Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 26 - 45 of 45
COLFAX –– Punching a nursing assistant in the face got an 18-year-old Clarkston woman a felony charge in Whitman County. Jessi L. Betts, 18, of Clarkston was charged with assault in the third degree on Oct. 26, according to court records. Betts was in the emergency room of the Whitman Hospital and Medical Clinics receiving treatment for injuries hospital staff suspected were “sustained in a car crash in Palouse.” The Palouse police met her first and reported she was acting strange and requested she be examined at a hospital. She later left th...
COLFAX - Pairings, a fine art gallery and wine bar, is looking to open during the Holiday Open House. "This is really the merger of two dreams," said Bob Krikac. They are the dreams of his business partners Kim DeHart and Carrie Vielle. The three started brainstorming in the spring and coming up with concepts. COVID has given the opportunity to put more work and time into getting the space ready, Krikac said. The trio hopes that by joining forces, Pairings will be a place people will want to...
PULLMAN –– Yelling at police that he was going to get a shotgun led a Pullman man to jail. Scott R. Kibler, 30, of Pullman, was charged with felony harassment in Whitman County Superior Court on Oct. 28. Kibler called 9-1-1 on Oct. 24 about a car blocking an alley in the 700 block of SE High Street in Pullman, according to court records. Law enforcement officials noted he was “mildly hostile on the phone,” and he was previously “belligerent” with parking enforcement. Kibler’s car was blocked by a vehicle and police tried to contact the r...
COLFAX –– Whitman County commissioners approved a new interim county health director Monday by naming Chris Skidmore to the job. He’s the deputy director of the Whitman County Public Health. Commissioners approved the resignation of Director Troy Henderson, effective Nov. 15, earlier the same day,. Henderson accepted a job with the U.S. Department of Defense in Germany. “I think he’s been a really good public health director and I’m sad to see him go,” said Art Swannack, county commissioner. “And for the military, they got a good one.” “He...
PALOUSE - The state took three years to move on a plan to pump wastewater to lagoons on top of a hill in Palouse to clean river water. “While we are relieved to bring an end to the long discussion and debate with Ecology regarding our wastewater plan, we are equally anxious to move forward with a reasonable and prudent mindset that minimizes the burden of debt to city and cost to our individual citizens,” said Chris Cook, Palouse mayor. The City of Palouse nears approval from the Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) on a final plan to...
COLFAX - Fire singed a home on Rock Street in Colfax Oct. 30. The inside of the home was spared any smoke or damage from fire. Wood was stacked against the back of the house and was ignited. It is believed to have started in a compost pile and was accidental, according to Scott Kruse, Colfax EMS and incident command for the fire. The residents were at home when the fire broke out and were working to fight the fire when firefighters arrived on scene. Crews responded at 1:39 p.m. to the fire, at...
COLFAX –– Colfax School District lost about 8% of its students because of COVID and it's going to cost the district funding, possibly $462,000. The Colfax school board discussed how many students dropped out at its regular meeting on Oct. 26. In September and October the district lost 42 of the 502 students, said Superintendent Jerry Pugh. The district is preparing for a budget shortfall since state funding is based on the number of students. Washington school districts receive between $11...
County Commissioner District #2 Tom Handy 49.9% Dean Kinzer 49.4% State Rep., District #9 Position #1 Mary Dye 66.9% Brett Borden 30.8% United States President Joseph Biden 53.2% Donald Trump 43.2% Jo Jorgensen 2.1% Howie Hawks 0.5% Gloria LaRiva 0.06% Alyson Kennedy 0.05% U.S. Representative, Congressional District #5 C. McMorris Rodgers 53.2% Dave Wilson 53.2% Governor Jay Inslee 51.8% Loren Culp 47.7% Lieutenant Governor Denny Heck 43.3% Marko Liias 35.6% Secretary of State Kim Wyman 55.8% Gael Tarleton 43.9% State Treasurer Mike...
COLFAX – Challenger Tom Handy led the Whitman County commissioner’s race after the first ballot count Tuesday by 63 votes. Handy had 6,746 votes and incumbent Dean Kinzer had 6,683 votes for the county commissioner, district two position. Kinzer, a Republican, is running for a third term. Handy, an independent, is in his first run for political office. Kinzer is a farmer outside of Pullman and a former 16-year Pullman school board member. Handy, the proprietor of Paradise Creek Brewery in Pullman, served as a board member for Pullman Cha...
