Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 31
The effort to save Cheney’s former Northern Pacific train station from the wrecking ball is kicking off a major fundraising campaign, part of which includes a name change. What was formerly known as Save Our Station is now called the Cheney Depot Society, with Eastern Washington University archivist and railroad-enthusiast Dr. Charles Mutschler serving as president. The society is in the process of completing its non-profit status application, and is beginning to get other aspects of fundraising into place. Part of that has b...
In a game delayed 18 hours due to a furious windstorm that ravaged the region and darkened all of Cheney last Tuesday, junior forward Felix Von Hofe, lit up Reese Court with a career-high 25 points to lead Eastern Washington to a 76-70 nonconference men's basketball victory Nov. 18 over Seattle University. Originally scheduled for Nov. 17, the game was played the following afternoon in front of a crowd of over 2,100 who watched Von Hofe hit 7 of 12 from the 3-point line, and...
So much can happen in just eight seconds. There are plenty of people who can likely attest to that after last Tuesday’s wild windstorm where trees toppled and tragically, lives were lost and others thrown into disarray. While somewhat pale in comparison, that relatively short span of time turned Cheney High School grad Ryan Gray’s return to the upcoming National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas upside down this past summer. Riding well in June and July and rising swiftly in the Pro...
December will be a little different this year. Portland State's 34-31 Big Sky Conference football win last Saturday, Nov. 21, at Roos Field over Eastern Washington ended the Eagles' season. Eastern finished its season 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the Big Sky Conference, and ended with a three-game losing streak in November. Their elimination from the playoffs was just their second in the last six seasons since winning the 2010 Football Championship Subdivision title. The Eagles...
CHENEY Nov. 16 Residential burglary was reported on the 2400 block of University Lane. Domestic violence/verbal dispute was reported on the 200 block of South Cheney-Spangle Road. Residential burglary was reported on the zero hundred block of Alki Street. Video games and a game box were taken. Harassment was reported on the 1600 block of Fourth Street. Nov. 18 Second-degree theft was reported on the 400 block of Fifth Street. A guitar was taken. Second-degree theft was reported on the 3000 block of Silverthorn Lane. Nov. 19...
Eastern Washington University Police Chief Tim Walters gave the university’s board of trustees a glimpse of the annual security and fire report for 2014 at its Nov. 20 meeting. Some of the trends Walters highlighted included 191 liquor law referrals, which were up from 134 in 2013, and 24 liquor law arrests, which was down from 40 in the previous year. Drug law violation referrals were 39, over three times as many in 2013. Drug violation arrests were 14, a drop from 22 in 2013. Walters said the high numbers of incidents a...
While many residents in Spokane County are without electricity, and with temperatures expected to drop, barbecue grills and gas generators may seem like they could double as an indoor furnace, but that can be dangerous, according to the Spokane Regional Health District and Greater Spokane Emergency Management. The agencies say that neither should be used inside to heat homes as families could get sick and even die from carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide, or CO, is a poisonous gas that can’t be seen or smelled and can...
Knight and Wavada receive service awards At the annual Eastern Washington University Thanksgiving Luncheon, Nov. 19, two employees were honored with the most prestigious recognition for staff, the Distinguished Service Awards. Christi Wavada, Women and Gender Studies program coordinator, received the Classified Staff Distinguished Service Award. Rose Knight, manager of budget and administration for EWU Libraries, was honored with the Administrative Exempt Distinguished Service Award. The Distinguished Service Awards are...
Sears receives EWU scholarship Medical Lake High School alumna Elicia Sears has been awarded the Academic Honors Scholarship for $4,000 to Eastern Washington University for the 2015-2016 academic year. Sears graduated from Medical Lake last June and currently attends EWU. While at Medical Lake, she was involved in National Honor Society, drama and leadership. She is the daughter of Angela and Matthew Boyle of Airway Heights. Cheney High School Drama presents “Way, Way, Off Broadway” Cheney High School drama presents “Wa...
After several weeks spent on preparation of the ground, the Cheney location for Cellular Plus took shape quickly over the past several days. "The construction dates were modified because there was more ground water than expected on the lot," Merisa Saunders, marketing director for Cellular Plus wrote in an email. "The building base was modified due to that." The building is expected to open in the first quarter of 2016....
Coming off another year where he missed the "playoffs" in his sport of rodeo, Ryan Gray and some of his fellow cowboys are looking in a different direction for their futures. The Elite Rodeo Athletes' League of Rodeo Champions will launch its season in 2016 with a series of events scheduled to be broadcast on Fox Sports, culminating with the championships at American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas from Nov. 9-13, 2016. "We have not released the tour schedule for 2016, but...
Tina Sikkema is betting that a popular business she once ran in the last place she lived will have the same success in Cheney. Sikkema plans to open her latest version of Lilly Kate Boutique in space she's acquired adjacent to Papa Murphy's at 1818 First St. The store has a "soft deadline" for an opening of Feb. 1, 2016, Sikkema said. "I used to have a younger version of the store, kind of infant up to age 8 or so, where we used to live in Sacramento," Sikkema said. "Lilly...
