Mavs fall at home to Ferris

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Mavericks basketball team fell 45-60 in their home opener against a tough Ferris team Friday evening. The Mavs hope to bounce back from this loss as they prepare for their first games of league play. “We’ve got our third game in four days, so a little bit tired and I thought we found energy at times, but we’ve got to be consistent with that,” said Mavs Head Coach Matt Strophy.

Add Sprinkles of joy to your life

MOSES LAKE – Sprinkles, a four-month-old mixed breed pup is looking fur her forever home. She promises to be the bestest and most sweetest girl for anyone who takes her home. She loves people, pets and long walks. If she seems like the kind of sweetness you want to add into your life, visit GrantCountyAnimalOutreach.org and fill out her application. If you can’t adopt right now but you would like to help a local shelter, visit the website and click “donate.”

Naomi Irene Chadwell

Sept. 20, 1928 — Nov. 26, 2025

Naomi Irene (Powell) Chadwell, of Moses Lake, Washington, passed away on Nov. 26, 2025, at the age of 97. Born on Sept. 20, 1928, in Baker, Oregon, to Fred and Eathel Powell, Naomi grew up in Baker City, where she attended local schools and graduated from Baker High School. She continued her education with a two-year college program in business. Naomi married Wallace “Dick” Chadwell, and together they began their family in 1948 in a small cabin on East Eagle Creek in northeast Oregon. In 1951, they moved to Moses Lake, Washington, where they raised their six children.

Word wizards

MLCA students take high honors in vocabulary competition

MOSES LAKE — These students know how to use their words. Forty-two thousand, four hundred thirty-eight of them, in fact. MLCA recently competed in the Vocabulary.com Vocabulary Bowl, and students demonstrated mastery of 42,438 words in a David-and-Goliath battle against schools with vastly larger teams. “We were competing against hundreds, if not thousands of schools,” said Moses Lake Christian Academy English teacher Hannah Pease. “We finished seventh in the nation, out of every size school, even schools with over a thousand kids.” MLCA, with fewer than 200 students in all grades, has been the top school in Washington for two years running in the Vocabulary.com Vocabulary Bowl, and this fall season placed second in the U.S. and Canada among schools with fewer than 500 students. The competition circled the globe with 966,716 participants, according to the website, from 20 countries.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: In appreciation of educators ...

An experience I recently had with a school district, quite honestly, has left me gob-smacked a bit. I am in awe of the teachers and administrators at school districts throughout the region and what they have to deal with. Let me get back to the beginning, though. Journalists often cover a wide variety of topics and are constantly looking for ideas for stories that will matter to readers. As such, when we hear of events of interest, we sometimes ask to attend so we can either cover it, or, as in this case, learn how to cover a topic better.

Legals for December, 8 2025

Bills begin streaming in ahead of WA’s 2026 legislative session

Washington lawmakers are warming up for a sprint.

Washington state faces two-front challenge to meet future energy demand

(The Center Square) – As Washington state invests in the electrification of its public transportation fleet while preparing for a ban on privately owned new gasoline-powered vehicles in 2035, regional energy stakeholders are addressing the practical issues of having the transmission lines necessary to meet demand.

Tentative agreement reached in Moses Lake school strike

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake School District personnel will return to the classroom Monday following the negotiation of a tentative agreement between the district and the Moses Lake Education Association that ends a week-long strike. In a statement signed jointly by the MLEA and MLSD, both sides said they were satisfied with the outcome.

Construction should begin in early 2026 on Othello broadband expansion

OTHELLO — Installation of additional fiber optic cables south of Othello is projected to start early next year. A bid for the project should be awarded before the end of this month or in early January. Adams County Engineer Scott Yaeger said the timing of the project depends on selecting a contractor, a process that has hit a roadblock. “Until a contract and contract bond are executed we will not know an estimated construction timeline,” Yeager wrote in response to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald. Adams County received a $10.3 million Washington Department of Commerce grant in 2022 to expand fiber connectivity. The area south of Othello is the second and final phase of that project. The county is installing the fiber; providing internet service to homes and businesses will be the work of private companies. The new fiber backbone will provide access south and southwest of the Othello city limits, an area around the Othello Golf Club along West Bench Road and surrounding subdivisions. Some areas originally in the county project got fiber access from the expansion of private companies in the meantime.

