Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 34
Cheney's Sutton Park was shutdown last Thursday due to a suspicious object law enforcement officials thought might be a bomb found inside the park's gazebo. Police Chief John Hensley said they received a call around 11 a.m. from staff at the nearby Eastern Washington University Children's Center, who noticed the object while using the park along with children from the facility. Officer Matt Pumphrey responded and approached the gazebo, seeing what was described as a Gatorade b...
Cheney parks and recreation department staff have a simple request: if your child is sick or has been sick, don't send them to the swimming pool. Cheney's pool has been forced to close six time so far this season due to human contamination - with five closures taking place over 10 days that culminated in the latest shutdown Tuesday, July 25. City Administrator Mark Schuller said the pool typically has one or two incidents of contamination-forced closures during the entire...
Normally the celebrity spotlight at Medical Lake's annual Tennis-A-Thon shines on members of the community who participate in a challenge match. With apologies to the duo of Mayor John Higgins and his partner, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, who faced - and lost to - ML Schools Superintendent Tim Ames and high school principal, Chris Spring, you were rightfully upstaged. Whether it was meant to be or not in the event's 20th year, founder Leroy Lemaster was able to talk...
StageWest Community Theatre, with the association of Medical Lake School District, wrapped up the 2017 Children’s Theatre Workshop with two separate performances on Saturday July 22 that mixed portions of the classic tales of “The Wizard of Oz” with Lewis Carol’s “Alice in Wonderland.” StageWest publicity director Nancy Kuonen said the workshop was a collaborative effort of many people. Medical Lake High School provided the use of its auditorium for rehearsals and performances, Ross Niblock helped with lights, sound and s...
The Airway Heights Kiwanis club has been around for about six years, but has made an impact in the community from the start. “In regards to my personal experience with Kiwanis, I actually started as a member of Key Club in High School, and have fond memories of trick or treating for United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF),” Stacy Kvamme, the club’s president said in an email. “My membership in the Airway Heights Kiwanis Club has been a fun and engaging way to not only connect with members of the local...
Emmanuel Lutheran Church Emmanuel Lutheran Church invites you to worship with us this Sunday. Pastor Everett Arnold will preside. You may also watch our pastor’s sermons on our website at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Cheney. Christian education will resume in September. Lutheran Community Services Northwest will present their annual 8 Lakes Leg Aches scenic bike ride on Saturday, Aug. 5 that will begin and end at Kaiser Permanente on Sunset Hill. There are a 30, 45, and 75-mile course. For more information, contact Christie M...
Cheney High School’s class of 1917, photographed on the steps of the old junior high school building. The group planned a half-century reunion open to students and teachers at Cheney in the early 1920s and interested townspeople. Front row (left to right): R. E. McCann, Superintendent, Oscar Johnson, Noble Leach, Vera McCabe and Orval Miller. Second row: Ruth Van Slyke, Roy Mashburn, Ora West, Ralph Gaines (teacher), Clara Miller, Lloyd Hughes and Berniece Hughes. Third row: Emma Dykes, Florence Andrews, Walter Mason, N...
1 Years Ago Aug. 2, 2007 Faced with uncertainty over its strained water supply, the Cheney City Council used its meeting to pass a pair of emergency six-month moratoriums on building permits and subdivision applications. A rolling pickup truck took out part of a brick flowerbed in front of the Medical Lake Post Office. The Wishing Star Foundation granted Randi Mauritson, an 18-year-old girl from Cheney with cerebral palsy, a shopping spree at the Northtown Mall and a bedroom makeover. 20 Years Ago Aug. 7, 1997 There were...
One of the driving forces of bluegrass music in the Inland Northwest reaches a milestone birthday in 2017. Medical Lake's Blue Waters Bluegrass Festival celebrates its 16th season as the Inland Northwest's flagship bluegrass event and takes place at Waterfront Park Aug. 11-13. Since it's inception in 2002, Blue Waters has grown to become one of the largest and most-respected summertime bluegrass festivals in the Northwest. Held every August under a canopy of Ponderosa pines...
The July 18 Medical Lake City council meeting had a full house. All went fine until the second reading of a proposed code on fire pits was scheduled to be read. At the June meeting, Councilwoman Jessica Roberts made a motion to table the proposal due to lack of notice. It failed with no second. At the July meeting, City Administrator Doug Ross asked Roberts in a belittling way, in my opinion, if she now had enough time to do her reading. She didn’t lose composure, answered yes, and preceded to school all in the chamber w...
There’s good news for the Pacific Northwest and the federal hydrosystem that powers it. Inland Power supports our legislators in their effort to save the dams and protect our natural, renewable and affordable energy source. Key members of our Congressional delegation have stepped up to declare the value of our dams that provide affordable, renewable hydropower, flood control, navigable waters for agriculture and recreation to our economy and way of life. They’re asserting their rightful authority over the eight federal dam...
I’m a numbers guy. We’re not talking the bank account kind either. When it comes to making sure every penny in the monthly credit union statement is accounted for, close is good enough. Certain kinds of figures intrigue me and get my Q & A pot simmering. I’m still intrigued by the 70-parts-per-trillion number that has once again surfaced. And not once to my knowledge has anyone in our business questioned what that infinitesimal fraction looks like. They choose to simply — and...