Cheney High School has released the names of its students of the month for October. Students are listed as follows by student name, department and grade level. Claire Arensmeyer, instrumental music, senior; Zach Aris, vocal music, senior; Alicia Brooks, agriculture, junior; Amparo Contreras, science, senior; Maddy Cowan, family and consumer sciences, sophomore; Kameron Dewan, support services, sophomore; Jessica Emert, art, senior; Jorden Glanville, math, freshmen; Alyssa...
At the Nov. 20 Eastern Washington University board of trustees meeting, Mary Voves, EWU’s vice president for business and finance, and Michael Westfall, vice president of university advancement, presented a final draft of the university’s sustainability plan and the vision for a sustainability center on campus. Voves said the inspiration for part of the plan’s objective is to create new practices and policies while maintaining current ones to support and promote environmental sustainability and stewardship at EWU and the c...
Christian Heritage School announced its honor roll for the first quarter of the 2015-16 school year. In an email, principal Brad Cain said 63 percent of the student body either made the Scholar’s List (4.0-3.7) or the honor roll (3.69-3.33). Christian Hertiage School is a private school in Edwall that serves grades kindergarten through 12th grade. It has an enrollment of 85 students from Davenport and Spokane County, including Airway Heights, Cheney and Medical Lake. Students are listed by name and grade Scholar’s List Aus...
At its Nov. 18 meeting, the Cheney School Board passed a resolution that sets the general fund special levy amount at $9.3 million for 2016, and the debt service fund levy at $5.3 million. The $9.3 million levy was approved by voters in February. Kassidy Probert, the district’s executive director of finance, said the tax rate for the general fund levy will be $3.06 while the debt service fund levy will be $1.76. In enrollment, Probert said the district is at 4,337 full-time equivalent students, 20 less than the October c...
It was like something out of one of those Hollywood disaster movies. Last Tuesday, Nov. 17, a vicious windstorm hit Washington, taking out power in various parts of the state, including Spokane County. Earlier in the day, numerous reports of trees falling across roads, highways and parking lots filled the radio. We’d later learn that there were two fatalities as a result of the windstorm. At the Cheney Free Press office, we were grinding away at the Nov. 19 issue of the newspaper when the power went out at the office. A...
Thank you, thank you, and thank you! To the line crews and whoever else helped the power come back on for all of us in Cheney. You may generally seem invisible and not much attention is paid to your daily workload. However, your actions on our behalf every day, not just this week, are appreciated so very much. Please consider this a big hug from every one of us with lights, power and heat. We know a lot of people are not so fortunate. Kathy Fleming Cheney...
According to a recent study by the Center for Public Integrity, Washington state is the 12th best in the nation for openness, which isn’t saying much apparently as it received a D-plus and the ranking reflected a decline when it comes to governmental openness and integrity. In Spokesman-Review writer Jim Camden’s story on the study, Washington Secretary of State spokesman Dave Ammons noted the state typically gets high marks in other studies for its public records disclosure laws and governmental transparency. “But it’s...
Sixth District state Sen. Michael Baumgartner (right facing) was at Cheney's Mason Jar Nov. 10 for a low-key, two-hour chat with area residents. Baumgartner fielded questions and concerns on a number of issues....
Storm changes Medical Lake hearings The Nov. 17 windstorm forced the Medical Lake City Council to postpone its final meeting of November, and in the process move its 2016 budget approval process back two weeks. The council was originally to have held its budget public hearings at the Nov. 17 and upcoming Dec. 1 meetings. Instead, they will conduct those hearings at the Dec. 1 and Dec. 15 meetings. The purpose of the meetings is to receive public comment on the preliminary and final drafts of the coming year’s budget. C...
Cheney’s City Council elected to take a time out at its Nov. 10 meeting regarding a potential land use decision. The council held all three readings and final passage of an ordinance establishing an interim zone and amending the comprehensive plan to address a potential incompatible land use issue at Washington Court. Washington Court is a short dead end street located off Elm Street directly north of Eastern Washington University’s Dressler residence hall. According to language in the ordinance, the parcels between Was...
...is the question on the two center window panes at Cheney's The Mason Jar. People sitting at the window counter have written in numerous reasons why they are grateful as part of the Spokane County Library District's "Gratitude Graffitti" program. The Mason Jar owner Douglas LeBar said it's a project started by a couple of women back east that has spread across the nation - and now Cheney where the local library and other locations are also taking part. "We have the biggest...
While not exactly rosy, Cheney’s 2016 general fund budget is looking healthier than it has been in several years. Most of that goes to voters’ decision in November to lift the city’s levy amount to fund public safety, resulting in $436,100 in new revenue. A smaller portion goes to an increase to the city’s overall assessed property valuation of $25.87 million, bringing the total to a couple hundred thousand dollars shy of $540 million. A brief overview of the fund’s revenues, and four of the six departments relying on that m...
