Pullman project voted top story of 2024

The long-gestating effort to revamp downtown Pullman’s infrastructure is almost done.

And even though the project isn’t quite over the finish line, it was selected as the Palouse’s top news story of 2024, as voted on by staff members of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

It’s the first time in two years that the murder of four University of Idaho students on Nov. 13, 2022, wasn’t in the top spot in the Daily News’ annual countdown. That story checks in at No. 5 this year.

The 2024 recap includes a total of three crime-and-punishment stories; four business/community development stories; two education-related stories; and one natural disaster story: the destructive fires that struck the Kendrick-Juliaetta area this past summer.

No. 1: Project Downtown Pullman inches toward finish

Pullman’s downtown makeover is almost finished. Crews have been rebuilding Main Street’s sidewalks, roads, utilities and community spaces since April.

The work will be fully complete in early 2025. In the meantime, the public is welcome to travel through the section of downtown and check out the upgraded fixtures while workers put on the final touches.

The city-led initiative has been in the works for years, and ran into some hiccups along the way. Officials anticipated construction to begin in the summer of 2023, but an inflated construction market pushed back the start date. It also took a couple of tries to find a contractor until Apollo Inc., a Kennewick-based construction company, accepted the city’s bid in the fall of 2023.

The work was expected to only take four months, but supply chain challenges and treating contaminated soil in the area prolonged construction.

Main Street was supposed to open to limited traffic mid-October, which was delayed to mid-November. It fully opened to motorists at the beginning of December. Work was anticipated to finish by the end of November, but that date will now be at the latest early February while crews wait on new traffic lights near Spring Street.

The project has sparked controversy within the community. Construction has placed financial stress on downtown businesses. It also removed dozens of distinctive 25-year-old ash trees lining Main Street, which triggered protests from the local coalition Save Downtown Trees.

The city’s biggest challenge is dealing with overrun costs from soil treatment and contract amendments with its consultant, Welch Comer. The $12 million-plus project was financed by $9.5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act. The Whitman County Commissioners also gave the city a collective $300,000 to aid costs. The rest will need to be made up by using local tax dollars and reserves.

No. 2: Fires take a toll on residents

The 2024 wildfire season was both mild and severe.

North central Idaho and southeastern Washington experienced a relatively light fire season in terms of acres burned but one of the worst when it comes to impact to communities.

The Texas Ridge and Gwen fires were particularly painful. Both exploded in their first few days and consumed multiple structures.

The Gwen Fire, which started from a July 24 lightning strike to the hills above the lower Potlatch River Canyon, destroyed 25 homes and 118 other structures, including Colter’s Creek Winery near Juliaetta. It wrapped around and over the ridge that separates the Potlatch and Clearwater rivers and pushed up Cottonwood Creek as it grew to more than 28,800 acres.

Rural volunteer fire departments fought it alongside crews from the Idaho Department of Lands, Nez Perce Tribe and U.S. Forest Service.

The Texas Ridge Fire started July 15 near Kendrick and burned more than 1,500 acres and destroyed four homes.

Despite those two destructive blazes and blazing hot temperatures for much of the summer, more remote forests of the region experienced fewer fires than normal. Nonetheless, large fires burning across the West, garnered attention from firefighters and stretching firefighting resources.

No. 3: Russell Elementary and Pullman Community Montessori close

It was a year of big changes in elementary education on the Palouse.

After a century of providing education to young students in Moscow, Russell Elementary is now closed.

The Moscow School District board and superintendent cited declining enrollment, the school building’s significant maintenance needs and a desire to focus its financial resources on other areas as reasons for the closure.

A reshuffling of teachers and students to other schools ensued, and the future of the former school building remains to be seen. However, a new school may be on the horizon as the district is exploring a new elementary building on the south side of Moscow.

Another closure occurred across the state border. In late May, the Washington State Charter School Commission moved to close Pullman Community Montessori.

