NEWS UNBROKEN
DAILY NEWS 9-4-2024
(upbeat music) - Absolutely beautiful weather is in the forecast. Good to have you with us. It's midweek Wednesday. I'm Eric Carpenter and this is K-C-V-L, K-C-R-K. Well, we've told you about the issues getting the elementary school back in session in Kettle Falls. They have delayed the start of school for the elementary school until this coming Monday. That'll be the ninth. We get more information on that from District Superintendent Michael Olson, along with an update on their search for new bus drivers. - This is Michael Olson. I am the superintendent of the Kettle Falls School District. We received $6.5 million in state grants to renovate our elementary school. The project consists of complete installation of a modern HVAC system, rewiring the school as well as bringing in a modern electrical supply. The existing electrical supply that was in the school was original to the school, which opened in 1951. And that was not capable of supporting a modern HVAC system. So we needed to do that. We also replumbed the main building in the elementary school. And we were excited to get that work underway, that work actually began before school let out in June. And we knew it was gonna be tight to get everything completed to a point where we could have students in the buildings and then the work would switch to a swing shift or off hours to finish up the little pieces that needed to be finished up. Unfortunately, last week there was a delay in getting the power supply switched over from the existing 1951 power supply to an updated power supply. And that delay in the switchover ended up causing us to push school back because we weren't able to get the school in a condition that would be safe for students. So that's what caused the delay in school. We are working with the Kettle Falls Swing School to offer free open swim to our students, actually any age, but it opens at 11 o'clock. So from 11 until three issues, primarily for our elementary students. And then if middle school students or high school students wanna jump in and get a little bit of a swim, they're able to do that from when school that's out until 4.30 and we're doing that all of this week through Friday. It closed last Saturday. They're doing this special for us. We are compensating the pool during this week. You saw it would be a great opportunity to offer a few more days of summer for our elementary students that aren't able to attend school until next Monday. We lost two bus drivers at the end of last year. One resigned, one retired. And we weren't able to fill those positions. However, one of the drivers wasn't hired until kind of just before school started. So that driver still needs to undergo driver training and things of that nature. So there will be some adjustments made to routes until we get that driver trained up and able to drive for us. It's nothing different than what we had to do last year if we were short a driver. - Now, since the elementary school is not starting until this next Monday, the Kettle Falls School is making available the use of the new Kettle Falls public pool for students. That'll help them keep them busy as they get ready to go back to school. Also for the middle school and high school students. Well, when school gets out this week, they're able to be go down to the pool and enjoy the new Kettle Falls pool while we still have some nice hot weather. (upbeat music) Need extra support? A lift chair from Saunders Furniture might be the perfect solution. I deal for those who need help getting up or sitting comfortably. Our lift chairs offer smooth transitions between sitting, standing and sleeping. Enhanced comfort and independence with our stylish functional lift chairs. Visit Saunders Furniture today. Comfort and support, just a lift away. (upbeat music) Well, on Monday and yesterday, we talked some about that black bear incident over in Ferry County. Well, let's find out more about that from the Department of Fish and Wildlife. They do have a statement regarding that bear attack that occurred over the weekend. It is the wildlife question of the week. Hi, I'm Stacey Lehman with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. We get a lot of questions from the public. Most recently, we've been asked what happened this past weekend when there was a human bear conflict in Ferry County. On Sunday, September 1st, WDFW officers received a report of a human black bear incident on private property near Mink Creek Road in Ferry County. A female victim and her dogs were hiking when she was charged by a black bear. During an interview with WDFW officers, the victim reported her dogs got between two black bears. A bear that was believed to be female chased the dogs back towards the victim and charged her resulting in non-life threatening injuries. She was treated and released from a Spokane hospital the same day. On Monday, September 2nd, WDFW officers with assistance from the Stevens and Ferry Counties Wildlife Specialist, along with area Houndsman, located and lethally removed a black bear near the scene of that incident. At the time of the removal, the team believes the black bear was the female bear involved in the incident as the color matched the description of the bear. It was determined after removal that it was a male bear. And this was unfortunate that in cases