OKANOGAN - Animal Foster Care has a new van for transporting cats and kittens to partner shelters in hopes of finding the felines homes in more populated areas.

OMAK – Xtreme Challenge, the Omak School District’s longstanding after-school program, will not continue during the 2019-20 school year.

OMAK - A Tonasket graduate with a long-held dream of becoming a police officer has been hired by the Omak Police Department as its newest recruit.

OKANOGAN - The Okanogan County Public Utility District board may establish a financial policy, including a proposal by staff on managing the rate stabilization fund.

NESPELEM – Chinook salmon have returned to the Columbia River above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams.

EPHRATA – A new website has been launched to provide information about Grant County’s proposed sales tax for law and justice improvements

OMAK - Several pieces of equipment were declared surplus Aug. 13 by Mid-Valley Hospital commissioners.

OLYMPIA – Bridgeport and Okanogan are getting state loans for public works projects.

SEATTLE - For the seventh time in two weeks, Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists in the Area Port of Seattle have intercepted suspect egg masses of the highly destructive Asian gypsy moth.

OKANOGAN – Youngsters heading to class this fall need to have up-to-date measles-mumps-rubella immunizations or risk being turned away from school.

OKANOGAN – A Pateros man was found guilty Aug. 8 of attempting to kill Brewster businessman Cass Gebbers nearly three years ago.

OROVILLE – A local man died Aug. 6 when the tractor he was operating overturned and pinned him underneath.

OMAK – Rain is a rarity on Stampede weekend. To have rain fall all four days of the rodeo is nearly unheard of.

OMAK – Mid-Valley Hospital is poised to become the leader in medical services for Okanogan County, CEO Alan Fisher told the city council Aug. 5.

OKANOGAN – If funding comes through, street rebuilds are planned for Lower Pine Street and part of North Third Avenue within the next couple years.

OLYMPIA – A listening tour is planned in early September by 12th District Sen. Brad Hawkins, R-East Wenatchee.

YAKIMA - Washington’s fresh apple crop is expected to be 18 percent larger than last year’s crop, with Gala truly taking the lead for production and Cosmic Crisp making its debut on the commercial market.

OMAK – Water system upgrades, the first step in building an expanded state Department of Natural Resources fire base at the Omak Municipal Airport, will be done during the coming year.

ELLENSBURG – An Okanogan woman was injured Aug. 11 when her car collided with a tractor-trailer on Interstate 82 about 16 miles east of town.

OMAK – Alcohol and marijuana law compliance checks were conducted Aug. 3 in Omak and Okanogan by the Omak Police Department and Okanogan County Community Coalition.

KELLER – Multiple new evacuation notices have been issued for homes near the Williams Flats Fire on the Colville Indian Reservation.

BRIDGEPORT – A local man drowned Aug. 4 in Lake Rufus Woods above Chief Joseph Dam.

OKANOGAN – A man accused of breaking into an Omak couple’s home, beating them and stealing their vehicle has been ordered into competency restoration treatment.

OKANOGAN — Okanogan County Superior Court Judge Henry A. Rawson dropped a restraining order denying a move by the Carlton House of Cannabis from their location at 2256 Highway 153, Suite B in Carlton, to a storefront location at 1017 E. Methow Valley Highway.The state Liquor and Cannabis Boa…

KELLER – The Williams Flats Fire on the Colville Indian Reservation is nearing 17,000 acres in size as of Tuesday morning, Aug. 6.

OMAK – A ServSafe training for restaurant managers, cooks and anyone who has responsibility for food preparation and food safety will be offered next week at two Colville tribal casinos.

OKANOGAN – School board members approved the 2019-20 budget for the Okanogan School District during their meeting July 31.

KELLER – Two wildfires on the Colville Indian Reservation have charred more than 13,500 acres of land near Keller.

PATEROS – The Pateros School Board approved a $6.49 million general fund budget for the 2019-20 school year during its July 29 meeting.

PATEROS – The Pateros School District has been scolded by the Washington State Auditor’s Office for its handling of associated student body money.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A bill that would name the Third Power Plant at Grand Coulee Dam for father-son dam advocates has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives.

OLYMPIA – Omak Mayor Cindy Gagne has been elected to the board of directors for the Association of Washington Cities.

OLYMPIA – Trout Unlimited is getting more than $2.26 million from the state for fish passage work on Johnson Creek near Riverside.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two Okanogan County airports are getting federal grants for improvements.

WENATCHEE – More than 70 mountain goats were moved from the Olympic Peninsula to the North Cascades during July.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Northwest cherry growers are eligible for federal payments and financial relief under a program aimed at supporting American agricultural producers affected by Chinese tariffs.