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OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to sign a bill today that would begin the process of removing statues of perhaps the state's most prominent figure from the Capitol building and the National Statuary in Washington, D.C. The governor has called an 11:30 a.m. signing ceremony, where he will sign House Bill 1372 into law. The bill would replace the statues of Pacific Northwest pioneer, teacher and missionary Marcus Whitman. They will be replaced with statues of Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually tribal fishing rights activist. T...
OLYMPIA – Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday, April 8, that moving a county backwards for at least three weeks in his phased reopening plan may provide the impetus to improve vaccination rates. During his press conference, the governor said there has been a recent increase in coronavirus cases in some counties. And as a result, he’ll be looking at the “numbers” Monday to determine which counties should be bounced backward toward closure. “This is not judgment day Monday,” he said. “The score is the score… The numbers will be...
Medical Lake’s Owen Stevens (51) pursues Deer Park quarterback Chaz bird during action last Friday night. The visiting Stags played a dominating game, with Bird throwing for three touchdowns and running for another score, in winning 35-0 as the Cardinals made their winter/spring season home football debut at Holliday Field. The Stags held the Cardinals to just two first downs and outgained them 360-12. Medical Lake visits Lakeside on Friday, March 19 for a 7 p.m. kickoff in S...
Clay Irgens, 7, and sister Camille Irgens, 4, of Cheney, brought the first buttercups of the season to the Cheney Free Press office on Monday, March 15. The children’s parents are Timothy and Jessica Irgens. The siblings found their buttercups while visiting uncle and aunt, Tim and Kelley Walker, along Cheney Spokane Road on Monday, March 15. The Walker’s 13-year-old son, Levi Walker, has in past years brought buttercups into the newspaper office....
PULLMAN — Washington State University has sold naming rights of the field in Martin Stadium to Tri-Cities-based Gesa Credit Union. The university and financial business have signed a 10-year deal naming the field as Gesa Field. The value of the contract is valued at more than $11 million, officials said. "Washington State University was established 130 years ago to serve the citizens of our state," university President Kirk Schulz said today in announcing the deal. "That commi...
Canada geese rest on a log along Hangman Creek between Latah and Waverly Tuesday morning. The creek weaves its way from Whitman through Spokane County before emptying into the Spokane River west of downtown Spokane....
CHENEY - A local man was booked into the Spokane County Jail on Tuesday afternoon, March 2, following a crash that sent a car careening into a building. Stephen Michael Foster, 37, was booked into the jail at 4:36 p.m. after being arrested on probable charges of driving while under the influence, third-degree driving while license suspended and operating a motor vehicle without ignition interlock. According to a police report, witnesses said they saw a Dodge Durango eastbound...
The Medical Lake volleyball team hams it up a bit prior to team pictures on Monday. The Lady Cardinals had their first day of practice March 1, and will host Riverside High School on March 9 in their season opener....
Winter took one more stab at the region last Thursday by dumping 2.6 inches of new snow, according to National Weather Service in Airway Heights data. The early morning snow caused problems for commuters, including the driver of this Reddaway semi whose trailer tipped over when the truck jackknifed in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90 near milepost 274, about three miles west of Spokane....
It’s a solution in search of a problem. Lawmakers in Olympia appear to be fast-tracking House Bill 1356, which would ban the use of “racially derogatory or discriminatory” American Indian mascots, logos and team names in public schools in the state. Simply put, the bill is political theater, nonsense that kowtows to the politically correct crowd that’s bent on cancelling our culture, heritage and history. The bill is quickly moving through the Legislature even though I think...
Cheney High School cheerleaders Chloe Hewes, Morgan Hayes, McKinley Gerard and Emma Miller (right to left) provide inspiration and an example of proper mask wearing during the Blackhawks volleyball match with visiting Mt. Spokane last Thursday, Feb. 18. Cheney fell to the reigning 3A state champions 3-1....
MALDEN – Mayor Dan Harwood accepted a $20,000 check Tuesday, Feb. 16, on behalf of the Fire Department. The donation from the Washington Fire Chiefs association was presented to the city "no strings attached," organization Executive Director Steve Wright said during a brief ceremony in the temporary City Hall. "These funds will assist us in rebuilding our Fire Department and Fire Station, along with funds from our insurance and FEMA," Harwood said. Both the Fire Station and Ci...
A 52-foot gooseneck vehicle hauler and pickup tipped over Wednesday evening, Feb. 10, in the roundabout at the intersection of state Highway 902, West Geiger Boulevard and West Medical Lake Road. The incident spilled three vehicles onto their sides and blocked the roundabout between Airway Heights and Medical Lake for more than three hours. Nobody was injured in the mishap that closed the roundabout from 3:27 p.m. to 6:33 p.m., the state Department of Transportation reported....
