Garden Party highlights new things coming for CBAA

MOSES LAKE — The Columbia Basin Allied Arts Garden Party brought folks together from all over the Basin to further the local arts scene Saturday. The amount of money raised was not available before press time. “We don't have to leave our area for amazing arts and culture,” Cardwell told the crowd. We are the arts and culture here. You are the arts and culture here.”

Basin sports schedule May 15-21

COLUMBIA BASIN – Check out this week’s sports schedule, featuring local baseball, golf, soccer, softball, tennis and track and field events. This schedule will be updated at columbiabasinherald.com as teams progress through their respective district and state tournament brackets.

Eagle boys tennis wins league title

SOAP LAKE – In just the fourth season since returning to the courts, the Soap Lake boys tennis team came out on top of last week’s Central Washington B league tournament, headlined by Xavier Gonzales-Robinson reaching the finals in singles and Francisco Ortega and Logan Northup making the doubles finals.

‘Guaranteed maximum price’ accepted for jail construction

EPHRATA — The maximum cost for building the Grant County Jail and Grant County Sheriff’s Office - just for construction, not equipping it or paying construction fees - will be $131.56 million. The Grant County Commissioners approved an agreement for the “guaranteed maximum price” for construction Tuesday. That’s about $3 million less than the estimated cost for construction made in April, which was about $134.21 million. Grant County Central Services Director Tom Gaines said in a separate interview that reflects changes in the construction market.

Wahluke superintendent addresses audit findings

MATTAWA – The Washington State Auditor’s Office released Thursday its audit report on Wahluke’s financial statements and federal awards from Sep. 2022 through August 2023, which included findings for some of the district’s federal award procedures.

Quincy tennis finishes season

QUINCY — The Quincy High School tennis team ended its season Saturday at the boys Caribou Trail League championships and the girls District 6 championships in Quincy. Both were qualifiers to advance in state competition, and the Jacks failed to send any players to the next round.

Legals for May, 15 2024

Moses Lake superintendent placed on admin leave

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake School Board voted in a special meeting Tuesday to place Superintendent Monty Sabin on administrative leave. Assistant Superintendent Carol Lewis was named acting superintendent at the same meeting.

Small fire scorches land near Soap Lake

SOAP LAKE — A small fire broke out Monday near Soap Lake, but was quickly extinguished, according to a statement from Grant County Fire District 7, which serves the Soap Lake and Coulee City area.

FRESH NEWS: Largemouth fishing looking good at Potholes

The current water level on Potholes Reservoir is 1,045.9 feet, dropping 0.45 feet this past week. The water temperature on the main lake is right around 64 degrees. The sand dunes are in the mid- to upper 60s. Potholes Reservoir did make it to full pool this year – to 0.05 feet above normal full pool. It is dropping now with the temperatures and irrigation demand. The largemouth bass fishing continues to be very good. Fish back in the sand dunes. Throw 1/2-ounce black-and-blue jigs, swim jigs, jerkbaits, chatter baits, Senkos, spinnerbaits, frogs and Texas-rigged plastics. Fish are in 1-12 feet of water. The largemouth are on beds. The smallmouth are spawning. Fish 5-20 feet using Ned rigs, Senkos, spinner baits, drop shot rigs, blade baits, crankbaits and tubes. Fish the rock piles around Goose Island and along the face of the dam and up Lind Coulee.

Desert Aire hosts fire preparedness informational event

DESERT AIRE – Representatives from the Desert Aire Owners Association, the Washington Department of Natural Resources, Grant County PUD, as well as Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, and community members from Desert Aire met Wednesday for a fire readiness informational event at the DAOA building.

Knights defeat Wahluke in SCAC district final

TOPPENISH – The second half of Saturday’s South Central Athletic Conference district championship game came to a wild finish, as the Royal Knights overcame a late game-tying goal by Wahluke to defeat the Warriors 3-2 in Toppenish. “This is an every year back-and-forth, back-and-forth with these guys, and to lose twice to them in the season by one goal, you feel a little like you deserve to get a win here,” Royal Head Coach Jens Jensen said. “To get it, that’s special. We’re jacked up and looking forward now, but we’re going to enjoy this for a few days.”

