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Cheney celebrated its fifth annual Mayfest, May 12 and 13. The event had a plethora of activities for residents and visitors of all ages to enjoy including a Cornhole tournament, Artist Alley and a plethora of musical acts.... Full story
A special Boy Scouts of America Court of Honor was held on Friday April 21, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Cheney to award seven young men their rank of Eagle Scout. The event was well attended by community members who had come to show their support of these fantastic youth. In addition to earning many merit badges and ranks along the way, these young men also had to complete an approved Eagle Project that benefited their community. Trevor Babcock, a...
All events are free unless posted otherwise. To get your event or meeting in the weekly What’s Happening section send an email with date, time, location and event to jmac@cheneyfreepress.com. Cheney • May 19, Light Fitness Hour (adults 50+), Wren Pierson Community Center, 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. • May 19, Summer Storytime Mash-ups: Art, community library, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. • May 22 – May 25, GED and High School Completion Classes, community library, 4 – 8 p.m. • May 23, Knitting Group (adults 50+), Wren Pierson Community Center,... Full story
By PAUL DELANEY Staff Reporter In the daily flood of stories that makes headlines these days — be they real, rushed or contrived — one stood out last week. And I can tell you it was not for reasons that may be at all obvious. The appearance by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on May 9 as the commencement speaker at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida drew boos, cat-calls from an audience largely composed of those graduating from college. Been there, done that I recalled — when I was about 10. Still, over 50 years later...
By EMILY LORD Contributor A FedEx warehouse might save your life. When hurricanes are approaching, FedEx allows the Red Cross to stock emergency supplies in its warehouses. By pre-positioning these supplies, disaster relief workers drastically reduce the time it takes to get medicines and other lifesaving aid into victims’ hands. Similar partnerships between private companies, humanitarian organizations and government agencies are flourishing across the globe. They’ll prove vital to stopping the next pandemic, whether it...
Just what does finding peace in the Middle East and the key to affordable health insurance have in common? Not much other than each seems like an endless quest. The debate over paying for health care, however, predates the modern battle for land between the Israelis and the Palestinians by decades. And unfortunately, the solutions for either seem to not be on anyone’s radar. “If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday,” author Pearl S. Buck once said. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette newspaper published a lengt...
Cheney High School announced the students for the month of April. Back row from left to right: Hannah Helsing, Kristie McGourin, Willem Adams, Abby Fillmore, Rachel Suominen, Ian Hill and Brandon Hill. Front row from left to right: Elijah Weber, Abigail Pavon, Ginessa Link and Jacob McIlquham. Not pictured: Abby Murphy, Jaystin Stanger and Michaela Nanny....
The following West Plains residents made Eastern Washington University’s dean’s list for the 2016-17 winter quarter. Airway Heights — James Garrett, Wade Hampton and Matthew Platero. Cheney — Jerika Adams, Abdulrahman Al Musharraf, Mushari Alaqail, Rami Alghamdi, Saif Alghamdi, Hattan Alhaidari, Abdullah Alharbi, Omar Almulhim, Haidar Alnasser, Hassan Alnemri, Mohammed Alshaf, Mahmood Alshengeete, Yulia Arbuzova, Christina Baber, Kyle Barsness, Clayton Beard, Timothy Bennett, Tristan Bennett, Alexander Berman, Kendric...
It's no illusion that more grain trains appear to be circling the Highline terminal at Four Lakes. "The winter has been pretty hard on everybody," Keith Bailey, general manager and CEO of Ag Ventures said. And that's created the backlog evident by the rings of cars that seem to be daily sights to travelers along Interstate 90. Ag Ventures are the owners of the loading facility that recently celebrated its first year of operation in mid-April. "We had some delays and of course...
Hallett Elementary School announced its Partners Advancing Character Education (PACE) award winners for April. PACE-Trustworthiness — Jayden Silva Calder Diluciano, Braylen Wattam, Briar Hull, Emily Bowser, Maureena Werre, Haedyn Deardorff, Ellie McHutchison, Liam Home, Madison Reynolds, Ashtyn Butterfield, Colin Merritt, Madelynn Jonckers, Amaya Cole, Natalie Johnson, Skylar Knight, Katelyn Rupert, Cabrini Haley-Molina, Chloe Howell, Sheehan Connors and Qwynton Rodriguez. BUG — Caleb Dennis, Sophia Hartwell, Brayden Dix...
There is a new Medical Lake Middle School chess champion and his name is Tristan Francis. Francis won the school's annual chess tournament after he defeated Jeffrey Bailey in the championship match. The tournament was held at the middle school on May 11. Due to time constraints, Francis and Bailey had their final match the next day after school. During their match, Francis tricked Bailey into putting his queen in the way of Francis' bishop. "From there, I took his pieces out...
