Wood from existing Quincy Valley Medical Center site to become part of new hospital

QUINCY — A pair of trees that will come down as part of the construction of the new Quincy Valley Medical Center will be turned into a piece of furniture for the facility, with the help of students in the Quincy High School construction classes. Hospital board members accepted a proposal from QHS construction class instructor Nick Heuker to use the wood from the trees to build a conference table.

City, DAR honor Miyo Koba

MOSES LAKE — The city of Moses Lake on Tuesday, along with the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, honored longtime Moses Lake resident and businessperson Miyo Koba with a special award and a key to the city in a ceremony at Tuesday’s regular Moses Lake City Council meeting. “As far as I know, this is the first of its kind,” said Mayor Don Myers. “We created the key to the city and I will be presenting it to Miyo to acknowledge the recognition by the Karneetsa chapter of women in history.” According to Stephanie Massart, regent of the local Karneetsa Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the society was recognizing Koba for her place in local and national history as a Japanese-American who was interned in a camp during World War II, as well as helping her husband Frank to run Frank’s Market on Nelson Road for many years.

Warriors fall in 1B state tournament

MOSES LAKE — A five-run top of the second inning was enough for Naselle to defeat Almira/Coulee-Hartline in the second round of the 1B State Baseball Tournament on Saturday, leaving Larson Playfield with a 5-3 win over the Warriors. ACH added three runs of its own in the bottom of the third, but couldn’t add on any additional runs over the final four innings.

Ritzville mayor, Lind council races attract multiple candidates

RITZVILLE — The mayor’s job in Ritzville, Ritzville City Council and Lind Town Council positions will be on the August primary ballot, some having attracted five candidates. The filing period for elected offices open in 2023 was last week. The two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes in the primary will advance to the general election in November.

Ephrata Parks & Rec seeks summer movie sponsors

EPHRATA — The Ephrata Parks and Recreation Department is looking for sponsors to help cover the costs of presenting its series of outdoor “movies under the stars” this summer. According to a letter from Parks and Recreation Director Traci Bennett, the department is planning on showing four movies this summer — one as a “dive in” feature at Splash Zone, the city’s water park, and three in Patrick Park — as part of a nice night out for families.

Basin golfers swing on at state

WASHINGTON – Twenty-eight golfers began competing at eight state tournaments across Washington, vying to make the cut for a second day of play. See below for scores from the first day of the 4A Boys, 4A Girls, 2A Boys, 2A Girls, 1A Boys, 1A Girls, 1B/2B Boys and 1B/2B Girls State Golf Tournaments. All scores are according to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. 4A Boys - Qualchan Golf Course in Spokane Moses Lake’s Mason Bradford - 83. Moses Lake’s Quinten Whittall - 90. Girls - Indian Canyon Golf Course in Spokane Moses Lake’s Rhylee Humphrey - 108. Moses Lake’s Addison Nighswonger - 109.

Basin sports schedule May 24-30

COLUMBIA BASIN – It’s the final week of WIAA athletics for teams all around the Basin, several of which are still active and competing for state championships. Check out this week’s sports schedule for a list of state tournaments, meets and matches. Wednesday, May 24 4A State Boys Golf Tournament - hosted at Qualchan Golf Course, includes Moses Lake. 4A State Girls Golf Tournament - hosted at Indian Canyon Golf Course, includes Moses Lake. 2A State Boys Golf Tournament - hosted at Liberty Lake Golf Course, includes Ephrata and Othello.

Tee times for state golf

COLUMBIA BASIN – Twenty-eight local golfers are hitting the course for state tournaments beginning on Tuesday. See below for locations and tee times where these Basin golfers will be competing.

Mavs bounce back from CBBN title loss, advance to state

Balderas’ walk-off gives ML a 9-8 win over West Valley

EAST WENATCHEE – Despite a 5-3 loss to Eastmont in the Columbia Basin Big-Nine district title game on Saturday, the Moses Lake Mavericks rallied with a 9-8 extra-innings win over West Valley (Yakima) later in the day to move on to the 4A state tournament. “We’re super excited to have qualified for the tournament,” Moses Lake Head Coach Mike Hofheins said. “We feel like we underachieved last year, felt like we should have been there last year and didn’t make that happen. For us to make it happen this year was one of our goals that we have checked off.”

