NCWLIFE Evening News

•About 100 federal agents are moving through the Icicle River area where the Decker sisters were murdered almost three months ago, carrying out a grid search in pursuit of the father who’s accused of killing them.•Two people were injured in a three-car collision Monday afternoon on Highway 28 near Quincy.•As the Valley Academy of Learning begins its new life inside the former Columbia Elementary School building, the Wenatchee School Board is determining what to do with its former site.

•Last night, the FBI once again began a sweep of the forested area where Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia Decker were found murdered nearly three months ago.•Quincy police say a local resident was already wanted on a warrant when he decided to use a handgun to settle an argument.•The city of Chelan struggled today with a water main break that threatened to deplete its reservoirs.

•A recreational vehicle caught fire yesterday while traveling on Highway 97. That led to a wildfire that had to be controlled before highway traffic could resume.•A second person has now been reported as killed in the house fire at 418 East Woodin Ave. in Chelan early Thursday morning.•The East Wenatchee City Council voted this week to impose a new 0.1% sales tax that takes effect next year.

•Two people were injured and one person was killed in a house fire at 418 East Woodin Avenue in Chelan early this morning.•A homeless Wenatchee man who pleaded guilty to setting fire to a drainage pipe back in February is again charged with arson, this time for allegedly starting a small fire near Hale Park on the Apple Capital Loop Trail.•East Wenatchee police say they’ve arrested a 27-year-old Cashmere man for providing fentanyl that contributed to a woman’s death.

•Police in Mattawa and Moses Lake are seeking public assistance in solving a homicide in a public park.•A three-year-old rescue from the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society is the new narcotics-detecting dog for the Chelan County Regional Justice Center.•The Level 1 evacuation notice on Holden Village was lifted on Tuesday after being in place since early July due to the Pomas Fire.

•A barn was destroyed by a fire Monday morning along Blewett Pass, though firefighters were able to prevent the blaze from spreading to nearby trees.•Four people were injured in a four-vehicle wreck on Highway 2 yesterday afternoon in Tumwater Canyon.•Today marks ten years since the Twisp River Fire, started by tree branches contacting a power line.

•Governor Bob Ferguson has authorized an investigation into the conduct of members on the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, including its new vice-chair, former wildlife biologist John Lehmkuhl of Wenatchee.•Three people were injured in a four-car DUI collision Friday afternoon on Highway 97 near Pateros.•A new report from the Washington State Auditor finds that Moses Lake schools did not appropriately track their employees hours and productivity when paying them with federal Title I funding.

•The McNeil Canyon Road Realignment project in Douglas County is currently suspended, due to a union strike in several eastern Washington cities.•The city of Chelan will receive $3 million in state funding secured by 12th district Representative Mike Steele to begin its East Chelan Water Reservoir Project.•Lake Chelan Health is applying for commercial building permits to construct a new administrative building and ambulance garage on its campus.

Lighthouse Christian Ministries has shut down its homeless aid center at 410 South Columbia Street after a hearing officer allowed its conditional use permit to be revoked on Monday.A driver who pleaded guilty to bumping police officers with his vehicle while fleeing a traffic stop is now wanted for sentencing.And a 95-acre brush fire burned up a hillside north of Brewster on Wednesday.

An injured hiker was forced to spend Monday night at the base of Dragontail Peak above Colchuck Lake in the Enchantments before being rescued Tuesday morning.A firefighter in training with the Wenatchee Valley Department has been charged with felony harassment and misdemeanor assault for allegedly making threats to a superior and to a fellow firefighter during a mental health crisis, and for fighting with team members when they came to his home to intervene.And the Wenatchee Valley woke up to moderate air quality this morning as smoke from wildfires on the west side travels east.

Wenatchee Valley Firefighters were kept busy on Monday with not one, but two vehicle fires.Wenatchee Valley College has received a warning from the body that oversees college accreditation, which warns WVC is out of compliance with standards around how it handles complaints and harassment amongst staff.And a 18-year-old suspect has been arrested for allegedly sparking the Balsamroot Fire, a 305-acre wildland blaze that erupted outside Wenatchee on the Fourth of July, 2024.