The commission had received 72 complaints lodged against the school and an investigation found safety violations as well as financial instability. The school did not have enough funds to operate.

It was Pullman’s first and only charter school, having been certified in 2020 and opened at Gladish Community and Cultural Center in 2021.

No. 4: Crime on the Palouse

It was a busy year for the region’s first responders.

Authorities arrested a Pullman man for supposedly murdering his estranged wife in March. The matter won’t be resolved until 36-year-old Jacob Spray is tried by a jury in January.

Pullman police responded to Svedy’s Modern View Mobile Court and entered the residence to find an unconscious 25-year-old Jamie Wilson-Spray with bruises and scratches on her arms and neck. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

It was tips from a Domino’s pizza driver and Spray’s father that led to his arrest for the alleged murder.

In June, a nationwide search for a Palouse toddler began when the little girl and her father failed to show for a custody exchange in Pullman.

Investigators thought the pair were on a fishing trip in Montana until border patrol cameras possibly caught them crossing into Mexico.

Mexican authorities located the 2-year-old and Moscow’s Aaron Aung in July. They were taken back to the U.S.

Aung was charged with international parental kidnapping in August by the U.S. Department of Justice.

In August, officers were sent on a manhunt to find an escaped inmate.

Wayland Savage fled a prison work crew while cleaning at University of Idaho’s Theophilus Tower.

Local police and the Whitman County Regional SWAT Team searched for him at the student housing facility, but couldn’t locate him.

He was arrested later that night in downtown Pullman after authorities received word he was seen at Sunset Mart in town. Savage traveled on foot using the Bill Chipman Palouse Trail.

Savage’s original sentence was 10 years for grand theft in southern Idaho. Four years were tacked on after he admitted to escape by a felon in September.

Another apparent homicide occurred earlier this week, with a 28-year-old Pullman man being shot in the early-morning hours Thursday in the College Hill area. He eventually died at Pullman Regional Hospital. No arrests have been made.

No. 5: Kohberger case moves to Ada County

The crime may have occurred in Moscow, but the fate of the suspect in the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students will be decided in Boise.

Latah County District Judge John Judge agreed with suspect Bryan Kohberger’s argument that Latah County’s relatively small community and its exposure to media coverage of the murders would make it difficult to find an impartial jury for his trial.

Judge also felt that Latah County’s Courthouse lacks the resources to take on such a high-profile trial.

The Idaho State Supreme Court handed the case over to Ada County District Judge Steven Hippler.

The trial is now scheduled to start in August 2025.

Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in the November 2022 stabbing deaths of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

No. 6: Men on the run accused of two murders

Two people were killed in Nez Perce and Clearwater counties allegedly after two men escaped from custody in southern Idaho.

In March, Skylar W. Meade and Nicholas D. Umphenour escaped in Boise. Meade was an inmate and Umphenour had recently been released from the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna, south of Boise. The two had been housed together and were both members of the Aryan Knights prison gang. Officers were shot at when Meade was taken to St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. The two then drove to northern Idaho, then through Montana and back to southern Idaho, where they were arrested in Twin Falls.

James L. Mauney, 85, of Juliaetta, was found dead in Nez Perce County and Gerald Don Henderson, 72, was found dead outside his cabin near Orofino.

Meade and Umphenour faced charges in Ada County relating to the escape. Those cases have been closed. Meade was sentenced to 35 years to life in prison and Umphenour was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.

Meade and Umphenour were indicted in Nez Perce County for first-degree murder in the death of Mauney. Both have stood silent rather than enter a plea and face the death penalty for the charge.

Meade’s trial is scheduled to take place Feb. 3. Umphenour waived his right to a speedy trial and his next court date is March 27.

No charges have been filed in the death of Henderson.

No. 7: Home Depot’s shadow looms on Palouse

Home Depot has yet to sell its first nail in Moscow, but its plans to open on the Palouse in 2025 have already shaped the retail landscape.

