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The 2nd Harvest Mobile Market that had been scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed because of the smoke. It has been rescheduled it for Oct 6. Since 2006, the Mobile Market has provided fresh produce and other groceries at no cost to families, children and seniors experiencing food insecurity. Thanks to community organizations who sponsored and hosted the events and volunteers who helped distribute the food, the Mobile Market provided food for 1.4 million meals throughout Eastern Washington... Full story
You should probably sleep with the windows closed as smoke from fires along the west coast of the United States has gathered in the Pacific Ocean and is about to blow our way. The Washington Department of Ecology posted a satellite photo of the smoke on Twitter earlier today. "Here's the forecast we've been dreading," the tweet reads. "A huge mass of smoke from wildfires in [Oregon] and [California] has been building up off the coast. It's now headed our way." Western Washington, Southwestern... Full story
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...
Small businesses that operate in Electric City will be receiving some financial relief from the economically distressed times caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Electric City council voted at their Sept. 8 meeting to approve distributing $24,000 in federal relief money to local businesses through a grant application process they held during the summer. The money comes from a grant program set up using some of the city’s $30,900 the city is qualified for in total in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds. The 12 b...
Cases of COVID-19 continue to accumulate in local counties, but the rate at which they occur has decreased for some. Here are the latest data for COVID-19 in Grant, Okanogan, Lincoln, and Douglas (GOLD) counties. Counties need an incident 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 most local counties are far from that goal. As of Sept. 6: As of Sept. 8, Grant County has: 2,497 total cases, including 16 deaths; seven cases in the Grand Coulee Dam... Full story
A woman, a man, and a teenage boy from Portland, Oregon were arrested near Lamona in Lincoln County on felony residential burglary charges Wednesday. On Sept. 2, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office received a 9-1-1 call at about 11 a.m. reporting a residential burglary in progress in Lamona, according to a press release from Sheriff Wade Magers. Lamona is almost halfway from Odessa to Harrington along SR-28. Undersheriff Kelly Watkins, Deputy Chad Cunningham, and Deputy Luke Mallon responded to Lamona at Carlson Road. The reporting party d...
The Grant County Commissioner #1 position is between Earl Romig of Moses Lake and Danny Stone of Hartline, both Republicans. Stone lives north of Hartline and Almira and manages a dry-land grain operation in Grant and Lincoln counties. He has served as a Precinct Committee Officer in both Lincoln and Grant Counties and currently serves on the Executive Board of the Grant County Republican Central Committee as the 12th Legislative District chair. "I am a Christian and a constitutional...
Grant County PUD customers will be happy to hear their electric rates won’t be going up anytime soon. PUD commissioners learned at their Aug. 25 meeting that the PUD is on track to meet most of its financial targets through 2025 “with virtually no annual electric rate increases to customers,” a recap of their meeting posted on their website reads. However, “conditions could change amid revenue uncertainty on the wholesale energy market and spending needs in the coming years as the economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemi...
Grand Coulee 8/31 - A woman reported that another woman was camping in the yard of a neighbor on Electric Boulevard. Police told her no laws were being broken. The woman who was camping said she was waiting to inherit several houses in the area, and had been here about seven months, and that her attorney said he would contact her in the Grand Coulee Dam area. The officer advised her to get a new attorney. 9/1 - A woman complained about loud music on Electric Boulevard the past couple of days. Police told her to call back when the music was...
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...
