Good evening, and welcome to the NCWLIFE Evening News. I’m Grant Olson. Before we get to tonight’s top stories, let’s take a quick look outside our weather window.
Now, A few of the news stories we’re following for you tonight, A barn, several vehicles and a tractor were destroyed in a fire early Thursday morning at King’s Garden nursery outside Carlton. The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office says don’t do drugs, and it’s especially not wise to do them in the sheriff office parking lot and Organizers of the annual Point in Time count of unhoused people in the Wenatchee Valley say they interviewed 163 people during their February 24th project.
But first, our top story tonight. . .
Moses Lake Murder -A Moses Lake woman who disappeared after celebrating her 30th birthday is now presumed dead, and a former boyfriend was arrested Thursday in her murder. Yanira Cedillos has been missing since celebrating with friends on March 3rd. Moses Lake police say her former boyfriend Juan Israel Gastelum soon became a suspect, and on Thursday he was arrested in his hometown of Hermiston, Oregon. Police gave this press briefing yesterday afternoon. . .
Police said as of yesterday, Cedillos’ body had not yet been found.
Carlton Fire -A barn, several vehicles and a tractor were destroyed in a fire early Thursday morning at King’s Garden nursery outside Carlton. Firefighters from Carlton, Twisp and Winthrop responded to the barn fire about 3:19 a.m. at 2305 Highway 153. Okanogan County Fire District 6 said Carlton firefighters first on the scene were able to quickly knock down the vehicle fires adjacent to the barn. The barn was completely destroyed but there were no injuries. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Sheriff Drugs Parking Lot -The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office says don’t do drugs, and it’s especially not wise to do them in the sheriff office parking lot. Two men allegedly did just that Thursday morning. The sheriff’s office says at 11:25 a.m. a community member reported there were two people passed out in a vehicle near the patrol vehicle parking area off Washington Street in Wenatchee. A responding administrator and detectives reported seeing the passed-out men with a suspected Fentanyl pill in plain view in the vehicle. The sheriff’s office said the men admitted they had just smoked Fentanyl. Because of 2021 Blake ruling by the state Supreme Court that found Washington’s drug possession laws unconstitutional, the men were issued drug referrals and released but the sheriff’s office said they were not allowed to drive away and the suspected drugs were confiscated for destruction.
Homeless Count -Organizers of the annual Point in Time count of unhoused people in the Wenatchee Valley say they interviewed 163 people during their February 24th project. The outreach event took information and offered services to homeless residents of Chelan and Douglas counties. Altogether the survey found 123 people living in outdoor areas, plus 275 people in shelters, in transitional housing programs, or in local hotels using a public assistance voucher. Among those people interviewed, 17 identified themselves as veterans, and seven people said they fled home to avoid domestic violence.
TEASE – When we come back, After two years, the statewide indoor mask mandate ends at midnight./ The Mansfield School District has hired Bruce Todd as its new superintendent./ The Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce has a new executive director, we’ll tell you who it is, and, In honor of his Ukrainian-born grandfather, Joe Gluzinski will be at Pybus Public Market with his food truck Saturday serving a special dish to raise money for relief efforts in the war-torn country. I’m Grant Olson and you’re watching the NCWLIFE Evening News.
Welcome back, and in other news. . .
Mask Restrictions -A reminder, as of 11:59 tonight most of Washington’s COVID-19 mask mandates will be lifted. Masks will no longer be required at businesses, public events and schools. They’ll still be required at medical and long-term care facilities as well as on public transit. Washington and Oregon mask mandates both end tonight, leaving only Hawaii with a mask requirement. Hawaii will lift its mask mandate March 26th. Local jurisdictions and businesses in Washington still could impose their own mask requirements but there have been no indications yet of that happening in North Central Washington.
Mansfield Superintendent -The Mansfield School District has hired Bruce Todd as its new superintendent. Todd is currently the athletic director and head football coach in the Odessa School District. Current Mansfield Superintendent Mike Messenger is retiring at the end of the school year. Todd will start in Mansfield on July 1st. He has a bachelor’s degree in education from Eastern Washington University and a master degree in education from Heritage University.
New Chamber Director -The Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce has a new executive director. Steve Wilkison takes up leadership of the business organization, starting April 6th. He replaces Shiloh Burgess, who left the Chamber in November to become government affairs manager for Douglas County PUD. Wilkinson has worked for the last six months as director of the Chelan Valley Housing Trust. He previously worked as a commercial banker in Whatcom County, and led an economic development nonprofit in Wichita, Kansas.
