Sorted by date Results 201 - 225 of 309
The Cheney High School gymnastics team snagged the fifth-place spot in their meet at Shadle Park High School on Dec. 6, showing potential despite much of the team being ineligible to compete due to a lack of practices thus far this season. “Only a few newbies competed and we didn’t quite have enough for a varsity line-up, so we had to take two zeros in vault and bars,” head coach Jamie Frucci said. For young gymnasts to compete at the high school level, they must attend at least 15 practices, instead of the 10 required by mo...
The Spokane County Medical Examiner has confirmed the identity of the woman who died as the result of a Nov. 23 vehicle accident on Assembly Road. Felia Sharkey, a 34-year-old mother of two, was travelling south and was killed when her car left the roadway and struck a tree near the intersection of Assembly and Tamarack roads. The crash was reported at about 7:30 a.m., and though sheriff’s deputies and firefighters performed emergency medical procedures, Sharkey was pronounced dead at the scene. No other vehicles were i...
The city of Airway Heights has not yet reached a wage agreement with its Public Safety Guild, and it looks like that discussion could stretch into 2019. At the City Council’s Dec. 3 meeting, members heard the first reading of an ordinance to set the 2019 salaries for city employees. Local 270A workers and non-represented employees other than the city manager and department heads all received a 3 percent wage increase effective the first of the year. However, an agreement with the Public Safety Guild, which works with f...
The Airway Heights Fire Department may have been escorting Santa Clause around the city over the weekend, but that didn’t stop them from focusing on their primary duties and taking a break from spreading Christmas cheer to address a structure fire that required the response of multiple local agencies. A single-wide mobile home in Vietzke Village on Craig Road caught fire early Sunday evening, resulting in flames that reached high into the sky, igniting a nearby tree and s...
On Dec. 6, the Cheney School District hosted the third of three community forums designed to get additional feedback from residents on the attendance review process currently underway. The district boundary review advisory committee (DBRAC) gathered at Sunset Elementary in Airway Heights with parents and families to discuss their concerns with school officials and learn more about the effect a review would have on the local school system. Superintendent Rob Roettger told atten...
At the height of his addiction, a homeless Earl Curry locked himself in a public restroom and tried to cut his own throat. "I was sawing at my neck with a knife and somebody saw me and called the cops, who took me to Providence Hospital. They ended up letting me go, but at that point the only end to the story that I saw was suicide by cop," Curry said. The man in Curry's story is a far cry from the one that exists today, who can be seen this month sharing his experiences and...
The Cheney High School varsity wrestling team racked up its first win of the season on Friday, Nov. 30, edging out Deer Park 31-30 in non-league action for the first time in several years. The Blackhawks came out on top in about half the weight classes, taking the lead in the 106-pound and 170-pound classes due to forfeit. Cheney sophomore Luke Ruby defeated his Deer Park opponent by major decision 14-4, at 126 pounds. Sophomore Dylan Straley kept the Blackhawk’s momentum going, winning his match by decision 3-1 at 145 pounds...
Despite the chilly temperatures, dozens of Airway Heights residents bundled up and ventured outside for a community tree lighting as part of the Airway Heights Winter Festival on Saturday, Dec. 1, enjoying hot cocoa and huddling around a giant bonfire to stay warm. The festival kicked off on Friday, Nov. 30 with popcorn and a film showing of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" at Sunset Elementary. The celebration continued on Saturday with a pancake breakfast and pictures with...
Women in the workplace have come a long way in terms of opportunities, respect and equality in the last 50 years. Heck, up until 1974 a woman couldn’t get a credit card in her own name without a husband’s signature. But a new study recently released by sociology professors at the University of Illinois at Chicago found that Americans’ are far more likely to believe in gender equality at work than they are at home. The study, based on national survey data from 1977 to 2016, is set to be published in the journal “Gend...
Twenty-year-old Christian Palmer was sentenced last month to 24 months in state prison after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the baseball-bat beating that left 53-year-old Airway Heights resident Terry Toner dead in 2017. Palmer and Brandon Pierce, also 20, have been in custody since August of last year, when a house party led to a late-night brawl between the three men. Palmer was originally charged with second-degree murder, but the charge was downgraded as a part of a plea agreement. Court documents show...
On Friday, Nov. 30, Medical Lake Middle School students were presented with fictional budgeting scenarios outlining imaginary occupations, incomes, family structures and expenses. What they learned, put succinctly by one eighth-grader: “Everything is expensive.” The activity was part of Junior Achievement’s Finance Park, an event meant to give students real-world experience weighing adult financial choices. Junior Achievement is a non-profit youth organization with a goal of t...
The Airway Heights City Council had a short agenda to tackle at their Dec. 3 meeting, hearing first readings of multiple ordinances relating to the city’s 2019 budget. One of those was Ordinance C-916, which will adopt the budget for the fiscal year ending in December 2019. In it, the city proposes nearly $10 million in expenditures from the current expense fund and just over $5 million from the water-sewer fund, primarily due to capital improvements like the Airway Heights Recreation Center and expenses related to the c...