A structure fire on Lake Wenatchee's north shore this morning spread into surrounding woods, leading to a Level 2 evacuation notice for homes in the area.Travelers should expect single-lane closures and reduced speed limits this week on Highway 2 just west of Leavenworth during the Washington State Department of Transportation’s $2.3 million Slope Stabilization project.And the Chelan School District is asking voters to approve a $73 million school bond that would build a new elementary school and modernize multiple facilities.

A probationary firefighter with the Wenatchee Valley Fire Department is accused of threatening a superior, and attacking fellow firefighters including a battalion commander who arrived at his home to defuse the situation.Chelan and Douglas County came together yesterday for their second annual Purple Heart Day ceremony, recognizing those in the community who’ve received the military honor for suffering harm in the line of duty.And the former director of the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust is suing the nonprofit over her firing last November.

Hikers in the Enchantments attempted Sunday to rescue a drowning man in Colchuck Lake, but authorities say he was beyond resuscitation.Chelan County is calling its first Blake Relief Day a big success after 28 drug possession cases were vacated in district court last month.And the entire town of Electric City in northwest Grant County was placed under a Level 2 evacuation warning on Wednesday, as a brushfire on the southeast side of town grew to roughly 29 acres.

A misfiring handgun may have saved a Moses Lake man from becoming a victim of homicide. Firefighters were able to spare a Leavenworth dining spot from a kitchen fire on Monday night. And voters in the city of Wenatchee appear to have rejected a sales tax that would have doubled the budget for street repair and improvements.

A trailer carrying scrap metal tipped over on the George Sellar Bridge on Monday, causing heavy traffic congestion on the south end of Wenatchee.A 37-year-old Moses Lake man died after reportedly running a stop sign in the Mae Valley area and being struck by another vehicle.The Wenatchee School District will hold a budget hearing on Aug. 12 to take public comments on the upcoming school years' spending plan.

The Grant County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting that happened Saturday at the Shell gas station in Desert Aire. Also on Saturday, a Moses Lake man died in a two-car crash on Highway 28 near Soap Lake. Then on Sunday, four homes were destroyed in the Brooks Tract Fire near Omak.

East Wenatchee police responding to a report of gunshots Thursday night found a bullet-riddled pickup truck, apparently damaged in an exchange of gunfire. The two occupants of a Cessna that crashed into a home Wednesday near the Cashmere Airport are now in stable condition and a 550 acre wildfire in Okanogan County sparked Level 3 evacuations yesterday.

A small plane apparently went off the end of the runway Wednesday night at the Cashmere-Dryden Airport, crashing into the roof of a house nearby. A specialized search team walked and swam roughly two miles of upper Icicle Creek yesterday in the hunt for wanted murder suspect Travis Decker and Police in Quincy are seeking the public’s help to solve a John Doe case dating back at least 16 years.

Lighthouse Christian Ministries will appeal to the Wenatchee Hearings Examiner in early August in hopes of staying open. A 26 year old man was arrested for DUI early this morning in Wenatchee after running his vehicle off the roadway and into a fire hydrant and Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison is encouraging hikers to exercise caution after Search and Rescue personnel performed two wilderness evacuations this past weekend.

One of the 12 men arrested in last year’s Net Nanny operation targeting suspected sex offenders has entered a plea in federal court. Near Rock Island yesterday, an allegedly impaired driver is suspected of causing a collision with a semi-truck at the intersection of Highway 28 and Batterman Road and a state police commission is still reviewing the steps Douglas County Sheriff Kevin Morris took after shooting a cougar on his property in Idaho.

The discovery of human remains at a Spokane homeless encampment have put an end to a three-year Okanogan County manhunt. Police are investigating an apparent shooting that occurred last night in Douglas County and the city of East Wenatchee hopes a proposed public safety sales tax can reinforce its police budgets.

Two members of a Wenatchee Valley family have been touched by fatal violence at the Arizona vacation home they owned. A 26-year-old East Wenatchee man was arrested early Friday morning after an hours-long standoff with police. And a former East Wenatchee Water District employee was awarded $5 million on Thursday by a federal jury.

A small group of demonstrators who use the Social Security system organized a gathering today outside the Wenatchee office, complaining of long wait times for service, and the possible impact of future cuts. As Wenatchee’s city administrator prepares to leave her job, the city is debating how to recategorize the job itself. And a former police chief of Moses Lake has died.