Pullman Building Supply closed in November, citing the upcoming arrival of Home Depot as a factor.

Its second store, Moscow Building Supply, remains open at 760 N. Main St. Moscow Building Supply hired 40 of the 90 Pullman employees.

The home-improvement retailer entered the Pullman market in 1996 and expanded at 400 Fairmount Drive near Walmart in 2015. The location has a 40,000-square-foot building and an 80,000-square-foot warehouse.

The Palouse saw changes in its dining scene too. Jersey Mike’s Subs, a national chain, opened a restaurant in Moscow this year.

No. 8: New $90 million terminal opens at Pullman airport

The region’s flying experience was upgraded when the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport opened its new terminal in May.

Construction on the $90 million facility was funded primarily using federal dollars.

The 47,000-square-foot terminal surpasses the airport’s old facility, which was around 8,000 square feet. It offers several amenities the other lacked, including three jet gates and bridges, a private boarding area, an indoor baggage claim carousel, more parking, two-lane TSA screening, a courtyard and service animal relief area, as well as a restaurant and adult beverage space.

The old facility won’t go to waste. The airport plans on using it for a variety of aviation services.

While construction on the terminal began in 2022, the airport spent several years preparing for the venture. A $158 million expanded runway was built in 2019 to allow larger jets on the tarmac. The airport began offering jet services for the first time when Alaska Airlines’ Embraer 175 fleet replaced its Q400 turboprops in late 2022.

Patrons can travel on multiple Seattle flights that land at the terminal every day and Boise flights once a day.

No. 9: UI’s University of Phoenix purchase faces more hurdles

It has been a bumpy journey for the University of Idaho as it continues to try to acquire the online school University of Phoenix.

The most recent hurdle is an Idaho Supreme Court decision that Ada County District Court erred in dismissing Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s challenge against the Idaho State Board of Regents and the UI. Labrador argued that the SBOE violated Idaho’s Open Meetings Law when it met privately to discuss the University of Phoenix deal.

The court didn’t rule on whether the state board violated the Open Meetings law; the case was sent back to go through the process of discovery and further consideration.

In June, the Idaho State Board of Education unanimously approved extending the deadline for the purchase agreement between the UI and the University of Phoenix.

The original $685 million purchase agreement expired May 31, 2024, but the SBOE extended the transaction closing date to June 10, 2025.

The board decided that it must work through its legal challenges before the transaction is finished.

No. 10: Whitman County residents debate wind farm

Controversial plans to build a wind farm near a local landmark raised eyebrows from Whitman County residents.

Steelhead Americas, an Oregon energy company, soft launched the Harvest Hills Wind project online in October 2023. Local attention wasn’t drawn until early 2024 when the corporation began installing test towers of farmland east of Colfax.

The company wants to build 45 wind turbines on private land west of Kamiak Butte and south of Washington State Route 272.

Steelhead Americas claims the $300 million wind farm would generate about 200 megawatts of clean energy, produce $40 million in tax revenue for Whitman County during its 30-year lifespan and create 250 construction jobs and 30 long-term jobs.

The project has been highly scrutinized by the rural community, who have voiced opinions at numerous Whitman County Commission meetings and hosted some of their own. Many believe it would disturb farmland and Kamiak Butte’s aesthetics, while also doing long-term damage to the region.

The wind farm is allowable under the county’s code. Steelhead Americas needs approval from the Washington State Environmental Policy Act and a conditional use permit from Whitman County.

Residents who are against the venture campaigned for a moratorium that would prohibit the company from applying for a conditional use permit.

After extensive deliberation, commissioners agreed that adopting a moratorium is the last resort for managing the project.

Even if they did, the company can still seek approval from the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, an alternative process established by the state that overrides local zoning codes and county review processes.

Steelhead Americas is still working on a contract with the county and hasn’t applied for a conditional use permit yet. Commissioners will continue reviewing its code to address concerns brought up by residents.

The Daily News staff may be contacted at editor@dnews.com.