Growing up in the Spokane area, chances are good you’ll be a Cougar fan. When you add in a WSU alumni parent, that chance increases tenfold. I was no exception. My family rooted for the Cougs for decades, wearing our crimson and gray with pride. Even during my teenage years when football was sidelined due to other interests, when asked, I always aligned myself with Washington State. This got tougher when I moved out of the area. I lived north of Seattle for years, a stone’s throw away from the heart of Husky Country, whe...
With the Airway Heights Recreation Complex’s opening looming on the horizon — and the under-construction building doing some looming of its own — the city’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department hosted a question and answer event for community members to learn more about the soon-to-be-completed facility. A panel comprised of Parks, Recreation and Community Services Director J.C. Kennedy, Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation Andy Gardener, recreation program supervisor Glen Horton and the new complex...
Coaches hoping to host youth sports camps during the school year are often out of luck due to a statewide rule that prohibits contact between coaches and players outside of their regular season, but coaches in the Cheney School District are prepared to think creatively to make these camps happen. Several sports at local high schools host youth summer camps that introduce elementary and middle school students to different types of sports and offer them the benefits of participating. But due to a Washington Interscholastic...
"Never let the fire get behind you." The words imparted to me by Airway Heights Fire Department training chief Alex Turner echoed in my brain, bouncing back and forth between my ears until I was sure I could feel them reverberating off the inside walls of my skull. It was about that time that I questioned whether joining West Plains firefighters at their yearly training was a good life choice. But by then it was too late, and orange-black flames were licking across the...
Two West Plains landowners have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the federal government in the aftermath of the area’s water contamination, alleging that officials at Fairchild Air Force Base used the fire retardant irresponsibly and failed to warn neighbors of its “inherently dangerous properties.” The suit is the second filed as a result of the incident, in which firefighting foam leeched into the water table from an on-base training facility. The first was filed in April and represents more than 100 peopl...
The Airway Heights City Council approved the purchase of salt-brine production equipment to help with snow removal in the upcoming winter months, and tabled a discussion on whether to allow an interfund loan between the Water/Sewer Fund and the Aquatic and Fitness Center Construction Fund to help ease the gap between its current funding and construction budget. The City currently uses a magnesium chloride solution for de-icing roadways and sidewalks. This solution is manufactured off-site, delivered in bulk and costs about...
The Knights of Inferno Firefighter Motorcycle Club presented a substantial donation to two local charitable organizations Nov. 15 at the American Legion Hall Post 72 in Cheney. In total, the club donated about $3,000. The Knights of Inferno club is a registered non-profit and an international organization of former military, firefighters, nurses and other like-minded civilians. The Cheney group was chartered about two years ago, and two months ago decided to work closely with...
The new commander of Fairchild Air Force Base addressed West Plains Chamber of Commerce members at their monthly breakfast on Nov. 14, telling them to anticipate even more new growth to the region as the base expands its operations and prepares to host an event that could bring up to 3,000 people to the area for a month next fall. Col. Derek Salmi has been deployed all over the world and flown combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He took command of the base in June...
It was a packed house at the Cheney School Board’s Nov. 14 meeting as they unanimously approved the district’s 2019 legislative priorities and discussed its ongoing boundary review. Summed up, the district’s requests center around the Legislature funding the actual costs of education. The state currently allocates about $230 per square foot for school construction, a number that Cheney contractors say is only about 64 percent of the actual cost. Cheney officials also argue that the special education funding they recei...
Last week, the White House took a rare step and suspended the credentials of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after an intense exchange with President Trump at a press conference, later relying on a heavily-edited video to justify Acosta’s removal. Over the weekend, the president threatened to revoke the credentials of other White House reporters who failed to “treat the presidency with respect” and in an unprompted statement, criticized several specific reporters personally. The incidents angered press freedom groups, but more...
Spokane business Kenworth Sales Company is making plans to move out to the West Plains, going so far as to build a new warehouse from the ground up to house their operations, which will eventually provide jobs for about 150 employees. Kenworth is a manufacturer of medium and heavy-duty Class 8 trucks with locations all over the Midwest and West Coast. The Spokane location has simply outgrown their current place on Broadway in Spokane Valley, district manager Rick Petersen said. The new building on the West Plains, which will...
Eastern Washington University's Veterans Resource Center presented a display last week where visitors could view memorabilia from local service members and former Eastern graduates now serving in the United States military. A wall was included in the display where visitors could pin photos of enlisted friends and family and write notes thanking the veterans in their lives for their service. The display runs until Nov. 16 in the lobby of the J.F.K Library....
There's old adage that tells us to bloom where we are planted, and a popular coastal floral distributer has chosen to plant a new location smack in the middle of the West Plains, hopeful that it will blossom into a spectacular success. Washington Floral out of Tacoma opened up a new warehouse at 4310 S. Grove Road off of Geiger Boulevard a few months ago, and in recent weeks has finally put the finishing touches on its building and opened for brisk business. When the...
