Whitman County Gazette - Serving Whitman County since 1877

Virtual Reality Wednesdays at Whitman County Library will begin March 27 in the TEK Center at Colfax Library with two experiences, Dreamdeck and First Contact. Additional experiences will be added weekly. Appointments will run from 10 a.m. to 7:30...

Repair of the embankment slide which has closed the railroad serving the west and north sections of Whitman County is expected to cost in the range of a half million dollars. Larry Rasmussen, engineer at the Spokane DOT district office in Spokane,...

Whitman County commissioners Monday approved two road vacations. The first is for Sauve Road, a field road of 0.21 miles south of Uniontown. It was once part of the old state highway up until the 1930s. The second is Randell Road, north of Johnson,...

The City of Palouse is in the midst of an interview process for a new police officer. The candidate, from Wasilla, Alaska, went through a Skype interview last week with Palouse Police Chief Jerry Neumann, and the city council’s police, fire and...

Nearly half of the world’s cereal crops are grown in zinc-deficient soils. As an essential element found in several plant growth hormones such as auxin, zinc is absolutely critical to plant growth and development, according to Cat Salois,...

Ninth District Representatives Joe Schmick of Colfax and Mary Dye of Pomeroy will conduct a telephone ‘Town Hall’ meeting tonight, Thursday, March 21, from 6 to 7 p.m. They will open the meeting with updates on the legislative session before...

Longtime Palouse Public Works employee Don Myott has announced his retirement as of April 30 after 34 years with the city. He serves as the waste (water) treatment operator and assists Public Works superintendent Dwayne Griffin in all matter of...

Whitman County Cattlemen’s Association will offer one or more scholarships this year. The application deadline has been extended to April 15, 2019. Applicants must reside in Whitman County, be a graduating high school senior (or home school...

A traveling lecture series by the Palouse Falls IAF Chapter President Lloyd Stoess will present an amateur geomorphologist’s search for the true meaning of “coulee.” The presentation will look at why geologists and geomorphologists all know a...

Spring celebration slated at Palouse Bank Left Gallery and Open Eye will feature a wine event with art, food and antiques March 30, from noon until 2 p.m. Heidi Kite, Nelson and Pamela Duran and artist in residence, Louanne Deerkop, will greet...

Everyone is back. Many are seniors and they finished out of the placing last year at state in Yakima. The Colton girls softball team returns for another spring guided by 13th year coach Brad Nilson, looking to push the result from 2018. “Got to...

Colfax softball team stacked a 19-9 win over Pullman in the late season opener Monday at the cleared-off Valley playing fields in Pullman. Freshman Jorga Koerner started on the mound for Colfax, and Justice Brown, also a freshman, relieved her in...

There was a time when a total of 50 different license plates adorned cars in America. That was one for each of the 50 states. Many a family trip was saved by the kids in the back seat trying to find as many different ones as they could on long road...

Homelessness has been cussed and discussed with no solution in sight. With no viable plan most officials wring their hands and hope the problem will go away. The latest suggestion is to pay them a living wage. Thus the unfortunate street people...

Pet Peeves Be kind about where people park. Not all disabilities are visible. Okeydokes The nice man who washed my car for me at Jim’s Service Center on...

Across the pond, London-based BP and Netherlands-headquartered Shell are looking to invest in innovative electric technology which is very good news. The two international oil giants, both of which have oil refineries in northwest Washington,...

We interrupt the talk of the president "manufacturing" a crisis at the border with this hair-raising report about the crisis at the border. Alarming new numbers about border apprehensions from U.S. Customs and Border Protection should puncture the...

Donald Trump definitely is not introspective. If he thought about it, he'd probably decide that such self-reflection is navel-gazing and a total waste of time. But, of course, since he's not introspective, he's never thought about it. Whatever...

Measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, you name it – vaccines are safe, despite what social media would have you believe. But don’t believe me; believe some people who know. In an extraordinary, if not unprecedented event, the three presidents of...

Colton’s Dakota Patchen led four players from Whitman County named to the Spokesman-Review’s regional honors for the 2018-19 high school basketball season. Patchen, a senior guard, was named Player of the Year for small schools, A/2B/1B....

At Pullman Regional Hospital Oni, Simone Folakunmi, born March 6 at seven pounds, 10 ounces, to Samuel and Anne Oni, Pullman, Wash. Maternal grandparents are Richard and Pearl Oladele, Lagos, Nigeria. Baby joins sister Samantha, 3, and brother... Full story

125 years ago The Commoner, March 16, 1894 The investigating committee appointed by the popular mass-meeting of March 3, met in the jury chamber of the courthouse at 1 o’clock Monday afternoon, all members being present except Frank Brown, who...

Karen Broeckel was in the Tacoma area last weekend to attend the memorial services Saturday at Spanaway Lutheran Church for her sister-in-law, June Sather Broeckel, who died Feb. 8, 2019, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. She is survived by...