Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Sorted by date Results 283 - 307 of 1887
During his celebrated career as an award-winning newspaper columnist and author, Timothy Egan has traveled the globe in search of the stories that connect him to his readers. For a much longer time – dating to childhood – he has made shorter treks to public libraries and rural bookmobile stops to discover stories that would shape and define Egan as one of the nation's most powerful voices on behalf of literacy. The University of Washington alum, a former op-ed writer for the New York Times and...
The public got to peek into the Mount Vernon Library Commons Project, under construction across from the Skagit County Courthouse, with a series of tours on Saturday afternoon. Designed for climate resiliency and as an integral community hub for the next 100 years, the $53 million facility will feature a 4,000-square-foot children’s library, the largest one north of Seattle; a teen and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) center; study rooms; a computer lab; and quiet reading spaces. The building’s commons area will be highlighted...
La Conner Schools officials tackled the status of Braves football and student enrollment to kick off a lengthy hybrid school board meeting Monday night. District financial chief David Cram reported to board members that K-12 enrollment had dipped from 497 to 485 full-time students since the start of the calendar year, with most of the losses coming in the fifth and 12th grades. “It’s not unusual at this time of year,” Cram told the board, noting that student movement tends to increase during semester breaks. Enrollment is a major driver when...
Word is getting out on one of Skagit County's best-kept secrets. That's thanks to La Conner High School alum and former Swinomish Tribal Community Senator Leon John, now the outreach director at Didgwalic Wellness Center northwest of town along Highway 20. The Didgwalic facility is a rehabilitation center for anyone, tribal and non-tribal, dealing with addiction or other challenges to mental and physical health. John outlined the Didgwalic mission as guest speaker for the second in a series of...
It was a four-letter word that defined a briskly paced, 45-minute hybrid Town Council meeting at Maple Hall on Feb. 27. That word was code. As in the council’s approval of both a formal town code of ethics and update to La Conner’s uniform development code. The ethics code was one of Mayor Marna Hanneman’s first initiatives upon taking office in January. “In this climate of people not being civil to each other – not that this is happening here – I asked for a code of ethics,” Hanneman said. Upon adoption of the code, following a motion by cou...
Longtime La Conner High School baseball coach Jeremiah LeSourd has a favorite saying this time of year. "You know it's the start of baseball season," he often notes at the end of February and start of March, "because there'll be snow on the ground." Mother Nature has been true to form this year. The first week of practice for Braves baseball, Lady Braves softball, and La Conner track and field and golf teams was met variously with snow, hail, wind and rain. All that plus a couple brief sun...
In his all-too-short life, La Conner's Rich Watkins created a legacy to last generations. Consider pre-season baseball practices now under way at La Conner High School, where two decades ago Watkins was the team's head coach, an ideal role for the former Spokane area sports standout. His influence is still felt by current Braves' coach Jeremiah LeSourd, whom Watkins mentored. "He prepared me for the job," said LeSourd, who along with Andy Otis has since coached the baseball team to numerous post...
Longtime La Conner news photographer Don Coyote is renowned for making magic with his camera. But no magic was needed to enhance the image of his favorite photographic subject, the late Brodie Coyote, the endearing golden retriever who was loyally at Don's side for more than a decade before the four-legged La Conner goodwill ambassador's death Feb. 15. Variously described as a "godly creature" and "darling retriever," Brodie Coyote was the ideal model and photographer's sidekick. Coyote called...
State seeding sent La Conner High School's basketball teams south. Unfortunately, their hopes of advancing to the round of 12 at the Spokane Arena this week went south as well. The boys' team was eliminated by Adna with a heartbreaking 66-62 overtime loss in Chehalis on Saturday, a game that saw the Braves battle back from foul trouble and a double-digit deficit to have a shot at winning in the waning moments of regulation. The youthful girls, meanwhile, with six eighth graders and no seniors...
A La Conner youth sports standout is already on the radar of all 32 National Football League teams. And soon he will attract that same kind of attention from major league baseball. Cassius Landworth, a second grader in teacher Stacy Silver's classroom, has received an impressive collection of memorabilia from some of the nation's most famous and popular sports franchises. It started last fall when Cash, as he's known to friends and family, decided to write to each of the NFL teams. It was no...
If February's first town council meeting was any indication, new La Conner Mayor Marna Hanneman is in it for the long haul. The marathon Feb. 13 session covered new and old business and multiple discussion and action items before concluding with a closed executive session. "I thought after the first month," said Hanneman, who took office Jan. 1, "that things would be kind of calm. Then February came." The 95-minute meeting began on a pair of somber notes. Resident Debbie Aldrich shared that...
Fire District 13 emergency responders are used to pulling their weight – and then some. Now they’re getting much appreciated help. The added muscle is in the form of a new power loader gurney system purchased with funds from the HF Sinclair Refinery of Anacortes. “These run in the $30,000 range,” said Fire Chief Wood Weiss. “So, I reached out to Sinclair and Andrea Petrich found the funding for us.” Petrich is the refinery’s head of communications and external relations advisor. She and other HF Sinclair representatives attended the fire dist...
The La Conner High School girls’ basketball team took two different routes last week to reach the same destination – Victory Lane at Coupeville. The Lady Braves netted top honors on the girls’ side of the NW2B bi-district tournament with a lopsided 52-15 win at home over Northwest Christian of Lacey on Feb. 13 followed by a tense 46-42 triumph over league rival Friday Harbor last Thursday in Coupeville. They were two totally different games that produced a single result. La Conner, 16-7 overall and with no seniors on its roster in an expect...