CWAC track and field athletes compete at regional meet

EPHRATA – Boys and girls track and field teams gathered at Kiwanis Field at Ephrata High School for the Central Washington Athletic Conference/Greater Spokane League Regional Championships on Friday, vying to qualify for the 2A state championships at Mt. Tahoma High School later this week. See below for results on how Basin athletes fared at last week’s regional meet. Athletes advancing to state are marked with an asterisk.

Candidate filing period generates multiple primary races

EPHRATA — The August primary ballot will include races for the Moses Lake, Quincy, Warden and Ephrata city councils, Grand Coulee mayor, and the Ephrata School Board. The city of Warden and the town of George each will have a new mayor. One race on the Samaritan Healthcare Board of Commissioners will go to the primary, but not the same one that looked like it would be on the primary ballot. Three seats on the Coulee City Town Council will be on the primary ballot.

City seeks port help for water cleanup funds

MOSES LAKE — The city of Moses Lake is looking for assistance from the Port of Moses Lake to lobby for state and federal funding to help deal with the chemical contamination found in three of the city’s wells located in and around the port on the grounds of the former Larson Air Force Base. “As we look at putting in requests to the state and federal legislatures for funding support for treatment, support from the port for these requests is probably among the most important and biggest things you could do for us,” said Assistant City Manager Rich Huebner during a port commission meeting on Monday.

Masquers season finale opens June 2

SOAP LAKE — A pair of comedy shorts on wages of deceit will be the season finale for the Masquers Theater troupe for 2022-23. “White Liars” and “The Black Comedy” open June 2 at the theater, 322 E. Main Ave., Soap Lake. The shows will be on stage for three consecutive weekends. Tickets can be purchased online at the Masquers website, www.masquers.com.

CWU receives $130m for new construction, salaries, expanded programs

ELLENSBURG — Central Washington University has secured roughly $130 million over the next two years to begin construction on two major university projects as well as increase staff salaries, expand its College in the High School program, and improve teacher preparedness, according to a CWU press release.

Hot career

Fire science class shows path to an occupation of service

QUINCY — Yanetzi Gonzalez said the fire science class at Quincy High School helped her make up her mind about her future. Marcelo Moreno said he had a good idea what he wanted to do after high school, but the fire science class showed him there were even more opportunities. Gonzalez, Moreno, Genesis Franco and Mario Guerrero, all QHS juniors, were among the participants in fire science state competition sponsored by SkillsUSA, and all four of them finished in the top 10. Gonzalez and Moreno qualified for SkillsUSA national competition; Moreno had other commitments, so Franco will be taking his place...

Quincy set to break ground on new park in 2024

QUINCY — Construction is scheduled to begin in spring 2024 on a new park along Quincy’s Sixth Avenue NE. Quincy City Council members approved a contract with Michael Terrell Landscape Architects, Deer Park, for a design during their regular meeting May 16. “The park property is located near the Quincy Animal Shelter,” wrote Public Works Director Carl Worley in response to an email from the Herald. “It was property dedicated by the developers of the nearby apartments as the requirement for open space.” ...

Weather for Monday, May 22

Monday: The workweek will begin sunny with a high around 73 and a 13-15 mph west wind with gusts of 23 mph. Cooling to around 46 in the evening and breezy...

News Bites for May 22

The news bites below were provided in statements by the associated law enforcement agencies. Any suspects mentioned are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Examining the benefits of a local port district

Port of Moses Lake executive director talks about the economic benefits of the port

MOSES LAKE — Don Kersey, executive director of the Port of Moses Lakes, sat in his corner office overlooking the Grant County International Airport thinking about a line he heard a lot growing up here. “We always knew that Moses Lake was going to grow, going to pop. It was always that’ll be next year and the next five years, but it’s gonna happen. It’s gonna happen,” Kersey said. “And we all sound like broken records.” ...

Ephrata hosts track meet

EPHRATA – Track and field athletes from Ephrata and Othello competed at the 2A District 5/6/8 Regionals at Ephrata High School on Friday, hoping to qualify for the 2A state meet. See the Tuesday edition of the Columbia Basin Herald for more photos and results from Friday’s meet.