News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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GasBuddy released its annual Fuel Price Outlook Dec. 28 with some good news for drivers: expect lower gasoline and diesel prices in 2024. The outlook highlights key trends in gasoline and diesel prices, forecasting that, after two years of above average gas prices, 2024 will bring relief at the pump for consumers as several factors contribute to less of a pinch at the pump. GasBuddy expects the yearly national average will drop from $3.51 per gallon last year to $3.38 in 2024. The national average was at $3.06 per gallon on Tuesday, said the...
Sagebrush burned during a wildfire above Coulee Dam several years ago combines with the dawn over Grand Coulee Dam Tuesday to illustrate that dark times always yield to a new day. Happy New Year. - Scott Hunter photo...
With the world below huddled under dense fog on a dreary day, powerlines at left climb from Coulee Dam into a clear sky at sunset Saturday, illuminating the clouds hugging the Columbia River toward Nespelem and Moses Mountain, at left. The shot was taken from Grand Coulee Hill Road south of Grand Coulee. - Scott Hunter photo...
Electric City will ask voters to approve a ballot measure in February that will remove four parcels of land from the city that had been added in an earlier annexation. The city had started to add the question to last month’s ballot but had missed the deadline to do so. The city council Dec. 12 unanimously passed Resolution 2023-14 to put the measure on the Feb. 13, 2024 ballot. The proposal would de-annex all of the state and federal lands surrounding Osborne Bay east of the causeway, which the city annexed several years ago, along with l...
Coulee Dam is planning street and sidewalk improvement projects in the new year that will smooth out streets, build or rebuild sidewalk ramps and plant trees to replace those lost on Ferry Avenue in last year’s sidewalk replacement project. The city has been awarded two grants, one for a chip seal street project for $546,485. An ADA ramp replacement project will cost $481,406. Both projects are totally funded by grants, funds that don’t have to be paid back, not loans. TD&H Engineering representative Marisa Stevens said they had actually mea...
Seven Canada lynx were recently trapped in Canada and relocated to the Colville Indian Reservation (CIR) in an effort to help recover the species in Washington state. A team of biologists, technicians, trappers, vets and other volunteers set up traps east of Kelowna, British Columbia in the beginning of October. Each trap had a game camera to record activity and allowed team members to monitor a lynx when one was captured. "We are in year three and one of the issues with trapping early in the...
If you like to watch the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif. each New Year's morning, take note of the OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade float this year, which will include the image of an Omak man being honored for his life and for saving two lives - after his death. Marty Palmanteer was a United States Air Force veteran and a proud member of the Colville Tribe. But he was also a beloved husband and father, known to most as a kind and comical man who always made people laugh, according to...
Grand Coulee Police 12/17 - A vehicle was pulled over at Four Corners for having a brake light out. Police noticed burnt tin foil on the floor of the back seat, an item associated with drug use. The driver said she came to the area from Twisp to drop off friends who needed a ride, and perhaps one of them had left the tin foil. She didn’t tell police their names. Police asked if she had large amounts of cash, firearms, or narcotics in the vehicle. She said she didn’t have cash and was unsure if there were any narcotics inside but that there sho...
Events for or featuring kids marked the week before Christmas, with a school pre-holiday musical event kicking off a mood of celebration Friday that packed the Lake Roosevelt gym with a "mind-blowing" number of adults, according to the emcee, Jess Tufts. That spirit of community support seemed to carry through the weekend, with Santa hearing children's Christmas wishes in at least three venues in town on Saturday - at the Moose Lodge's annual party, at Les Schwab Tire Center, and at a new...
Saturday morning, volunteers for the Trees of Sharing began delivering bags of gifts all over the community for kids who might not have presents waiting for them otherwise. People had submitted recipient names, which were represented anonymously on tree ornament tags around town. People picked up the tags, then shopped for those individual kids, dropping off the presents. It's been a local tradition for 40 years. At the Grand Coulee Community Church, Linda Black said 90 percent of the presents...
Coulee Dam's Ferry Avenue, now devoid of trees on the city-owned planting strips, may soon have a couple dozen new trees planted, a city engineer said last week. She's working with the state Department of Natural Resources to apply for a grant for the project. The street's 90-year-old maples were cut down during a sidewalk replacement project. - Scott Hunter photo...
Tyler Donn went out on 88 percent of the fire calls to which the Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department responded this year. Fred Netzel responded to 88 percent of the calls the ambulance service answered. Donn and Netzel each were recognized with a certificate for their dedicated service and responding to the most calls, at the department's annual Award and Holiday Dinner on Saturday at the fire hall. They were among several award recipients at the dinner. "Ayden Donn received a special...
Grant County Health Officer Dr. Alexander Brzezny alert the Grant County media and healthcare community last week that the 2023/2024 respiratory virus season has arrived in Grant County. The rates of influenza (flu) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have been reliably increasing. COVID-19 virus presence in wastewater is also increasing globally and statewide. Also, the Grant County Health District (GCHD) was recently notified of the first confirmed influenza-associated death in the county this season, which occurred in an individual with...
