. Winter is apparently back, with lows in the high 20s and highs in the 30s. Check our weather outlook on page 3. - Scott Hunter photo...
The soft light of candles illuminates the Lake Roosevelt gym Monday night as students, staff and community members gather to reflect on the loss of student Ambrose Moore, who died unexpectedly on Friday. The editorial on page two recalls the experience. - Scott Hunter photo...
Voters in the Nespelem School District 14 are being asked to approve a new tax levy to replace one that will expire this year, for taxes to be collected from 2025 to 2028. The ballot question says the amount sought by the district is $40,000 for each of those years. The tax rate is estimated at $2.15 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation on real property, or $215 for a $100,000 property. Proposition 1 was approved last year by the Nespelem School Board of Directors. The levy would pay for educational programs and operational expenses not...
Elmer City residents met recently to hear about planning efforts for the town's parks and about early results of an ongoing survey on park preferences in the town. City planner Kurt Danison of Highland Associates said the room full of people Jan. 24 was a better turnout than he usually sees for planning meetings in much larger towns, and that interest is what's needed. He said the town so far had 52 people who had responded to a survey on their park preferences, 29 in one day. Nearly 71 percent...
A sea of red, white and blue covered the Capitol steps as hundreds of Washingtonians proudly waved American flags and demanded hearings on six initiatives that would roll back taxes, give parents more rights and police more authority. The initiatives funded by the political action group Let’s Go Washington all received the requisite number of signatures to be approved for consideration but have yet to receive a hearing from the Legislature. In all, 2.6 million citizens signed the petitions. Republicans say the Constitution demands that i...
Coulee Medical Center, along with a couple dozen other public hospitals in Washington state, has been ordered by the state attorney general to provide surgical abortions. The hospital has offered abortion by medicine, but not surgery. That violates the Reproductive Privacy Act, according to Attorney General Bob Ferguson who wrote to CMC in November, stating it was in violation of the law because it fails to offer “substantially equivalent” care to those seeking an abortion, a standard it must meet under the law. Any hospital that can offer to... Full story
Scheduled to start in mid-February, a 10-mile, slope stabilization project near Soap Lake will seek to reduce rockfall onto the highway, the Washington Department of Transportation says. It's unclear if it's part of their New Year's resolution, but the slopes along State Route 17 from mileposts 76 to 85 in Grant County will start to look trimmer this year. To make travel from Soap Lake to Coulee City safer for locals and visitors, a contractor for the Washington State Department of...
In an effort to help high school students prepare for a future full of options, STCU is making an unprecedented effort to help families with completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The credit union is offering FAFSA assistance, after hours at STCU branch locations throughout Eastern Washington and North Idaho. An additional 21 opportunities are being offered, with assistance from trained volunteers who are STCU employees. Completing the FAFSA is a critical step for those who may decide to obtain specialized career...
An immature bald eagle takes off from a treetop at Crescent Bay on Lake Roosevelt looking a little worse for wear with ragged feathers Jan 24. Two of the big birds were in the small tree together near a parking area. - Scott Hunter photo...
Electric City has a lot going on, and the mayor wanted people to have a chance to learn, ask questions and share their thoughts on a several key projects, so the city held a town-hall type meeting at the fire hall Tuesday night. Mayor Diane Kohout spoke with a roomful of citizens about an upcoming vote on de-annexing four parcels of property the city annexed several years ago. Those can't be developed, belong to federal or state agencies, and sometimes require services from the city, such as...
Washingtonians may lose their cherished ultra-late-night sunsets in the summer if Washington state opts for permanent Pacific Standard Time (PST). "If Congress had acted, we would not be here with this bill," remarked Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley. The U.S. Senate, in March 2022, passed the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 that would have made daylight saving permanent, but it has not been approved by the House. The measure now under consideration in the Legislature would have Washington swi...
Until further notice, Keller Ferry users who travel across the Columbia River on State Route 21 should continue to find alternate routes, the state Department of Transportation says. The Keller Ferry (M/V Sanpoil) was removed from service Wednesday, Jan. 10, due to an electrical issue that caused transmission issues during sailing. While troubleshooting the vessel’s electrical systems that week, technicians discovered that an additional electrical breaker system had failed. Coupled with the recent arctic air this past weekend, the vessel e...
A police officer couldn't wait for the fire department to evacuate a woman inside a home that was burning in Coulee Dam last week. Officer Josh Watkins went back to the home he'd visited a few minutes before for an unrelated matter after the dispatch center in Moses Lake told him a bedroom in the house at 1107 River Drive was now on fire. It was 5:23 p.m. Watkins arrived and saw large flames coming out of the bedroom at the northeast corner of the house. Young people he'd just spoken with were...
