LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Vetting national and regional news

MOSES LAKE — Today’s media landscape often looks like a big bowl of spaghetti tossed against a wall already splattered with curry, leftover taco meat and gummy worms. It ain’t pretty, and it’s not always easy to decide, especially for national and global news, where to get information.

Moses Lake Farmers Market kicks off Saturday

MOSES LAKE – Beginning on opening day Saturday, the Moses Lake Farmers Market will be open every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in McCosh Park, behind the Surf ‘n Slide Water Park, with local craft, produce and food vendors selling their goods. Moses Lake Farmers Market Board President Rachel Naff discussed the basics of the market.

New Ephrata Schools leaders share working vision

EPHRATA – As the 2023-24 school year winds down to a close, newly-selected Ephrata School District Superintendent Ken Murray and his soon-to-be Assistant Superintendent Aaron Cummings said they’ll be focused on being purpose-driven and detailed in their approach to running the district together.

Hanford Site cleanup takes steps forward and backward under new agreement

(The Center Square) – Several state and federal agencies have reached an agreement modifying their approach to cleaning up the radioactive and chemical waste buried beneath Washington's Hanford Site, a decommissioned nuclear production complex

Experts give Moses Lake parents a heads-up about gangs

MOSES LAKE — Be alert – that was the message from educators and police at a parent night meeting held at the Moses Lake School District Tuesday to discuss youth gangs. “Do you know where your kid’s at?” said Shelby Jensen, school safety coordinator for Educational Service District 125, based in Tri-Cities. “Do you know who they're around? Do we make sure that we’ve got frequent bedroom checks? Are we getting up in their business?”

Debate attempts to address dam breaching questions

PASCO — People gathered at Columbia Basin College in Pasco last Thursday to witness a debate regarding whether it was a good idea to remove dams on the Lower Snake River to improve salmon populations. The debate comes after months of discussion at the local, state and federal levels about whether or not to keep the dams there. Policy set on that issue may impact the future of dams on the Columbia River and other streams in Washington and elsewhere.

WA taxpayers to pay more for school meals as program expands

(The Center Square) – More school districts across Washington are providing free school meals for students, both breakfast and lunch, at no cost to families. Other districts will be providing meals in the next year or so as universal school meal programs are phased in.

Legals for April, 24 2024

Soap Lake water, sewer rates to increase

SOAP LAKE — Soap Lake residents will see increases in their water and sewer rates, beginning in May. The increases follow a six-month study of water and sewer rates, and a 6-1 vote to approve the increases by the Soap Lake City Council April 9. Council Member Peter Sharp voted against the increase.

CWU photography student wins national innovation award

ELLENSBURG — Charlie Tadlock’s fascination with the open road came to him in his search for his artistic voice in photography on the highways of Montana. Now, that fascination has earned him the Society for Photographic Education’s Award for Innovative Imaging, an annual prize given to six photography students from across the U.S. whose work exhibits a forward-thinking approach to the field. Tadlock’s mid-term exhibition, “Vast and Solitary Lands,” caught the judges’ attention with its focus on exploring the familiar highway landscape through the lens of non-traditional photographic techniques. “I fell in love with the road in the final semester of my undergrad,” Tadlock said. “At that point, I was thinking about nostalgic landscapes, and the feeling of being nostalgic for a past that never really existed. I traveled all over Montana for that body of work, and in the process, found that nostalgia on the road itself.”

Grant PUD sets community meetings on rate policy

Board seeking input on how residents feel rates should be set

EPHRATA — Grant County PUD commissioners and staff will be soliciting the opinion of PUD customers on the future of its rate structure in a series of public meetings beginning next week.

Grant supports helping the power grid prepare for the future

PULLMAN — A Washington State University-led research team has been selected to receive a $2.4 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant to better prepare the power grid for the changing world of electricity production, including the increasing use of renewable power and the increase in extreme weather events related to climate change. As part of the project, the researchers are developing open-source planning tools for modeling the complexities and uncertainties that come about from the use of renewables and from extreme weather events. The project, funded through the DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, is led by Mani Venkatasubramanian, Boeing Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering in the WSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and director of the Energy Systems Innovation Center.

Grant PUD sets public meeting to gather rate policy opinions, ideas

EPHRATA — Grant County PUD commissioners and staff will be soliciting the opinion of PUD customers on the future of its rate structure in a series of public meetings beginning next week. Commissioners will be talking to different classes of customers at different times throughout April and May. A meeting with ag customers is up first, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. April 16 in the commission hearing room at PUD headquarters, 30 C St. SW in Ephrata. The meeting with small and medium-size business customers also is April 16, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Residential customers are invited to a discussion from 6 to 8 p.m. May 21 at the Civic Center Auditorium in Moses Lake.

WA’s economic outlook continues to worsen, report says

(The Center Square) – Washington remained in the lower half of U.S. states in terms of economic outlook, according to a new report that faults the Evergreen State’s high tax burden and rising labor costs for the state’s No. 37 ranking. That’s a drop of three spots from last year’s No. 34 ranking.

Ybarra sees wins, disappointments in 2024 legislative session

OLYMPIA — Washington state Rep. Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, who represents the 13th legislative district, said there are a lot of things that went well during the short 60-day 2024 legislative session in Olympia. Ybarra said this was his sixth and best session, as he was able to put a lot more bills into the legislature. “I think it went better than the first five sessions I was at. This was the best session yet, because we're always playing catch-up,” he said. “There's nothing that we can pass because we lack votes, and that’s just a given, so because of that we always just basically try to stop bad bills.”

Legals for April, 4 2024

Legals for April, 3 2024

Planning tools aim to help prepare the power grid for future climate extremes

PULLMAN — New planning tools developed by Washington State University researchers could someday help power grid planners and operators better prepare for extreme weather events that are expected from climate change.

Moses Lake man arrested in child porn investigation

MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake man was arrested Tuesday on child pornography charges, according to a statement from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.

Legals for March, 26 2024