The National Park Service (NPS) at Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area seeks public input on replacing and improving houseboat docks at the Keller Ferry Marina to provide a safer and more diverse visitor use experience. NPS moved houseboat operations to the already congested Seven Bays Marina in 2017 when the Keller Ferry houseboat dock was destroyed in a storm. NPS proposes to improve the Keller Ferry Marina by replacing parts of the aged docks with houseboat and potentially short-term and transient moorage, as well as grading the marina...
People look over the art on display at Frank Andrews' table at the NW Native Winter Art Show & Celebration at the Lucy Covington Government Center near Nespelem Friday. Andrews has been using skateboards as a canvas lately. He and Niki Wippel hosted the event, which drew more than 30 artists and was supported by local business with donations. - Scott Hunter photo...
Grand Coulee Dam's Nathaniel "Nat" Washington Power Plant is lit cheerfully lately with yellow, red, green, and blue lights that reflect nicely off the waters of the Columbia River, churning after coming through those Third Powerhouse generators. The completion of that plant in 1980 made Grand Coulee Dam the largest electric power producing plant in the nation, with a capacity to produce 17 billion kilowatt hours of electricity. - Scott Hunter photo...
Grand Coulee will offer a new police chief a starting salary range from $95,000 to $110,000 a year. That was decided at the Nov. 21 city council meeting to prepare for the coming retirement of Chief John Tufts, who is currently paid a salary of about $127,200 per year, the mayor said. That outpaces salaries for chiefs in many other cities of similar size in Washington, according to Councilmember Anita Eylar, who looked up several with populations around 1,000 currently paying in a range of $4,800-$6,100. Others pointed out that population size...
Elmer City residents should look in their utility bills for a link to a survey that is the first step in the town's planning efforts toward coming up with a plan to improve its park or outdoor recreation offerings, and apply for funds to make them real. In addition to the online link, paper copies will be available at the town hall. "It is important that the Town receive a high return rate in order to accurately assess community desires," a press release on the subject states. "It is fine for...
Six local municipalities will receive nearly $3.9 million in funding help for street projects in 2024, having been selected by the state Transportation Improvement Board, the agency announced this week. Coulee Dam will get more than $1 million for two projects: $546,185 will go for chip sealing many streets in the city. Another $486,406 will go to wheelchair ramp upgrades in multiple locations. Electric City will get $155,000 for street maintenance. Grand Coulee will get $126,875 for Spokane Way improvements from Alcan Road to East Grand...
From left, Grand Coulee Fire Chief Ryan Fish, Ambulance Chief Rick Paris, Santa Claus (Chris Holman), Firefighter and EMT Merlee Liberty, and officer Matt Gilbert at the Coulee Wall Variety Store during last week's Shop with a Cop event, organized by Gilbert to help kids see police in a supportive, non-threatening setting. It was part of a day spent with kids. "We started the day at the Library, with GC Police and GCV Fire Fighters reading with the kids and showing off our Truck," the fire...
A plan to aid the police department in Grand Coulee was awarded a large federal grant that may help pay for a school resource officer, training, community engagement, and more. It’s the plan that officer Matt Gilbert pitched to his city council last week after learning the Justice Department grant he’d applied for last May had actually been awarded, the same plan he put forth to the Grand Coulee Dam School District board Nov. 13, a plan for which they would each have to significantly adjust their budgets. Gilbert told both the council and the...
Sticking their necks out in a "turkey trot" at Steamboat Rock State Park on Thanksgiving morning, Samantha Thomsen, left, with Natalie Dennis and Tarina Mott sport inflatable turkey outfits (OK, they're chickens, but close enough) at the 5K (3.1 miles) race/walk where 50 or 60 participants enjoyed a perfectly blue sky and good weather. The event was organized by Run the Dam as a fundraiser and also accepted donations for a local cancer-support charity. - Scott Hunter photo...
Ken Stanger is retiring from the school board after 14 years and received official thanks for his service at Monday night's meeting. Rich Black, president of the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors, presented Stanger with a framed letter of commendation Monday night at their regular meeting. "Your service has had a lasting, positive impact on the local community, the Grand Coulee Dam School District staff, the parents of district students, and most importantly, the students that...
BEES, BEES, BEES. When you think of bees what do you think of? Honeybees? Bumble bees? Or maybe yellow jackets? I refer to native bees. The ones you usually don't think about that do the major pollinating work for us on native plants and cultivated ones, too. This year, the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) initiated the first-ever Washington Bee Atlas and the second Bee Atlas in the United States. The first Bee Atlas is in Oregon. The Washington Bee Atlas is an ambitious...
Electric City’s council last week raised questions and concerns about the funding and staffing of the only ambulance service for the area. The service is run by the city of Grand Coulee’s volunteer fire department, which depends on voluntary staffers responding to calls. The city council’s attention was drawn to the question a month earlier when Grand Coulee City Councilmember Tom Poplawski visited to ask Electric City to consider contributing toward the costs of calls that Grand Coulee can’t bill for because it doesn’t result in a patient t...