MANSON — Chelan County Fire District 5 commissioners have voted to forgo an allowable 1% increase in regular property tax levy collections for 2027, citing financial pressures on residents and businesses following a difficult wildfire season.

CHELAN — Residents could report potholes, graffiti and other problems through an online portal and track the city’s response under a proposed software overhaul presented to the Chelan City Council on Oct. 13.

NCW – Police officers and sheriff's deputies in Chelan and Douglas counties handled 852 calls for service Oct. 9–15, down 16% from the previous week, according to RiverCom 911 dispatch logs. Fire crews answered 57 fire, alarm, smoke and crash calls, and ambulance crews handled about 242 medical calls.

CHELAN — From playground safety surfacing to a multimillion-dollar golf course irrigation overhaul, Chelan faces approximately $20.25 million in identified parks and recreation capital needs over the next six years, according to a draft plan presented to the City Council on Oct. 13.

WENATCHEE — Community organizations in North Central Washington are invited to apply for up to $40,000 in funding through the Washington Wellbeing Initiative, a statewide collaboration seeking to support projects focused on community belonging, civic health and wellbeing.

OLYMPIA — Washington's unemployment rate declined for the third consecutive month in September, falling to 4.8% even as employers shed an estimated 15,400 jobs, according to preliminary figures from the Washington Employment Security Department.

WENATCHEE — Ballots for the Nov. 3 general election have been mailed to Chelan County voters, according to County Auditor Brandt Cappell.

SPOKANE — A 43-year-old Wenatchee man with six prior federal bank robbery convictions was sentenced Tuesday, Oct. 13, to 12 years in federal prison for robbing a Cashmere Valley Bank branch in Wenatchee in September 2025.

BALTIMORE, Md. — Social Security beneficiaries will receive a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment in 2027, increasing the average monthly retirement benefit by approximately $75, according to an announcement from the Social Security Administration.

OLYMPIA – The leader of Washington state public schools says the state should not join a federal tax credit program that would fund K-12 education.  Superintendent of Public Instruction …

OLYMPIA – A Washington state agency has floated cutting services for more than 2,600 residents with developmental disabilities with the goal of saving money to close a looming budget gap. As …

Joelene Keen was overjoyed when she checked her phone on May 11 and saw an email from her husband’s lawyer asking them to call him. She knew her husband, Tomas Keen, wouldn’t see the …

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday set the stage for another redrawing of Washington state’s political maps. On the first day of its new session, the court accepted a legal challenge to the …

OLYMPIA – Roughly 10,000 immigrants in Washington are losing their Medicaid health coverage due to federal cuts Republicans in Congress approved last year.

OLYMPIA – A judge on Friday threw out tough new job standards for county sheriffs approved by Washington lawmakers this year that critics argued would force some out of office.

CHELAN — Every student in kindergarten through fifth grade at Morgen Owings Elementary received a book by author Ben Clanton as part of an Oct. 2 visit made possible by local donors, businesses and parents.

WENATCHEE — Wenatchee School District enrolled 193 more full-time equivalent students than it budgeted for the 2026-27 school year, though enrollment remains 51 FTE below last year’s level, the …

CHELAN — Chelan Middle School students and staff gathered in the gym Friday, September 25, to celebrate a state award recognizing the school’s progress in closing achievement gaps and helping …

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee School District will hold a Special Education Para Educator Hiring Fair from 5 to 7 p.m. Sept. 30 as it seeks to fill immediate openings. The hiring fair will be held …

CHELAN — For Chelan freshmen, the first day of high school came with at least one final instruction before walking through the doors on the morning of September 1: Kiss your mom goodbye. A …

Nobody particularly enjoys being wrong.

Each October, people from across Washington make their way to Wenatchee with infrastructure projects to advance, funding questions to answer, and lessons to share. This year, they will return October …

There was a time when most of us were perfectly comfortable being bad at things.

Before voters commit $48 million for hospital construction in Hospital District #1, they deserve solid county-wide information to confirm how best to meet the medical needs of the residents of …

Executive order 26-03 was the right call. Building a verification hub that will help 400,000 more Washingtonians keep their Apple Health coverage, and standing up a committee to track the impacts of H.R. 1 is the leadership our state needs right now.

Labor Day has passed, school buses are back on the roads and another North Central Washington summer is beginning to give way to fall. But this year, it doesn't feel quite as simple as turning …