OLYMPIA – Gov. Jay Inslee declared victory in the general election Tuesday night over Republican challenger Loren Culp. “I cannot express the honor I feel to be elected to a third term as governor,” Inslee said, celebrating victory when even more than a million ballots have yet to be counted statewide. “The people of Washington have given my administration a unique place in history, and I will work hard for you every day, just as I have for the past eight years.” As of press time, Inslee received 1,958,787 votes, or 59.37% of the initial s...
COLFAX - Sen. Mark G. Schoesler and Rep. Mary Dye are leading the races for state 9th District Senate and House of Representatives positions. Schoesler is running unopposed after Democratic candidate Jenn Goulet dropped out of the race. Scheosler received 7,805 votes in the first count, and Goulet 6,077 votes. Dye, Pos. 1, is running against Libertarian Brett Borden. Dye leads with 8,824 votes and Borden trails with 4,071 votes after the first count. Rep. Joe Schmick, Pos. 2, ran unopposed as a Republican candidate. He gathered 10,370 votes in...
SPOKANE — Eastern Washington’s two incumbent Republican congressional representatives were leading by large margins following the initial general election tally Tuesday night. Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Spokane and Dan Newhouse of Sunnyside had comfortable leads in their districts at press time. In the race for the 5th Congressional District, McMorris Rodgers was leading Democrat challenger Dave Wilson, 195,907 votes to 133,419 (59.4% to 40.4%). Whitman County is in the 5th Congressional District. In the 4th Congressional District rac...
OLYMPIA – Despite a parental uprising over an “inclusive” sexual education mandate, Referendum 90 was passing after an initial election night tally Nov 3. Approval of R-90 reaffirms a law passed by Democrats in Olympia last spring that requires all public schools to start teaching a sexual education curriculum, which includes alternative lifestyle intimacy, in all grades starting with kindergarten. The initial count showed the measure had 1,916,159 supporting votes statewide, or 59.38%, as of press time. Opposition, at that time, tallied 1,296...
COLFAX – Whitman County voters in the general election turned a sea of red to blue in the race for the U.S. presidency. As of press time, Whitman County was among only two in Eastern Washington backing former vice president and Democrat Joe Biden over incumbent President Donald Trump. Whitman County voters joined with their peers west of the Cascades and in Walla Walla County in the so-called “blue wave.” The initial results show 53.24% of voters here supporting Biden and running mate Kamala Harris. President Trump and Vice President Mike...
SPOKANE VALLEY — Liberty state supporters have a new champion in Olympia following yesterday's general election. Republican Rob Chase of Spokane Valley will be filling the 4th Legislative District seat being vacated by Rep. Matt Shea. As of the end of ballot counting Nov. 3, Chase had 61% of the vote to Democrat Lance Gurel's 39%, according to the Spokane County Election Office. Chase is a former Spokane County treasurer and was backed by Rep. Shea. Liberty state is the most current iteration in Eastern Washington's century-old effort to b...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Are you ready for President-elect Biden? On Friday morning, Nov. 6, voters nationwide awoke to new election tallies that showed former Vice President Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat, leading in more than enough states to win a majority of the Electoral College votes and the presidency. Meanwhile, Republican President Donald J. Trump is moving ahead with lawsuits over alleged voting irregularities in multiple states across the country, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Several states remain counting ballots this m...
REPUBLIC – Republican gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp said he lost his job as police chief and sole officer in the city after the council voted to disband the Police Department. Culp made the announcement the day after he was presumably defeated by gubernatorial incumbent Democrat Jay Inslee in the Nov. 3 general election. Inslee leads statewide with 57.73 percent of the vote as of Friday. In a Facebook Live video Wednesday, Culp said the City Council had a special meeting prior to the e...
COLFAX--Whitman County Commissioner Dean Kinzer has taken a slim lead over challenger Tom Handy with 2,000 more ballots counted last night, Nov. 5. Kinzer added 881 votes and Handy 814, bringing them to 7,564 and 7,560, respectively. Kinzer has claimed more votes from every precinct in the county except Albion and Pullman; all of Pullman’s 28 rural and city precincts favor Handy. There are 69 precincts in the county. An estimated 3,500 ballots remain to be counted with the next count scheduled for Monday evening. A mandatory recount will be c...
COLFAX - A winter weather advisory is in effect until Tuesday morning, predicting 1-3 inches of snow along SR 195 and the Palouse. The Palouse is included in the warning and it includes Colfax, Rosalia, Oakesdale, Tekoa, Uniontown, Pullman, Moscow, and Genesee. Potlatch and Plummer, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation. (WSDOT) The advisory is set to expire a 10 a.m. on Tuesday. More snow is possible on Wednesday. "There is a good chance temperatures will warm above...
