News Bites for May 19

The information for the news briefs below were gathered from statements made by the agencies indicated.

Built to spec

Home construction loans offer home buyers lots of options

MOSES LAKE — One of the peculiarities of the Columbia Basin is that, even in a housing crunch, we’ve got tons of land waiting to be built on. There’s space for housing, just not the homes themselves. One solution to that is for would-be homeowners to look into a home construction loan. “Because of the limited inventory that we're seeing in the existing home market, a construction loan gives (home buyers) the option to build a new home on a lot,” said Terran Brown, a sales manager with Churchill Mortgage, which recently held an online informational seminar in Moses Lake on home construction loans. “Specifically in the Moses Lake area, you have plenty of land, plenty of lots available for a good price where you don't have a ton of existing resale inventory.”

Building permits for May 19, 2023

City of Moses Lake, Unincorporated Grant County

Legals for May, 19 2023

Soap Lake City Hall to reopen Fridays

SOAP LAKE — Soap Lake City Hall will return to Monday through Friday hours beginning May 22. Soap Lake City Council members approved reopening city hall on Fridays after an extensive discussion at the regular council meeting Wednesday. The vote was unanimous...

Entertainment to help you close out May

The local events listed below may help you close out May with a bit of fun.

Races shaping up as candidate filing continues

EPHRATA — Mattawa Mayor Maria Celaya will face at least one challenger for her office, and the race for an at-large seat on the Samaritan Healthcare board will be on the primary election ballot. One race on the Moses Lake City Council also will go to the primary election. Filing for offices up for election in 2023 began Monday and ends today...

Summer decisions: Ephrata keeps non-resident parks and rec fees, will close city hall earlier for next two months

EPHRATA — People living outside the Ephrata city limits will still pay non-resident fees to participate in city recreation programs and use city facilities like the Splash Zone following Wednesday’s regular meeting of the Ephrata City Council. “What we’re up here for is to represent the citizens of Ephrata,” said Mayor Pro-Tem William Coe. “Those citizens are the ones that use their tax dollars to pay for our infrastructure … . And so they are paying a fee, in the form of taxes, to have some of those amenities that we cherish.” ...

Bats ready

Warriors move to 1B state baseball tournament

COULEE CITY – The Warriors are moving on to the 1B State Baseball tournament for the fifth-straight outing since 2017, earning a No. 4 seed and matching up against the winner of No. 5 Naselle and No. 12 Crosspoint on Saturday...

Fishin' off the bow

Fourth annual Carp Classic set for this weekend

MOSES LAKE — For avid bow-fishers, or just anyone who wants to shoot fish in a lake, the fourth annual Moses Lake Carp Classic will be held this Saturday, May 20, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Connelly Park on the north end of Moses Lake. According to tournament organizer Ty Swarthout, the weather for this year’s tournament should be hot with a slight wind that will hopefully stir the lake up a bit. The National Weather Service is expecting sunny and hot temperatures for Saturday including a high near 96...

Law enforcement logs for May 18

The reports below were provided by the sheriff’s office or police department indicated. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law...

Legals for May, 18 2023

Trujillo promoted to Quincy PD captain

QUINCY — Jorge Trujillo, a 15-year veteran of the Quincy Police Department, was sworn in as the QPD captain during Quincy’s regular city council meeting Tuesday...

Coulee City student named to college honor society

COULEE CITY — Central Washing University student and Coulee City native Ruth Bresee has been initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest all-discipline college honor society, according to a society press release...

Ephrata names Towry new city administrator

EPHRATA — Ray Towry is looking forward to coming back to Ephrata, this time as the city’s new administrator. “It’s home,” said Towry by phone from his current home in Sweet Home, Oregon. “It’s where I grew up, where my kids spent most of their time growing up.” ...

Lind council seats attract multiple candidates on first-day filing

RITZVILLE — One seat on the Lind Town Council attracted three candidates while another seat attracted four candidates on the first day of filing for the 2023 general election. The filing period ends Friday. Because there are more than two candidates for each position, both races will be on the ballot in the Aug. 1 primary election.

Council, school board races taking shape in first day of candidate filing

EPHRATA — Incumbents on the Moses Lake City Council and Moses Lake School Board will be facing at least one challenger for their seats. There will also be a race for one seat on the Samaritan Healthcare board. Those races emerged after the first day of filing for Grant County offices in the 2023 general election. The filing period ends Friday. Races that attract more than two candidates will be on the ballot in the Aug. 1 primary, but as of Monday no races had three candidates.

Basin sports schedule May 17-23

COLUMBIA BASIN – State tournaments begin this week, as Royal, Quincy and Wahluke qualified for the 1A boys soccer tournament and ACH and Moses Lake qualified for its respective state baseball tournaments. See below for a full slate of games, meets and tournaments over the next week.

Moses Lake says ‘forever chemicals’ found in 4 city wells

MOSES LAKE — The City of Moses Lake has stopped pumping water from three of its municipal drinking water wells following the discovery of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – known as PFAS chemicals – above Environmental Protection Agency standards that have been proposed but are not yet in place, according to Water Services Manager Chad Strevy. Strevy said the chemicals have been detected in four of the city’s 18 wells – three of them north of SR 17 on what used to be Larson Air Force Base and the fourth west of the lake itself in Mae Valley, not far from the Links at Moses Pointe.

Legals for May, 17 2023