Be sure to bring your camera to the Pioneer Festival on Saturday. There will be lots of photo opportunities.

A $40,000 grant has been awarded to the San Juan Community Home Trust by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the domestic anti-poverty program of the U. S. Catholic Bishops. CCHD supports programs where low-income people participate on the governing board of the organization, which makes it a good fit with Community Land Trusts,  Continue Reading

San Juan Island teachers agree to two-year contract, avoid strike San Juan Education Association members and the San Juan School District have reached a Tentative Agreement avoiding a strike which was scheduled to begin Tuesday, Sept. 2. SJEA members signed off on the agreement this afternoon after hearing from the bargaining team. The two-year agreement  Continue Reading

Here’s a note from the School District to the San Juan Island community: The San Juan Island School District is pleased to announced that a collective bargaining agreement was reached this evening with the San Juan Education Association (teacher’s union). The agreement was collaboratively developed over the last several months and provides for additional teacher  Continue Reading

While the San Juan Education Association and the San Juan Island School District initially made progress in Sunday’s negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement, negotiations stalled and no settlement was reached this evening. “It looked like we were moving forward earlier today, but we were not able to come to an agreement. I am  Continue Reading

Community Message: SJISD and SJEA Bargaining 8/31/14 August 31, 2014 8:30 pm Dear San Juan Island Community Both the San Juan Island School District and the San Juan Education Association (teacher’s union) met Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening to work on a new collective bargaining agreement to replace the agreement which expires today. Both sides  Continue Reading

It’s always good to hear about good things happening just across the water. On Lopez Island, they celebrated Guatemalan cooking with Chef Juan Carlos Mendoza. Here’s Barbara Keller with the story….” For years I have been excited about a wonderful community development program on the shores of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. This week ten lucky  Continue Reading

  Friday Harbor, Wash. – Come to The Whale Museum for “Coffee & Conversation” from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m. on Friday, September 5. If you haven’t been to the Museum lately, this is a great time to come in and enjoy light refreshments while getting to know the Museum better.  Hosted by executive director  Continue Reading

This is Dr. Vincent Shu and he would like your opinions on a project he is working on. He would like to bring a natural science college to Friday Harbor: The Washington Institute of Natural Sciences School of Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine and a Community Clinic Center for Integrative Medicine. And he would like to  Continue Reading

This summer’s drift card drop will study oil spill impacts in the Salish Sea. Plywood drift cards stamped with “this could be oil” were released this week in an experiment to simulate the dispersion of an oil spill from Kinder Morgan’s planned $5.4 billion pipeline expansion project that would increase tanker traffic from 5 ships  Continue Reading

Here is a statement from the San Juan Education Association… San Juan Education Association members are hopeful they can come to a fair and reasonable contract settlement with San Juan Island School District Sunday at their next scheduled bargaining session. The contract expires Aug. 31 and teachers and other school specialists voted last Monday to  Continue Reading

This just in from Rick Thompson, SJI School District… For the past several months, the San Juan Island School District and the San Juan Education Association, (the teacher’s union) have been meeting to collaboratively negotiate a new contract to replace the agreement that expires on August 31, 2014. As of the end of our last  Continue Reading

With the help of the San Juan County Land Bank, the San Juan Preservation Trust, State and National Parks, and local landowners, Rochelle Kelly of the UW has been able to study bats in the San Juan Islands this summer. In appreciation of all this support, she is sharing her experience with the public. Rochelle  Continue Reading

The Port of Friday Harbor will hold a Public Hearing on Wednesday, September 10, 2014 at 5pm at Ernie’s Cafe at 744 Airport Circle Drive, Friday Harbor, WA. The purpose of this meeting is for the Commission to conduct a Public Hearing on the proposed Airport Master Plan Update. For questions please contact Deanna Eltinge  Continue Reading

The Whale Museum is pleased to welcome Lynne Barre and Scott Rumsey as part of the 2014 Summer Lecture Series.  The talk entitled “Salmon Recovery Supporting Orca Recovery” will take place at The Whale Museum on Wednesday, September 3 at 6:30 p.m. Lynne Barre and Scott Rumsey from NOAA Fisheries will give a presentation that  Continue Reading

FRIENDS of the San Juans is honored and excited to host a public introduction and benefit in support of “Our Shared Responsibility: A Totem Pole Journey” at English Camp this evening, August 29th at 7 p.m. The totem pole will be shared with our island community at the ceremony. The House of Tears Carvers would  Continue Reading