Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 126 - 150 of 197
On Monday, Dec. 16, Brandy Dean, county facilities management director, brought ideas of possible changes to the courthouse before the county commissioners at their Monday workshop. Dean mentioned that with the proposed new HVAC system they are trying to decide what to do with the courthouse ceilings. “The popcorn ceiling, which is quite a bit of the upstairs and downstairs of the courthouse has asbestos in it,” Dean said. “IRS Environmental came in on Friday. They are going to give us a quote on what it would be to abate the whole build...
Whitman County Humane Society was awarded a $5,000 grant from the Petco Foundation as part of its Holiday Wishes campaign. The grant was awarded through the Moscow Petco outlet. In its seventh year, Petco Foundation is awarding grants that total $870,000. "This year we received thousands of stories from individuals across the United States and the Petco Foundation is rewarding grants totaling $870,000 to organizations across the country to save even more animal lives," said Brad Johnson, Moscow...
Port of Whitman commissioners Dec. 5 approved resolution 19-19 that activates the port’s participation in the new Broadband LLC cooperative. The motion was passed on a 2-1 vote. Port Commissioners Kristine Meyer and John Love voted in favor of the resolution, and Commissioner Tom Kammerzell voted against. The official name of the Broadband LLC is NEWCO, LLC. The other five ports involved are Bellingham, Kalama, Pasco, Ridgefield and Skagit. In April 2000, the state legislature authorized port and public utility districts to build t...
Cliff Miller has been with Les Schwab Tire Center for 33 ½ years; he has been at the Colfax Les Schwab for 13 ½ years. Kathy Mayer, born and raised in Colfax, has been with Les Schwab in Colfax for 33 years. She became an employee one week before they opened in 1986. On Dec. 31, Mayer and Miller will be retiring and closing out their last day at Les Schwab. Miller recounted his first Les Schwab meeting. He and his wife sat at a table not knowing anyone when company founder Les...
On Friday, Dec. 6, Whitman Health and Rehabilitation Center hosted the grand opening for its new memory care unit. The unit is designed specifically for those with Alzheimer’s and dementia-related conditions. The space for this new unit was once previously used for physical therapy and managerial offices. Along with changing the space, the floors were redone from carpet to laminate wood and tile as well as walls being repainted. “Through people's visions and imagination we've been able to bring this to life through a truly amazing team,” said...
The Port of Whitman has been working with Pacific Northwest Waterways Association on a river communication effort to support the dams along the Snake River. At Thursday's port meeting, Brenda Stav, port communications director, said the port is working with PNWA on its 2020 river communications plan. The main push thus far with the plan is the “Faces of the Snake River” initiative. PNWA is a collaboration of ports, businesses, public agencies and individuals who combine their economic and political efforts in support of navigation, energy, tra...
At Monday’s Whitman County commissioner workshop, County Treasurer Chris Nelson gave an update regarding delinquent accounts for this tax season. Delinquent accounts occur when a due date for a tax return has passed and the amount due remains unpaid. “Last week we sent out about 1,500 postcards to folks whose accounts show as delinquent,” Nelson said. “We have been very busy these past few days.” Nelson said thus far they have collected over $60,000 in delinquent taxes from those paying online. Through the Whitman County website, county re...
On Monday, Dec. 2, County Administrative Director Gary Petrovich presented the final 2020 county budget to the county commissioners. The final 2020 budget came out to $64,002,692. “The 2020 budget is a three percent increase from the 2019 adopted budget,” Petrovich said. “The 2019 adopted budget was $62,303,720.” When the preliminary budget was presented, Petrovich estimated that the revenues in the general fund would be $16,867,500. These revenues primarily come from general property tax, retail sales and use taxes, state grants and public...
P1FCU has been running their Season of Giving campaign from Nov. 1 and will end on Dec. 21. At the Colfax location, employees are wearing their Season of Giving shirts raising awareness for residents to donate this season. This year, P1FCU is asking residents to donate non-perishable food items, monetary donations, unwrapped toys or new or gently used coats. These items can be dropped off at any P1FCU branch location. All donations will go towards local charities and families. Along with donations that can be dropped off at different branch...
Lana and Roger Myers, founders of W.H.E.A.T. - We Honor Every American Troop, a nonprofit in LaCrosse which sends care packages to troops overseas, plans to send 25 packages this month for the holiday season. Roger Myers, president of W.H.E.A.T., said that they have assembled a board of directors consisting of diverse members of the community. The board of directors consists of Roger Myers, Kathleen Parker, Jody Carter, Georgia Wells and Terry Miller. On Nov. 19, the IRS issued W.H.E.A.T. its employer identification number. With this EIN all...
Emergency Medical Services treat approximately 25-30 million patients per year in the United States. Response times in urban areas are generally seven minutes, but in rural areas the average time is double with one in 10 people waiting close to half an hour for help. Longer response times are mainly due to the fact that EMS in rural areas cover more area and the lack of volunteers. "I think with recruiting on the EMS side it is the same challenge as the firefighters," said Milt Groom of Colfax....
Pullman Planning Commission conducted a hearing Nov. 20 on a potential zone change for Port of Whitman property south of the Pullman-Albion Road and west of Highway 27. Prior to this meeting, Pete Dickinson, Pullman planning director, recommend rejecting the request to rezone the property, lots 15-18 and 22-25, from light industrial to multi-family residential. The lots are being sought for purchase from Aspen Heights, a housing developer based out of Austin, Texas. Aspen is offering the port...
