(JARED ARNOLD/Chewelah Independent)

The Chewelah City Council approved at its April 3 meeting the following Chewelah recipients for money from the city’s Hotel-Motel Tax fund:

-Farmers Market, $2100
-Community Float, $2000
-Community Celebrations, $2000
-Chamber of Commerce, $2000
-Tri County Economic Development District (TEDD), $1000
-Arts Guild, $1000
-Little League, $800
-Chokes and Spokes Car Club, $300

The city has also reserved $3000 to design a new awning at the stage in the city park. The Hotel-Motel funds come from a three percent tax on consumers of motel, RV park and other short-term lodging rentals. The city expects to collect approximately $14,000 from the tax this year.

The moon rests on the cross of St. Mary’s of the Rosary in Chewelah, WA. (Photo by KS Brooks)

AREA NEWS
Mead School District grapples with budget issues
Mean School District is looking to cut $12 million from its budget and will be looking at layoffs. School administrators presented their reccomendations to the Mead School District Board of Directors at a special meeting on Wednesday night but no decisions were made. The budget shortfall comes months after large pay raises to teachers and staff, the Spokesman-Review reports. Click here for full story.

More

(PRESS RELEASE/TEDD)

Chewelah artist Jacqueline Brewer will be featured as an artist up at TEDD offices in Colville. (Courtesy photo)

Tri County Economic Development District continues to feature local artists…

Tri County Economic Development District (TEDD) is pleased to welcome Chewelah, WA artist Jacqueline Brewer to Gallery TEDD. Her original oil and acrylic paintings are on display now through the month of May. The public is welcome to view the art during TEDD’s regular business hours, Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Brewer’s paintings are vibrant and full of life, with a wide variety of subjects captured on canvas. “I draw from the many roles I’ve gotten to lead in my life,” says Brewer, “the earliest taking me back to an abundance of vivid memories that fondly find their way on to my canvas. Adorning my favorite memories, and often triggering my desire to bring them back as experiences I can share, color has laced itself through countless moments as the most incredible shapes, smells, sounds, and experiences prompting an insatiable need to capture them all.”
More

Columbia River near Marcus, Stevens County, WA ca. 1912 – Two Native men are sitting on a bench. The older of the two, on the left, is holding a horse’s bridle. The men are wearing western style clothing with large felt hats. The man on the left wears his long hair loose while the man on the right wears his hair in two braids. The horse is saddled with a trade blanket under a saddle which has a high horn. Behind the men is a sweat lodge without a cover. A Great Northern Railway bridge spans the Columbia and hills rise in the background. (Photo and information courtesy of Washington State Historical Society)

STATE NEWS
Eyes on Washington Legislature over public school funding
The Washington Education Association is pushing for legislators to “restore local levy flexibility” as the state works on the final touches of its record $50-billion-plus budget. This happens as many school districts are announcing layoffs because of financial issues, Chewelah included. Last year the legislature approved $1 billion in extra funds for public schools to help with the transition, setting limits on what could be used for pay raises to about three percent for inflation. School districts had to negotiate with their own employee unions and the average pay raise in the Spokane Public Schools was not three percent but rather 13.2 percent. Click here for the full story. More