Ellensburg Community Morning Show, Thursday, October 15th
NEWS
Kittitas County has stopped hiring. County commissioners voted 3-to-0 on Tuesday to put a countywide hiring freeze in place, effective immediately. It covers every county department and every kind of job — full-time, part-time, temporary, seasonal and contract. No new positions will be created, and open jobs won't be posted or filled. Promotions and reclassifications are on hold too. In a letter to employees, the commissioners said the county, like a lot of local governments right now, is facing economic circumstances it didn't see coming, and that the freeze is about new hires, not the people already on the job. Current employees keep their hours, pay and benefits. There are a few exceptions, each needing written approval from the board: public safety jobs like deputies, corrections and dispatch, positions the county is legally required to fill, and jobs paid for entirely by outside grants. Jobs that were already posted aren't affected. Commissioners will get a monthly report on vacancies and savings, and the freeze stays in place until the board decides the county's finances can handle lifting it.
Ballots go in the mail tomorrow. Friday is the start of the 18-day voting period for the November 3rd general election, so Kittitas County voters should see their ballots early next week. If you're not registered yet, or you've moved, you have until Monday, October 26th to register or update your address online or by mail. After that you can still register in person at the County Auditor's office, 205 West 5th Avenue, right up through Election Day. There are nine ballot drop boxes around the county — in Ellensburg, that's the courthouse drive-up box on 5th Avenue and the box at CWU on North Chestnut Street. In the upper county, there are boxes in Roslyn, Cle Elum, South Cle Elum, Easton and Ronald. Ballots have to be in a drop box by 8 p.m. on Election Day, or postmarked by then.
There's a new coffee shop on Main Street, and it's doing things a little differently. Sua Vietnamese Coffee and Tea opened at 300 North Main this week. Owners Trang Tran-Reale and Brian Reale use robusta beans from a farm in Vietnam — roasted in Philadelphia, shipped here, and brewed without an espresso machine. The upshot is a cup with about double the caffeine of your usual coffee. For now the drinks are all iced, the way they're served in Vietnam, with hot options coming this winter. The fall specials include a corn coffee with condensed milk and golden corn cold foam, and a Saigon spice latte made with real pumpkin. Tran-Reale, who moved her family here from Las Vegas three years ago, said the soft opening Monday was busy from open to close. They're open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with an official grand opening and a bigger menu on Wednesday, October 21st.
Central Washington University marked Indigenous Peoples' Day on Monday with its first-ever First Peoples' Art Market in the student union. Northwest Plateau and Coast Salish artists filled the corridor with beadwork, jewelry, basketry, drums, clothing and sculpture, and the dining hall served a menu to match — hunter's stew with bison, blackberry-glazed beets, wild rice pilaf, and huckleberry fritters for dessert. Zoë Higheagle Strong, the university's associate vice president for tribal relations, pointed out that tribes in this region have lived on and cared for these lands for more than 12,000 years, and said the day was a chance to celebrate the artists carrying those cultures forward today.
And in Kittitas, the Coyotes crowned their 2026 homecoming royalty at halftime of last Friday's rivalry game against Cle Elum-Roslyn. Lillianna McGuffin and Russell Kavanaugh are this year's queen and king. The Coyotes sent the crowd home happy too, beating the Warriors 14 to 6.
Local Events
The Ellensburg Arts Commission hands out this year's Arts Awards tonight from 5:30 to 6:30 at Valo Cellars. Painter and teacher Jeannie Johnson gets the Arts Treasure Award for more than three decades of making and teaching art here. Renee Fyall, president of the Ellensburg Mural Society, gets the Arts Advocate Award — she's helped raise close to 200,000 dollars for the city's mural program over the past three years. It's free and open to everyone.
Tonight is the last Music in the Gardens concert of the season at Brickhouse Gardens and Nursery, 7243 Manastash Road. Jodi Ryan plays from 5:30 to 7:30, with wine from Sagecliffe Cellars. It's 15 dollars a person, kids 12 and under are free, and they ask that you leave the dogs at home.
Up in Cle Elum, Mike's Tavern at 427 East 1st Street is throwing Skinny Bill's Birthday Bash tonight at 6 with the 903 Highway Blues Band. That one's 21 and over.
And if you play an instrument, the Ellensburg Community Band rehearses tonight from 6 to 7:30 at the Methodist Church. Bring your horn.
Looking ahead to Saturday: Junk-tiquen in the Burg brings antiques, vintage and treasures to the Kittitas Valley Event Center from 9 to 4. Admission is 5 dollars and parking is free. Also Saturday, the Upper Kittitas County Senior Center in Cle Elum hosts a Medication Take Back Day and resource fair starting at 10 a.m. — bring your old prescriptions. And the Roslyn Mountain Ale Festival runs from 1 to 5 at The Roslyn Yard.
Road Updates
3rd Avenue between Sampson and Anderson is closed and detoured while crews tie in a new sewer line, and the alley between 3rd and 4th stays closed for about another week and a half for the sewer main replacement. On weekends through early December, Utilities One is running new communication lines in alleys between 5th Avenue and Capitol, from Ruby to Wenas. And a week from Saturday, October 24th, 15th Avenue will be closed between Okanogan and Columbia from 7 a.m. to about 5 p.m. for a Kittitas Valley Fire and Rescue training burn. Okanogan and Columbia stay open as the detour.
SPORTS
Wildcat women's soccer is at home today — Central hosts Seattle Pacific at 5 p.m. at Tomlinson Stadium, then Montana State Billings on Saturday at 11 a.m. The Wildcats are 3-6-4 on the season and 3-3-2 in conference play, and they're coming off a 3-1 win over Northwest Nazarene.
Wildcat volleyball takes a 21-set winning streak to Alaska. Central plays at Alaska Fairbanks tonight at 8 and at Alaska Anchorage on Saturday, also at 8. The Wildcats are 11-4 overall, 7-2 in the GNAC, and a perfect 8-0 at home this year.
And Wildcat football, 4-2 on the year and 4-0 in the Lone Star Conference after last Saturday's 44-29 homecoming win over Midwestern State, travels to Texas to take on Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday at 5 p.m. The cross country teams are off this week; they run next on October 23rd in Spokane.
WEATHER
The forecasted high today in Ellensburg is 67 degrees with a low tonight of 38 degrees. Sunny, with calm winds turning southeast around 6 miles an hour this afternoon, and mostly clear overnight. The sunset is at 6:14 p.m. No rain in the forecast and no weather alerts. Tomorrow looks about the same, mostly sunny and 67. The weekend cools off — Saturday's high is 62 with a low Saturday night of 32, so if you've still got tomatoes on the vine, this weekend is the time to bring them in.
WHAT'S FOR LUNCH AT THE FISH OPEN TABLE?
The FISH Open Table lunch today is a sloppy joe, with mixed vegetables and fruit. The senior lunch is open to all seniors age 60-plus from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ellensburg Open Table at 204 North Main Street, and from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Upper County Senior Center in Cle Elum. The community lunch for anyone needing a hot meal is from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Ellensburg Open Table.
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