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Spokane County election workers use a sorting machine at the Election Department's office on West Gardner Street Tuesday afternoon to prepare ballots for counting. Ballots are run through the machine twice, first to scan the bar code and voter signature to log in that the specific voter has cast their ballot and a second time to separate ballots by precinct in preparation for tabulating....
One hot mid-August Wednesday morning in 2000 I received a phone call from then-Cheney Free Press Dave Rey. Rey didn’t waste any time. After a quick greeting, he asked one simple question “How’d you like to come work for the Cheney Free Press?” Similarly, I didn’t waste any time with my response: “Yes.” After several interviews and job search disappointments, I was finally going to put my recently earned journalism degree to work as a staff reporter at a local weekly newspaper. While not specifically what I had sought when g...
CHENEY - Water recreation enthusiasts will find their access to Williams Lake limited beginning this week. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife is beginning a project to replace the existing ramps at the public water access are on the lake, located south of Klink's Resort. In a news release, DFW officials said the work was beginning now due to a limited construction season. Contractor crews will be onsite Wednesday, Aug. 5, preparing the area for construction, which will...
CHENEY - New Eastern Washington University Tribal Relations Director Erin Ross sees her primary focus as communicator - internally with current Native American students but just as important externally with those communities they come from. That communication includes equal parts presenting the value of an education at EWU and what that can mean to those communities, along with listening to what those communities need and want. Both involve getting out and meeting with...
CHENEY — Implementation of a new afterhours utility service dispatch system will have to wait a couple more weeks. According to Light Department Director Steve Marx, the July 20 initiation of the new incident response management system through Daupler, Inc. didn’t take place due to a technical glitch in the program. The system was to have begun routing calls for utility service directly to utility employees through a separate phone line rather than through the current system of calling 911 dispatchers. “(It) appears to be a...
SPOKANE — Two new elements will be in play in the upcoming August primary election — one with a physical manifestation the other less so, but with a possibly large presence nonetheless. The first element comes via a legislative mandate during the last session in Olympia, requiring all 39 Washington counties to print a voter pamphlet. The size —and subsequent cost —will depend upon the number of races and measures appearing on the ballot, with small counties printing a 1-2 page flyer stuffed in the same envelope as the bal...
CHENEY — Beginning July 20, afterhours calls for utility services will no longer be handled by the Police Department but will instead be directed to a new incident response management system provided by Daupler, Inc. The City Council approved a 12-month contract for the pilot program at its Nov. 24, 2020 meeting, and officials with the Light and Public Works departments began a six-month setup process in January. “Now, we’re ready to switch over to it for the next six months for implementation,” Light Department Director Stev...
The Spokane County Elections Department has conducted 21 recounts of specific races over the past 20 years, according to the department’s online archives. To me, that indicates an inclination towards openness and transparency in the electoral process, not just the number of recounts but also the easy availability of the outcomes. Add to this the department’s willingness to allow election observers, and I feel pretty good about trusting the reliability of elections in our region, whatever they may be. Other voters should too...
CHENEY — Like most of us, new Eastern Washington University student trustee Auriana Mitchell claims it’s difficult for her to be in two places at once. A look at the Liberty High School graduate and Cheney-area native’s career so far makes one wonder, however, if she hasn’t somehow perfected that ability — if not physically, then at least mentally and intellectually. The third-generation EWU student’s career at the university where her parents and one set of grandparent...
CHENEY — It takes a lot of work to stage the Cheney Rodeo — no small feat considering all of that work is done by volunteers. But given all that takes place, literally beginning just a couple days after the previous year’s rodeo wraps up, it’s more than likely all of those volunteers would agree with coordinator Heidi Monter’s assessment of the 2021 Cheney Rodeo. “I’m just thrilled to be putting on the rodeo again,” Monter said last week. After a one-year hiatus due to the Cov...
WEST PLAINS — When it comes to the Fourth of July tradition of discharging fireworks, local fire agency officials are hoping West Plains residents will follow the old 1980s Nancy Reagan adage about drug use and just say no. Fireworks are banned in most of Spokane County with the exceptions of the cities of Airway Heights and Medical Lake — both of which allow their sales and usage. That is until Monday afternoon, when Spokane County Fire District 3 Fire Chief Cody Rohrbach enacted a temporary ban on discharging fireworks in...
If you’re trying to beat the excessive heat by staying indoors this Fourth of July weekend and you run out of things to do, let me offer a suggestion. Read the Declaration of Independence. At 1,338 words it’s actually a short read. I’m sure you could find it on Kindle, but instead of listening to someone else read it, you read it. We learn more when we engage our minds in the active exercise of reading versus the passive course of listening — although the latter is essential and needed more these days. Don’t worry about mem...
SPOKANE — Approximately 460 Avista electric customers in Sprague and the surrounding area will experience a planned power outage on Thursday, July 8. The planned outage will begin at 10 p.m. and end at 4 a.m. on Friday, July 9. No road closures are expected during this outage. During this time, Avista crews will perform maintenance to their Sprague substation, located north of Interstate 90 on Doerschlag Road approximately nine miles west of Sprague. The routine maintenance will increase reliability and reduce future o...
