By Town of Friday Harbor Traffic will be disrupted from 7 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 1 while the Town of Friday Harbor crew and contractor install water and sewer mains across Mullis Street near Bakery San Juan and the Friday Harbor Food Co-op. “Local access on Mullis Street from Market Street to 775 Mullis Street  Continue Reading

By the EDC Last week, Gov. Jay Inslee announced an additional $70 million for business grants, and $50 million of that is for a new round of Working Washington business grants. The remainder will go toward funding all qualified businesses that applied in earlier rounds of our resiliency grant program. Businesses who applied for the  Continue Reading

By the San Juan County Agricultural Resources Committee The San Juan County Agricultural Resources Committee was able to respond to the challenges of 2020 with creativity, resilience and collaboration. The coordinator and volunteers on this committee worked hard to address the ongoing policy and outreach work of the ARC, the emergent challenge of COVID-19, and  Continue Reading

Store-Provided Bags Will Cost 8 Cents By Mark Ingman, San Juan County Solid Waste Program Coordinator On March 25, Governor Inslee signed Bill ESSB 5323, also known as the Washington Plastic Bag Ban into law. This means that starting Jan. 1, 2021, retailers and restaurants throughout the state will be prohibited from providing single-use plastic  Continue Reading

By San Juan County Courts On Friday, Nov. 20, San Juan County Superior and District Courts entered emergency orders postponing all jury trials until after Jan. 15, 2021, due to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. San Juan County has experienced a resurgence of COVID-19 cases since late October when COVID transmission rates began dramatically increasing across  Continue Reading

By San Juan County Since the last update on Friday, Nov. 20, total cases in San Juan County have increased from 59 to 63. Two of these new cases are on San Juan Island, the other two are on Orcas Island. Current positive case numbers are available online at the San Juan County Case Count  Continue Reading

By State of Washington Recreation and Conservation Office Recreation and conservation lands managed by local, state and federal governments in Washington state can now be viewed easily online in a new mapping application. The Public Lands Inventory web app displays more than 18.8 million acres of public lands used for recreation or wildlife habitat in  Continue Reading

Higher Tax Assessments Don’t Always Lead To Paying More Taxes By Merri Ann Simonson, Managing Broker, Coldwell Banker San Juan Islands Inc All of us island property owners received our tax assessment notices from San Juan County recently. As real estate agents, we have been fielding many questions about the statements and new assessments. As  Continue Reading

By Rep. Larsen’s Office Rep. Rick Larsen, Chair of the House Aviation Subcommittee, released the below statement on the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to unground the Boeing 737 MAX: “The FAA’s decision to unground the 737 MAX is good news for us in the Pacific Northwest. The decision provides some certainty to the aerospace jobs  Continue Reading

By San Juan County Since the last update on Monday, Nov. 16, the total cases in San Juan County have increased from 56 to 59. Two of these new cases are on Orcas Island and the other is on San Juan Island. Orcas Island There are a total of three positive cases being actively monitored  Continue Reading

By San Juan County From the beginning of the COVD-19 crisis, an effective and safe vaccine has been seen as the ultimate solution for ending the disruption and impacts of the pandemic. As we head into our ninth month, numerous vaccine development efforts are underway, with many giving us reason for optimism. The intent of  Continue Reading

By Rep. Rick Larsen’s Office Reps. Rick Larsen (WA-02), Chair of the House Aviation Subcommittee, Garret Graves (LA-06), the Subcommittee’s Ranking Member, and Sharice Davids (KS-03), the Subcommittee’s Vice Chair, introduced a bipartisan resolution designating the week of Nov. 16 – 22, 2020, as National Drone Safety Awareness Week. Founded by the Federal Aviation Administration  Continue Reading

Seven New Cases On Orcas, No New Hospitalization in County By San Juan County Orcas Island Since the last update, seven new cases have been identified on Orcas Island. This brings the total number of cases in San Juan County to 56. All of these new cases are tied to a nine-case cluster on Orcas  Continue Reading

Most Restrictions Start Nov. 16; For Restaurants, Nov. 18 By Washington’s Governor’s Office On Sunday, Nov. 15, Gov. Jay Inslee announced a four-week statewide set of restrictions in response to the recent rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus in Washington and across the country. The new restrictions come as Washington sees consistent increasing daily case  Continue Reading

By San Juan County As we head into what may be the most challenging time yet in the COVID crisis, we want to share information about at-home testing options. To begin, a few key points: 1. If you are symptomatic, contact a local health care provider and talk about getting tested. Stay home until you  Continue Reading

By San Juan County Two new positive COVID-19 test results have been reported for San Juan County. One each was found on Orcas and San Juan. The total case count for the islands is now 49. Both cases are close contacts of previous cases. If we change our behavior, we can stop this recent surge  Continue Reading

By San Juan County Four new positive COVID-19 test results have been reported for San Juan County. The total case count for the islands is now 47. Three of these cases are on San Juan Island, and one is on Orcas. Though investigations are ongoing, early results suggest that that two of the San Juan  Continue Reading

By Cindy Wolf, San Juan County Council Member District 2 Elect I want to extend my sincere thanks to all of my campaign supporters, volunteers and staff, and especially to the voters, for electing me as San Juan County Council Member from District 2. I am honored that you put your trust in me to  Continue Reading

By San Juan Island Library Love your library? Join the San Juan Island Library Board of Trustees. The board is seeking candidates to fill a vacancy on its five-member library board. This non-paid term of office spans from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025, with eligibility for reappointment to another full five-year term. Recommendations  Continue Reading

By San Juan County Everything about the COVID crisis has been uncertain and ever-changing. Partly as a result of that, we’re all left scratching our heads wondering why some things are allowed and others prohibited. It is difficult to know what is safe vs. high risk, and many of us feel like the regulations and  Continue Reading

By San Juan County A positive COVID-19 test result has been reported for a Lopez Island resident. This is the 39th case in San Juan County. The ongoing investigation indicates that transmission was likely due to off-island travel. The recent surge in cases across the country provides an opportunity to refresh ourselves on how to  Continue Reading

By San Juan County Another positive COVID-19 test result has been reported for an Orcas Island resident. This is the 38th case reported in San Juan County. The case has occurred in a close household contact of a recent Orcas Island case. Ongoing investigations show that the four most recent cases on Orcas Island are  Continue Reading