Mavs softball team wins Big 9 title

Split doubleheader with Eastmont not enough to keep Moses Lake from trophy

MOSES LAKE – Splitting Friday’s road doubleheader against Eastmont was enough for the Moses Lake softball team to lock up the Columbia Basin Big 9 league title, winning the first game 2-1 before falling 15-4 in the nightcap. “After our previous three tough games – against West Valley and Othello – where we played pretty well in all three, I think we had a lot of confidence going in,” Moses Lake Head Coach Mike Hofheins said. “We were playing sharp, we were playing clean. The girls were mentally and physically ready to go.”

Huskies reach CWAC district title game with win over Selah

OTHELLO – The No. 1 seed Huskies defeated No. 4 Selah 13-0 in Saturday’s Central Washington Athletic Conference district semifinals, advancing to the district championship in Selah on Tuesday. “With Selah, you never really know (what to expect),” Othello Head Coach Alyssa Martinez said. “They can say ‘We’re not our best,’ but you can never count Selah out because they’re always a great competitor. Having all week to prepare for our opponent has been great.”

WSU student turns textile scraps into wearable art

PULLMAN — When Kiah Conway first walked into a Washington State University storage room filled with hundreds of pounds of fabrics, remnants, and scraps, a sense of overwhelming possibility hit her hard. That hasn’t changed, even nearly a year later. “Every time I go into that room, I see why some of it has sat there so long,” said Conway, a junior double majoring in apparel design and merchandising. “But sometimes I find something that’s so gorgeous, I’m shocked to see it. The more you dig, the better it gets. It feels like scavenging, but you can find gold in there.” Conway recently created two garments, a dress and a jacket, using almost nothing but leftover material from the storage closet. The closet is full of donated fabrics and remnants, sewing supplies, and scrap materials from different student design projects in WSU’s Department of Apparel, Merchandising, Design, and Textiles. The materials are kept so they don’t go into landfills.

Study shows how night shift work can raise risk of diabetes, obesity

SPOKANE — Just a few days on a night shift schedule throws off protein rhythms related to blood glucose regulation, energy metabolism and inflammation, processes that can influence the development of chronic metabolic conditions. The finding, from a study led by scientists at Washington State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, provides new clues as to why night shift workers are more prone to diabetes, obesity and other metabolic disorders. “There are processes tied to the master biological clock in our brain that are saying that day is day and night is night and other processes that follow rhythms set elsewhere in the body that say night is day and day is night,” said senior study author Hans Van Dongen, a professor in the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. “When internal rhythms are dysregulated, you have this enduring stress in your system that we believe has long-term health consequences.”

Groundbreaking celebrates new Coulee City clinic, library

COULEE CITY — Construction could begin this year on the first phase of a project to build a new medical clinic and library in Coulee City. Local officials held a groundbreaking for the project May 10. Officials from the Town of Coulee City and the Port of Coulee City have been working on obtaining funding to build new facilities for the library and clinic, an effort that dates back to 2015, according to a press release from the port.

Legals for May, 14 2024

Inslee makes case for voters to preserve Climate Commitment Act

(The Center Square) – At a Monday morning press conference regarding the results of the state’s Climate Commitment Act, Gov. Jay Inslee sought to make a thinly veiled case for why voters should reject an initiative on the November ballot that would repeal the revenue-generating program.

MLSD to cut about 100 teachers; further cuts coming

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake School District will start the next school year with about 100 fewer teachers, according to an MLSD press release. Non-renewal notices are expected to be issued to about 100 provisional teachers, according to the release. A provisional teacher is one who is either in their first three years of teaching in Washington or who has received a low evaluation and meets certain other criteria, according to RCW 28A.405.210.