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PASCO - A local veterans advocate has announced her candidacy for U.S. Senate. Republican Tiffany Smiley, 38, of Pasco, will challenge incumbent Sen. Patty Murray, D-Shoreline, in the 2022 election. Smiley is a nurse and has been active advocating for wounded veterans since her husband, Scotty Smiley, was wounded and blinded by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2005. She said she had to fight the federal government to get help for her husband. The Smileys are raising three boys....
MOSES LAKE - Firearms enthusiasts will gather this weekend for the Moses Lake Gun Show. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Grant County Fairgrounds, 3953 Airway Drive N.E. Organizer Ron Warren said it is the first of two Northwest Gun Shows events coming to Moses Lake. The second is scheduled for Sept. 10-11. There is an admission cost....
OLYMPIA - The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), in cooperation with partner agencies, is implementing the following burn restrictions on DNR-protected lands in Eastern Washington. Most of these fires have been caused by people conducting debris burns and failing to completely extinguish their piles or not monitoring them appropriately with a water source available and ready to douse flames that grow large or escape the burn area. Effective Friday, April... Full story
OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to sign a bill today that would begin the process of removing statues of perhaps the state's most prominent figure from the Capitol building and the National Statuary in Washington, D.C. The governor has called an 11:30 a.m. signing ceremony, where he will sign House Bill 1372 into law. The bill would replace the statues of Pacific Northwest pioneer, teacher and missionary Marcus Whitman. They will be replaced with statues of Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually tribal fishing rights activist. T...
OLYMPIA - Gov. Jay Inslee announced today that he will be moving three counties backwards in their coronavirus reopening effective Friday. Those counties are Cowlitz and Pierce in Western Washington, and Whitman in Eastern Washington. For a small-population county like Whitman to remain in "Phase 3," the governor said it would be required to have less than 200 coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents over the last 14 days and less than five new hospitalizations in the last...
Cheney Congregational Church Greetings from Cheney Congregational! Join us on Easter Sunday for a worship service outside in our parking lot. Depending on the weather you’re welcome to bring a lawn chair to sit outside, or you can stay in your car to listen to the service live over the radio. Masks and social distancing are required, but what a joy it will be to worship together outside in God’s creation. If you have any questions about our services you can contact us through our website, cheneycongregational.org. Join us...
Barriere earns third POW award DAVIS, Calif. – For the third time in six weeks of Big Sky Conference football, Eric Barriere, Eastern Washington’s All-America quarterback has been selected by the league office as the ROOT Sports Offensive Player of the Week. He helped lead Eastern to a 32-22 victory April 3 over 11th-ranked University of California -Davis in Davis, Calif. It was the sixth honor of his 36-game career. Eastern out-gained the Aggies, 563-397, in the game as the Walter Payton Award candidate passed for 392 yar...
CHENEY — There’s plenty that’s different from when Eastern Washington and Idaho met to begin the winter/spring Big Sky Conference football season some seven weeks ago. This time around it might be the wind, not a piece of scoreboard that affects field goals when Eastern Washington and Idaho meet in the final Big Sky Conference winter/spring game of the season. And in this second go-around with the Vandals to be played Saturday, April 10 at Roos Field, Eastern head coach Aaron...
MEDICAL LAKE — Gene “Swami” Blankenship had it nailed again when it comes to his cross country runners. The Cardinals coach predicted last week that his boys would prevail last Saturday, April 2 against Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) in the Northeast 1A League winter/spring regular season finale. They did by a 26-29 count on their home track. Blankenship also saw that Lakeside might just be a bit too good on the girls side. They were by a 23-32 count. Lakeside boys crafted a 1-2...
CHENEY – A local swimmer has been named Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Athlete of the Week. Blackhawk’s junior Jade Gere earned the honor as a member of the Cheney High School girls swim and dive team. Gere finished the season strong for her team by capturing league and district championship titles, the WIAA reported. In the Greater Spokane League’s 2A District Tournament, she won all four of her events and was named Swimmer of the Meet. She posted state-qualifying times in the 100m breaststroke and 100m...
CHENEY - The Blackhawks girls swim team won 10-of-11 events to capture its second straight Eastern Washington District title in competition March 25-26 at University of. The only event Cheney did not win was the 50-yard freestyle; the Blackhawks girls finished second. Four Cheney swimmers accounted for seven of the eight individual event wins, as well as victories in all three relays – including the 200-yard medley where the four teamed up to produce a new school record of 1...
CHENEY March 29 Vehicle impounded in 200 block of Betz Road Verbal domestic dispute in 700 block of Salnave Road Rape reported; location not reported. March 30 Verbal domestic dispute reported in 1500 block of First Street. Shawn S. Struck, 50, arrested for violation of a court order in 1500 block of First Street. Firearm and fishing gear reported stolen from vehicle in 200 block of Betz Road. Letter detailing possible criminal activity mailed to police. March 31 Mail box damaged in 2200 block of First Street. Three girls...
