News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1375 - 1399 of 6403
Opportunity for growth has opened for the town of Nespelem with an upgraded water system now up and running. Mayor Darcy Epperson explained to The Star over the phone on Tuesday that the town actually has two water systems, and needed to repair one of them. "We did two because if our one goes down, we are without [water] and our town has no way to get that water to our customers. So that's why it was such an emergent situation. We have them both up and running now." "The town had been in this...
Coulee Dam 12/21 - Police responded to a report of a female hitting a pickup truck with a stick on Columbia Avenue. Police spoke to a man standing by his truck who said that nothing happened and there wasn’t any damage to his truck. - A woman told police that her package containing a sword had been stolen from outside her River Drive apartment. She said her neighbor had told her she knew the package was stolen and that someone who steals packages lives in Electric City. The woman said she got the sword back but didn’t elaborate on how. 12/...
In-person school is being encouraged by the state, but Lake Roosevelt is limited on space to keep a safe distance between students and staff. The guidelines for when to open schools to in-person learning were loosened up by Gov. Jay Inslee last week, citing data showing schools as being relatively safe during the COVID pandemic when they’re careful to follow safety protocols. The Washington State Department of Health and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction worked with the governor on the decision. Guidelines from the state pr... Full story
Locals have a lot of ideas for their North Dam Park, a Star survey reveals, including lights, updated playground equipment, a dog park, outdoor movies, and more. Last week, The Star reported on a meeting between Coulee Area Park and Recreation District commissioners in which they discussed areas for improvement at the park, and the need to look into grants to help pay for those improvements. The Star then shared a survey online asking readers their opinions on the commissioners' ideas, and to...
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
The Colville Tribes extended the closure of the Colville Reservation to non-essential visitors until midnight on May 31, 2021, and started a curfew in the Keller District. Chairman for the Colville Tribes Rodney Cawston said in a Dec. 22 press release that the Keller District is “experiencing a severe outbreak of COVID-19 infections.” As of Dec. 21, there are 15 active cases of COVID-19 in Keller and more people in quarantine while they await test results or to see if symptoms develop. “It is absolutely necessary to impose this curfew to prese... Full story
As of Dec. 22, Grant County had reported 6,466 total COVID-19 cases including 73 deaths, eight deaths since Dec. 15. There have been 23 cases in the Grand Coulee Dam area and 39 in the Coulee City area. As of Dec. 21, the county has had 947 cases in prior 14 days for an incidence rate of 969, down from 1,054 Dec. 15. The incidence goal is 25 or fewer cases per 100,000 population. Most local counties are seeing rates in the multiple hundreds, as is the state as a whole. With 15 new cases in the Coulee City area in the last two weeks, that... Full story
The long, controversial story of the imagined Ice Age Park in Electric City has come to an end, but the potential for a park is still there. The city council voted at their Dec. 8 meeting to stop the Ice Age Park project and so to return $28,234.31 of spent grant money to the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office. That grant included $257,650 from the state, and an exact match from the city. The city returned their $257,650 match back into their hotel/motel fund which now has $519,275 in it. The $32,190.69 the city spent on the...
Local Democratic Party leadership will meet in early January to elect officers for the 12th Legislative District who will serve for the 2021-2022 biennium. The virtual meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. Officers elected will include chair, vice-chair, state committee members, secretary, and treasurer. Any Democrat who lives within the 12th Legislative District may run for office. Nominations must be submitted electronically by midnight on Tuesday, Jan. 5. Only newly elected Democratic Party Precinct Committee Officers will...
Public safety laws on the Colville Reservation will be strictly enforced during the current spike in COVID-19 cases, the Colville Tribes says, including with possible fines and jail time. “The Tribal Health Department is issuing specific orders to infected or exposed people, which are intended to control the spread of the disease,” a Dec. 9 press release from the Colville Tribes says. “These orders may be for an individual to quarantine or isolate and avoid all contact with others. Any violation of a Tribal Health order is a criminal Class... Full story
COVID rates are still high in local counties and the state as a whole, with the state reporting over 35,000 cases in the past 14 days. In local counties, cases among those in the 20-40 age range far outnumber any other age group. As of Dec. 15: Grant County had reported 6,035 total COVID-19 cases, 103 reported just Tuesday. The total includes 65 deaths, 11 of those in the past week. There have been 22 cases in the Grand Coulee Dam area and 29 in the Coulee City area, up six in the past week. The county has had 973 cases in the prior 14 days... Full story
A car blurred by a long exposure drives past Coulee Dam's holiday-decorated Douglas Park at the foot of Douglas Street, which leads to city hall. Lighted candy cane ornaments adorn light poles all the way up the street, with this view showing the last one across from the park. - Scott Hunter photo...
