Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 582
DAVENPORT – Here are the official results of the Aug. 25-26 Lincoln County Rodeo: Bareback Riding – 1. Duke Hanson, 76; 2. Mason Payne, 73; no other qualified rides. Saddle Bronc – No qualified rides. Ranch Bronc – 1. Steve Maupin, 84, 2. Zoe Johnson, 79; 3. Dustin Hennigs, 67; 4. Devin Newman, 67; 5. Tristan Newman, 61. Bull Riding – 1. Connor Dean, 92; 2. C.J. Schultz, 89; no other qualified rides. Steer Riding – 1. Dustin Dean, 80; no other qualified rides. Chute Doggi...
ELK - On Monday evening, the Oregon Road Fire grew into the largest blaze in the regional over the last week. At least one person had died in the blaze, officials said. Evacuation notices remain in effect across much of the area surrounding the communities of Elk and Chattaroy. The fire was most active east and southeast of elk, burning in dry grass and timber. An evacuation center was set up at Riverside High School, 4120 E. Deer Park Milan Road, Chattaroy. Another is open...
WINONA - Local fire crews contained the Winona Fire after it decimated 2,525 acres over the weekend. The fire destroyed Whitman County Emergency Management Director Bill Tensfeld, reported an fire management team that arrived Saturday to help local crews departed Monday, Aug. 21, after assisting with containing 90% of the blaze. Whitman County Fire District No. 6 is monitoring the smoldering Rebel Flat Creek train trestle that burned Friday and watching for remaining hot...
MEDICAL LAKE - Rain Tuesday, Aug. 22, gave fire crews a break in their effort to stop the growth of the Gray Fire. As of 7 p.m. Tuesday, fire officials said the blaze was 48% contained. The new estimated size is 10,016 acres. On Wednesday at 7, officials hosted a community meeting to explain the status of the Gray Fire and hear fire victims' concerns. They were also explain the command post move from Cheney Middle School to Pine Lodge, 721 S. Pine St. That meeting was planned...
WINONA - The Winona Fire, which burned 2,535 acres over the weekend, completely destroyed the Rebel Flat Creek railroad trestle. The fire broke out Friday and destroyed the trestle as it raced through dry grass and sage down a slope to the creek and railroad tracks. After the fire had passed, only rails remained in the span over the creek. State Department of Transportation spokeswoman Janet Matkin said Tuesday, Aug. 22, the wooden trestle bridge was about 200 feet long and...
CHENEY — As emergency officials pushed traffic off Interstate 90 and into the city, traffic backed up for miles. At times Saturday and Sunday, traffic was bumper-to-bumper from the Cheney-Spokane Road to the Cheney Free Press building, 1616 W. First St. Periodically, traffic was shifted west to state Highway 231 through Edwall and Reardan. But traffic backups on that small two-lane road and a crash in the southbound lane forced traffic back into Cheney or west to Davenport a...
A quip on a social media post said it all: “Harrington has never been so busy.” That tongue-in-cheek post was in reference to the diversion of Interstate 90 traffic between Spokane and Sprague through Airway Heights, Reardan, Davenport and Harrington as the Gray Fire encroached on the highway over the weekend. The fire broke out Friday near Eastern State Hospital and Medical Lake. As it grew toward Four Lakes and Cheney, someone decided it was a idea to detour traffic at dif...
PULLMAN – A state appellate court has affirmed the conviction of a local man arrested after a January 2022 social media sting intended to catch drug dealers. On Aug. 17, the state Court of Appeals Division III filed an unpublished opinion affirming the arrest and conviction of William Patrick McBride, 59, of Malden. McBride was convicted of possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) with intent to deliver after communicating with a fictious person on social media,...
SPOKANE — Innovia Foundation has opened a Wildfire Emergency Response Fund to support nonprofit organizations, businesses and community organizations working to meet the needs of those impacted by the Grays, Oregon Road and Winona wildfires. The Oregon Road Fire has burned more than 8,000 acres in Elk area of Spokane County. The Winona Fire burned more than 5,000 acres of wheat land and sage steppe in the Winona area of central Whitman County. And the Gray Fire destroyed at least 185 homes and killed one person in the M...
CHENEY - The incoming incident management team hired to oversee Gray Fire response doesn't expect to have the blaze contained until Aug. 30. In an update on the fire released at 8 p.m. Saturday night, Aug. 19, the team reported the fire is 0% (zero percent) contained, burning in dry timber, 2.5-foot-tall grass and brush. The team said the fire is believed to have burned 9,500 acres; 234 firefighters have been assigned to the blaze. Because of smoke, only one helitack team was...
CHENEY — Fire officials are expecting gubernatorial candidate and State Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz to visit the fire-ravaged areas in Medical Lake and Cheney on Sunday. At last estimate, the Gray Fire was between 8,000 and 9,500 acres in size - and growing. At least 185 homes, were destroyed Friday, and more succumbed to the flames Saturday. As the state Department of Natural Resources prepares to turn over management of the growing fire to a Type II Incident M...
