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

How Washington, Idaho are attempting to reduce increased opioid overdose deaths

By Lauren Gallup
Rachel Ahrens and Nora Hacker of First United Methodist Church in downtown Tacoma, show off the building's new Narcan vending machine. The medicine inside is free to all and has already saved one person's life, that they know of. Photo by Lauren Gallup.
In downtown Tacoma, Rachel Ahrens said she sees drug use and abuse frequently. “I've personally seen somebody that was just slumped up against the door and looked to be like an overdose,” said Ahrens, who is the building administrator for First United Methodist Church. “I didn't have Narcan at that time, so I wasn't able to administer that. So I had to call 911, for them Read More

Electron Hydro dam could face largest fine for environmental crime in Washington history

By Lauren Gallup
Artificial turf found in the Puyallup River on Nov. 11, 2020, after the materials flowed into the river from a construction project on the Electron Hydro dam in the summer of 2020. Photo courtesy of the Puyallup Tribe.
Electron Hydro dam and its chief operating officer could have to pay the largest fine and restitution for an environmental crime in Washington state history. COO Thom Fischer and the company, pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor permit violation for allowing the toxic contaminants crumb rubber and artificial turf to flow into the Puyallup River during a construction project. Read More

Honoring women’s history through poetry

By Lauren Gallup
The newspaper clipping that mentions Rachel Page. Photo courtesy of Cory Eberhart.
A group of poets in Kittitas County will honor eight important Washington women in verse. March is Women’s History Month, and this Friday at Gallery One in Ellensburg, the poets will perform their crown of sonnets, a succession of seven, separate sonnets, at the Women’s History Month Poetry Extravaganza. Read More

Process to tackle Washington’s future aviation needs faces skepticism from inside and out

By Lauren Gallup
Lawmakers are considering restarting the process to find a location to build a new airport after months of community backlash to current recommendations. One member of the Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission, which was formed in 2019 to address aviation capacity shortages, agrees more review is needed. Bryce Yadon represents Futurewise, an environmental land use Read More

Federal government allocates over $6 billion to wildfire technology and management

By Lauren Gallup
Firefighters stand in the distance with drip torches along a road surrounded by trees. A fire burns in the foreground of the picture. It's climbing up some smaller trees.
Lawmakers are allocating over $6 billion this fiscal year to support the Department of the Interior and the United States Forest Service in wildfire response. It’s an increase of 14% from the last year’s funding, and will support wildfire suppression, operations and a new research hub to aid fire management. This fiscal year, the forest service will see an increase of Read More

A park from pollution: 30 years after the ASARCO smokestack demolition, Tacoma’s waterfront transforms

By Lauren Gallup
An image of the ASARCO smelter in Tacoma, showing the smokestack rising above the waterfront. Photo credit Tacoma Public Library.
It was a clear day in Tacoma on January 17, 1993. Commencement Bay was crowded with boats. Families gathered on boat decks and across North Tacoma sidewalks to watch the demolition of what was once the tallest smokestack in the world, the ASARCO smokestack that loomed over Tacoma’s waterfront for nearly 100 years. With the press of a button, a child, supervised by Read More

Whatcom County makes no forest conservation recommendation, seeks clarity from DNR

By Lauren Gallup
The Whatcom County council approved 5-2 to send a letter to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, saying that are not ready to issue specific recommendations on Phase II of the department's carbon project. Image captured by Lauren Gallup.
The Whatcom County Council made no specific recommendations on which county timberlands to conserve for the next phase of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources’ carbon offset project. In the letter, the council affirmed its commitment to work with the department, and instead of offering recommendations, asked the DNR to provide more information about the Read More

Washington bill seeks to regulate solitary confinement

By Lauren Gallup
Inside the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, also known as the Northwest Detention Center. Photo courtesy of La Resistencia, May 2022.
Maria Leónides Pérez’s son, Santiago Ortuno Pérez, has been detained in the Northwest ICE Processing Center, also known as the Northwest Detention Center, in Tacoma for a little more than three years. During his time in detention, Ortuno Pérez has spent at least 10 months in segregation from the general population. He said he’s there now, and has been for 51 days, Read More

New report finds data sharing with federal immigration agencies might violate Washington law

By Lauren Gallup
Varying security cameras lined up. A growing number of privacy concerns are being raised about automated tracking and data sharing and storing, locally and nationwide. Photo by Lianhao Qu via Unsplash.
Immigrant-rights advocates are pointing to new findings by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights, raising concerns of how surveillance technology is used in Washington state. The report argues that sharing of license plate data violates the state’s Keep Washington Working Act. The University of Washington Center for Human Rights analyzed data on the use Read More
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