News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Coulee Medical Center financial documents show a loss of just over $332,000 in August, but a huge pot of cash came through under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act Congress passed earlier this year. CMC banked some $4.4 million in CARES Act funds, Chief Financial Officer Kelly Hughes reported to hospital district commissioners Monday night over a Zoom meeting. That put the hospital in the black by $4,085,192 for the month and $988,443 for the year so far. That compares to the gain CMC had planned on, pre-pandemic, of nearly...
Washington, D.C. — The Fallen Journalists Memorial (FJM) Foundation, News Media Alliance, National Newspaper Association and National Association of Broadcasters today commended the U.S. House of Representatives on passing bipartisan legislation authorizing the FJM Foundation to establish a national memorial that honors the many reporters, editors, photographers and broadcasters who have lost their lives reporting the news. “Washington has many monuments honoring those who have sacrificed their lives to protect our freedoms — yet, there is no...
The rate of COVID-19 cases has gone down in the state of Washington, and in Grant and Douglas counties, but has gone slightly up in Okanogan and Lincoln counties over the last week. Counties need an incidence rate of 25 cases or fewer per population of 100,000 in the past 14 days to move forward a phase in the Washington Safe Start Recovery plan. And to partially open in-person schooling, that rate must not exceed 75. Here are the latest data for COVID-19 in Grant, Okanogan, Lincoln, and Douglas (GOLD) counties. As of Sept. 29, Okanogan County...
Moses Lake’s Stratford Road bridge crossing will be completely closed to all traffic from 6:30 pm to 6:30 a.m. nightly this week, the city of Moses Lake said Tuesday when construction work closed it. Construction should be completed Friday night, Oct. 2. The work is closing Stratford Road between Broadway Avenue and Valley Road, so drivers should allow extra travel time and plan to use an alternate route. Stratford is a popular route from for people from the Grand Coulee area heading to Moses Lake....
Although the area got some badly needed rain last week, local firefighters found out firsthand it wasn’t enough. Volunteers from the Grand Coulee and Electric City fire departments fought a 100-acre wildfire for four hours along the Columbia River with Douglas County Fire District 3 firefighters Sept. 24. Crews from Douglas Okanogan Fire Dist. 15, Douglas County #5 and the Bureau of Land Management also sent fire trucks and personnel. “The fire burnt well considering the rain we received yesterday, but the winds dried out the (grain) and shr... Full story
Grand Coulee Police 9/18 - A Kent Street man said he didn’t want to press charges against a man he said had come to his home to collect on a debt but punched him the face and threatened him with a hammer when he only paid him $20. The report didn’t specify what the total debt was. - An officer spoke with a woman from Grand Coulee on the phone. The woman was difficult to talk to and slurred her words, and the officer found himself repeating himself to her quite often. The woman said she loaned her credit card to a man who hadn’t returned it. T...
Local science teacher Derrick Johnson launched a helium weather balloon that went up in the sky over 87,000 feet to "near space," a place "where you and I would not survive, no matter how much oxygen we would breathe or how many coats we would put on," Johnson told The Star in an email. A video on YouTube shows the flight as the balloon goes up and up, showing Lake Roosevelt and Banks Lake, as well as other surrounding areas from a greater and greater distance, eventually showing the curvature...
Students at Lake Roosevelt will soon be able to use the computer labs at the school. A Sept. 24 update from Superintendent Paul Turner says that beginning Oct. 1, because Okanogan county is at about 18 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 populations, meeting requirements from county health directors to open the school further, that students will be able to take advantage of the schools computer labs. The four labs in the high school and one lab in the elementary school will be able to accommodate 50 students total at a time, Turner's update says. A... Full story
The Grand Coulee City Council meeting that was cancelled on Tuesday has been rescheduled for Thursday, Sept. 24 at 6 p.m., to be conducted via ZOOM at https://zoom.us/j/96190557159?pwd=MmtnWS91SUJuOU9pNVMwZFI4VzVtUT09 . Items on the agenda include: A discussion on the wastewater agreement with Electric City; a Chamber of Commerce fundraiser discussion; fire awareness/risk management; a discussion about using federal COVID relief dollars to help small businesses; and more.... Full story
Operating a public school during the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t easy, but optimism remains with the COVID incidence rate in Okanogan County being low right now. As if to underscore the challenges, regional internet service for many went down Tuesday night, right before the Grand Coulee Dam School Board was to meet, via Zoom, to consider whether to partially open in-school teaching. “Everybody’s totally stressed out, it’s been totally nuts,” Superintendent Paul Turner had said Monday over the phone about the new, currently online-only school ye...
In Okanogan County, the Commissioner District #1 race is between incumbent Chris Branch of Omak, who lists no party preference, and Shauna Beeman, a Republican from Omak. Voters will choose between them on the Nov. 3 ballot for the commissioner who represents District 1, which extends south to Coulee Dam. Branch "The basis for my work as a County Commissioner is thoughtful action based on engagement and learning," Branch, who has been in office since 2016, says on his website. "To learn, it is...
COVID-19 cases seem to be going down in the area, with Okanogan County meeting requirements that would allow it to open up more. Counties need an incidence rate of 25 cases or fewer per population of 100,000 in the past 14 days to move forward a phase in the Washington Safe Start Recovery plan. And to partially open in-person schooling, that rate must not exceed 75. Here are the latest data for COVID-19 in Grant, Okanogan, Lincoln, and Douglas (GOLD) counties. As of Sept. 22, Okanogan County had 1,042 total cases, including 13 deaths. There... Full story
Grand Coulee Police 9/12 - A Cardinal Road man was punched after he told another man walking down the street not to kick a dog, which angered that man, leading to a fight that was about even, according to the first man. 9/15 - Police went to a Section Place residence where yelling was reported, possibly a woman asking someone to call the police, according to the party who did call. Police arrived to find two men playing video games. The men said the noise came from them “talking trash” while playing the games. Police were allowed to look around...