affecting human safety, officers often have to make quick decisions in the field. After this initial removal, the team made additional efforts to locate the female black bear. The operations were later suspended at the landowners request. The bear meat was donated to the U.S. Air Force's survival school. In general, black bears do avoid people that they're naturally curious. So if a bear walks towards you, it's best to identify yourself as a human by standing up, waving your hands above your head and talking in a low voice, just letting it know you're there. Back away, avoid eye contact, but don't ever run from a bear. We recommend that you make noise and leash pets while you're hiking so the bears know you're coming. And then carrying bear spray is always a great idea and make sure it's readily accessible and you know how to use it. For information on how to use bear spray, you can go to our webpage at wdfw.wa.gov and type bear spray in the search box in the upper right-hand corner of the page. If you have questions for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, send it to communications@dfw.wa.gov or you can call 509-563-5495. Please include an email address or phone number because you can win a prize for asking questions. If you have a question for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, send it to communications@dfw.wa.gov or you can call 509-563-5495. Please include an email address or phone number because you can win a prize for asking questions. There will be a random drawing each week of people who submit questions. If your name is drawn, you win a can of bears for you to take with you on your outdoor adventures. - In the recount for Public Lands Commissioner, really not a change, although there was a slight adjustment in the number of votes. Dave Up the Grove, the Democrat from King County, is advancing onto the general election. He'll face candidate Jamie Butler, the Republican who had the most votes in the primary election. Up the Grove goes on with 396,306 votes. Sue Pederson, who came in just behind with 396,253 votes, that made the difference of 53 votes. The initial count had Up the Grove winning by 51 votes. So there was just a two vote difference as far as the hand recount went. You know, here in Stevens County, we had the exact same totals as the original count, the Clark County elections. After the hand recount, they have found one vote different. This was the first statewide recount since 1960, also the closest race in Washington state's primary history. There were a total of seven ballots tabulated during the recount that differed from the original results. These were variances due to voters not filling out their ballots correctly, corrections to the ballots, led to Butler gaining one vote. Three ballots saw voters cross out a candidate's name without selecting another choice. Those votes were initially counted for a candidate. Well, after the manual recount, the three votes were removed from the candidate. The hand recount is finished. We now move on to the general election. They get the ballots printed, get the ballots out to everybody for the November general election. - When your vehicle is involved in an accident, you want collision repair performed by highly trained experts. Since 1984, Kerry's auto body has been your specialist. We handle the complete repair process to get you back on the road as quickly as possible. Kerry's auto body works carefully with your insurance company to repair your vehicle to before accident condition. Kerry's auto body, 1101 South Main in Colville, log on to Kerry'sAutoBody.com or call 509-684-2587. - One man has been arrested in connection with a series of what appeared to be random shootings on Interstate 5. Those occurring Monday night into early Tuesday morning. Police are not sure whether the man is associated with what may have been as many as seven shootings overnight on the Interstate 5 area. Two of those injured reported in critical condition. Police not saying if they know what the motive may have been, it's not just an attack on those individuals. It was an attack on everybody because anyone could have been an unwitting victim trying to drive down the freeway. According to the Washington State Patrol, those shootings create a fear in the transportation system that's unacceptable. The State Patrol says people shouldn't fear driving on the freeway. The first shooting happened about 830 Monday night in the Federal Way area. One person was wounded in that shooting. A second shooting, about 15 minutes later near the Martin Luther King Way exit in downtown Seattle. Nobody injured in that one. About five minutes later, according to the State Patrol, a third highway shooting took place. This I-5 shooting near Interstate 90 interchange, injured one person. The suspect vehicle in that shooting was described as a white Volvo with California plates. Then about 11 that night, troopers received more calls about another Interstate 5 shooting, heading south in the Federal Way area. Then a fifth shooting reported shortly after. They say it happened in Fife in Pierce County. Two more highway shootings with injured people still unclear how many victims or what their conditions are. The suspect vehicle, they matched the shootings from the earlier northbound I-5 shootings, according to the Washington State