SPRAGUE — Unofficial special election results tallied Tuesday night, Feb. 9, show the School District levy passing with overwhelming support. According to the Lincoln County Auditor's Office, the initial tallied showed with 145 votes in favor of the measure and 60 votes opposed. That's 70.73% support in the first count of the measure that included 0 ballots returned from Adams County precincts in the district. The replacement, two-year educational and operational levy would tax property owners $1.68 per $1,000 of assessed val...
ROSALIA — Voters in this rural Whitman County community are supporting a ballot measure to convert two School Board seats to at-large positions. In an initial tally of Tuesday's special election, School District voters were supporting the idea, 65% to 35%. The measure would change the five, in-district School Board seats to three in-district and two at-large seats. Whitman County officials estimate they have an additional 230 votes to count today, Wednesday, Feb. 10, but did not say how many were in the district and how m...
LAMONT — A requested two-year replacement educational programs and operations levy continued to fall short Wednesday, Feb. 10, following a tally of late-arriving ballots in the special election. As of 3:51 p.m., the measure that would have collected $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed property valuation each of the next two years was failing, 24-28, garnering only 46.15% support. If approved, the tax levy was expected to bring in $130,000 in 2022 and $132,000 in 2023. The owner of a home valued at $200,000 would have paid $500 in t...
The culture, heritage and history of Eastern Washington — indeed all of Washington and Oregon history — is under fire again in Olympia. I’m talking about an effort this year in the House to erase Marcus Whitman’s significance from the halls of the Capitol building in Olympia and the national statuary in Washington, D.C. Pushed by lawmakers, who obviously lack a full understanding of Whitman’s significance, House Bill 1372 seeks to replace the bronze Marcus Whitman statues w...
PULLMAN – Four students took the School Board and employees to task Wednesday night for failing to get them back on campus even though the governor and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called for in-person learning. The Pullman School District is among the last holdouts generally keeping students off-campus in Whitman County. During a digital School Board meeting, students Collin Bannister, Maddie Weber, Maxwell Cordova and Hanna Talbot called on the b...
SPOKANE – A day after Sen. Andy Billig said area residents would be "glad" about the expected loosening of coronavirus restrictions, Gov. Jay Inslee announced he is keeping the East region pinned down. In addition, Eastern Washington businesses will now have to wait at least two more weeks for coronavirus relief following a gubernatorial press conference at 2:30 p.m. today, Jan. 28. During the press conference, Gov. Inslee, a Bainbridge Island Democrat, said he will allow his so-called “Puget Sound” and “West” regions t...
PASCO — In a split decision, financier John Rosenau has been named as Franklin County assessor. Rosenau edged Franklin County Deputy Assessor Piper Mitchell and applicant James Gimenez in the Franklin County Commission selection process Tuesday, Jan. 26. Commissioner Rocky Mullen moved to appoint Rosenau to the post, an effort seconded by Chairman Clint Didier. The motion passed, 2-1, with Commissioner Lowell "Brad" Peck dissenting. "I want to thank you for your consideration," Rosenau said. That motion followed a failed moti...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eastern Washington's two Republican congressional representatives were on opposite sides of the House vote to impreach President Donald Trump for a second time. Fourth Congressional District Rep. Dan Newhouse of Sunnyside joined Democrats in voting for impreachment of the president on grounds of so-called sedition. Newhouse represents Central Washington, including Benton, Franklin, Adams and Grant counties, among others. Fifth Congressional District Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Spokane opposed i...
OLYMPIA – Two people were arrested this morning, Monday, Jan. 11, as the Legislature entered session behind locked gates. Early in the morning, a woman parked her RV in front of one of the gates and refused to move it or leave, the Washington State Patrol reported. When she was arrested for failing to follow a lawful order, one of her friends moved the RV. Then at precisely 11 a.m. as the Legislature was opening session, a man in his 30s attempted to walk to the Capitol b...
OLYMPIA -- The Washington National Guard and the Washington State Patrol took up positions around the Capitol today in advance of the opening of the legislative session. Their deployment came as two protests took place in the city. The only damage reported was a broken window smashed when some Black Lives Matter protesters broke off from the main protest downtown and marched to the Capitol campus, where state troopers awaited them. After the window damage, the group retreated...
CHENEY — Area restaurants, bars and gyms may be able to reopen indoor services as soon as Jan. 11 under another coronavirus-related plan release by Gov. Jay Inslee during a press conference Tuesday. Under the plan, the state will be divided into eight regions based on proximity to health care services. Spokane County will be grouped in the East Region that includes Ferry, Stevens, Pend O’reille, Lincoln, Whitman, Adams, Garfield and Asotin counties. All regions will be des...
SPOKANE - Extortion, blackmail and harassment. That's what the more than 50 area restaurant and tavern owners and their supporters called Liquor and Cannabis Board officers' threats of fines, license revocation and criminal charges during a protest at lunchtime Monday, Jan. 4. The protesters turned out to board's Spokane office at 1303 W. Broadway Ave. to object to the "illegal" tactics being used by the employees in their efforts to shutdown indoor table service at eateries a...