Efforts from local scouts to collect food donations from the community last week brought in over 2,000 pounds of food to the Care and Share Food Bank. Carole Nordine, who manages the food bank, said they received lots of mac and cheese, soups, and fruits and vegetables. She felt that this year’s haul from the annual event seemed better than in previous years. “It was awesome!” she said. Combined with the foods already there, the donations brought in from the girls and boys in local Scouts BSA troops will last through about March, Nordine said....
Would you like it if North Dam Park had new tennis courts, lighted ball fields, new playground equipment, and more flowers? We want to know. Commissioners for The Coulee Area Parks and Recreation District last week discussed improvements that could be made at North Dam Park, which it manages. The improvements could potentially be paid for, at least in part, with money from various grants. The commissioners at their Dec. 9 meeting agreed to each look into various estimates for certain improvements to gain firmer cost ideas for any grant writing... Full story
Education looks far different today than when George LaPlace was in school, and he thinks its future is likely to see more amazing changes even though funding inequities currently in place still need work. LaPlace has served as a school board director in the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors since the 2014-15 school year. As chairman since January of this year, he answered questions from The Star over email covering topics ranging from the role of the board, education during...
Grand Coulee Police 12/5 - A woman said that she confronted two women stealing tires at apartments on Coulee Boulevard, and that she was almost run over by them. She said that when they drove off in a blue Chevy truck with a red rack she was almost pinned between their truck and hers. The woman never followed up with the police in reporting missing items. 12/8 - A man reported damage to his fence near Lakeview and Nu Coulee Boulevards. Police photographed the fence, which appeared as if someone had driven through it. The man also showed police...
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...
Public safety laws on the Colville Reservation will be strictly enforced during the current spike in COVID-19 cases, a Dec. 9 press release from the Colville Tribes says. “The Tribal Health Department is issuing specific orders to infected or exposed people which are intended to control the spread of the disease,” the release reads. “These orders may be for an individual to quarantine or isolate and avoid all contact with others. Any violation of a Tribal Health order is a criminal Class A violation of the Colville Tribal Criminal Code punis... Full story
Grant County Health District is reporting 11 additional confirmed COVID-19 associated deaths of Grant County residents. Ten deaths were associated with Long Term Care Facilities (LTC) outbreaks first reported on Nov. 20. All those residents had underlying conditions putting them at higher risk for severe complications due to a COVID-19 infection. Lake Ridge Center in Moses Lake has had a total of 15 confirmed COVID-19 associated deaths during the recent outbreak. There are 3 known additional deaths pending death certificate review. These most r... Full story
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....
A COVID-era rule intended to help individuals has meant lost revenue for cities, and utilities. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s Proclamation 20-23, first issued in March of 2020, doesn’t allow utilities to be shut off for a resident, nor for late fees to be charged. That has meant that those who charge for utilities, such as local cities and electric companies, are holding higher amounts of their customers unpaid bills than usual, and that they also haven’t been able to bring in money from late fees like they have before. Locally, the city of Gr...
Paul Stout delivers an empty grocery bag to a doorstep in Coulee Dam Saturday. The Scouts BSA boys and girls troops 24 and 52 will be picking up those bags, which they left all over the community last week, this coming Saturday after you fill them with food. The full bags of food will be delivered to the local food bank, which will be glad to get them since food drives have been more difficult to organize in the year of Covid. - Scott Hunter photo...
If you have a drivers license and an insured vehicle, you could help local senior citizens by volunteering to deliver meals to them. “We are in desperate need of volunteer delivery drivers,” Senior Meals Director Chay Heilman said. Deliveries have gone up during the COVID pandemic since the dining room of the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center, where the food is prepared and normally served, is closed. Heilman said that three drivers are needed for each of the five delivery times throughout the week: at 9 a.m. on Mondays and Fridays, and at 3 p.m... Full story
If you heard loud booms on Friday or Saturday night, it was probably local man Alan Cain lighting them off with about eight of his friends from the Northwest Pyrotechnics Association. The fireworks were lit on Cain’s property along SR-174 near the Lakeview Terrace area. The group obtained a permit from the city of Grand Coulee, whose fire department manages that area, about 45 days in advance. Cain said the group shot off about 50 “cakes” or bundles of various professional-grade fireworks, which they are licensed to use. “It’s sort of a reli...
As of Dec. 8, Grant County had reported 5,585 total COVID-19 cases, including 54 deaths, 18 of those in the past week. There have been 22 cases in the Grand Coulee Dam area and 23 in the Coulee City area. The county has had 880 cases in the prior 14 days for an incidence rate of 900, down from 1,104 Dec. 1. The incidence goal is 25 or fewer cases per 100,000 population. All local counties are seeing rates in the multiple hundreds, as is the state as a whole. As of Dec. 8: Okanogan County has... Full story