Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 1126 - 1150 of 2119
The 2016 edition of Palouse Empire Fair begins today for four days of fun at Mockonema. Two-hour rodeo sessions are Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m. with a final session Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Miss Palouse Empire Fair will be crowned Friday night. The junior market stock sales will be Saturday, beginning at 11:30 a.m. Entertainment includes the clowning of Coventry & Kaluza, Cowboy Poets and Snake River Six on Thursday, followed by Auf Gehts German Band Friday and Tone Sober with three pe...
It starts in earnest Friday for Garfield/Palouse's 2016 football season. Opening at Troy, an Idaho eight-man powerhouse in recent years, the Vikings will take the field without senior running back Cameron Springstead, a key part of last year's team which finished in the playoffs at 6-5. Springstead dislocated his elbow last week in practice. Overall, the team loses just two starters from last year, Ian Neibergs and Wyatt Griner, who both played tight end on offense. Returning starters, aside...
Tiana Gregg, owner, painted the mural herself in the new studio space next to The Green Frog. Gregg has opened The Bends Yoga House in Palouse and will host a grand opening Sept. 9. The space was open, she was a co-owner of the building and thought, ''why not?” The Bends Yoga House in Palouse will have its grand opening Sept. 9. In the same building as The Green Frog Cafe, its co-owner Tiana Gregg runs the new yoga operation, after being certified as an instructor earlier this year. By c...
A potential new micro-antenna tower for broadband internet will be the subject of a Garfield Planning Commission meeting Sept. 12. Cascade Computing of Spokane approached the town with its plan, which would require a conditional use permit. The 30-foot tower would be placed on a plat of land owned by Garfield Mayor Ray McCown, who has deeded the land for the work. The planning commission will thus seek a variance to allow the tower and an adjacent building at the intersection of Adams and Third... Full story
The West Whitman Street project may or may not still happen in Palouse this summer. The city now awaits information before the process goes out to bid on the work, which would include replacing a 550-foot section of street and railroad tracks – with a new drainage system – as well as sidewalks, curb, gutter and lighting. A meeting was held Aug. 12 with Munir Daud, Palouse city engineer; Mayor Michael Echanove; Kyle Dixon, clerk-treasurer; Paul Weber, rail engineer for Washington Department of...
A DOE scientist prepares a canoe for Hangman Creek study late April. Representatives from Tekoa went to Spokane last week to meet with officials from the Washington state Department of Ecology and Spokane Riverkeepers in an ongoing effort to monitor the town’s water quality. Tekoa’s wastewater treatment plant’s shape and flow rate was the subject of a Department of Ecology (DOE) study earlier this year, considering phosphorous and dissolved oxygen, relating to its top daily load. “We’r...
Tekoa City Council's two-month old committee to prevent crime is moving forward. Since Mayor John Jaeger appointed Ted Blaszak, Alyssa Heagy and John Guidice, they have hosted one-on-one meetings in office hours at city hall, conducted a home crime-prevention seminar and a National Night Out event. Monday night, they were set to give a preliminary report on their findings to the city council. Ideas, suggestions, pros and cons of each and potential next steps would be discussed. “I expect to h...
A public hearing on amending county zoning ordinances drew questions Monday before county commissioners approved the changes. At issue were modifications to basic lists of what may be allowed in seven specific zones such as light industrial and heavy commercial. “It seems like it gives sole authority to the public works director and county planner,” Allen Shallbetter of Pullman said. Alan Thomson, county planner, noted that the planning commission had already approved the changes. “The reaso...
Unattended lots and abandoned cars have drawn the attention of Tekoa Mayor John Jaeger, in an ongoing effort to reduce both. The city two years ago began an effort to track down owners of lots not being maintained. Once they make contact, the city offers to clean up the lot with workers at a fee rate of $30 an hour. “We don’t want to do it,” said Jaeger. “We’ve got guys with better things to spend their time on.” Earlier this year, a property owner who the city called came down from Spokane to...
Harvesters continue to roll across the county, gathering in a bumper crop. Combines on the Palouse are cutting what appears to be the second-best winter wheat crop in Washington state history. Drawing an average 74 bushels per acre so far – for a crop about 70 percent harvested – the number is second only to 2011, which drew 75 bushels per acre. “We’re having really high yields,” said Glenn Squires, Chief Executive Officer of Washington Grain Commission. “This is on the heels of two years of dr...
A public hearing will be Monday, Aug. 15, for some revisions to county zoning at 11 a.m. at the Whitman County Courthouse. The county, which zones unincorporated areas, is set to consider amendments which may expand the scope of what type of businesses are allowed within certain zones. The revisions would address specific situations such as a property at State Route 27 and Albion Road north of Pullman. A realtor made a comment this spring to County Planner Alan Thomson about the difficulty in...
The Washington State Parks' Commission ended a chapter on the John Wayne Trail in late July with a recommendation for a section of it that cuts through Whitman County. Reactions have been varied to the plan, which included a resolution in support of the continued development of the almost cross-state trail. “The committee wasn't unanimous by any means,” said Ninth District state Rep. Joe Schmick. “Right now, everyone is amidst a campaign. After the election we'll see where everything falls...
