Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 26 - 41 of 41
Mr. Ed Schweitzer, who founded and leads Pullman-based Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, recently pointed out how the new long-term care tax will have an extra-bitter taste for people who call Idaho home but work in our state, in border cities like Clarkston or Pullman. Those include a significant number of SEL's employee-owners, he wrote in a letter to Gov. Inslee, who will be forced to pay the tax but can never benefit from it if they don't reside in Washington. His letter also details...
The little reported information on the elected officials getting a 7% raise is astonishing. My friends in the road department stomached no cost-of-living raise for two years because of the pandemic with the supposed loss of revenue. Trying to be the team players that they are, they went along with it. Darren Alred, from the salary commission, suggested raises of 7-10% would help retain elected officials. I did not know we had to actively try to retain an elected official by throwing money at...
MALDEN - The fire-ravaged community remembers and celebrates one year of rebuilding on Sept. 6. Planned by the Pine Creek Restoration Long-Term Recovery Operation, activities begin at 11:30 a.m. on Moreland Avenue, at the site of the former fire station. The celebration observes the first anniversary of Sept. 7, 2020, Babb Road Fire that destroyed homes, businesses, government offices, and more in Malden, Pine City, and the surrounding areas. Details of the event are still being worked...
PALOUSE – A $1 million loan is approved for replacing water mains in Palouse by the Washington State Public Works Board. The City of Palouse asked for a $1 million loan to completely pay for a domestic water project on Palouse, Church, Colton, and H streets for water main placements, according to the state Department of Commerce. The board approved more than $123 million in pre-construction and construction loans on Aug. 6. The money is for communities improving infrastructures such as roads, b...
LACROSSE - The Whitman County Community Action Center is offering to assist county residents who have fallen behind in paying their water and power bills or mortgages. Center staff is visiting LaCrosse, Rosalia, Malden, Tekoa, and Albion over the next two weeks to meet with residents in need of assistance. The schedule is: • Saturday, Aug. 21 – LaCrosse, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 111 N. Main St. • Wednesday, Aug. 25 – Rosalia Methodist Church, 214 S. Whitman Ave., 9-11 a.m.; Malden Town Hall, 2...
PULLMAN – A homeless man told a deputy he wanted to take a rental car to Plummer, Idaho, but couldn't because he didn't have the keys. The Whitman County deputy found the man sitting in the Enterprise Rent-A-Car overflow parking lot on Grand Avenue in Pullman at roughly 2:30 a.m., according to the deputy's report. The man was described as cooperative and showing signs of using methamphetamine. The suspect allegedly said he was trying to take the car and had used meth before the deputy a...
OLYMPIA - Many school-age children missed recommended immunizations with pandemic school closures in 2020. The state Department of Health did not include COVID-19 vaccinations in the recently released report. "The decreases in pre-teen vaccine rates are especially concerning." Fewer children ages 4 to 6 received vaccinations from 2019 to 2020. The decrease for 11-12 year olds was called "significant." "I'm concerned about how many of our Washington kids are vulnerable to serious but preventable...
PULLMAN - Construction of a 162,000 square foot facility to manufacture printed circuit boards in Moscow, Idaho, received government permits. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) state-of-the-art facility is at 2615 S. Main Street in Moscow, Idaho, and is for fabricating the boards that go into the products SEL manufactures in Pullman, Lewiston, and West Lafayette, Indiana. The company broke ground in June 2021 and is slated to be completed in 2022. SEL received approval for construction...
LAMONT - A Lamont man was named as a board member for the Washington Association of Wheat Growers. Dave Swannack replaced Randy Suess as the Whitman County president in June, the association reported last week. Swannack was one of two new appointees to the board. The other is Leif Claassen of Asotin County. "It's important farmers get involved (in industry organizations) because we are going to lose everything we farm if we don't get involved," Swannack said. "We've got to keep our markets...
OLYMPIA - Unemployment benefits paid for by federal programs end on Sept. 4. The week ending on Sept. 4 is the last payable week for benefits under serval programs under the CARES Act, according to the state Unemployment Security Department. Programs ending are: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) supplied self-employed, freelancers, independent contractors and others who don't qualify for regular unemployment benefits with money. Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) extended...
COLFAX — A local state lawmaker is calling on the governor to rescind his order requiring public school students to wear masks on campus. Ninth Legislative District Rep. Joe Schmick, R-Colfax, wrote a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee on Aug. 9 calling for him to back off the gubernatorial mandate. In addition, 24 other Republicans signed the letter. The 9th Legislative District includes Adams, Asotin, Franklin, Garfield, Whitman, and southern Spokane Counties. Citing the state Department of Health a...
PULLMAN - A "joint" started a tree in Pullman on fire leading to two homes being destroyed and 12 students displaced on Aug. 8. The fire destroyed a home on Maple Street and another on Howard Street. "Pullman Fire Inspector Tony Nuttman said ... that the cause of the wind-swept fire that destroyed two College Hill homes and caused a half-acre wildfire was an accident caused by the embers from a marijuana cigarette used by two visitors from Colorado," said Glenn Johnson, public information...
PULLMAN — Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) President Edmund Schweitzer is working in opposition to the state's new long-term care income tax. The Long-Term Care Trust Act was signed by Gov. Jay Inslee into law in 2019. It begins in January of 2022. The new income tax is 0.58% drawn from workers' payrolls. The more someone makes, the more they pay. For people making $100,000, they pay $580 annually. The money is held to pay for long-term care toward the end of people's lives. A person c...
PALOUSE - Palouse landowners are asked to approve two property tax levies to improve roads and the pool. The change in taxes would be nearly the same as it is now. Council-approved Resolution 2021-06 is for a street levy of 70 cents per $1,000 assessed property value, which is 3 cents lower than the previously adopted levy for road improvements. The Resolution 2021-7 is for a levy to support the city pool that collects 63 cents per $1,000 assessed property value, which is a 6 cent increase. If...
OLYMPIA - State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal is calling on the governor to require teachers to be vaccinated. In an Aug. 12 letter, Reykdal says he is "strongly encouraging" the governor to require public school employees to be vaccinated against COVID as a condition of employment. "I am strongly encouraging you to issue an executive order requiring all employees working in public K–12 schools to get their vaccination against COVID-19 as a condition of employment," R...
SPANGLE — More than 450 people stood on the Liberty High School baseball field singing the National Anthem on Aug. 12. A World War II-era P-51 fighter flew overhead, piloted by Jared Segebartt, of Moscow, Idaho, as the "stars and stripes" waved in the wind. Some in the crowd waved American flags while others hoisted signs demanding the governor rescind his edict requiring public school students to be masked when classes resume in the coming weeks. On the dais, 9th Legislative District R...