MEDICAL LAKE - Multiple fires exploded Friday afternoon across both Spokane and Whitman Counties, leaving at least one person dead and burning thousands of acres. Evacuation notices were issued for Medical Lake, Cheney, Four Lakes, Elk, Winona and other places. The larger fires were reported in Medical Lake and Elk, both in Spokane County, and Winona, in central Whitman County. At least one person died and multiple homes were destroyed in the Gray Fire, which broke out about...
CHENEY — An area here that was under a Level 2 evacuation notice has been upgraded to Level 3 because of the encroaching Gray Fire. This includes the area east of Interstate 90 south of Salnave Road, west of Mullinix Road and North of State Highway 904. Level 3 notices mean fire is imminent and those choosing to evacuate should do so. A new area has been put under a Level 2 notice, as well. A Level 2 notice means fire is approaching and residents who want to evacuate should be...
CHENEY – Traffic has been lined up for hours throughout the city as the Gray Fire continues to burn near Interstate 90. Currently, the fire is most active in the Salnave area west of Cheney and in the Tyler area. Smoke, and actively burning fires have forced the continued closure of both the eastbound and westbound lanes of I-90, so traffic is being filed through Cheney from both sides. The interstate is closed at Sprague for eastbound travelers and Geiger for folks trying t...
MEDICAL LAKE - Smoke from the growing Gray Fire has prompted the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency to advise residents to reduce steps to reduce their exposure. The fire had grown to between 8,000 and 9,500 acres, according to local fire officials. Airborne particulates and ash were falling around Medical Lake, Cheney, Four Lakes, Tyler and other areas. Because of the air quality deterioration, several activities have been canceled in the area. In Cheney, Eastern Washington...
ST. JOHN - As harvest season wraps up in the Palouse, farmers are reporting a less-than-impressive crop yield in the face of high heat and low precipitation. Cory Christensen, Grain Merchant at Northwest Grain Growers, expressed concerns about the adverse effects of the lack of timely rains and early spring heat on this year's wheat crop. "We've seen yields reduced to 75-85% of the 10-year average and elevated proteins in the areas in those same fields," he said. The reliance...
OLYMPIA – It took only a minute Friday, Aug. 11, for the state Fish and Wildlife Commission to reject a petition to resume spring bear hunting in 2024. The commission’s almost-immediate, unanimous rejection of spring bear hunting followed a very short presentation by state Department of Fish and Wildlife Game Division Manager Anis Aoude. “From our position as a department … we’re recommending you deny this petition,” he said. “There really isn’t a reason to revisit.” The state’s presentation and commissioner’s fast...
Wheat harvests are in full swing in the region as tractors can be seen rolling along the hills. Washington is the third leading state in terms of wheat production putting out 144 million bushels last year according to the Washington Grain Commission. That number was a 65 percent increase from the previous year. The average in for winter wheat was 68 bushels per acre, and the spring yield was 46 bushels per acre according to the United States Dept. of Agriculture. Conditions ha...
The National Weather Service predicts we will see the hottest temperatures of the summer this week. It’s even gone so far as to declare an “excessive heat warning” until 11 p.m. today. Granted, 100 degrees is hot. But in our neck of the high-plains desert, that’s not excessive. Even if we hit 105 degrees, it’s not excessive here. Eastern Washington has a track record of hot daytime highs in June, July and August. The hottest day on record for most of our readership area was...
FOUR LAKES – An Interstate 90 crash Monday evening, Aug. 7, has left an Idaho woman dead. Suzanne M. Twete, 77, of Post Falls, Idaho, was killed in the 5:30 p.m. crash near Milepost 268 south of Four Lakes. According to the Washington State Patrol, Twete was a passenger in a 2021 Toyota Rav4 being driven by Tamra Callaway, 53, of Lake Stevens. Callaway was injured in the crash; her condition was not reported. Callaway’s vehicle was westbound in the passing lane of the highway when it veered into the median, the patrol rep...
CHENEY – Two area fires that drew a large fire response have been completely contained and downgraded to patrol status. The West Anderson Fire started at approximately 5:00PM on August 2, and has now been fully contained according to the final update by the Department of Natural Resources. The fire burned through brush, tall grass and timber for five days before being downgraded to patrol status. The wildfire torched 47 acres total. The Fish Lake/Columbia Plateau trail were c...
MALDEN — A family who lost their home in a Thursday morning, July 20, fire is asking for community support. “It’s like our whole life just disappeared,” renter Alysha Galindo, 35, said. “It’s so much to process.” Galindo lived in the home at 124 S. Main St. with Bobby Robbins, 37, and six children – Nevaeh, 15, Capryce,15, Skylar, 14, Danni, 11, Novah, 7, and Baynz, 6. They were left homeless and lost most of their belongings as well as cherished memorabilia, a Chevrolet Subur...
CHENEY—Several Free Press Publishing staffers will receive Better Newspaper Contest awards in October. At the Cheney Free Press, graphic artist John Myers, sports journalist Paul Delaney and Owner/Publisher Roger Harnack will be receiving awards. Part-time journalists Byrne Bennett at the Lincoln County Record-Times and Dale Brown at the Ritzville Adams County Journal have also been named as award-winners. The staffers will be receiving awards in reporting, photography and digital efforts. The company’s Whitman County Gaz...