Carrie Lipe, new principal at Colfax High School, at her office Monday. The floors are polished and the halls are quiet. A few sounds are heard, though, from the principal's office at Colfax High School as Carrie Lipe prepares for the start of her first year on the job. Beginning July 1, Lipe has commuted from Spokane where she coordinated the West Valley School District dropout prevention program and Gateway to College partnership. She and husband Kurt closed on a house in Colfax Tuesday. “I'm...
Kendyl Druffel, Colton, reacts to being named Washington’s Distinguished Young Woman Saturday. Washington’s Distinguished Young Woman was back in the harvest truck on Monday. Kendyl Druffel of Colton-Uniontown earned the title Saturday night in Pullman, chosen from 14 others representing their hometowns at Beasley Coliseum. Aside from a $3,000 scholarship, Druffel will take a two-week, all-expenses paid trip to Mobile, Ala., next June for the Distinguished Young Women National Finals competition...
Left to right, Colfax community gardeners Ruth Bafus, Gail Webster, Tim Cornelius, Brian Cornelius, Shirley Cornelius, Queenie Leinweber, Armeda Hayer and Gene Leinweber gather July 31. The fourth summer of the Colfax community garden is well underway. The project has expanded each year, donating 785 pounds of produce to the Colfax Food Pantry in 2015. Run by the Peace Lutheran Church, parishioners began the project after receiving a donation and taking ideas from the congregation on how to...
Plans to open the Palouse Skatepark this summer have been put on hold. With only 87 percent of the $13,000 needed to finish the work, the skate park's directors elected to delay opening until next spring to maintain quality standards in the park's construction. "It is sort of sad to not have the park open this summer, as many people, including myself, have been really excited to see the progress being made and wanting to get to skate," said organizer Aaron Flansburg. "But, we have seen significa...
The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission has finished its public planning process for the John Wayne Trail, approving a two-year $800,000 capital budget and $400,000 operations budget. The recommended money would be used in permitting and design work for a list of projects from Beverly Bridge at the Columbia River to Malden, including upgrades for safety and maintenance. The money is part of State Parks' $96 million overall budget proposal for 2017-19 which will need to be approved...
The City of Tekoa will seek a $50,000 streets levy on the November ballot. Following the failure of the same levy last year, the city council subsequently decided not to file for another try in the spring to avoid a potential conflict with the school's levy. The council approved this fall's streets vote at its regular meeting July 18. Funds would be collected at a rate of $1.64 per $1,000 in property valuation. For the 2015 Tekoa streets levy, the rate was $1.85 per $1,000. The money would be... Full story
A stew simmers for Saturday’s Palouse Music Festival at Heyton Greene Park. A mix of sounds are on the list for the fifth annual event, which grew out of the original Palouse Bluegrass Festival. “It’s all local, but there’s some good music around here,” said Paul Smith of the Palouse Arts Council, event sponsor. The day begins at 11 a.m. with food, arts and crafts sellers and a new attraction, as well as kids activities led by Miriam Kent of the Moscow Renaissance Festival. Music will continue...
Residents of Colfax may have noticed two women shooting video footage in town the past two weeks. Shaye Kingsley and Shannon Moudy were here for their work with KLEW-TV Lewiston, a CBS affiliate producing a piece on Colfax for their “Our Town” program. The new, original program for KLEW is expected to air this fall, following promotions work. The 11-minute Colfax segment is nearly complete, along with similar packages on Orofino, Uniontown and Moscow. Kingsley and Moudy will take their cam... Full story
Whitman County Superior Court approved an order to tear down this Endicott Road building April 21. The proposed demolition of a Winona building is back on track following a call for bids that received no response. After the call closed July 1, Public Works Director Mark Storey looked into a reason for the lack of response. “We believe we left too much to guess within the bid,” Storey told county commissioners Monday. The county will now seek a contract with a consultant – on its profe... Full story
Whitman County Commissioners Monday approved a reduced speed limit for three-tenths of a mile of Old Moscow Road. Dropping from 50 mph to 35 mph, the new limit effective Sept. 1 will apply to a section past the last house and before pavement starts. The length in question concludes at the intersection of Brown Road, a mile-and-a-half from the Idaho state line. A nearby resident contacted Whitman County Public Works this spring to ask about cutting the 50-mph limit. At the request of the...
The expanded Old Mill Days more than delivered July 8-9 in Oakesdale. Extra tables had to be brought down Friday night for patrons at the bingo-and-pulled-pork-sandwiches event at the museum. Then, organizers ran out of pulled pork. They took out hamburger and hot dogs reserved for the next day, which then ran out Saturday evening. “Then we raided Crossett's (Market),” said Jake Dingman, Old Mill Days chairman. Saturday's added supply was gone toward the end of the night as the band Blue Hig... Full story
A conclusion is coming on the John Wayne Trail. A six-month planning process which began in December will end in Clarkston July 20-21 with a recommendation by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission to the governor’s office. The process – focused on the eastern section of the trail – has led to some conclusions already. “Everyone expects us to do a better job than what we were doing,” said Steve Milner, commission chair, who indicated the proposal will include a trailhead at Tekoa... Full story
Whitman County Public Works received no bids for a project to take down an abandoned Winona building. A deadline of July 1 passed for the Endicott Road property. Public Works Director Mark Storey reported on the matter to county commissioners Tuesday, explaining that since the building is next to another structure, it is more than a simple tear-down. It requires an engineer. “It's not something I really want to do with county forces,” said Storey. The bid packet sought a contractor to abate the...
