He ‘Left This World In Such Agony’: Rural Health Systems Challenged By COVID Surge

By Anna King
Ken Roberts, left, with his step-sister Debbie Roberts and her husband Steve Kinzie at a Christmas gathering at the Tonasket care facility in 2018. Courtesy of Debbie Roberts
Rural America has been the site COVID hotspots this year: prisons, nursing homes and meat packers. But there are few doctors, ICU beds and little backup when health care workers also get sick. Ken Roberts died Nov. 29, just one person among many who died in an outbreak of COVID-19 at North Valley Extended Care in the Okanogan County town of Tonasket — population about Read More

COVID First Hit Long-Term Care In Puget Sound Region. Now It’s Hitting Home In Rural Areas

By Scott Leadingham
Tim Killian, a spokesman for Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., prepares to give a daily briefing to reporters on Wednesday. CREDIT: Ted S. Warren/AP
Some of the hardest hit places have been long-term care facilities in rural areas like Tonasket in Okanogan County, and in central Washington. At least three care facilities in Grant County have reported outbreaks and deaths since a large wedding near Ritzville last month attended by some care facility staff who later tested positive for COVID-19. But a definitive Read More

Brewster And Okanogan County Latest Areas Of Hot Spot Concern For Washington COVID-19 Cases

By Enrique Pérez de la Rosa
File photo. Brewster, in Okanogan County, shown here in 2013, is one of the primary areas of north-central Washington's tree-fruit industry -- for growing, packing and shipping. CREDIT: Jessica Robinson/N3
Eight people, at least two of them foreign H-2A farmworkers, have died in the county. Health officials say cases are climbing quickly with nearly 300 confirmed over the last two weeks alone. The county has seen about 800 total cases during the pandemic. Many of the recent cases are in the small town of Brewster, home to a large tree-fruit growing, packing and shipping Read More

Tonasket Settles With Former Police Officer Who Alleged Mayor Said His Name Was ‘Too Hispanic’

By Nicholas Deshais
Tonasket, in Washington's Okanogan County, no longer has a police force after the mayor disbanded it. Courtesy city of Tonasket
A former police officer in Okanogan County town of Tonasket will receive $80,000, after he alleged the mayor told him his name sounded “too Hispanic.” Jose Perez, who was one of three people in the town’s police department, took his allegations to the Tonasket City Council in January 2019, where he described what he said Mayor Dennis Brown told him. Read More
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