Port of Whitman Commissioners Monday learned the port's application for a Community Economic Revitalization Board grant has been approved in the first round of evaluations. The application will advance to a second tier application, and if approved would be used for road upgrades at the Port of Wilma. The project would also be funded by both the port and county. The CERB board provides funding to local governments and federally-recognized tribes for public infrastructure which supports private business growth and expansion. Only specific...
Port of Whitman commissioners approved their 2020 budget after three different versions were presented. The motion passed for budget version three with a 2-1 vote. The first budget reviewed was a proposed budget that the port had previously made public. The first version came out to a budget of $9,818,543. The second version that was presented had revisions based upon the feedback of the commissioners from the port's previous meeting. The second version budget is $9,988,293. “The second version actually has a decrease in a line item c...
At Monday's port meeting, Debbie Snell, Port of Whitman properties and development manager, updated the port staff and commissioners on the status of the Port of Whitman County Business Air Center realignment and drainage project. Back in May, the port began a project that would include paving existing airport access roads and installing a new drainage infrastructure at the airport. Other parts of the project include grading and cleaning existing ditches to help prevent flooding. When the project was first in works, Snell noted the main...
Lance Bishop, county information technology, gave a final county telephone update to county commissioners at their Monday workshop. Bishop said while the main phone issue is fixed, there are still small issues that are popping up. The county phone lines and numbers had been restored to regular service as of Thursday, Nov. 14, to conclude a month without service. The county office lines went down Oct. 15 when Century Link was asked to disconnect many unused county telephone lines and somehow blew out the whole system. “There are little hiccups,...
Tightly gathered around a table in the dining room of the Perkins House with others sitting just outside the circle, residents shared stories, pictures and passed down memories about Cashup Davis and the Palouse region. Leading the meeting was Jeff Burnside, award-winning investigative reporter, and Gordon Davis, great-grandson of Cashup. "The best we can do is interview people who remember conversations from their grandparents or great-grandparents about Cashup," Burnside said. Burnside and...
The Women’s Leadership Guild will give $16,000 in grants raised by yearly contributions made from members of the organization. “Those contributions are split 50/50 to fund the grant pool and the highest needs for Pullman Regional Hospital,” said Stephanie Pierce, assistant director of development for the Pullman Regional Hospital Foundation. These grants will be $2,000 each, going to eight different nonprofit organizations that align with the Women's Leadership Guild goal of empowering women and children through health and wellness. The recip...
The County Commissioners approved the motion of increasing dues for the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee at their Nov. 18 meeting. The administrative dues would be increased from $5,000 to $6,750 starting next fiscal year. PBAC maintains a network of water level monitoring instruments throughout the Palouse Basin and funds a variety of research projects aimed at gaining increased understanding of the behavior of the basin aquifer systems. Commissioner Art Swannack said that there hasn't been a dues increase since approximately 2005. He said...
Winter brings snowmen, snow angels and snowplows. With an average annual snowfall of 28.3 inches in Whitman County, snowplows play an important role in winter safety for those all over the county. “We are going to run three employees less, maybe more than that this season,” said Kirk Hoffman, Washington State Department of Transportation maintenance superintendent. “That's not going to push the panic button; it just depends on the winter. We might see some delayed responses, just because we don't have as many people out there, especially as we...
It’s estimated that 240 million calls are made to 911 in the US each year. As more people have access to phones and emergencies increase, the number of first responders has not. Nationwide, in communities of 2,500 or less, they have seen a reduction of 20 percent in a two year period (2015-2017) of volunteer and career firefighters, according to the National Volunteer Fire Council. “I think every department in this county is experiencing a shortage of volunteers, even, speaking for the City of Pullman,” said Tim Tingley, Colfax Fire Department....
The Port of Whitman County staff received a bid for the materials and procurement for the fiber-to-home project in Rosalia. Back in August, the port was awarded $1 million from Whitman County’s .09 funds to design and construct a fiber-to-the-home network in five rural towns in Whitman County. “We received one bid from Graybar Electric for $132,580.41,” said Kara Riebold, chief operating officer for the port. “This is a very competitive price. I was able to do the materials and procurement for the Port of Garfield, and I got to see two bids dow...
On Tuesday, Nov. 12, Lance Bishop, county information technology director, reported to county commissioners that as of Monday afternoon, the automated process of moving the phone numbers to the new system has been rejected twice. “This data is going from point A to B to C,” Bishop said. “If it’s not formatted exactly the same from all three parties there’s a misalignment and it gets rejected.” Bishop explained that since the automated process isn’t working they will have to manually move each phone number through the system. The county has ap...
The LaCrosse FFA made a strong showing at this year's 92nd National FFA Convention and Expo on Oct. 30 to Nov. 2, in Indianapolis, Ind. The LaCrosse marketing team placed 4th overall in the National Marketing Plan Career Development Event. Members of this team were Alynn Harder, Genevieve McGregor and Jasmin Watson. Members of the top four teams received cash awards to recognize their success. The National FFA Marketing Plan CDE helps students practice and sharpen skills in marketing through the development and presentation of a marketing...
On Nov. 8, a motion was brought before the port commissioners to join the Northwest River Partners (NWRP) as an affiliate member for $500. NWRP advocates for the bettering of our communities, our region, and the world through the low-cost, carbon-free hydropower system. According to its website, they encourage the balanced use of Columbia Basin rivers, while working towards solutions that help hydropower and salmon coexist and thrive. "Northwest River Partners has allowed us to participate in...
