Ellensburg Community Morning Show, Tuesday, May 12th

There's a new spot for tacos and burritos in downtown Ellensburg. Abel Micheal Villa has moved his El Loco food truck into the brick-and-mortar space at 207 North Main Street, the location that sat empty after A Taste of India closed in December. Villa, originally from Jalisco, Mexico, ran the food truck in the Warrior's Quick Stop parking lot for five years before making the jump. His expanded menu adds guiso, tortas, soups, and seafood dishes like ceviche and aguachile to the basic street tacos. El Loco is open noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

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NEWS

U.S. Senator Patty Murray toured Kittitas Valley Healthcare last week to hear from rural providers about cuts to Medicare and Medicaid passed last summer. KVH CEO Jason Adler told Murray the hospital expects its uninsured rate to double and its financial assistance budget to climb from $3 million to $5.5 million. Emergency Department nurse DeDe Feddema described keeping a suicidal teen in the ER for over a week because there were no inpatient psychiatric beds anywhere from Seattle to Tacoma. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Andrew Thomas said the rural healthcare staffing pipeline leaks at every joint, starting in medical school. Murray promised to take what she heard back to Washington, D.C.

There's a new spot for tacos and burritos in downtown Ellensburg. Abel Micheal Villa has moved his El Loco food truck into the brick-and-mortar space at 207 North Main Street, the location that sat empty after A Taste of India closed in December. Villa, originally from Jalisco, Mexico, ran the food truck in the Warrior's Quick Stop parking lot for five years before making the jump. His expanded menu adds guiso, tortas, soups, and seafood dishes like ceviche and aguachile to the basic street tacos. El Loco is open noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

The Ellensburg Public Library is hosting a free talk Wednesday night called "Together: The Promise of Democracy." Seattle University philosophy professor Yasemin Sari will speak about the role everyday conversations between neighbors play in keeping democracy strong. It's at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Hal Holmes Community Center on North Ruby Street, part of the Humanities Washington speakers series.

In local events for Tuesday, the Master Gardener Plant Diagnostic Clinic is at the Armory at 11:30 a.m. Bring in whatever's bothering your garden and the master gardeners will help you figure it out. The Kittitas County Chamber of Commerce holds its Chamber After Hours mixer at Pearl Care Dental at 5 p.m. Three city councils are meeting Tuesday night: Roslyn at 5 p.m., and both Cle Elum and Kittitas at 6 p.m. And the Cle Elum-Roslyn High School theater arts class is presenting a production at the Cle Elum-Roslyn Elementary School at 6 p.m.

SPORTS

The Central Washington baseball and softball seasons have wrapped up. Baseball finished 18 and 26 overall, 15 and 17 in the GNAC. Softball finished 13 and 33, 7 and 17 in conference play. Up next for the Wildcats is track and field, with the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships May 21 through 23 in Emporia, Kansas. The CWU men and women each finished second at the GNAC Outdoor Championships earlier this month in Ellensburg.

WEATHER                                                                                          

The forecasted high today in Ellensburg is 83 degrees with a low of 50 degrees. Mostly sunny skies, with calm winds becoming easterly at 5 to 7 miles per hour in the morning. The sunset is at 8:22 p.m. A 30 percent chance of showers moves in after 2 a.m., with breezy northwest winds picking up overnight and gusts possibly hitting 39 miles per hour.

WHAT'S FOR LUNCH AT THE FISH OPEN TABLE?

Beef Bolognese Pasta, served with mixed vegetables and whole 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 noon to 1 p.m. at the Cle Elum Seventh Day Adventist Church. The community lunch for anyone needing a hot meal is from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Ellensburg Open Table.