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn — Former Cheney Blackhawk Isaiah Rigo is one of 61 athletes selected to represent the United States at the Paralympic Games this August in Tokyo, Japan. Rigo is one of three athletes from the Spokane area who was selected to the team after recently completing three days of trials. The other two are Hannah Dederick of Liberty Lake and Susannah Scaroni of Tekoa. Rigo is the first Cheney track and field athlete to compete in an Olympic Games. He is the second Ch...
MEDICAL LAKE — Spokane County District No. 3 Fire Chief Cody Rohrbach has declared a temporary ban on fireworks in the city due to extremely dry conditions and increasing fire potential brought on by excessive heat and a prolonged period without significant precipitation. The move is made under Section 5.10.060 of the city's municipal code, which allows the Fire Chief to prohibit the discharge of fireworks due to extreme fire danger, defined under the code as "a period of hot, dry weather accompanied by low fuel moistures." T... Full story
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn -- Former Cheney Blackhawk Isaiah Rigo is one of 61 athletes selected to represent the United States at the Paralympic Games this August in Tokyo, Japan. Rigo is one of three athletes from the Spokane area who was selected to the team after recently completing three days of trials. The other two are Hannah Dederick of Liberty Lake and Susannah Scaroni of Tekoa. Rigo was a four-time 2A state champion in wheelchair cross country competition, 2015-2018, and... Full story
CHENEY — The City Council is considering putting an ordinance on the November ballot to once again lift the property tax levy lid in order to fund public safety needs. Council was schedule to debate and vote on the ordinance at its June 22 meeting. Cheney voters originally approved lifting the lid from its then $2.40 per $1,000 of assessed property value to its maximum amount of $3.10 in 2015. The lift went into effect in 2016 — and over the past six years has generated almost $2.65 million in funding for police and fire need...
WEST PLAINS — When fire left an Airway Heights family without a home, local fire agencies and a business stepped in to provide some much needed resources. Airway Heights Fire Chief Mitch Metzger said they responded to a fire at the home of Erika Saucedo on May 21. The single-mom and her two kids weren’t home at the time, but arrived soon after being notified. The fire destroyed the kitchen in the family’s single-wide home, with smoke damage ruining the rest of the their belon...
Cheney High School Class of 2021 speakers Kayli Lucas and Dawson Heuett take time to remember their classmates and the special moment of graduation the modern way — by taking selfies during commencement ceremonies last Friday at Northern Quest Resort and Casino. Lewis and Heuett were part of the largest class to ever graduate from Cheney. Editor’s note: This photo was previously run June 17 and is being re-run to correct a last name typo...
CHENEY — The Blackhawks Season 3 (winter) teams wrapped up competition with some playoff action last week. Boys basketball They may have finished 0-12, but Cheney’s last game of the season was one of its better ones. The Blackhawks battled back from a 26-14 halftime deficit by outscoring Lewis and Clark 16-11 in the third quarter, only to fade down the stretch in a 63-50 loss in a Greater Spokane League 4A/3A consolation game June 16. The Tigers outscored Cheney 26-20 in the final eight minutes. Josh Whiteley led Cheney wit...
Cheney High School Class of 2021 speakers Kayli Lucas and Dawson Heuett take time to remember their classmates and the special moment of graduation the modern way – by taking selfies during commencement ceremonies last Friday at Northern Quest Resort and Casino. Lewis and Heuett were part of the largest class to ever graduate from Cheney....
CHENEY - Sue Beeman and other Cheney Depot Society members have a message to the individual, or individuals who recently stole bricks from the site of the relocated historic railroad station - you didn't steal from them, you stole from the community. "We had a pretty large time investment," Beeman said of volunteers who have worked on restoring the 93-year-old building. "There are a lot of people who have worked really hard to benefit the community." Beeman said she... Full story
CHENEY — The City Council took steps at their June 8 meeting to resume holding its regular meetings in-person. Like all other legislative bodies, Cheney’s City Council has been holding its twice-monthly meetings remotely via Zoom due to Gov. Jay Inslee’s March, 2020 declaration of a state of emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Part of that proclamation prohibited in-person meetings and waived and suspended a number of laws and rules established by the Public Records Act. Inslee has since announced the state will effec...
CHENEY - A pair of Blackhawks wrestlers, Jackson Showalter and Dylan Straley, earned Greater Spokane League titles at the district championship meet June 9. Also wrapping up the regular season on a high note were the Lady Blackhawks basketball and slowpitch softball teams, both earning wins in their finales. Boys basketball The Blackhawks wrapped up their regular season with a pair of losses, 76-48 at home June 8 to Gonzaga Prep and 70-46 June 10 on the road at University High...
Cheney High School Class of 2021 graduates celebrate with the traditional tossing of their caps after being announced at ceremonies last Friday....