During its May 12 meeting, the Eastern Washington University board of trustees went over the first readings of the university’s 2017-19 biennial operating budget. The budget revenue for the biennium is estimated at roughly $537.16 million. Expenses are estimated at roughly $529.38 million. The proposed funding level for 2017-19 from the Senate is over $115.26 while the House of Representatives’ proposal is over $119.11 million. The budget is based on a projected enrollment of 10,651 students, which has remained rel...
Cheney soccer player Gabe Hemenway (front) and Blackhawks head coach Morgan Hartanov (behind) lead the rest of the team through a corridor of students wishing them well as they headed to Renton Tuesday to face Lindbergh High School in the first round of the 2A state playoffs....
Cheney Public Schools’ board of directors voted unanimously at their May 10 meeting to use the general contractor/construction manager (GCCM) form of project management on two facilities scheduled for renovations from voter passage of a $52 million capital facilities bond in February. OAC project manager Rusty Pritchard told the board renovation and expansion of the high school, along with relocating the alternative high school Three Springs, meets four of the five state criteria for being eligible to apply to use the GCCM m...
Windsor Elementary School literally rolled out the red carpet for Cheney School District employees honored at the May 10 "Employee Recognition Night." See Section 2, page 8 for more photos and information....
During its May 10 meeting, the Airway Heights Planning Commission passed a resolution approving a recommendation regarding a State Environmental Protection Act review on a future project. The SEPA review for a binding site plans for the West Plains Business Park — six parcels of approximately 36 acres — received a mitigated determination of nonsignificance. The site is located south of U.S. Highway 2, east of Russell Road, west of Garfield Road and north of 19th Avenue. The proposal is to re-plat parcels into 14 that was zon...
By JOHN McCALLUM Editor The candidate filing period for elected offices in Spokane County is underway, and several races in West Plains cities have garnered challengers. As of press time Tuesday, the largest so far is for mayor in Medical Lake.Incumbent City Council members Shirley Maike and Laura Parsons, along with a former council candidate Don Mayfield will face each other in a bid to replace out-going Mayor John Higgins in the August primary. Monica Manza has filed to run for Maike’s council Position 2 seat, while Parson...
A popular feature of Cheney’s parks system will soon be receiving some much needed repair work. The City Council voted 6-0 at its May 9 meeting to approve a $16,985 bid by Steve Moser Construction of Nine Mile Falls to repair the foundation of the Sutton Park Gazebo. The gazebo, which dates to the late 19th century and came to the city in 1984 from its previous location at Fort Wright College in Spokane, is in need of foundation work, mainly pouring of expanded concrete pads that will get other foundation elements up off t...
The city of Airway Heights Garfield Road/Sixth Avenue reconstruction project took center stage at the May 15 City Council meeting. Council awarded the bid for the project to DW Excavating, Inc. out of Davenport, Wash. Century West, the city's engineer of record and consultants for the project, reviewed the four bids that came in and they recommended the company's proposal for $1.548 million. Council also authorized a $235,800.28 contract for construction management services...
Two statements in last week’s story on the Cheney Congregational Church were worded incorrectly. Pastor David Krueger-Duncan said direction from the national church was congregations should welcome LGBTQ individuals by pointing out the differences between them and other members. The correct statement following this should have noted this was a position he and the Cheney congregation could not embrace. Krueger-Duncan was then quoted as saying: “Our congregation wants to welcome you by saying, ‘you’re one of us and we’ll s...
Fairchild Air Force Base, along with local municipalities and regional regulatory partners have scheduled a town hall meeting on May 23 at the Medical Lake High School auditorium. The meeting is for residents to learn more about the recent well testing happening around the base. Subject experts will be on hand to address questions and concerns and provide additional information about perfluorooctanesulfonic (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acids (PFOA) chemicals and the effects it has on groundwater. Engineers contracted by the U...
Brodie Millican got to jam on stage with the Kelly Hughes Band during the Friday Night Street Dance at last weekend's Mayfest in downtown Cheney. The event, in its fifth year, had a plethora of activities for residents and visitors of all ages to enjoy....
There are several road projects happening on the West Plains over the summer. In Cheney, State Route 904 will be resurfaced with hot mix asphalt through the city from Betz Road to Mullinix Road. Shamrock Paving will be the contractor on the $1.62 million project In a separate project, the Washington state Department of Transportation has already done some of the work with some Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that will take place until mid-June. The city also plans to do...
Cheney’s Planning Commission has taken the unusual move of tabling approval of the city’s comprehensive plan — the document governing planning decisions over the next 20 years. In doing so, the commission raised the possibility the city could be out of compliance with state law, which requires entities updating their plans to have those approved and submitted to the Department of Commerce by July 1. Cheney senior planner Brett Lucas also told the commission he needed to check with Commerce to see if there were ramif...
During a May 16 press conference, officials from Fairchild Air Force Base and Airway Heights announced that two water wells used by the city tested over 70 parts per trillion for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and/or perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) contamination, which is above Environmental Protection Agency lifetime health advisory levels. The city tested two of its wells in light of the private wells located near Fairchild Air Force Base that were tested for PFOS and PFOA contamination. These chemicals are classified...
