Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 26 - 47 of 47
Supports Obamacare With the continuing attempts by the U.S. House of Representatives to try repealing the Affordable Health Care Act, otherwise known as “Obamacare,” it is time to speak in support of it. In comparison to the way health insurance was before, ACA is an improvement. How can it not be? Now, 80 percent of health insurance premiums is spent on customers’ care, where before you never knew; no rule, no telling. Here’s what happened to me in the past when I had to buy an independent policy: I had to pay upfront for all medical expense...
The latest action in the tea party-controlled House of Representatives makes it abundantly clear that the conservatives care only about the mega-wealthy corporations that produce food and not a whit about the 47 million people who need help to afford enough to eat. How else to explain their insistence on pulling the food-stamp program out of the $195 billion farm bill subsidies for massive agriculture conglomerates? It was necessary, they argued, because the harsh right that controls House majority Republicans is intent on gutting what’s now c...
Military installations and defense contractors are taking the brunt of the automatic budgets cuts mandated by sequestration. Why should we care? Washington has major bases and military suppliers such as Boeing. They contribute more than $13 billion to our economy, about 4 percent of total GDP. A July 2012 study by George Mason University projected that sequestration could cost our state 41,000 military-related jobs. The U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan will also have an impact. According to Defense News, sequestration will cut $15.8...
Judge David Frazier would have nothing of it when presented with a plea bargain in the Daniel Lazcano case. Lazcano, as you will remember, was twice tried for the murder of Marcus Schur. Twice, jurors could not arrive at a verdict and both trials ended in a hung jury. Daniel Lazcano was the suspected shooter in Schur’s death. Yet, Daniel’s brother, Frank, complicit in the incident and coverup, has already been sentenced to 25 years for felony murder. The plea bargain for Daniel presented last week involved him pleading guilty to the sho...
COLFAX, JULY 16 Team Scores 1. Dayton 365 2. TOR 297 3. G-P 242 4. Colfax 232 100 YARD FREESTYLE Girls 12 & Under: 1. Jill Bruce TOR 1:37; 2. Cierra Milan DAY 1:39; 3. Kolbey Browning TOR 1:39; 4. Joslin Haggins DAY 1:41; 5. Juliene Sager COL 1:42; 6. MacKenna Roberts COL 1:42. 13-14: 1. Lyssa Bolld G-P 1:16; 2. Jennifer Warren DAY 1:18; 3. Josie Riebold COL 1:19; 4. Heidi Dobbs DAY 1:20. 15-18: Alison MacDonald COL 1:10; 2. Emily Dow G-P 1:11; 3. Angie Dedloff DAY 1:16; 4. Kelly Ward COL 1:49. Boys 12 & Under: 1. Nickolas McHaffie DAY 1:17;...
Among the many unique attractions for this weekend’s Concrete River Festival will be a color run down the concrete flood channel of the South Fork of the Palouse River in downtown Colfax. Runners will cover approximately a mile while they are in the channel. Saturday’s run will also be a Color Mob event in which entrants will run through mini clouds of colored corn starch. The colors will be thrown up in the the air by volunteers. Lori Brown, chairman of the race, said she has been amazed at the number of people who have volunteered to hel...
Whitman County youth swimmers competed in two four-team meets last week and posted several winning times. The St. John-Endicott-LaCrosse team won in Garfield July 18. Their combined team score of 350 points outpaced Pullman, Garfield-Palouse and Colfax. On July 16 in Colfax. Dayton took first with 365 points while Tekoa-Oakesdale-Rosalia finished second with 297 points. S.E.L. swimmers take Garfield meet The St. John-Endicott-LaCrosse (S.E.L.) team took first in team standings July 18 followed b...
The second incarnation of the Palouse Music Festival will take place Saturday in Hayton Greene Park. Formerly the Palouse Bluegrass Festival, the event will again feature a range of local acts concluding with veteran group The Senders in their first Festival performance. “A dance party in the park at the end,” said Paul Smith of the Palouse Arts Council, which is staging the day-long event for the second year. All told there will be nine hours of music along with food, craft vendors and a beer garden featuring Paradise Creek Brewery. The mus...
A potential new site for the Farmington library was brought up as the town’s city council again discussed the city-owned Methodist Church site at the July 15 council meeting. Councilwoman Noreen Ewing said that the building could be the next community project after the revitalization of the basketball court, which is expected to be complete in September. She said that the Association of Washington Cities has some economic development grant money available and asked that Mayor Ron Dugan look i...
Bail for pre-trial release for Bryan Lee Kitchen, the Pullman resident who was arrested for arson and booked in the county jail Monday night, was set at $1 million in a first appearance in court Tuesday. Judge David Frazier said his review of the arrest report led him to consider Kitchen to be a safety risk if allowed release. He found probable cause to hold Kitchen on a preliminary charge of first degree arson in connection with the fire which destroyed four buildings under construction at the Grove Apartments site off Terre View in Pullman ea...
