In brief: Health for All grant to aid teens
A $600,000 federal grant to Spokane’s Health for All program will be used to find and enroll teenagers who don’t have health insurance.
There are an estimated 40,000 teenagers in Washington who don’t have health insurance and thus don’t go to the doctor for regular checkups.
Health for All, a nonprofit agency, expects to enroll or renew 14,000 teenagers in the Apple Health for Kids program within two years. Apple Health is a low-cost insurance program subsidized through Medicaid.
To find the uninsured teens, Health For All announced it would work with about 100 agencies and groups.
For more information, call Health for All at (509) 444-3066 or (866) 444-3066, or visit them online at community-minded.org/ hfa.
Hearings address Avista rate hikes
Three public hearings are scheduled this week on Avista’s proposed rate hikes for Washington customers.
The state Utilities and Transportation Commission will take public comments at:
• Noon, Tuesday, in the Spokane Valley Council Chambers, 11707 E. Sprague Ave.
• 6 p.m., Tuesday, in the Spokane City Council Chambers, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
• Noon, Wednesday, in the Pullman City Council Chambers, 325 S.E. Paradise St., Pullman.
Under a recent settlement proposal, Avista reduced its request for electricity rate hikes from 9.1 percent to 4.6 percent. With a 4.6 percent hike, the bill for a typical household using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month would go up by $3.02, for a revised monthly bill of $80.03.
For natural gas rates, the settlement would reduce the proposed hike from 4 percent to 2.4 percent. With a 2.4 percent hike, the bill for a typical household using 70 therms of gas per month would go up $1.76, for a revised monthly bill of $64.09.
The settlement calls for an effective date of Jan. 1 and would prohibit Avista from filing for another rate hike before April 1. However, the settlement still must be reviewed by the three-member commission, which is expected to make a decision before the end of the year.
Hiker, 53, safe after night in snow
WENATCHEE – A Leavenworth man spent a cold, snowy Friday night in the woods but walked out safely on his own Saturday morning.
A Chelan County helicopter searched about two hours Saturday morning for Karl Halupka, 53, before hunters spotted him and notified sheriff’s deputies who were searching for him.
Deputy Tim Erwert said the man left Friday morning for what was supposed to be a day hike at the head of Icicle Valley southwest of Leavenworth. Halupka was not injured, he said.
Erwert said the hiker told deputies that some of his electronic devices were not working properly because of the cold and he became disoriented.