The Labor Day fires that consumed hundreds of thousands of acres around Washington over the last nine days were coming under control Tuesday, but not before killing one infant, burning dozens of homes and other structures in the local region, taking out hundreds if not thousands of utility poles and hundreds of miles of ranchers' fencing. The circle of fires at the center of which the Grand Coulee Dam community found itself, burned more land by far than all other fires in the state, tallied at... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors will be holding a special meeting via Zoom today, Sept. 22, at 5:30 p.m. "to review up to date information and discuss potential school re-opening options," a notice from the district reads. The link to join the meeting is https://gcdsd.zoom.us/j/677070515... Full story
Update 9/16 11:55 a.m. The state Dept. of Ecology has extended the Air Quality Alert until noon Friday, although locally the air seems a lot less chewy (not a technical term) than it was before Tuesday. And it is only unhealthy currently, as opposed to outright hazardous. Good news: The Natonal Weather Service has co-opted the data from PurpleAir.com, which uses cheaper, but plentiful, air monitors. They've put up a useful new fire and smoke map at https://fire.airnow.gov/?la... Full story
A pedestrian/bike path along SR-155 that would connect the Coulee Playland area to Banks Lake Park is still in the works. With the path in the design phase currently, the path between the north end of Electric City and the south end of Grand Coulee would be completed in 2021. The vision for the pathway is a half-mile-long paved area less than 10 feet wide on the lake side of the guardrail along Banks Lake, where pedestrians and cyclists can travel comfortably. The $707,800 project will be paid for with $672,410 from a Washington State...
Park levy info coming Electric City councilmembers Brian Buche and Cheryl Hoffman volunteered to work on getting information out to residents explaining a $10,000 levy for maintenance of the city’s proposed Ice Age Park. The levy will be on the ballot for the Nov. 3 election. A flier and a public online meeting about the levy are possibilities for getting the information out to the public. The pair will work with the park committee as well, which includes Councilmember Cate Slater. “I’m not telling you to tell them yes or no, but to have the i...
A young family caught in the Cold Springs Fire apparently left their wrecked pickup in an attempt to get to safety Tuesday afternoon, but their 1-year-old son lost his life. The family was found on the banks of the Columbia River, the parents with third-degree burns and the baby already deceased, Okanogan County Sheriff Tony Hawley said in a press release Wednesday afternoon. Jacob and Jamie Hyland, 31 and 26, of Renton, Washington, and their baby were found before 10 a.m. Wednesday and were...
The incidence rates for COVID-19 have gone down significantly in Grant, Okanogan, and Douglas counties, while Lincoln County’s rate surged last week, and two additional cases have popped up in both Elmer City and Nespelem. Counties need an incidence rate of 25 cases or fewer per population of 100,000 in the past 14 days to move forward a phase in the Washington Safe Start Recovery plan. And to partially open in-person schooling locally, that rate must not exceed 75. Here are the latest data for COVID-19 in Grant, Okanogan, Lincoln, and D...
A 17-year-old barista in Okanogan tried to hide in the bathroom after a young man came into the Free Bird Coffee Stand on North Second Avenue, asked for water, then demanded everything they had. Okanogan County Sheriff Tony Hawley said the young woman was dragged out of the bathroom by the suspect, a man with tattoos on his face wearing a black jacket and white T-shirt. He left headed south, she told police. They were called at 3:10 p.m. Sept. 9, Hawley said. At 3:14, after Omak police, multiple sheriff’s deputies and the Washington State P...
Grand Coulee Police 9/7 - A shed door had been blown open from the wind and damaged. Police secured the door the best they could. A neighbor said they would tell the owner. 9/8 - Police checked on an open door on the second floor of Pepper Jack’s and found nothing of note. - The owner of property on Electric Boulevard said he didn’t want a woman staying there. The woman was banned from the property. 9/9 - Police assisted in getting an intoxicated man on Federal Avenue to his home. - A woman’s infant was locked inside of her SUV at The Coule...
A porcupine that survived the largest of the wildfires in the state, has been recuperating in the care of its human neighbor. Riley Wisdom was driving Sept. 10 on the road leading to her home, along with her boyfriend and mother, when they saw the porcupine they had named Porky huddled by a tree in an area scorched in the recent Pearl Hill Fire which had burned nearly 234,000 acres, including right up to their home located about 30 minutes from Mansfield. "She has lived on our road for several y...
Electric City has a newly formed planning commission now. Mayor Diane Kohout announced at the Sept. 8 city council meeting that members were chosen for the commission: Chairman Don Redfield, Secretary Doug Lockard, Alric Miller, Steve McDaniels, and Ian Turner. The commissioners will be joined by Councilmember Brian Buche, City Planner Kurt Danison, and Hearing Examiner Andrew Kottkamp. The commission will "review and advise the City Council on public and private activities involving the...
Sept. 11, 9:30 a.m. update: The Cold Springs Fire is now at 187,689 acres and is 25% contained, according to a Sept. 10 update from the Northeast Washington Interagency Incident Management Team. Power companies are working on replacing poles and to restore power in affected areas. "Priorities today will focus on the area east of Omak Lake and the Haley Lake area," the update says. "This area is where the most fire activity is and firefighters on the ground will be assisted by bucket operations... Full story