BREWSTER - Officer will be elected during the Brewster Chamber of Commerce’s year-end meeting today, Dec. 11.

WENATCHEE – The Washington State Tree Fruit Association is hosting the 115th annual meeting and Northwest Hort Expo through today, Dec. 11, at the Wenatchee Convention Center.

MAZAMA – A snowy forecast means Highway 20, the North Cascades Highway, will close for the season at 6 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11.

WENATCHEE - Layoffs are coming to Wenatchee Valley College, which expects a $1 million projected deficit because of low enrollment this fall.

OKANOGAN - A Wauconda man was charged last week after allegedly driving around on Cougar Creek Road shooting a gun, and threatening a neighbor and a sheriff’s deputy.

OKANOGAN - Budget talks, including the possibility of a 2 percent revenue increase through higher rates, continued to dominate discussion during the Okanogan County Public Utility District’s Dec. 2 board meeting.

PATEROS – A public hearing is planned in January to discuss selling a portion of the Methow School property to Okanogan-Douglas Fire District No. 15.

OMAK - The city has a new budget anticipating $16.04 million in revenue and $20.29 million in expenditures.

OKANOGAN - The Okanogan City Council has approved an anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy.

OLYMPIA - Raquel Montoya-Lewis has been appointed as the first Native American justice on the Washington Supreme Court.

WENATCHEE - Three Okanogan County-area schools are among dozens in north central Washington participating in the Hour of Code, which is designed to raise awareness in computer science education.

OKANOGAN - More than three dozen cases of flu had been confirmed in Okanogan County as of last week.

WATERVILLE – A deputy will be added to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the office will dedicate a position to work specifically with the Columbia River Drug Task Force.

TUMWATER - Officials at the state Department of Health advise the public to avoid eating romaine lettuce harvested from the Salinas, Calif., growing region.

YAKIMA - Cosmic Crisp, the apple developed by Washington State University, started flying off the shelves when it hit the market last Sunday, Dec. 1.

NESPELEM - The Colville Confederated Tribes hosted a Dec. 3 remembrance for longtime tribal employee Gloria Atkins, who died in a Nov. 29 vehicle accident.

NESPELEM - A Tonasket man died Dec. 6 when his vehicle went off Highway 155 about seven miles north of Nespelem and overturned.

NESPELEM – One person died Friday, Dec. 6, in a vehicle accident seven miles north of town on Highway 155.

OKANOGAN – Longtime Okanogan School District art teacher Dan Brown is leaving at the end of the school year.

OMAK – A pesticide application license class will be offered Thursday, Dec. 5, at the Omak Theater, 108 N. Main St.

NESPELEM - Anglers who want to do some winter fishing can try the Colville Indian Reservation, which has several lakes that were stocked with trout - some as large as seven pounds.

CHICAGO, Ill. – ‘Tis the season to watch out for porch pirates.

WINTHROP — A man was arrested Nov. 20 after he apparently crossed the international border, landed his airplane at the Methow Valley State Airport and then took off to Canada again with U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopters in pursuit.

OMAK – A request for a replacement programs and operations levy will go to Omak School District voters on Feb. 11, 2020.

DRYDEN - Rep. Keith Goehner, R-Dryden, is working on legislation that would require the state Liquor and Cannabis Board to let local governments decide where cannabis license locations will be.

MALOTT – Diesel fuel leaked into a ditch on Ophir Grade Monday evening, Nov. 25, after a tractor-trailer skidded on black ice.

OLYMPIA – A proposal to provide dedicated funding to improve Washington’s wildfire response capability and restore wildfire resistance in forests was unveiled Monday, Dec. 2.

AZWELL – A contract change for fish-related monitoring at Wells Dam will cost the Douglas County Public Utility District more than $300,000 Canadian.

OLYMPIA – A report on the cause and origin of the Sept. 1 Spring Coulee Fire won’t be completed by the state Department of Natural Resources until after Jan. 1.

OKANOGAN - A Granite Falls man was charged Nov. 20 in Okanogan County Superior Court with several drug and theft-related charges.

COULEE DAM – A Nespelem woman was killed Friday evening, Nov. 29, when her SUV went off Highway 155 between Coulee Dam and Elmer City and overturned.

BREWSTER - Voters in the Brewster School District will be asked Feb. 11, 2020, to decide on a four-year replacement levy.

SPOKANE – A Coeur d’Alene man has been sentenced to 40 months in prison for assaulting his girlfriend, who is a Colville tribal member.

OMAK – Cyber Monday, which provides an opportunity or an excuse to shop online, is Dec. 2.

OKANOGAN - The man convicted of attempting to kill Brewster businessman Cass Gebbers has filed a notice of appeal in his case.

OKANOGAN – Deputy Justin Weigel has been promoted to sergeant with the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, a bipartisan bill, has passed the House Judiciary Committee on an 18-12 vote.

OMAK – The first snow of the winter season fell Monday in the mid-valley area, but the National Weather Service is calling for mostly cloudy and blustery weather for the rest of the week.

PASCO — The Colville Confederated Tribes and City of Pasco have signed an agreement in principle.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The secure rural schools and payments in lieu of taxes programs should be allowed to continue, says U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

OMAK - Utility rates will rise next year in the city.

OKANOGAN – The city has a new $11.04 million budget for 2020.

SPOKANE - A national strategy has been launched to address the problem of missing and murdered Native Americans.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Census Bureau is recruiting hundreds of temporary census takers in Okanogan County in advance of its non-response follow up operation for the 2020 Census.