Among the many fires burning in Eastern Washington tonight are five on the Colville Reservation, including three on its eastern edge that have consumed about 8,000 acres, where evacuations are underway. In Lincoln County, sheriff's deputies are notifying residents of Level 3 evacuation orders now (7:45 p.m.) along the entire Hawk Creek Ranch Road and telling residents in Hawk Creek Estates to get ready, a Level 2 evacuation notice. We believe this is now called the Whitney Fire. It had burned... Full story
Update 4:11 p.m. Bridgeport and Bridgeport Bar area is under a Level 3 evacuation, and US 97 is closed from Pateros north. #ColdSpringsCanyonPearlHillFireUpdate: Level 3 evac notices have been issued to the City of B.port and B.port Bar. Residents are being directed to leave towards Brewster and contact the Red Cross (509) 670-5331 if they require shelter assistance. — Douglas County Sheriffs Office - WA (@DoCoSheriffWA) September 7, 2020 Earlier story: Douglas County authorities just... Full story
The Washington State Patrol is advising that US 2 is now closed due to a fire in the area 18 miles east of Wilbur from MP 238 to Mp 243 as of 2 p.m. Expected time to reopen is unknown. Also, the Washington State Dept. of Transporation says several other roadways are closed due to bad visibility from smoke and or dust: ▪️ I-90 Grant County line to Ritzville ▪️ US 395 Ritzville to SR 26 ▪️ US 2 from SR 172 to SR 17 ▪️ SR 172 ▪️ SR 17 Other closures could come with little warning. Please be prepared. Windy and gusting conditions are expe... Full story
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 Colville Tribes is working to address the problem of students in the Nespelem area not having access to the internet while schools are switching to a distance-learning model of education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Nespelem School District board of directors Aug. 26 approved allowing the Tribes to build an internet tower on school grounds, something that Superintendent/Principal Effie Dean said would bring internet access to the town of Nespelem. And beyond the town people could create “hotspots” using their phones, altogether bri... Full story
Grant County commissioners issued a "desperate appeal" Aug. 25 for the public's help in getting the COVID-19 epidemic in the county under control. With the county's rate of new infections currently the worst in the state, commissioners Tuesday passed a proclamation recognizing that community commitment "at a 'grass root' level will be the most effective in succeeding at eliminating the covid-19 virus." Since last Thursday, the Grant Health District had received reports of 63 new cases and... Full story
A local doctor traveled this summer to Taiwan, a country noted as having had one of the best responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the world, one with a strategy that differs greatly from that of the United States or even the state of Washington. The island country 100 miles off the coast of the People's Republic of China that has had 488 cases of the disease among its population of 23.6 million, even though its population is approximately 115 times as dense in its cities as Grant County, which... Full story
Chelan, WA August 24, 2020: North Cascades Bank announced that Erica Anaya has recently been promoted to Assistant Vice President, Business Development Officer. Previously, she served as a Senior Personal Banker. Anaya has been with the bank for 13 years and has spent her career developing relationships with new and existing customers. “Having Erica serve in this new role to procure new business and deepen existing customer relationships will enhance our growth objectives throughout our marketplace,” said Senior Vice President, Director of Ret...
The political race for representative #1 for Washington's 12th Legislative District, which includes much of the Grand Coulee Dam area, is between Republican incumbent Keith Goehner and challenger Adrianne Moore, a Democrat. Goehner, a former teacher from Dryden, has served as Chelan County commissioner and is currently finishing his first two-year term in the Legislature. His priorities include "addressing unfunded mandates on local government, agriculture and tourism," his website says. "It is...
Grand Coulee Police 8/25 - A Batchelor Square woman and her niece got into a physical altercation after arguing about makeup. She decided to pay for her niece to stay in a motel for the night and an officer took her there. - A 91-year-old man was reportedly sticking his thumb out, hitchhiking on Coulee Boulevard. The man wasn’t there upon police arrival. - A black Dodge pickup was reportedly driving erratically, nearly hitting a guardrail, from Grand Coulee Avenue to Martin Road. Police were unable to locate the vehicle. 8/26 - The driver of a...
A woman, a man, and a teenage boy from Portland, Oregon were arrested near Lamona in Lincoln County on felony residential burglary charges Wednesday. On Sept. 2, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office received a 9-1-1 call at about 11 a.m. reporting a residential burglary in progress in Lamona, according to a press release from Sheriff Wade Magers. Lamona is almost halfway from Odessa to Harrington along SR-28. Undersheriff Kelly Watkins, Deputy Chad Cunningham, and Deputy Luke Mallon responded to...
Small businesses are being helped out by local governments, and Okanogan County business owners have only a couple more days to apply for funds from that county. The Okanogan County Economic Alliance has the grant application for small businesses to apply for up to $10,000 at http://www.economic-alliance.com/. That money comes from $250,000 set aside by the county from federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act money. That application is due on Aug. 28. Grant County commissioners set aside $2.5 million out of the... Full story
Covid update for GOLD Cases of COVID-19 continue to accumulate in the area and so here is the latest data for COVID-19 in Grant, Okanogan, Lincoln, and Douglas (GOLD) counties. Counties need an incident 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 local counties are far from that goal. As of August 26, Grant County has: 2,182 cases; 13 deaths; seven cases in the Grand Coulee Dam area; 525 cases in the past 14 days; and as of August 25 has an... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors will be holding a Special Zoom Meeting on Friday, August 28 at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will address one item “Correction: approval of August Accounts Payable...
Gary Carden began taking the COVID-19 virus very seriously after he contracted the disease, was put on a ventilator - and survived. Relaying his story over the phone on Monday, Carden, 63, said that on June 18, he was sitting in his chair in Nespelem, where he lives and runs The Ketch Pen Tavern. He was feeling "weak and woozy." His sister told him that he didn't look too good, and they decided to call an ambulance, which took him to Coulee Medical Center. After about two hours at the hospital,... Full story