A ballot proofing error was made on the Pullman ballots for the Aug. 6 primary election, according to Whitman County Auditor Eunice Coker. Eileen Macoll’s name was printed incorrectly on the ballots. Ms. Macoll’s name should have appeared on the ballot as: Eileen (Mac) Macoll. Letters sent to voters advise that if voters feel that they have voted in error because of the mistake, and have already mailed in in the ballot, call 397-5284 and a new ballot will be sent to the voter including return postage. The office apologized for any inc... Full story
The Port of Whitman County received a $100,000 grant along with a $500,000 loan from the Washington State Community Economic Revitalization Board. The grant and loan will be used by the port to build two rail spur segments, one at Port of Wilma and one at Central Ferry, providing infrastructure to support additional rail cars. The board announced the nearly $2.1 million in public investments that targets business growth and job creation across the state July 18. The port will match CERB’s investment with $137,856 in local funds to construct t...
The Port of Whitman County on Monday awarded a contract for the Central Ferry rail spur project to H&H Engineering Construction of Stockton, Calif., for $106,814. According to Debbie Snell, port properties and development manager, the new rail spur will be used mainly to relieve congestion during heavy agricultural use of three of the businesses at Central Ferry, Nu Chem, Wilbur Ellis and McGregor’s. When the rail spur is done, rail cars can be parked on the spur instead of on the main line, she said. This rail spur will be 750 feet long and w...
LaCrosse has been named one of the top five, highest priority cities in the state to receive a state loan for its sewer project. The town received almost $900,000 in loans to repair its sewer system. Of this, $23,000 is a forgiveable principal loan, which is money that the city doesn’t have to pay back. Projects qualifying for Ecology’s clean water funding include upgrades and expansions of sewer plants and collections systems; septic system improvements; water re-use facilities; water cleanup projects; stormwater and groundwater projects; str... Full story
Almost 44 miles of Highway 23 from Steptoe to Sprague is being re-surfaced as part of a state contract. According to Al Gilson, communications manager for the Department of Transportation’s Eastern Region, Highway 23 is part of a larger contract with Poe Asphalt Paving of Clarkston. The contract totals $5,059,746 for about 105 miles of rural roadways that includes SR 23 Steptoe to Sprague and from Sprague to Lord’s Creek, and Highway 231 from Sprague to Reardan and Reardan to Fisher Road, Highway 902 Interstate 90 to Lakeland Village and Hig...
A new anti-drug and alcohol program appears to be about to hit a stride in Tekoa. The Healthy Tekoa Coalition was founded last year and now its organizers hope for approval of a plan to start three programs this fall. Tekoa was chosen as one of 52 communities across the state to receive funding after higher-than-average scores regarding drug and alcohol use came in on the state’s biennial healthy youth surveys. Once Tekoa was chosen, a part-time community coordinator and a part-time counselor we... Full story
A bolt of lightning is captured from a storm that passed through St. John and most of Whitman County last week. No major fires were reported even though conditions were extremely dry and the weather service had issued a red flag warning for the Palouse. Following the storm, rain lasted from a few minutes to more than an hour depending on the location. This photo was taken east of St. John looking over the St. John Cemetery by Stephanie Dennis of St. John....
Whitman County commissioners Monday discussed the Hawkins Companies of Boise development on the state line between Pullman and Moscow. The commissioners discussed the proposal in an executive session. “We’re working on the issue,” said Commissioner Art Swannack. “We’re having some conversations about it but there’s no conclusions. We’re exploring options.” A representative from Hawkins was not present at the Monday session. The initial agreement with the county called for Hawkins developers to built on 114 acres of land along the Moscow-Pull...
Cars and cruising, music and beer gardens, a Color Mob Run, a wet parade and a concert in the park will celebrate summer this weekend during the Concrete River Festival. A variety of events, many of them new to Colfax, will be included in the festivities. Much of the action will be along Mill Street to avoid a Highway 195 traffic detour which was a detractor for past Colfax summer events. One variation from prior Colfax summers will be the CRF parade which will start on Mill Street at 10 a.m. Saturday. The parade format will include dry and... Full story
The Port of Whitman County and Hinrichs Trading, LLC, July 18 agreed to a 20-year lease for a warehouse on port property at the Port of Wilma. The port will design and construct an 18,000-square-foot building. Total cost for the construction is estimated at $750,000. Hinrichs will use the building to store, process and ship garbanzo beans. Hinrichs will pay $3,120 site rent annually. Building rent will be seven percent annually of the port’s total costs for the warehouse to be built that includes architectural, engineering and design fees, p... Full story
Competitors concentrate on tossing fragile eggs during Oakesdale’s Old Mill Days on Saturday afternoon. People lined the street and gently tossed the eggs as the length of the toss grew wider and wider. Winners of the competition were sisters, Amy Bruya Simmons and Amelie Bruya, daughters of Tim and Carmen Bruya of Colfax. They won the last toss with both heals against the sidewalk on either side of the street. Oakesdale aficionados said the girls might have broken an Oakesdale record. Photo c... Full story
NOTICE OF MITIGATED DETERMINATION OF NONSIGNIFICANCE (M-DNS) AND A CONDITIONAL USE HEARING The Whitman County Planning Office issued a Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance (M-DNS) under the State Environmental Policy Act Rules (Chapter 197-11 WAC) for the following project: Gary Kopf proposes to place up to 6-8 million cubic yards of inert fill from the Pullman-Moscow Airport Re-alignment project, and future miscellaneous projects, on property owned by Gary Kopf. The site is located south of the Pullman-Moscow Airport, in the S 1/2 of...