Home sweet home. That time-honored phrase perfectly served the La Conner Braves well at last week’s Northwest 2B bi-district basketball tournament where they sandwiched triumphs on their home floor over Northwest Christian of Lacey and Auburn Adventist Academy around a tough loss to league rival Coupeville on the Wolves’ court. The 68-57 win over Auburn Adventist last Saturday secured for La Conner (16-7) a berth in the regional round of the state playoffs. Junior guard Brayden Pedroza, who had erupted for 43 points in the Braves’ 74-29 bi-di...
It’s Sweet Sixteen time for La Conner High School’s basketball teams. Both boys and girls teams have qualified for the round of 16 of the state 2B hoops playoffs. The girls’ team drew a No. 13 seed and have drawn No. 12 Toutle Lake in a first round, loser-out regional pairing. The winner will advance to the Round of 12 at the Spokane Arena on Feb. 28. The boys’ team won two of three bi-district tests and is seeded 15th. It faces a loser-out contest with No. 10 Adna. The La Conner-Adna winner also moves on to Spokane for the round of 12. The...
The League of Women Voters of Skagit County dares to venture into the weeds of the democratic process while refusing to wallow in the mud that has stained American politics. Last week they hosted a public forum on the sometimes complex “ins and outs” of the 2024 Washington state presidential primary. The hour-long hybrid event at the Skagit PUD Meeting Room in Mount Vernon, billed specifically as a non-campaign event, featured four guest speakers – Skagit County Elections Manager Gabrielle Clay, Skagit County Republican Party Chair Bill Bruch...
Brodie Coyote, the winsome and engaging golden retriever who served as the town's goodwill ambassador and whose image graced calendar pages and numerous editions of the Weekly News, died Thursday, Feb. 15. Brodie passed away peacefully with his human, noted La Conner news and lifestyle photographer Don Zieger Coyote, at his side, according to a social media post by longtime local music promoter and former mayoral candidate Marc "Zappa" Daniel. Brodie Coyote was 14 and retired from being the...
Community members and La Conner Schools officials met Thursday to kick around ideas on how to structure the high school football program given fallen enrollment. Unless 25 La Conner High students firmly commit by mid-March to playing football this fall, only three viable options remain for the upcoming season – eliminate football, play an eight-man schedule with no post-season opportunity, or combine with the 2A state championship 11-man Anacortes High School program – La Conner secondary principal and director of athletics Christine Tripp sai...
After having survived last month’s primary by a single vote, Bruce James, Jr. emerged from the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community general election on Saturday with a comfortable victory for a five-year Senate term outpolling Myrtle Rivas 167-124. Rivas had led a three-candidate field with 97 votes in a low turnout bad weather day Jan. 20 primary election. James followed with 84. Three-term incumbent Brian Wilbur, had 83 votes and was eliminated by a lone ballot. Prior to the primary, James told the Swinomish Qyuuqs publication that his ...
While it’s been a hot topic in La Conner for decades, the last word on parking likely won’t be spoken here anytime soon. And the always lively local conversation continues 6 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Civic Garden Club on South Second Street. The second in a series of in-person “community mingles” will address all angles of downtown parking, from traffic safety and pedestrian access to signage and revenue opportunities. “We’re wanting to solicit input on what if any changes and improvements the public wants to see regarding parking,” Assistant Pla...
Call them the Comeback Kids. The La Conner Braves mounted two furious second half rallies in NW2B/1B boy’s hoops action last week, the second bringing a convincing 73-57 win at Friday Harbor Feb. 9 that secured top seeding at the Bi-District Tournament. La Conner opened bi-district play at home Monday night opposite Northwest Christian of Lacey.They’re at Coupeville tonight (Wednesday) opposite either the host Wolves or Auburn Adventist. The four-team, double elimination Bi-District format will send two teams to the state 2B tournament. La Con...
A pair of double-digit wins over league rivals last week clinched a No. 1 bi-district tournament seed for the La Conner High School girls’ basketball team. La Conner (14-7 overall; 7-1 in league) closed out the regular season, defeating Coupeville 46-30 Feb. 6 at Landy James Gym and winning 41-29 at Friday Harbor on Saturday. With the wins, the Lady Braves secured the top seed to the bi-district tournament, which opened last night at home opposite Northwest Christian of Lacey. La Conner moves on to the second round Thursday in Coupeville a...
Greg Whiting has rarely – if ever – lacked for energy. Consider that in a robust and wide-ranging professional life Whiting has variously researched, analyzed, helped develop and written about energy systems designed to both improve quality of life and protect the environment. And now, with his partner Jenelle Whitton as co-proprietor of Raven's Cup Coffee and Art Gallery on First Street, he markets beverages that, while served in a laid-back Pacific Northwest setting, are the fuel that kee...
Local firefighters are taking a step in the right direction when it comes to winning the fight against cancer. Make that many steps. Six members of Skagit County Fire District 13, including Chief Wood Weiss, will take part in the 33rd annual Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Firefighter Stair Climb in Seattle on March 10. The event, whose mission is to raise much needed funding toward finding a cure for those battling blood cancer, is billed as the largest on-air stair climb competition in the world. Standing 788 feet tall, the Columbia Center is...
Delivering a baby at roadside and rescuing kayakers in distress was all in a week’s work for Swinomish Indian Tribal Community police officer Brian Geer. Geer, who doubles as the Swinomish Emergency Management coordinator, was hailed last week for heroic actions by both Swinomish Tribal Police and Skagit County Fire District 13 leadership. Geer was first on the scene Jan. 30 when a kayak capsized in Skagit Bay south of Lone Tree Point. He quickly commandeered another kayak and was able to pull a person to shore who had been in the cold water fo...
