East Olympia, WA

Blizzard, the beloved polar bear and last of his kind at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, has been humanely euthanized following a "rapid decline in his health," the Washington zoo announced on May 9. The Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, located in Tacoma, shared in a Facebook post that...

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Governor Jay Inslee announced the appointment of Roger Rogoff as the director of the Office of Independent Investigations on Tuesday. The agency, which will be the first of its kind in the country, will conduct investigations into potential criminal conduct arising from police use of deadly force, independent of involved law enforcement agencies.

The Seattle Mariners put together a solid team on paper heading into the 2022 season. They acquired Adam Frazier from the San Diego Padres and Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker from the Cincinnati Reds. They also signed Robbie Ray to a five-year, $115 million contract to shore up their rotation.

A Lacey man allegedly gave his ex-wife an odd Mother’s Day greeting. The suspect, 31, was arrested on May 15, exactly a week after a reported assault at a home along Fifth Avenue SW. Dispatchers reported to police that a man attacked his ex-wife with a jug containing urine,...

The Centralia Police Department is seeking applicants for a pool of six to 10 non-law enforcement community representatives to assist independent investigation teams when they investigate officer use of deadly force. Representatives from that pool “will be expected to impartially monitor the investigation of any Centralia police officer who uses...

Former Gold Glove-winning first baseman Evan White will begin a rehab assignment with the Seattle Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate this week. For the majority of his young career with the Seattle Mariners, first baseman Evan White has been mired with injuries: he ailed from a hip flexor strain in May 2021 that kept him out for the rest of the season, then suffered a sports hernia at the end of this year’s Spring Training that has kept him sidelined ever since.

Gates will be open 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Governor Jay Inslee has announced Roger Rogoff as the director of the Office of Independent Investigations. This is the first agency of its kind to be implemented in the United States. The group was created with the hopes of providing more unbiased, competent and thorough investigations...

TACOMA, Wash. — Four declining Tacoma Catholic parishes will be merged into one this summer and become the new St. John XXIII Parish. The new parish incorporates St. Ann, St. Rita of Cascia, Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the former Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. The parish will include the mission of St. John of the Woods.

Tacoma, WA: After careful consideration, and following a recent geotechnical report confirming ongoing erosion and slope instability, Metro Parks Tacoma is closing the Outer Loop of Five Mile Drive in Point Defiance Park to all motorized traffic due to safety concerns. The gates remain open 9am-2pm May 18-19, and closure...

TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma city crews on Wednesday began clearing a notorious homeless encampment linked to a recent tripling of calls to the city's 911 center about shots fired or small blazes. Between January and March of this year, the encampment near People's Park in Tacoma generated 243 calls...

Crumbling cliffs have led Metro Parks Tacoma to permanently close two miles of Five Mile Drive, a popular park road built atop the bluffs of Tacoma’s Point Defiance 109 years ago. City officials are blaming climate change for the worsening erosion of a 150-foot-tall sea bluff that frames the...

A new poster that provides information on Mount St. Helens is available to the public and is inspired by Volcano Awareness Month in Washington state. Titled “Mount St. Helens: A Mountain Reborn,” the poster map provides a bird’s-eye view of Mount St. Helens and supplies information about how the volcano has changed since its eruption.

West Virginia University men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins has announced the signing of Emmitt Matthews Jr. to a grant-in-aid for the 2022-23 academic year. Matthews, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward from Tacoma, Washington, will return to West Virginia after spending last season at Washington. He spent the first three years of his collegiate career at WVU.

Runners and walkers took to Stan Hedwall Park in Chehalis on Monday for an out-and-back 5K on Rice Road to recognize National Drug Court Month and celebrate the participants of Lewis County’s Drug Court, Family Recovery Court and Mental Health Court programs. The race, “Run for Five, Recovery is...

Fort Nisqually Living History Museum is planning a party fit for a queen: Queen Victoria, that is. The gentlemen and gentlewomen of Fort Nisqually (inside Point Defiance Park, Tacoma) will celebrate the departed monarch’s birthday with cannon fire and Victorian finery on Saturday, May 21 (2022). Party hours are...

Washington’s supply and demand imbalance of housing of all kinds is playing out today in the affordable housing and homelessness crises in communities across the state. One study suggests the shortage is more than 225,000 units, according to a news release from the Department of Commerce. To help communities...

After three years as the director of Lewis County Public Health & Social Services (LCPHSS), JP Anderson is leaving for a position as the CEO of CHOICE Regional Health Network in Olympia. Anderson has worked in Lewis County for over 16 years, he said on Facebook this week. “As many...

(The Center Square) – Renovating your house or even just remodeling a room is expensive in the Puget Sound region of Washington state, according to Lawn Love’s “2022’s Most Expensive Cities for Home Improvement.”. Bellevue ranked No. 18, Seattle ranked No. 24, and Tacoma ranked No....