Year: 2023

Northern leopard frogs growing leaps and bounds at Northwest Trek, preparing for re-release in the wild

By Lauren Gallup
Assistant Curator Dave Meadows feeds the northern leopard frogs their daily diet of crickets. (Credit: Lauren Gallup / NWPB)
At Northwest Trek in Eatonville, Washington, there are about 300 northern leopard frogs, named for their spotted skin, swimming around in four tanks and getting ready for their new home. The frogs are part of a conservation project that Northwest Trek is partnering with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Read More

Support outside of the classroom: how one western Washington school district aims to help families

By Lauren Gallup
Attendees of Pan con Café sit with Blanca Sagastizado during a spring meeting. (Credit: Claudia Miller)
Just minutes away from busy Pacific Avenue in Pierce County, the Franklin Pierce School district administration office sits inside a nondescript, gray building. Inside, a group of women are gathered in a conference room Thursday morning, eating brightly colored Pan Dulce, laughing and sharing their trials and tribulations. Blanca Sagastizado, a family resource navigator Read More

Get ready for the heat, west-siders!

By Lauren Gallup
Beachgoers stay cool Monday afternoon at Owen Beach in Tacoma. (Credit: Lauren Gallup NWPB)
Just in time for the Fourth of July holiday, the west side of Washington is going to see some sunny, hot weather. The daytime highs of 80- and 90- plus degrees being predicted might still seem abnormal to those who call the Puget Sound basin home, but those temperatures are on trend with the hotter summers climatologists have been tracking. Historically, Western Read More

Bringing Indigenous languages into public schools

By Lauren Gallup
a teacher showing a book to students
A number of Washington state public schools are partnering with tribes to bring Indigenous languages into classrooms in an effort to rectify the marred history of Native American boarding schools. Rachael Barger is a teacher on special assignment with Bethel School District, one of the districts partnering with the Nisqually Tribe to bring its Southern Lushootseed Read More

Funding for some Tacoma homeless shelters reduced

By Lauren Gallup
The downtown campus of the Tacoma Rescue Mission, who's men's and women's shelters are set to be at capacity July 1 due to budget cuts. // Lauren Gallup NWPB
This year’s funding for Tacoma Rescue Mission homeless shelters has decreased. That means next month, the mission will have to decrease the number of shelter spaces available. As of June 23, the mission had 24 spaces available in their women’s shelter and 39 in their men’s shelter. But by July 1, those will go away, according to the mission. Read More

Pride in Sports: Dockyard Roller Derby

By Lauren Gallup
Skaters on the Dockyard Roller Derby league in Tacoma practice on Monday, June 12. // Lauren Gallup NWPB
Sense of community. Belonging. Teamwork. Identity. These feelings can come from playing a team sport. However, sports often are gendered spaces that follow traditional societal expectations. Then, there’s roller derby, which has a history of defying traditional female roles and giving a space for women to compete. One derby league, Dockyard Roller Derby in Tacoma, is Read More