Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 27
OLYMPIA - Gov. Jay Inslee declared an emergency drought for most of the state on July 14. The drought affects every county in the state but excludes an area that encompasses most of King County, half of Snohomish County, and Tacoma by itself. It stretches from north of Everett to south of Kent. Tacoma is the only area in Pierce County not impacted by the drought, according to the state. "Many areas of (Washington) are currently under the stress of these extreme drought conditions," said Inslee....
RITZVILLE -Gov. Jay Inslee is refusing requests to declare a drought emergency in the state. Washington Association of Wheat Growers President Ryan Poe and Washington Grain Commission Chairman Mike Carstensen requested the emergency drought declaration June 15 in a letter to the governor. A drought emergency declaration would give affected farmers access to additional governmental resources. "As the extremely hot temperatures have reminded us, much of Eastern Washington - including our wheat-gro...
RALSTON — A northbound vehicle on state Highway 261 near Herman Road, overturned around 8 a.m. and came to rest in a wheat field Monday morning, March 29. Washington State Patrol Trooper Crosby said the woman reported being distracted and looked up to discover she was going off the road. The driver, a 32-year-old woman from Spokane, was not injured, and no one else was involved in the crash. The trooper did not identify the woman. "She didn't say she was falling asleep, or that she was on her c...
WASHTUCNA — Tigercats celebrated Dr. Seuss's 117th birthday in good old-fashioned style with Principal Michael Amend appearing as the Cat in the Hat to read to elementary students. The Cat chose "Yertle the Turtle" to read to the third- through fifth-graders, and beginning readers in kindergarten through second-grade got to hear — you guessed it — "The Cat in the Hat." The Cat read the ABC book for the pre-kindergarten class. Students filled in the missing words every time Amend left a well-...
OLYMPIA — Sen. Mark Schoesler is frustrated by the complete closure of the Legislative Building and other Capitol campus buildings to the public during the 2021 legislative session. Buildings on campus have been closed to the public since last March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But following the break-in of the nation's Capitol, Gov. Jay Inslee has fenced in several buildings and deployed a contingent of nearly 1,000 National Guardsmen and Washington State Patrol troopers to secure the c...
RITZVILLE - Republican Sen. Mark Schoesler was sworn in Friday, Jan. 8, in the Adams County Courthouse for his fifth term representing the Ninth Legislative District in the state Senate. Adams County District Court Judge Carolyn Benzel administered the oath of office. Schoesler said this was his first and only time taking the oath in his hometown - and assuming things go back to "normal." The ability to take the oath here came as Gov. Jay Inslee continued to shutdown the state, citing the...
RALSTON — A virtual ribbon cutting ceremony took place Dec. 15 to mark the completion of the 160 MW Rattlesnake Flat Wind Farm. Construction of the 57 wind turbines connected to Avista Utilities’ transmission grid as part of a 20-year purchase power agreement between Clearway Energy Group and Avista began in April. Adams County Commissioner John Marshall, Adams County Development Council Chairman David Baumann and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy CEO were joined at the virtual ribbon-cutting by Gov. Jay Inslee and Public Lands Commissioner Hil...
RITZVILLE – The LaCrosse Junior FFA program joined the Lind-Ritzville FFA team in the NILE Virtual Livestock Judging Contest in Billings, Mont., Oct. 8. LaCrosse took 8th place as a team. Ellie Pearson placed 8th as an individual, with a score of 392 out of 500. Lind-Ritzville FFA team members Taylor Galbreath, Reagan Snider, Jay Harder, Lane Tellefson and Alyssa Williams took second place. Williams took 1st High Individual Overall, earning 439 points out of a possible 500. Williams is an eighth-grader attending Lind-Ritzville Middle School. Th...
COLFAX — Zip's Drive-In restaurants here and in Ritzville and Spokane Valley were among several businesses fined by the Department of Labor and Industries for public mask violations. The state Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) conducted more than 4,300 spot checks at businesses since mid-July, including multiple visits at some locations, spokesman Tim Church said. Eight employers have been fined for public mask violations, he said. Additionally, three businesses originally the subject o...
SPRAGUE - Retired school administrator Patrick Whipple fulfilled an item on his "bucket list" when he published a book on local history earlier this summer. A 1973 Sprague High School alum who retired in 2017 as the superintendent of the Sprague School District, Whipple said it was on his "to do" list to write a book about some of the stories his grandfather and father told him. "I've had them in my head for 20, 30, 40 years - a long time," Whipple said. "My dad always told me he was going to...
RITZVILLE — A duststorm that began just before noon caused multiple crashes, prompting area road closures through early evening hours Monday, Sept. 7. Washington State Patrol Sgt. Ethan Wynecoop said the multiple car crashes, which were all dust-related, resulted in no serious injuries. “It was absolutely a mess. You couldn’t see more than 10 feet in front of you,” Wynecoop said. “Almost every state route through our patrol area here had crashes of one sort or another.” Wynecoop said Intestate 90, state Highways 26, 21 and 261, and U.S. Highwa...
RITZVILLE – U.S. Bank will be temporarily closing it's Ritzville branch Friday, August 28. "The Ritzville location has operated on a limited basis since the onset of the COVID-19 public health crisis, and will temporarily close to allow staffing resources to be used in other ways to support our customers," said Vice President Evan A. Lapiska Thursday, August 27. "We will continue to serve customers through our other branches in the area, including lobby service in Harrington and Warden, and d...