SPOKANE - Travel between Cheney and all points north on State Route 904 is going to become much more congested over the next 4-5 months as construction of Spokane Transit Authority's Four Lakes station begins. The station is part of the $5.23 million Cheney Line, which itself is a component of STA's overall 10-year "Moving Forward" project to improve mass transit in the region. The Cheney Line is designed to bring "high-performance" transit capabilities to the region, providin...
A herd of elk cross Cheney Spangle Road, near Jennings Road, early morning on Mar. 25....
CHENEY - After 20 years on the bench at Eastern Washington, women's basketball coach Wendy Schuller will not return for a 21st. In a March 31 statement EWU Athletics Director Lynn Hickey announced that "Wendy Schuller will not return as head coach of the women's basketball program," following a 5-12 finish in Big Sky play, 6-17 overall in a COVID-19 complicated season. Schuller had declined an initial request for an interview from the Cheney Free Press. Schuller was hired as...
CHENEY - Come April 19, all students in the Cheney School District should be back to full-time, in-person instruction. The final piece of the transition from all-online instruction instituted last spring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to resuming in-person instruction in as much of a normal setting as allowed took place last Wednesday night, March 31, with the school board's approval of a plan to return all secondary level students to campuses, beginning on April 19....
ROSALIA – Brett Baum is leaving the Liberty School District in Spangle to become the new Rosalia schools superintendent. The district board made the decision March 25. “It took them a long time in executive session discussing the candidates,” outgoing Rosalia Superintendent Rick Linehan said. “I think that they like that he’s a guy who can give his all for the community.” Baum is currently the Liberty superintendent. The district serves 520 students from Spangle, Fairfield,...
CHENEY — Cheney High School officials have released the names of the PACE (Partners in Advancing Character Education) Students of the Month for March. The PACE month character trait for February is diligence. The students are Kylie Mitchell, Toivo Tomlinson-Ryan, Julian Norton, Megan Humphrey, Caroline Greer, Stuart Crawford, Trace Ferguson, Sydney Lincoln, Samantha Finner, Makai Johnson, Eve Reese, Evelina Nasco, Jessica Vasilyev, Ashton Newman, Tiah Bigsmoke, Martha Cindric, Miranda Hotchkiss, Abigail Peek, Dillinger Heaton...
AIRWAY HEIGHTS — A tight and brief agenda, coupled with the idea that members of the Airway Heights City Council and city staff had some place else they wanted to be meant the April 5 meeting seemed to be over almost before it started. While city business was the primary focus, the tug of a national college basketball title game between Gonzaga and Baylor was present as business finished in just a shade over 21 minutes — not including a brief executive session after reg...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – An Eastern Washington congresswoman is co-sponsoring a bill to help workers with disabilities get the training they need to be gainfully employed. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, partnered with Rep. Bobby Scott, R-Virginia, in introducing the Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act. If passed and signed into law, McMorris Rodgers said it would provide states and other agencies with resources to help handicapped individuals get training while also phasing out subminimum wages, w...
OLYMPIA – A bill to help cool heat-emitting cities such as Seattle passed the House and Senate unanimously, and is on its way to the governor. The measure was introduced by Rep. Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy, who represents the 9th Legislative District, which includes southern Spokane County. Dye said larger cities retain heat from rooftops, pavement and other heat-absorbing materials, creating what is known as “urban heat islands.” “During the summer, downtown Seattle can be as much as 17 degrees warmer than surrounding rural areas,...
The Senate operating budget for 2021-23 was approved on April 1 by a 27-22 vote, with two Democrats joining all Republicans in opposition. It is fitting this plan (Senate Bill 5092) was passed on April Fools’ Day. The sharp spending increase found in this budget can be viewed as a bad joke on Washington taxpayers. Total spending in the Senate budget is $59.5 billion. It’s $7 billion more than the current budget, or equal to a 13% increase in spending. If the Senate plan is enacted, the operating budget will have grown by ove...
Lawmakers are rightly showing great concern about improving the quality, graduation rates, equal treatment and fairness in public schools. Some even say the traditional public school system is systemically racist and are demanding solutions. It is certainly true that public schools produce starkly unequal outcomes, with the achievement gap between ethnic groups in math, science and reading wider than ever. Washington has at least 117 state-identified failing public schools, which are placed mostly in urban areas. Each year...
SPOKANE COUNTY – Fire protection agencies and regional air-quality officials are concerned about a growing increase in illegal outdoor burning activity in the county. In a March 31 news release, fire officials say they are seeing an increase in calls reporting possible illegal outdoor burns. Besides the possibility of these burns getting out of control and causing wild or structure fires, there’s also the aspect of health conditions stemming from more smoke in the air — smoke that weather conditions can often work to preve...
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