Sorted by date Results 1 - 19 of 19
MEDICAL LAKE--The district released a new plan for phasing students back to in-person learning today, Dec. 1. The new plan detailed when all grade levels would return; currently, only preschoolers through second graders have any form of in-person learning, aside from special populations such as special-needs children or those without reliable Internet access. Third graders will return Dec. 7 to Hallett and Michael Anderson Elementary schools. After winter break, fourth and fifth graders will return in-person Jan. 11. These...
MEDICAL LAKE—Budget season is in full force. While many municipalities grapple with budget shortfalls, Medical Lake’s proposed 2021 ending fund balance wouldn’t leave the city trying to operate out of a deficit. A first reading and public hearing for the budget was held at council’s Nov. 17 meeting. The first reading was approved unanimously. No public comment was given. The general fund would have projected revenues of $3,290,810 and expenditures of $2,465,488 for an ending fund balance of $825,322. Other expendi...
RENTON — The pandemic has struck another blow to local athletics. The WIAA voted to delay the start of winter sports to Feb. 1, 2021 and shorten each sports season to seven weeks apiece at its Nov. 17 meeting. Practices for winter sports season, the most prominent of which are basketball and wrestling, were originally scheduled to begin Dec. 28, with competitions coming shortly after. However, a surge of positive COVID-19 cases caused the WIAA to create another delay in an a...
AIRWAY HEIGHTS — The building where Rosa’s Pizza used to be located on West 14th Avenue is now the home of Airway Auto Licensing. The building has gone through a complete re-model to serve the auto licensing location. The office is a subagent of the Department of Licensing and now has a drive-thru for customers looking to renew their licenses. Rosa’s Pizza, meanwhile, is marked as permanently closed in Airway Heights, leaving its lone location on Second Street in Cheney....
CHENEY Nov. 16 Second-degree theft was reported on the zero hundred block of Alki Street. Window washing tools and equipment were taken from a vehicle. Third-degree malicious mischief was reported on the 700 block of West 1st Street. Apartment doors were damaged. Nov. 17 Domestic violence/verbal dispute was reported on the 200 block of South Cheney-Spangle Road. Harlan M. Jordan, 20, was arrested for Spokane Municipal Court warrants for failure to appear on charges of second-degree driving while license suspended and...
CHENEY – Officials have announced that there are still funds remaining in the city’s Small Business Assistance Grant Program and are extending the previous deadline to all more local businesses to apply for funding. The program’s goal is to mitigate COVID-19 impacts on Cheney small businesses and their employees through offering immediate financial assistance to small businesses within the city limits. Grants are designed to help businesses meet unfunded expenses resulting from the impacts of the coronavirus. To be eligi...
CHENEY — City Hall visitors may soon find themselves navigating some construction work at the city’s Finance Department. At their Nov. 10 meeting, the City Council approved a $75,500 request from the Light Department to pay Big Timber Contractors, LLC to build a new wall that includes three teller stations, along with new work stations and counters on either side of the windows. The work will replace the existing windows, door and conference room with a more secure structure that also includes two additional windows bet...
AIRWAY HEIGHTS—The city is partnering with several community organizations to put on several pandemic-friendly virtual, drive-in or distanced events in December. Parks and Recreation and Community Services Director J.C. Kennedy shared four events that the city is planning. The events were in various stages of planning as of press time, so he had more details to share for some events than others. The city is partnering with the Airway Heights Kiwanis Club, The Heights Church, Dairy Queen, volunteer firefighters and Tammy M...
Cheney Congregational Church We have made the decision to suspend in-person Sunday morning worship for the time being, as Covid cases continue to rise in the county. This is a difficult decision, and we make it with the whole Cheney community in mind. We will continue to host live Sunday morning services on Zoom at 10am. You can request a Zoom link through our website, www.cheneycongregational.org. These are difficult times for many of us. Our prayers go out to you all. May you know God’s love and God’s peace during this sea...
SPOKANE COUNTY – Many businesses have turned to an online format to keep their customers shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Spokane County Library District is following suit to keep an annual national tradition alive locally. The district is hosting the fifth-annual Small Business Saturday on Nov. 28 – 24 hours after Black Friday – to promote businesses that are the centerpiece of most communities. With coronavirus restrictions limiting the number of people who can safely enter a business, the district is promo...
Finally, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cleared Boeing’s revamped 737MAX to return to service and Seattle Times aviation writer, Dominic Gates, reports its first flight is scheduled for Dec. 29. The FAA, which had been critical of Boeing, expects other foreign aviation authorities to lift the grounding by early 2021. That’s not only good news for Boeing, but its workers and suppliers, especially those in Washington. Our state has been the hub of the company’s airpl...
Ever since I was lucky enough to become the Executive Director at the WIAA, I’ve told our staff and membership that we are in the memory-making business. Those memories can be made in any town, large or small, in any sport or activity, at a mid-week practice, a senior night, or a State Championship final. As a former coach and teacher, I had the opportunity to be a part of those memories and I’ve seen firsthand that high school is defined as much by what you learn outside of the classroom as what you learn in it. Coaches and...
OLYMPIA – Mike Volz has added his name to the growing list of people upset about new restrictions announced last Sunday, Nov. 15, by Gov. Jay Inslee. In a statement last Friday, Nov. 20, 6th District Representative and Spokane County Chief Deputy Treasurer Mike Volz called for a rollback of the four-week set of measures re-instituted by Inslee in response to a rapid rise in COVID-19 positive cases and hospitalizations in the state. Volz, who won re-election in November, also called for an immediate special session to a...
SPOKANE – Allegiant Airlines announced Nov. 17 that it was offering two new nonstop routes from Spokane International Airport: one to Las Vegas, Nev. and the other to Orange County, Calif. The new routes to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas and John Wayne Airport in Orange County begin Feb. 11 and Feb. 18, 2021 respectively. In a news release, Spokane International officials said the new nonstop routes will operate twice weekly, with flight days, times and the l...
CHENEY — The school district board of directors could propose a regular operations and maintenance levy in February that would shift money collected from the capital facilities fund to the general fund. School district officials are saying that such a move is essentially revenue neutral, rather than leading to an increase in rates seen by taxpayers. Currently, the district’s Educational Programs & Operations (EP&O) levy is set to collect $7 million in 2021 while the Cap...
CHENEY – Fundraising during a pandemic has proven to be a challenge — but Eastern Washington University officials have met that challenge with some success. On Dec. 1, they are hoping the public will help them continue their efforts during the national #Giving Tuesday campaign. While participants are invited to donate to whatever university fund they feel called to, officials have named five scholarship funds they hope donors will consider that are within reach of being endowed — meaning they have attained a level that allow...
AIRWAY HEIGHTS — Like many municipalities across the country grappling with a struggling economy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the city faced revenue losses in 2020. As a result, developing the 2021 budget has been a challenge, a fact city manager Albert Tripp shared with council via a letter and at council’s legislative session Nov. 16. “We anticipate the City will end 2020 with 15%-30% less tax revenue than planned due to a reduction in revenues from sales taxes, admission taxes, hotel/motel lodging taxes, motor vehic...
CHENEY – When it comes to coronavirus contact tracing at school, School District Assistant Superintendent Tom Arlt asked school board members to picture the number five on a dice. “Visualize that center dot on the number five as being a positive case,” Arlt said. “The Health Department requires tracing and quarantine of adjacent students. Each of those four dots around that student would be considered adjacent students, each of those would be subject to quarantine according to the (Spokane Regional) Health Distric...
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