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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...
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...
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....
CHENEY -- Police and Fire Department personnel are currently onsite of a rollover accident near Oak and North 5th streets. Roads in the area have been blocked off. This is a developing story, with more information to follow when available. UPDATE 11:25 a.m. -- Cheney Police Department Capt. Nate Conley said the accident was a low-speed, T-bone collision at an uncontrolled intersection. The vehicle that rolled "barely" did so onto its side. No injuries were...
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...
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....
CHENEY -- Changing zoning in the city's Industrial and Commerce Park, how to fund public safety and how to spend almost $3.5 million in American Recovery Plan Act money will be the subject of a June 15 special City Council meeting. The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. in the Wren Pierson Community Center multipurpose room, the first in-person meeting since March 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions. The meeting will be limited capacity, and will also be available online via a Zoom link. The city is proposing changing the zoning...
CHENEY - Eastern Washington University has switched gears and is now requiring students, faculty and staff to get a Covid-19 vaccination. The revised policy and reasons behind it were highlighted in a June 3 email from interim President David May to the campus community. May previously announced in a May 6 email that the university would not be requiring vaccinations - allowing students, faculty and staff to make a personal decision about receiving one of the three shots...
CHENEY — The city’s drinking water has received the federal Environmental Protection Agency seal of approval when it comes to allowed level of contaminants contained with in the system’s eight wells, five reservoirs and 40-plus miles of piping. According to the city’s annual Consumer Confidence Report for 2020, there were no violations in any of the 13 areas tested, with 11 elements within acceptable ranges. The only two elements outside the “maximum contaminant level (MCL)” — the highest level of a contaminant allowed in dr...
CHENEY - The Blackhawks Unified Sports team held its first ever track and field competition under sun-drenched skies and temperatures in the 90s last Thursday, June 3. Cheney competed along with teams from Mead and Mt. Spokane. "It was a big hit," Cheney Unified coordinator Brian Baxter said, noting it was the first time for track and field. The program has previously instituted a basketball league and earlier this spring a soccer league. Cheney fielded 14 members on its not,...
CHENEY - Perhaps it's Kaye Aucutt who best summed up retiring Windsor Elementary School Principal Vince Songaylo. "Mr. Area," Windsor's principal prior to Songaylo hiring there in 2010 said. A couple of minutes of discussion later, she expanded upon that. "Mr. West Plains," Aucutt said. "He knows it like the back of his hand." Songaylo is set to retire after a 35-year career spent entirely with Cheney School District. But it goes further back than that. Songaylo was born in...
CHENEY — The Lady Blackhawks slow pitch softball team continued its success in its Greater Spokane League inaugural season, winning three of four games over the past week to stay in the middle of the pack. Cheney is currently seventh in the 12-team league, one-half game back of University with two games remaining. Boys basketball With the season wrapping up on June 10, the Blackhawks are still searching for the win column. Cheney dropped three games last week, 80-41 on June 1 to Ferris, 65-55 to Mead June 3 an 81-37 to C...
SPOKANE COUNTY — Acknowledging that the local wildfire season is “off to a strong start,” area fire chiefs joined together to issue a burn restrictions order last Friday. The order began June 4 and remains in effect indefinitely. The chiefs took the steps due to lack of precipitation this past spring — the driest since 1926 and fourth driest over the past 130 years of record keeping. They also pointed to hot weather last week, with temperatures climbing into the 90s, and a forecast that indicates temperatures remaini...
CHENEY — It may seem strange to be reading about basketball, wrestling and gymnastics when it’s 80 degrees and sunny outside rather than 20 degrees and snowy, but such is the high school sports world of Covid-19. With that, Blackhawks winter sports teams finally got into their Season 3 action on May 18, opening their inaugural Greater Spokane League competition with varying degrees of success. Boys basketball The Blackhawks are still in search of their first win as of June 1. Cheney opened with an 85-63 loss to Central Val...
SPOKANE COUNTY — Construction along Interstate 90 recently shifted a bit more towards the city of Spokane as crews wrapped up work at the I-90/Medical Lake interchange and began reconstruction earlier this spring of the I-90/Geiger Boulevard interchange. Work on the $6.15 million project at exit 276 began April 12, and includes construction of three roundabouts along with revised on/off ramps, better illumination and erosion control, pavement markings, permanent signage and traffic control. The three roundabouts will be b...
TYLER — After a one-year hiatus — like most events impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic — Tyler Daze is back. The annual, one-day community celebration just over 11 miles west of Cheney on State Route 904 takes place — rain or shine — as it always does on the first Saturday of the month, which this year is June 5. The community flea market runs from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. with numerous activities taking place in between. “It’s a great get together for the community,” organizer Bob Shea said. Tyler Daze begins with a community breakfast...
CHENEY — The proposed rezone of the city’s Industrial and Commerce Park could head to an upcoming City Council meeting — but without an approval from the city Planning Commission. At a May 10 public hearing, the city proposal to change the 36-acre park from its current Business Park (BP) zoning to Light Industrial (I-L) failed to receive a vote after none of the members offered to second to Commissioner Dan Hillman’s motion to vote on the proposal. Some of the issues that likely led to the none-vote were impacts to surroun...
CHENEY - Senior Ryan Rieckmann swept to wins in all three of his track and field events while the Blackhawks baseball team ensured it wouldn't have to wait until next year to earn its first Greater Spokane League win as spring sports teams concluded action last week. Baseball The Blackhawks got an offensive explosion to get into the win column in their final game of the season. Carson Jefferies went 3 for 4, scoring three runs and driving in two more as Cheney shellacked...
WEST PLAINS - Candidate filing week takes place May 17 – 21, and a quick glance at the seats up for election suggests the possibility for wholesale changes among some cities and districts. Nineteen out of a total of 34 seats are up for election this year in Airway Heights, Cheney, Medical Lake and both school districts. The largest number of these is Medical Lake with five council members and the mayor's office up for election. Incumbent council members Don Kennedy (Position 1...
Cheney High softball players Lindsey Hagreen (2) and Isabella King (12) exchange a light-hearted moment as the senior duo were honored as part of University High School’s Senior Day prior to the game between the Lady Blackhawks and Titans last Thursday, May 6....
CHENEY — The Police Department recently upgraded its eyes in the sky watching over anything taking place downtown. The department has replaced its four pole-mounted cameras with new devices manufactured by Security Lines US that are not only more efficient from a maintenance and service stand point, but also more powerful. Three cameras — called Portable Observation Devices (P.O.D.s) — are mounted at intervals along 1st Street on Light Department power poles from G Stree...