The formerly shuttered livestock processing facility in Odessa has a new lease on life, with the new owners using the facility to help launch a direct-sales beef program. Miles Curtis, who ranches near Odessa, Ewan and Tokio, bought the facility this spring. The facility had formerly been operated by the non-profit group Cattle Producers of Washington. The new plant, called Limit Bid Packing, processes the beef for Curtis’ direct sales program, as well as processing animals for outside c...
KAHLOTUS – T.J. Harder is excited to be carrying on the farming and ranching tradition started by his family generations ago. After graduating as the LaCrosse Class of 2020 Valedictorian, Harder is putting in long hours on the family wheat farm before he heads to Washington State University in the fall, where he will double-major in Agricultural Economics and Business. "College will be way harder, but I'm hoping it will be fun," Harder said while taking a short break July 3 from getting e...
RITZVILLE - The first count of Adams County ballots in the August 4 primary election show several candidates with strong leads in this early stage of the race. Ballots counted so far include those received in the Auditors office by Friday, July 31, according to Adams County Elections Administrator Jacque Laird. Total Adams County ballots in the 8 p.m. Aug. 4 count were 1520. Dan Newhouse has a strong lead to keep his seat as U.S. Representative, Congressional District 4, with 991 votes. Douglas...
RITZVILLE — Four people remain in the Adams County Jail after being arraigned Tuesday, July 14. Their arrests, and the arrests of two others, occurred Monday, July 13, after multiple agencies executed a search warrant at a residence in the 1000 block of Rand Road and discovered drugs, stolen property and unlawful possessions of firearms. Darian Jeanie Arlene Morgan, Noe Duarte, Triston David Duplichan, Glen Oscar Gilbert Jr., Marcus James Chamberlain, and Cassandra Charlene Hope Rand made their first appearance before the Adams County S...
SPRAGUE - Family members and friends observed from the school lawn or their vehicles as eight students received their high school diplomas Saturday, June 20. Parker Cappel, Erik and Ethan Hughes, Michael Kelly, Clayton Miller, Spencer Olson, Jade Rios-Romero and Alexis Walters-Gilchrist leave behind what class advisor and social studies teacher Brent Houston described as not a small school, but rather, "an elite academy." Valedictorian Walters-Gilchrist is the daughter of Deborah Gilchrist of...
PORTLAND, Ore. - A man wanted in connection with the shooting death of his father in Ritzville remained in the Multnomah County Inverness Jail on Tuesday morning, booked on several charges. Grayson D.W. Morris, 26, is being held without bail on charges of first-degree robbery with a firearm, attempting to elude by vehicle, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, reckless driving, reckless endangerment, and four counts each of unlawful use of a weapon and first-degree attempted murder. According to...
RITZVILLE -- One person is dead in an early morning shooting here at a home at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Washington Street. Police Chief Dave McCormick said the shooting occurred about 5:30 a.m. Dispatchers received a call at 5:39 a.m. from a neighbor who heard gunshots, he said. Officers arriving on scene found one person deceased. McCormick was still on the scene, along with Adams County Sgt. Garcia, at 9:30 a.m. No other information was immediately available. McCormick will issue a...
RITZVILLE – Tons of spuds - 20 tons to be more accurate. About 40,000 pounds of potatoes were given away along Main Street today, April 29. Another 20 tons scheduled to be donated in Grant County tomorrow morning, courtesy of Marvin Wollman from his farm near Othello. Rep. Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy, who helped organize and attended the event, said the potato giveaway shows the generosity of farmers while highlighting the dire situation of the potato industry from COVID-19 restrictions. "The Stay H...
RITZVILLE — Charges are pending against a Moses Lake man following a multiple-car collision Saturday afternoon on Interstate 90. The crash, attributed to a large duststorm, occurred 20 miles west of the city at 2:08 p.m., the Washington State Patrol reported. "It [the duststorm] was about 700-800 feet wide coming across the road and at least an eighth of a mile long," said Mark Dykstra of Pete's Towing, which got called to the scene an hour later. "The wind must have been blowing about 25 m...
LaCROSSE — Gov. Jay Inslee’s “stay home, stay healthy” quarantine has halted construction on railroad tracks. Upgrades were scheduled for the Hooper Railroad line near State Highway 26 in Adams and Whitman counties between Mileposts 25-42. The project included replacing ties, rail other track materials. According to project engineer Chad Simonson with the state Department of Transportation, all that remains to be completed on that project is two pedestrian crossings in LaCrosse. Simonson said the crossings are completed for pedestrian use, ju...
RITZVILLE — Hospitals statewide are taking a financial hit with Gov. Jay Inslee's order to suspend any non-essential services, and East Adams Rural Healthcare is doing their best to weather the storm. “We are still providing our swing bed, inpatient and emergency services, but our rehabilitation therapy and outpatient clinic services are very minimal right now, because folks should be staying at home unless they need care to prevent them from really having a detrimental effect to their health,” Chief Executive Officer Corey Fedie said last...
OLYMPIA ― Gov. Jay Inslee and Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal Monday announced the extension of school closures for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. The order keeps both public and private schools closed in accordance with the governor's original order on March 13. The governor's proclamation prohibits in-person instruction through June 19, with exceptions for students with disabilities and English language learners for whom distance learning would present challenge...
RITZVILLE – Harvest Foods received a shipment of products Friday morning, March 27, including toilet paper. "We've sold lots of it this morning," checker Angel Slader saud. "Last Tuesday, we got a shipment in and it was gone by Wednesday. But it lasted longer than the previous week." With the coronavirus pandemic, toilet paper has been a hot commodity statewide, with most stores still sporting empty shelves. Local Harvest Foods owner Kim Cousins said Tuesday's shipment lasted until Wednesday aft...