Patrol. The suspect was arrested about 145 early in the morning on Tuesday. Yesterday, I found out just why the hills and mountains were so green in Scotland. It was foggy, it was cloudy, it was pouring down rain. Yesterday, we were in Portree, a relatively small town on the Isle of Sky. Again, another one of the islands in northern Scotland. We took a look at the grocery store and some of the locales around. Again, housing appears to be a little less expensive than it is in the states. Went to the grocery store and found, well, a pound of bacon was about $8.50 on sale. Potato chips, Pringles, they were about the same price as you'll find in the states. Gasoline, again, most of the cars driving around in Scotland are regular gas cars. The gasoline, $7.80 a gallon. Of course, it's in leaders here, so we can convert that over to gallons, but the equivalent, $7.80 a gallon for fuel. This town, again, right on the sea, a lot of fishing boats, a lot of restaurants with a lot of fish. A mainstay of everything in the Northlands is fish from the ocean. The other thing that we saw was a lot of net pans, a lot of farm fishing, where they have the circles out in the ocean. Primarily, they say they are raising salmon in the net pans. Apparently, salmon don't mind being in the confined pen areas. So we saw some of the net pens up in Norway and extensive the pen fishing air in Northern Scotland. We're gonna continue going a little further south. Hopefully, the skies will be a little better today. Need more water at your rural property? One of the best ways may be a reservoir system from focal pump and supply. A reservoir will give you a larger volume of available water when you need it and it replenishes itself during low demand times. Simple as that. Talk to the folks at FOGLs about a reservoir system for your property. FOGL pump and supply the water professionals. There weren't very many people there last night to see the wind, but the Oakland Athletics defeated the Seattle Mariners again last night. There were 3,924 fans in the stands, the smallest at the Oakland Coliseum since May the 6th, when only 2895 people turned out for the game. Oakland getting a walk-off win in the ninth inning last night. The Seattle Mariners lose three to two. That's the second straight walk-off win for Oakland. That also is the fourth loss in a row for the Mariners. Well, Houston now leads the American League West by six and a half over Seattle. Seattle has been getting a little help from others that are in the wild card race. The Mariners at this point are five and a half games back for the last American League wild card position. But boy, you've got to get the winds going now. The Mariners dropping two in a row to Oakland. So coming up, it is going to be right-handed pitcher George Kirby. He had 12 strikeouts the most for a Mariners pitcher. That in a game earlier this season, that today's starting pitcher for the Mariners. The two remaining Pac-12 teams, of course, Washington State Cougars and Oregon State, they both picked up winds in their opening game. The Cougars with 70-30 win over Portland State, Oregon State, they downed Idaho State 38-15. That game in Corvallis. Well, the deadline came and went. The deadline passed for WSU and Oregon State to renew their agreement with the Mountain West. The deadline was September the 1st, Mountain West. WSU, Oregon State needed to renew their football scheduling agreement. There was no agreement and is still no agreement. So the announcement, it doesn't necessarily totally close the door on the two sides agreeing to another arrangement. The 12 team, Mountain West, normally doesn't release their conference football schedule until December at the earliest. So for 2025, the Mountain West, they are moving ahead with their conference and non-conference schedules. And Oregon State, Washington State, they are continuing to operate as a two team league. They can do it this season and next season, but they need eight teams minimum to maintain league status with the NCAA. Two-way after this year and next year. So to fill out the football schedule, Washington State and Oregon State, they had agreed to a deal with the Mountain West, but it was only good the deal was for this year. The Mountain West says they are still wide apart on finding an agreement with Washington State and Oregon State for 2025. - Today's local weather forecast brought to you by Colville Glass. Colville Glass excels at auto glass repair and replacement, residential and commercial windows as well as mirrors and shower doors, serving the people of our area since 1966 at 111 South Oak. Sunshine with an afternoon high of 88. For today, 49 overnight. Back up to 92 on Thursday, 93 Friday. Gonna be a beautiful sunny 95 degrees Saturday, still in the 90s on Sunday, 91 for a high, 86 Monday. There's a really slight chance we might see some showers by Tuesday, the high temperature 80 degrees. So all week long and all weekend, well, it's gonna feel like summertime weather. - For complete auto glass, low e-vinyl windows for your home or storefront, you can count on Colville Glass. - Don't forget, school's back in session. You're gonna see kids around the roadways drive very carefully, okay? Let's have a safe midweek Wednesday. Thanks for joining us here on the radio. I'm Eric Carpenter and this is KCVL, K-C-R-K. K. [BLANK_AUDIO]