Donna Leighter

1942 – 2025

Donna Marie Leighter, 82, of Ephrata, Washington, passed away peacefully on February 10, 2025, in Palm Springs, California.

Jacob Weber

1936 – 2025

Jacob Edward Weber, 88, passed away peacefully at his home near Ritzville, Washington, on Feb. 12, 2025. Jake was born in Ritzville, WA, on May 5, 1936, to Jacob A. and Margaret Weber.

Building Permits for Feb. 14

Moses Lake January 2025

Grant Co. Fairgrounds getting upgrades

Incoming improvements set to improve safety, visibility and visitor experience.

MOSES LAKE – The Grant County Fairgrounds is installing around $1 million in upgrades, according to Fairgrounds Director Jim McKiernan. The upgrades include new light towers and lighting at gates, additional cameras, a new public address system, improved fencing, removing track from the rodeo grounds, new bleachers for the rodeo and power and water stalls. There will also be increased policing staff at the fairgrounds this year. “A lot of our efforts, as far as capital projects are having to do with safety this year as a result of last year's shooting,” McKiernan said.

Nat Washington Way roundabout coming summer 2025

EPHRATA — Construction is planned this summer on a new roundabout at the intersection of State Route 282 and Nat Washington Way near the new Grant County Jail construction site. Grant County Central Services Director Tom Gaines said there is a tentative timeline.

Coyotes take second at Winter Classic

MOSES LAKE – The 18U Moses Lake Coyotes took second place at their home Winter Classic two weekends ago, falling 6-3 to Vancouver Minor C5 in the tournament’s championship game on Feb. 2. “We had twice as many shots as them, they just had an absolutely phenomenal goalie that we couldn’t quite get enough pucks past,” Davies said. “The kids played excellent. Second place, but in our eyes, it was such a good game that could have gone either way.”

Tigers honored for academic success

EPHRATA – Ephrata High School recognized hundreds of students for their academic efforts last semester with the Ephrata School District releasing EHS’s honor roll. The listing includes 18 seniors who made a 4.0 or better grade point average.

MLSD levy passing

Oft-debated ballot measure appears to have gained sufficient voter support after long year.

MOSES LAKE – The Moses Lake School District Educational Programs and Operations levy was leading with yes votes by 58.77% on Tuesday night when 10,058 of the ballots were counted. The next ballot count will be Feb. 13. “First, I would like to thank the community and those that supported the school district and the board in this effort,” MLSD Board Chair Kirryn Jenson said. “We are thrilled to have made great strides in earning back the trust of our community. We are committed to continuing transparency and accountability. We will be focused on responsibly funding education and improving student achievement and success.”

Ephrata Schools EP&O levy passing in initial results

EPHRATA – The Ephrata School District Board of Directors voted in favor of asking district voters to approve an educational programs and operations levy on Nov. 25 of last year and initial results from Tuesday evening show the measure to be passing. “We are incredibly grateful that initial election results indicate the Ephrata community continues to support our students and staff,” said Ephrata School District Superintendent Ken Murray.

MLSD levy decision tomorrow

MOSES LAKE – Voters must cast their votes by 8 p.m. Tuesday evening in the Moses Lake School District’s educational programs and operations levy. Initial results will be available that night, though a final count will take a bit due to Washington’s mail-in voting system. The levy proposal is for four years.

iNET works at identifying, mitigating narcotics in the Basin

Local joint task force works to mitigate the flow of controlled substances into Grant, Adams counties

EPHRATA – If you live in the Columbia Basin, you've seen coverage from the Columbia Basin Herald and other outlets regarding the prevalence of drugs such as fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine in the area. The Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team, otherwise known as iNET, is tasked with fighting the drug epidemic in the region. “We have a mission – I would say mandate – but our mission is to target middle to upper-level narcotics traffickers in drug trafficking organizations,” said the group’s lead detective. “... Our primary area of responsibility is Grant and Adams counties.”

Regional college sports schedule for Feb. 7-13

MOSES LAKE – Check out this week’s college sports schedule, complete with baseball, basketball, softball, tennis and track and field events for Big Bend, Central Washington, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga and Washington State.

Plant early with milk-jug mini-greenhouses

MOSES LAKE — Some plants are meant to be left in the ground through the winter, and now that it’s February and the ground outside is as hard as week-old peanut brittle, it’s a little late to be planting. Fortunately, there are ways to use milk jugs and even ice cube trays to get planting underway. “Some seeds need to be frozen in order to split their outer shell,” said Valerie Parrott, president of the Columbia Basin Garden Club. “Things like carnations, they really need to be cold. So, you just fill your ice cube tray (with water), dump a few seeds in one, freeze them for two weeks, then you can go outside and plant them, and that will act the same as a cold stratification ... as if they had gone through a lot of hard freeze cycles.”

MLSD Financial Oversight Committee meets for first time

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake School District hosted its first Financial Oversight Committee meeting Jan. 29. The committee is a volunteer-based group of local professionals from industries including accounting, finance and similar fields. The group was established to hold the district to another level of accountability with its finances.

Eastern Washington site of de facto EV school bus experiment

(The Center Square) – With cold weather and long distances, eastern Washington state would seem an unlikely region to find school district officials excited about electric buses. Mike McCain, transportation director for the Reardan-Edwall School District, is looking forward to the experiment.

Warriors fall late to Wellpinit

COULEE CITY – Thursday's regular-season finale between Almira/Coulee-Hartline and Wellpinit came down to the wire, as a late Warrior turnover allowed the Redskins to survive with a 47-45 win in Coulee City.

Home and Garden Show a great place to gear up for spring projects

MOSES LAKE — It’s getting close to the time when people start to come out of their winter hibernation and get serious about the projects they’ve been waiting to tackle. The Columbia Basin Home and Garden Show, coming to Moses Lake Feb. 28 and March 1, could be an excellent place to start.

Cupid’s Market coming Feb. 8

MOSES LAKE — Love, as well as a whole lot of crafts and food, will be in the air Feb. 8 at the Moses Lake Farmers Market’s Cupid’s Market. “I have 68 stalls and they’re full, with two vendors outside,” said Market Manager Chris Haguewood.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Regarding coverage of the happenings in D.C.

I’ve gotten a few calls over the last week regarding coverage of the change in the Oval Office recently. Callers have wondered why we haven’t been covering various actions of the newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump or the outgoing actions of former President Joe Biden.

Two major power outages in Grant County

MARDON — On both Wednesday and Thursday, Grant Public Utility District had large-scale power outages. A major outage affects more than 50 customers, according to the PUD.