A citizen initiative aimed at giving police wider discretion on when they engage in high-speed pursuits was forwarded to the Legislature on Jan. 11. Secretary of State Steve Hobbs notified the Legislature petitions for Initiative 2113 meet all legal requirements. Initiative 2113 backers want to amend a law on police pursuit that passed in 2021, which requires officers to have “probable cause” instead of “reasonable suspicion” to engage in pursuits. Critics say that measure hinders law enforcement officers who want to pursue possible lawbrea...
Grant PUD staff have recommended transitioning the utility’s current “Active-E” ethernet technology for to-the-home fiber-optic service with industry standard “passive optical network” or PON technology for a more cost effective and scalable service with greater longevity. IT Manager David Parkhurst told commissioners last week the PON technology would use a lot of the same infrastructure as the existing network, the PUD said in a release, but it would mean lower maintenance and operation costs, faster upload and download speeds, better cy...
Electric City swore in its two newest council members Tuesday and one who held onto his seat in the November election. Brian Buche took the oath of office again, having been re-elected over challenger Levi Johnson. The new members now joining Buche at council were Matt Gilbert and Blake Martin, who, like Johnson, are Grand Coulee police officers. The newcomers got a relatively light agenda to start, with 19 items on it ranging from approving prior meetings’ minutes to hearing the particulars of a sewer connection discussion and passing an o...
The National Weather Service in Spokane is warning of dangerously cold wind chills as low as -25 degrees being a possibility over the several days, from Thursday evening through Sunday morning in the Upper Columbia Basin. That area includes Grand Coulee, Coulee City, Wilbur, Creston, Odessa and Harrington. The dangerously cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes. NWS says, "Confidence is increasing for very cold temperatures Friday into early next week... Full story
SR 21 is closed in both directions as Keller Ferry on the Columbia River at MP 106.65 north of Wilbur is out of service. The state department of Transportation advised to use an alternate route and expect a long delay. The ferry went down at 1:40 pm on January 10, according to WSDOT’s app.... Full story
Early morning sunlight paints the back of the top of Grand Coulee Dam and the mountains to the north Tuesday after an overnight snowfall brought winter back to the region following a warm December. Temperatures are expected to get much colder later this week. - Scott Hunter photo...
To celebrate their anniversary, the Eagles Auxiliary and the Eagles Aerie made a donation Saturday to a young student raising money for a trip to Boston this summer. On the 77th anniversary of the Eagles and the 75th anniversary of the auxiliary, Pharaoh Hudson received their check for $300. He and his family are trying to raise enough money to get him to Boston and cover expenses for the trip. Hudson received in the mail a notice that he had been nominated for an "award of excellence for...
Public safety should be a top priority for this year's legislative session, Gov. Jay Inslee and bipartisan state legislators said on the eve of the 2024 legislative session. "We need additional officers on the street," Inslee told reporters. "And to help local police forces find their additional officers, I'm proposing a $10 million grant program." Washington state ranks 50th in the nation for the number of law enforcement officers per capita, Inslee and legislators acknowledged. At the annual...
Two Lake Roosevelt Elementary School teachers were recognized for their efforts before the school board at its meeting Monday night. Third-grade teacher Jessica Tufts and fourth-grade teacher Alissa Seaver were each highlighted in the "Superintendent's Spotlight" for those who go "above and beyond" for the district. Superintendent Rod Broadnax said he stops by their classrooms every day. "Students are engaged, students are learning," he said. The two were responsible for organizing the recent...
Grand Coulee Police 1/1 - Two vehicles were towed away after a collision on Midway Avenue that caused extensive front-end damage to both vehicles. One of the vehicles had failed to yield to the other as it was turning onto Spokane Way. 1/2 - Police responded to a residence where a woman said she had been sprayed by pepper spray. There was no discoloration or odor from the spray. The woman said she didn’t know how she was sprayed but that her eyes were swollen. The situation was handed over to a medical crew. - Police responded to Weil Place w...
Seven brave souls take a refreshing dip in Lake Roosevelt just after noon on New Year's Day at Spring Canyon for the annual polar plunge. In its seventh year, the plunge seems to attract participants numbered in proportion to the degrees above zero on the thermometer. It was about 40. From left: Bob Carlson, Koy Griesse, Lazelda Foster, Gwen Hilson, Tammy Norris, Diana Parrish, Diane Bussard and Kori Goudey. - Scott Hunter photo...
An effort to put a school resource officer at Lake Roosevelt Schools and add another policeman to Grand Coulee’s department has been stopped, and grant funding for it turned down. Funded partially by a federal grant, the effort would have expanded Grand Coulee Police efforts to enhance community relations and allay potential future problems with an in-school presence. It also would have required coordination of two budgetary processes right at a time when both the city and the school district needed to finalize budgets by law. The city had u...