A Moses Lake man who opened fire on pursuing deputies three years ago will serve more than 37 years for the crime. Landlords and tenants now know the upper ceiling for any rent increase next year. And it’s now been 51 days since the Decker sisters — Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia – were found murdered in the Upper Icicle Valley. NCWLIFE spoke last week with Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison, whose deputies found the Wenatchee girls’ bodies, and who have been carrying out the investigation ever since.

Neither driver was injured in a T-bone, rollover collision at the intersection of Okanogan Avenue and Spokane Street. Police are on the lookout for a traffic violator who eluded officers on Monday evening by driving across a pedestrian bridge and hiding in the Horan Natural Area. And Monday’s rainstorm over the Pomas Fire proved to be good news for firefighters.

A fatal shooting Sunday night in Ephrata left one man dead and led to two arrests. A motorcyclist from East Wenatchee was killed Saturday in a collision on Highway 153 outside Pateros. And the Wenatchee School District is facing what it calls a QUOTE “significant and immediate challenge” as the U.S. Department of Education withholds billions in federal funding for schools nationwide.

The ringleader of a drug trafficking organization that operated in Okanogan County and throughout eastern Washington has been sentenced to 19 years in prison. An account manager for an East Wenatchee social services agency is accused of embezzling nearly $20,000 from its vulnerable adult clients. And Rock Island resident Lorene Vehrs will celebrate her 105th birthday this Sunday.

Police have released more details surrounding the recent five-car collision that injured Pioneer Middle School PE teacher Brian Vickery. Wenatchee Valley firefighters discovered flames creeping between two floors of a commercial building early Wednesday. And Fire crews have now dumped about 1.6 million gallons of water on the Pomas Fire, burning since June 13th in the Glacier Peak Wilderness west of Entiat.

A brushfire visible from around the valley broke out about 12:30 this afternoon, burning near the 3300 block of the Eastmont Avenue Extension. Three juveniles were injured in a single-car crash near George on Tuesday after a 17-year-old driver fell asleep at the wheel. And two drivers were issued citations in a two-car rollover wreck near the intersection of South Wenatchee Avenue and South Viewdale Street yesterday.

Wenatchee police say a missing Wenatchee man last seen in the area of Saddle Rock Trailhead has been found dead after a brief search. Multiple agencies became involved in a rescue after a lone climber fell while ascending a remote mountain on Monday. And a brushfire near Omak on Monday became the latest fire to require a statewide mobilization for first responders.

A local Eastmont High School student has gone viral on the popular video platform, TikTok, for offering free haircuts in the community. Trial is due to start next week in a former utility inspector’s lawsuit against the East Wenatchee Water District. And about 77 street, road and sidewalk improvements are scheduled as part of the city of Wenatchee six-year transportation plan, approved by the city council Thursday night.

The grandfather of Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia Decker extended his family’s thanks to the Wenatchee community Thursday, in the wake of the girls’ murder last month. And students and community members gathered today at Pioneer Middle School to sign a banner in support of PE teacher Brian Vickery, who’s recovering from injuries sustained in a car crash on July 3rd.

A Wenatchee man arrested back in April for imprisoning and beating his disabled spouse was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in prison. A reported sighting of wanted murder suspect Travis Decker in the Sawtooth National Forest of Idaho has come up empty. And Search warrants served by Moses Lake Police as part of ongoing drug investigations yielded two arrests on Tuesday.

A motorist is dead after her SUV traveled off a cliff on the North Cascades Highway. Hospital leaders and local activists spoke out Tuesday against scheduled cuts to Medicaid that could force several North Central Washington medical centers to close. And a woman sustained injuries yesterday after crashing her car into a mailbox. She then allegedly overcorrected and collided with a large boulder in a nearby yard, tipping her vehicle onto its side.

Chelan County commissioners got a play-by-play Monday of the early days of the Pomas Fire, the 2,900-acre wildfire now burning in the Glacier Peak Wilderness west of Entiat. Wenatchee Mayor Mike Poirier has responded to the potential impacts that two city projects may have on EZ’s Burger Deluxe. And Chelan County courts are working to clear out criminal drug cases that have been invalidated by the Blake decision.

The hunt for accused child murderer Travis Decker heated up this weekend in a neighboring state. Wenatchee Valley firefighters were busy Independence Day evening with not one, but two brush fires in Rock Island, both ignited by fireworks. And a Yakima man is dead after his pickup truck apparently slid into an irrigation canal southeast of Ephrata.