In 2014, President Barrack Obama opened the door for states to collect tolls on interstate highways. This year Oregon lawmakers, much to the chagrin of Washington drivers and truckers, unilaterally took advantage of the new funding opportunity. Before adjourning in July, Oregon’s legislature passed an ambitious $5.3 billion comprehensive transportation plan. To fund it, legislators raised fuel taxes, increased registration and title fees, created a new payroll tax, added t...
The heavy equipment from Halme Construction beat the shovels to the punch turning the first dirt for a new transit hub on the West Plains. But that did not diminish the enthusiasm members of area business and government showed July 19 when the ceremonial groundbreaking was held for the new Spokane Transit Authority facility on property at Exit 272 and State Route 902. The project, estimated to cost about $10 million, is expected to be completed in about a year and will...
There was plenty to see at the 50th edition of the Cheney Rodeo that completed its run July 9 at the Bi-Mart Arena. Problem was just not as many eyes as usual watched over the three days of the milestone year event, according to the sponsoring organization's Cheney Events Association president, Rick Edwards. "We are still counting and tying down numbers," Edwards wrote in an email. He followed up on that during a July 21 interview, saying that," We were a little light on the...
The Cheney School District board of directors has scheduled a special school board meeting for Wednesday, Aug. 9, at 5:30 p.m. at Cheney High School, 460 N. Sixth St. The board will hold discussion and take possible action on a “new business” item to consider acceptance of education specifications for the high school expansion and renovation project. This meeting will precede a special board budget workshop originally scheduled for that time, but now expected to begin at approximately 5:45 p.m....
Cheney's Shirley Loomer summation of her yard, named the August Yard of the Month by the Cheney Garden and Kiwanis clubs, is pretty succinct. "I don't have a yard, I have a park," she said last Thursday. At 180 feet long by 125 feet wide, at total of 22,500 square feet, it indeed resembles a small park, something many would have a hard time maintaining. The 90-year-old Loomer does pretty good on her own however, having recently just purchased a new John Deere riding mower....
Spokane International Airport announced Aug. 1 that Southwest Airlines launched new daily year round nonstop service to Sacramento International Airport. The flight is operated with a 143-seat Boeing 737-700 aircraft. In addition to service to the California capitol city and wine country, the flight provides convenient connecting service to Southern California destinations including Ontario, Burbank, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Orange County, and San Diego, as well as, Las Vegas and Phoenix. “Nonstop service to Sacramento was a...
At the special Planning Commission meeting on July 26, the committee voted on approving the Highway 2 Revitalization Plan, also known as the U.S. 2 Corridor Plan, after a presentation from Studio Cascade to the board. The board passed the plan with a unanimous vote. It will now move on to be voted on by the City Council. “We have a lot of things going on here,” Ryan Hughes, the representative from Studio Cascade said. “We wanted to celebrate that and also improve things.” Hughes described Highway 2 as the “central spine of...
The rigorous security that exists in order to find one’s way inside the gates of Fairchild Air Force Base gets a little makeover during events like last weekend’s Skyfest. That’s not to say much changes below the surface when the very active military base opens the doors to the public. “We’ve been preparing for six months, even longer than that to make sure we are ready,” Skyfest coordinator, Maj. Rich Hennies said. Only certain areas of Fairchild are open during the show, w...
The Medical Lake School Board got the heavy lifting out of the way July 25 and then breezed through their monthly meeting agenda. The big consideration was passage of the 2017-18 budget that included $22.8 million in general fund expenditures and $1.3 million in debt service as notable large expenses. Also included was $625,000 in the transportation vehicle fund that will pay for several new buses that arrive in September. The budget was passed unanimously following a...
In a news release from Fairchild Air Force Base on July 28, it was announced that 50 residential wells were tested from the north and south of the base. Twenty-one of them had Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) concentrations above the EPA lifetime Health Advisory which is 70 parts per trillion. Officials from the Civil Engineer Center from the Air Force conducted face-to-face notifications to let the residents know if their wells were affected. Those houses that tested above acceptable levels...
The Cheney City Council unanimously approved final adoption of an ordinance at its July 25 meeting changing the zoning of a 3.6-acre parcel of land bordered by North Eighth, Cedar, Erie and Oak streets — clearing the way for development of a proposed student-housing complex on the property. The ordinance changes the property zoning from R-3 multifamily to R-3H, high-density multifamily, allowing more units per acre. By approving the ordinance, the council also adopted as part of it the terms and conditions of a agreement b...
The initial release of results in the Aug. 1 primary election shows a number of clear leaders in races for mayor and a variety of seats on the Medical Lake City Council. With all but 5,000 ballots county-wide left to count, Shirley Maike collected 286 votes, 46 percent of the ballots cast and will move on to the Nov. 7 general election in the mayor’s race. Who she will face then is up in the air as Mikeal Suniga leads Laura Parsons by a margin of 179-152 (28.8 - 24.5 percent)....
The wait appeared to be worth it for the 10s of thousands of people who endured long lines and brutal heat to step inside Fairchild Air Force Base last weekend for the Skyfest air show which celebrated the base's 75th birthday. Having the Thunderbirds' United States Air Force's demonstration flying team as the crowning act each day can make almost anything bearable. They are, and were, breathtaking as the six F-16 Fighting Falcons flew either in incredible tight...