Ukrainian Fundraiser -In honor of his Ukrainian-born grandfather, Joe Gluzinski will be at Pybus Public Market with his food truck Saturday serving a special dish to raise money for relief efforts in the war-torn country. Gluzinski said all donations-only proceeds will go to the Wenatchee-based international relief nonprofit Mission Voice and Hands of a Friend. A resident of East Wenatchee, Gluzinski is the owner of the Blue Skies Food Shack truck and will be serving his mother’s recipe for the halupki. He said it will be a deconstructed version of the dish which is normally wrapped in cabbage. He said he doesn’t have time for all that wrapping so he’ll be using beef from Mike’s Meats cooked together with rice and cabbage. The dish will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., or until he runs out of halupki. He estimates he’ll be making about 15 gallons of the dish.
TEASE -You’re watching the NCWLIFE Evening News. Coming up next, tonight’s feature story and your complete local weather forecast. That and much more still to come on the NCWLIFE Evening News, please stay with us.
Welcome back to the NCWLIFE Evening News. . .
Mike Steele -Mike Steele, one of the 12th District’s two state representatives, is also the ranking member of the House Capital Budget Committee. That budget, which just passed late last night as the Legislative session closed, includes more than $10 million dollars for building and infrastructure projects in and around North Central Washington. In tonight’s feature story, NCWLIFE’s Jefferson Robbins spoke with Mike Steele earlier today about the process. . .
TEASE – And that is a look at your local weather forecast, coming up next, tonight’s sports report with Eric Granstrom and more as the NCWLIFE Evening News continues right after this.
NCWLIFE Channel Sports
Yes Virginia, there will be baseball…
Major League Baseball and the Players Association finally agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement yesterday, which means fans will get an entire season of America’s pastime. Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the news yesterday…
Players are to report to Spring Training this Sunday and a tentative date for the first exhibition games is March 18th. Opening Day will now be April 7th, one week later that originally planned.
Washington State and Washington were both eliminated from the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament last night…
UCLA went on a 19-to-2 run midway through the first half and never looked back as the Bruins ousted the Cougars 75-65. Andrej Jakimovski led WSU with 15-points while Tyrell Roberts had 14…
Coach Kyle Smith says the key element to the game was rebounding and his Cougars just couldn’t keep UCLA off the glass…
The late game had USC hang on for a 65-61 win over Washington. Terrell Brown, Jr. had 23-points while Eddie Matthews, Jr. had 12…
The Cougars finish with 19-wins on the season while the Huskies had 17.
Eastern Washington hit four-straight free throws to close to within one but Steele Venters’ jumper at the buzzer missed and the Eagles fell to Northern Colorado 68-67 at the Big Sky Tournament. Venters had 22-points to lead Eastern while Rylan Bergersen had 14.
The Seattle Kraken climbed all the way back from a 3-oh deficit to only lose in overtime in Ottawa last night…
The Senators scored a goal in the first and two more in the second before Seattle finally got its offense going in the third. But a key penalty called in overtime left the Kraken a man down as Ottawa put the game away…
Coach Dave Hakstol was pleased with his team’s performance at times early in the game, despite eventually trailing 3-nothing…
Seattle wraps up the 5-game road trip in Montreal tomorrow at 4 o’clock on ROOT Sports Northwest.
The Wenatchee Wild are north of the border for the first of two games starting tonight…
Wenatchee’s in West Kelowna tonight to face the Warriors at 7 o’clock at Royal LaPage Place. After tonight’s game, the Wild travel to Salmon Arm to face the Silverbacks at the Shaw Centre tomorrow night at 6.
Arch Ecker will have the call locally on KPQ radio as well as on Hockey TV with a subscription.
Thanks Eric.
Now let’s check in with Dan Kuntz for a look at what’s coming up Monday morning on Wake-Up Wenatchee Valley, Dan. . .
And that’s going to do it for our newscast tonight. For more on these stories and other news from around North Central Washington, you can find us on Facebook or our website at ncwlife.com. And, remember, if you see news happening we’d like to hear from you. You can send us an email at [email protected], or give us a call 888-NCWL (6295). I’m Grant Olson, thanks for joining us and have a great weekend.
