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Aug. 4 4:19 p.m. -- This story has been updated to reflect a press release issued today noting the district will start in stage 3 of its six-stage plan. CHENEY -- The school district board of directors voted unanimously on Aug. 3 to begin the 2020-2021 school year with most students taking part in the remote learning phase of the district’s proposed six-step plan for reopening. Under this stage three of the plan, students in the greatest need of support (educational justice) will receive in-person instruction. The board a... Full story
CHENEY — Eastern Washington University President Mary Cullinan has announced she is retiring from her position, effective immediately. The university's Board of Trustees has named Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs David May to serve as interim president. The announcement came at a virtual board of trustees meeting this morning, Aug. 4. "I have been honored to serve as Eastern Washington University's first female president," Cullinan said in a news release. "... Full story
CHENEY – The popular Friday Night Movie series is reviving a format popular years ago when the automobile was king. The Parks and Recreation Department has moved the series to a drive-in movie style venue that will be held in the Cheney Middle School parking lot on Betz Road. Normally held at the Sutton Park gazebo, City Administrator Mark Schuller said they made the move last week after consulting with Spokane Regional Health District Health Officer Dr. Bob Lutz. Movies are not considered live entertainment, which is p...
CHENEY – Eastern Washington University’s Board of Trustees have approved using more cash reserves and an allocation of reduction targets in order to close a $22.54 million operating budget shortfall. At a special meeting today (July 24) held via Zoom, the board voted 8-0 in approving expense reduction targets of 13.5 percent for all university areas except Diversity and Inclusion and Academic Affairs. The latter will look for ways to come up with a 22.3 percent reduction in expenses while the former will be exempt from red...
CHENEY – Eastern Washington University’s Board of Trustees have approved using more cash reserves and an allocation of reduction targets in order to close a $22.54 million operating budget shortfall. At a special meeting today (July 24) held via Zoom, the board voted 8-0 in approving expense reduction targets of 13.5 percent for all university areas except Diversity and Inclusion and Academic Affairs. The latter will look for ways to come up with a 22.3 percent reductions in expenses while the former will be exempt from red... Full story
CHENEY – City officials have made the decision to close the community's municipal pool for the 2020 season as well as put a pause in an activity recently launched to compensate for the lack of cooling off options for area youth - and adults. City Administrator Mark Schuller told the council last Tuesday, July 15, that he and Mayor Chris Grover made the decision to close the pool for a number of reasons, but mainly because rising cases of the novel coronavirus in the region h...
CHENEY – Residents economically impacted by COVID-19 now have somewhere to turn to for help paying their city utility bills. At their July 14 meeting, the City Council approved creation of the CARES Utility Assistance Grant Program, dedicating at least $25,000 of the $372,300 the city is eligible to receive in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to the purpose. The program – which began July 15 – can provide up to $200 in one-time utility assistance to Cheney customers who have seen their house...
CHENEY – School district officials are evaluating the pros and cons of three proposed models for reopening schools this fall. The first is onsite/in-person instruction, a direction 70 percent of respondents to a recent survey indicated they preferred. Option two is a K-12 hybrid that features a split schedule of in-person instruction with online learning, while option three would provide K-5 onsite learning with a grades 6-12 hybrid. All three options are being evaluated by three separate committees, who are due to report o...
CHENEY – The City Council gave its go-ahead to two construction projects while putting a third briefly on ice at its July 14 meeting. The council elected to delay giving final plat approval to Phase 1 of the View Acres 5th Addition, postponing the decision until its July 28 meeting. Phase 1 would allow construction of 16 of 28 proposed homes on the 14.2-acre parcel at the end of Ridgeview Drive near Salnave Elementary School. The decision to defer final approval, which is contingent on three conditions developer Gary Geschke...
WEST PLAINS – Fire chiefs in Spokane County issued burn restrictions on Monday to all residents due to hot weather conditions expected throughout the week. The restrictions apply to all jurisdictions within the county. “We did converse, as the County Fire Chiefs, and agreed that given the high temps this week with low relative humidity along with dry fuel conditions, it was time to invoke burn bans for recreational fires,” Cheney Fire Chief Tom Jenkins said in an email. The restrictions apply to all unauthorized recre... Full story
CHENEY – Residents economically impacted by COVID-19 now have somewhere to turn to for help paying their city utility bills. At their July 14 meeting, the City Council approved creation of the CARES Utility Assistance Grant Program, dedicating at least $25,000 of the $372,300 the city is eligible to receive in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to the purpose. The program – which began July 15 – can provide up to $200 in one-time utility assistance to Cheney customers who have seen their house... Full story
CHENEY – Eastern Washington University administrators and members of its board of trustees have outlined one path to take to deal with the university’s budgeting problems. Now, the university’s faculty have proposed another. At a July 6 special meeting held via Zoom, Faculty Organization legislative liaison and English professor Sam Ligon outlined part of a proposal to fill a projected $22.54 million budget hole through increased use of reserves and salary concessions negotiated with faculty and staff. The budget probl...
AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Asking taxpayers for money is an uncertain proposition even in the best of times. During a health pandemic, it’s even more of a gamble. Spokane County Fire District 10 Fire Chief Ken Johnson acknowledges that, and hopes voters will still understand their needs and support the district’s emergency medical services (EMS) levy renewal request on the Aug. 4 primary ballot. “In the back of my mind, I’m thinking there’s a lot of people out there who are hurting, st...
Update 07/16/20 at 12:32 p.m. -- Kendra Gannaway has been located and returned safely to her family. CHENEY -- Police Department officials are asking for the publics help in tracking down a runaway missing from her home since Monday, July 13. Kendra Gannaway is a 15-year-old female who has run away several times in the past but has always communicated with someone in her family or with friends. Cheney Police Department Capt. Rick Beghtol said the last time she ran away was a... Full story
CHENEY – The best laid plans of mice and men can these days fall victim to bugs. That’s the gentle way of saying the Parks and Recreation Department’s plans for resuming the annual Concerts in the Park and Friday night movies at Sutton Park has been delayed due to measures surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. In a story in last week’s Cheney Free Press, city officials had hoped to launch both series this week, with the first concert July 15 and movie July 17. The concerts would run each Wednesday through Aug. 19 – except for...
WEST PLAINS – A statewide order requiring all businesses to prohibit customers from entering their facilities unless wearing a mask kicked into gear on Tuesday, July 7. The “No mask, no service” order from Gov. Jay Inslee last Thursday, July 2, expands on a previous order issue June 26. That order required masks in businesses specifically in Yakima County, which has been dubbed the “epicenter” of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state due to a rapid increase in positive cases that maxed out available hospital space. Inslee’s...
CHENEY – Webster's Dictionary describes the word "vision" as "a thought, concept or object formed by the imagination," or even as "a mode of seeing or conceiving." Eastern Washington University President Dr. Mary Cullinan and members of the administration laid out a vision for the university at the May 29 board of trustees meeting that she described in a June 26 interview as "leaner and more focused." It's a vision - called "Eagle Flight Path" - shaped by a two-year internal p...
CHENEY – Summertime Parks and Recreation programs are a mixture of the old and the new this year. While many planned offerings have been canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic health and safety restrictions, Cheney staff have worked to preserve a few staples of previous years while offering something new for kids and parents. One of those new activities is “Mobile Rec (coming to a park near you). Like the title, Parks and Recreation staff will be loading the department van each Wednesday from now through Aug. 13 with act...
Update July 4 at 10:49 .m. -- Discharge of fireworks in Airway Heights are only allowed on July 4 from 8 a.m. to midnight on private property in the city limits. Sales are allowed from July 2 at 8 am until July 4 at 8 pm. OLYMPIA – For some on the West Plains, the noise level is about to get a bit sharper – that is if it hasn’t already. The sale and discharge of fireworks in jurisdictions that still allow them began June 28, according to the Washington State Patrol. Sales are...
AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Dutch Bros. Coffee Company announced that its Airway Heights location will be closed after two employees tested positive for the novel coronavirus and the disease it carries, COVID-19. According to a company news release, the first employee at the shop at 10117 U.S. Highway 2 took a COVID-19 test on June 24 and received a positive result on June 27. Prior to the test the employee worked midday shifts on June 17 and 18 and morning to evening shifts on June 1...
SPOKANE VALLEY – A small piece of history will pass through eastern and central Washington skies on July 4. Five World War II vintage aircraft owned by Hangar 180 air museum in Lewiston will be conducting a flyover over of the region beginning at 8 a.m. The flight takes them over southeast Washington, through the Tri-Cities area to Yakima, up to Ellensburg, back over central and eastern Washington to Lewiston and then up to Spokane where they will layover for an hour at F... Full story
CHENEY – As of July 1, Cheney residents are technically without ambulance service. That was the day Spokane County’s five-year contract — of which Cheney and other jurisdictions are a part of except the city of Spokane — with American Medical Response (AMR) expired. Fire Chief Tom Jenkins said that, at least for now, the national emergency transport provider was not bound by any previous response time requirements and essentially free to charge whatever it wanted, although he hoped they would do otherwise. “My response...
CHENEY – The school district board of directors unanimously approved an $88.77 million budget for the 2020-2021 school year at their June 24 Zoom meeting. The budget consists of five separate funds, with the largest chunk being the just over $70.8 million general fund, which covers most operational functions. Finance Director Jamie Winegart told the board the district would be using some of the existing fund balance of $5.88 million to help maintain programs and keep staffing in place, but that they were in a “good fin...
CHENEY – The City Council approved the receipt of $372,300 in funding from the federal Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act at its June 23 meeting. In doing so, Cheney became the last city on the West Plains to authorize the receipt of a portion the $2 trillion Congress awarded in April to help economies around the nation deal with COVID-19. Washington state received $2.95 billion of that funding, awarding cities and counties a portion on a per capita basis. The grant funding can only be used to a...
CHENEY – After two days of meetings — including one that featured some often contentious and angry public input — Eastern Washington University’s Board of Trustees approved a $270.44 million supplemental 2021 fiscal year budget that reflects an anticipated $22.54 million loss in revenue due to impacts of COVID-19. The board’s decision on June 25 came with a caveat, a provision that required administration to present its plan for allocating proposed personnel cuts and department changes to the board first before proceedin...