Iowa State hires Jimmy Rogers as coach after Matt Campbell leaves for Penn State

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State wasted no time finding a replacement for Matt Campbell, hiring Washington State's Jimmy Rogers as its football coach on Friday night. The Cyclones moved quickly after Campbell left to take over for the fired James Franklin at Penn State on Friday. They agreed to a six-year deal with Rogers, who led Washington State to a 6-6 record in his lone season after a two-season run at South Dakota State that included an FCS championship.

Moses Lake School District, teachers union reach tentative agreement

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Education Association announced late Friday night that the union has reached a tentative agreement with the Moses Lake School District. Classes will resume Monday, according to a press release from the MLEA.

Sheila Ray Verhey

April 14, 1936 – Nov. 30, 2025

Sheila Ray Verhey, 89. longtime Royal Slope farm matriarch and co-founder of Verhey's Peaches, passed away peacefully at home on Nov. 30, 2025, surrounded by her loving family. Born on April 14, 1936, in Wenatchee, Washington, Sheila moved with her family to Yakima at age 12. She attended St. Joseph's Academy prep school, where she would meet her future husband, Dan Verhey, a student at neighboring Marquette High School. After Dan completed his tour of duty in Korea, they married and moved to Pullman to begin their family. Following Dan's graduation from Washington State University, he took a job as a teacher at Royal High School, where, with Sheila’s support, he launched the athletic program and was the first athletic director and first coach of football and wrestling. The family settled in Royal City, which barely existed at the time, and soon established their family farm north of town.

Small, local shops offer unique Christmas gifts

MOSES LAKE — Plenty of people do all their Christmas shopping from the comfort of their laptop. But just a few blocks away, local small businesses are offering things you won’t necessarily find online. “Most of our shoppers, they're looking for something unique, not something they can get from Amazon or from China,” said Ken Haisch, one of six vendors at Third Avenue Antiques in Moses Lake.

BASIN EVENTS: Dec. 5-13

COLUMBIA BASIN — The holiday season is in full swing with community festivals, bazaars, performances and more. Ignore your inner Grinch, get out and celebrate with your neighbors. Here are some of the festivities happening in your community:

Mayor Peter Sharp takes oath of office

SOAP LAKE – Grant County Commissioner Kevin Burgess adminstered the oath of office to Mayor Peter Sharp Wednesday. Sharp was previously appointed to this role at the Sept. 18, 2024, council meeting after his predecessor Allen DuPay quit during the Aug. 7, 2024, meeting.

Republicans prepare for 'train wreck' as Democrats eye new taxes to fill $2B gap

(The Center Square) – House and Senate Republicans say they have a “front row seat to a train wreck” next month as the Legislature prepares to fill a $2 billion state deficit with more taxes amid record spending.

Mini-farm for sale has deep Grant County roots

SOAP LAKE — There’s a little piece of history in the mini-farm for sale east of Soap Lake. “It’s been with the same owner since the 1930s,” said Anna Van Diest of Moses Lake Realty Group, who is listing the 25.19-acre property at 20226 NE Adrian Road, just south of SR 28. The well, still in use, was dug in 1931, she added, more than two decades before the Columbia Basin Project brought irrigation water to the Basin. There’s not much left now of the town of Adrian, but if things had gone a little differently in 1910, the Grant County Courthouse might have been located where the farm now stands. When Grant County was formed out of the eastern part of Douglas County in 1909, the city of Ephrata, then just over 300 people, was named the county seat. The people of Adrian got up a petition the following year to grab the county seat away, according to the Washington history site historylink.org, but were defeated in a 945-802 vote. A few remnants of the town and the railroad cutoff nearby are still visible from the road or in aerial photos.

Legals for December, 5 2025

Moses Lake teachers march downtown

MOSES LAKE — Teachers from across Moses Lake marched from Sinkiuse Square to Frontier Middle School Thursdayin support of the Moses Lake Education Association’s work stoppage. The teachers stayed at Frontier while a band played at Carl Ahlers Park across the street and passing motorists honked. The teachers had been on strike for four days while the union negotiates a new contract with the Moses Lake School District.