Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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Several Washington State Parks remaining open until Nov. 1 Washington State Parks is extending the camping season at select parks throughout the state through November 1. The extension is in response to a higher than normal demand for camping at parks across the state due to the COVID-19 pandemic since most parks booked up quickly this summer. There were less available slots to accommodate time for cleaning between visitors. This extended reservation season offer is for 2020 only. Extended...
Pumpkin spice and almost everything nice will happen this Fall, as Governor Inslee continues to update COVID-19 agritourism guidelines. Activities including hayrides, animal viewing, and bonfires are permitted in counties that have reached Phases 2 and 3 of the Safe Start Washington plan. Agritourism is defined as a commercial enterprise that links agricultural production and processing with tourism to attract visitors onto a farm, ranch, or other agricultural business for the purposes of entertaining and educating the visitors and generating...
WASHINGTON—FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor approved Washington for a FEMA grant under the Lost Wages Assistance program. FEMA’s grant funding will allow Washington to provide $300 per week—on top of their regular unemployment benefit—to those unemployed due to COVID-19. FEMA will work with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to implement a system to make this funding available to Washington residents. On Aug. 8, 2020, President Trump made available up to $44 billion from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund to provide financial assistance to Americans who have...
OLYMPIA-As summer heats up, the Washington State Parks Boating Program urges boaters and paddlers to adhere to safe practices on the water, including wearing a life jacket at all times. In the last 30 days, 25 recreational boating accidents and five fatalities have occurred across the state. "We are asking all boat and paddle-craft owners and operators to help reduce fatalities and injuries on the water," said Rob Sendak. "Boaters need to take personal responsibility for their safety as well as...
Find detailed, accurate COVID-19 activity levels in our counties and our state here: Walla Walla County Health Department lists new, confirmed, recovered, and active cases in isolation daily at 5 p.m. at this link: https://www.co.walla-walla.wa.us/government/health_department/index.php The site also lists confirmed cases by community, gender, and age. Columbia County lists positive cases in-county and out of county (for those who contracted the virus in the county but live in another county), recovered cases in county and out, as well as...
OLYMPIA—The Washington State Coronavirus Response Joint Information Center reported on a new Center for Disease Control (CDC) report that emphasizes that COVID-19 can cause prolonged illness, including in younger people. The CDC released on Friday, July 24, findings from a telephone survey that indicates more than one-third of people diagnosed with COVID-19 who did not need hospitalization, had not returned to their usual state of health within two to three weeks of being tested. Among those b...
OLYMPIA—Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler extended his emergency order requiring health insurers to cover telehealth and copays for testing. On Friday, July 17, Kreidler directed all state-regulated health insurers to make additional coverage changes to help consumers during the coronavirus pandemic. The orders are in effect until August 16 and include coverage for treatments and testing necessary during the current pandemic. Health insurers must continue coverage for telehealth service, and visits to drive-up testing sites are to be b...
OLYMPIA—The Washington State Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) today approved $2,005,000 in low-interest loans and $1,170,000 in grants for economic development, public infrastructure development and economic feasibility studies targeting business growth, job creation and broadband development in eight rural communities across the state. Projects awarded funding are in the following counties: Walla Walla County received funding for two projects: $50,000 grant to the City of College Place for a planning study for the city-owned F...
Governor Jay Inslee and Secretary of Health John Wiesman announced on Saturday, June 27 that the Washington State Department of Health is putting a pause on counties moving to Phase 4 of the Safe Start recovery plan. Eight counties were eligible to move from Phase 3 to Phase 4 before the pause. “Phase 4 would mean a return to normal activity and we can’t do that now due to the continued rise in cases across the state,” Inslee said. “We all want to get back to doing all the things we love in Washington during the summer, and fully open our eco...
OLYMPIA—The Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Food Assistance program distributed 1.3 million pounds of food and served more than 192,000 clients during the week of June 25. In addition, during the first two weeks of June, WSDA and the state continued its support of the COVID-19 response partnership distributing 168,174 Washington Emergency Food Boxes across the state. The governor’s food security coordination team is looking ahead to address staffing concerns in August as Title 32-funded National Guard deployment winds down....
OLYMPIA—The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) posts a detailed map of current Fire Danger warnings on their site located at https://burnportal.dnr.wa.gov/. In eastern Washington, this new fire danger rating system was implemented in 2019. Instead of basing the fire danger rating by county, it is now based on geographic areas that share similar fuels, climate, and topography in addition to administrative boundaries and is now called Fire Danger Rating Areas (FDRAs). The Lower Basin Fire Danger Rating Area (FDRA) is c...
OLYMPIA—In a media update on Tuesday, June 23, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that facial coverings will be mandatory statewide, in all public places and will take effect this Friday, June 26. Inslee added that a willful violation of this order is a misdemeanor. Inslee noted Washington State’s recent rise in COVID-19 cases, particularly in Eastern Washington, as prompting the directive. Inslee stressed using common sense regarding this mandate, noting that what type of mask you wear is up to you, and that you do not need to wear one when you are...
OLYMPIA—Governor Inslee has taken action to allow the Department of Licensing (DOL) to temporarily extend the expiration dates of driver licenses. If your driver’s license is set to expire in the next 90 days (April 3 through July 3), the DOL will send you a letter confirming your expiration date has been extended. You will not receive a new card, however, the new expiration date will be updated on your driver record and available to law enforcement. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has also granted an extension on com...
OLYMPIA, WA—The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges has awarded nearly $2 million for colleges to help financially struggling students stay in school and complete their degrees. The awards were made possible by two grant programs established by the state Legislature during the 2019 legislative session. The Student Emergency Assistance Grant Program, established under HB 1893, provides community and technical colleges funding to help students pay for unexpected bills and basic living expenses, like emergency car r...
OLYMPIA—On Friday, December 20, Governor Jay Inslee’s office released the Lower Snake River Dams Stakeholder Engagement Report. At stake is the potential breaching and/or removal of the four dams and locks on the lower Snake River. Currently, The US Army Corps of Engineers operates the four run-of-river dams and locks on the lower Snake River in Washington: Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite. Together, the LSRD produce 1,000 average megawatts of electricity ann...
OLYMPIA-With new research predicting that climate change will cause serious damage to Washington's environment and economy, the Washington Department of Ecology is recommending the state make deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and eliminate nearly all sources of carbon pollution by 2050. Ecology based its new recommendations on the steps identified by international scientists and researchers at the University of Washington as necessary to limit the impacts of climate change. That res...
