By Angela Anderson, executive director, and Keith Wentworth, board president, San Juan Preservation Trust San Juan Preservation Trust’s 42nd annual meeting will be held 5-6:15 p.m., Thursday, May 20. We are excited to share our past year’s accomplishments in pursuit of our mission to conserve island land, care for the land under our protection, and  Continue Reading

From Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office The Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office has named Olympia resident and long-time environmental advocate Tara Galuska to coordinate the state’s orca recovery efforts. As orca recovery coordinator, Galuska will be working with partners to help implement recommendations of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Southern Resident Killer Whale Task Force and tracking  Continue Reading

From the Islands’ Oil Spill Association The Islands’ Oil Spill Association is hosting a free training for local oil spill response volunteers. Anyone interested in becoming an IOSA volunteer is welcome to attend, in addition to existing members of the team. The training will be 8:45 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Saturday, May 22 in Friday Harbor. Space  Continue Reading

From the San Juan Island Sculpture Park Join us from 8-10 a.m. Wednesday, May 19 to watch for our fine feathered friends at the San Juan Island Sculpture Park located next to Roche Harbor Resort. The event occurs every third Wednesday of the month through September. Last month, attendees spotted more than 28 bird species.  Phil  Continue Reading

A Sunflower Star is Born By Jason Hodin, senior research scientist, Friday Harbor Labs.  Among the world’s hundreds of types of known starfish (or seastars as I’ll call them), our Pacific coast sunflower stars are true record breakers. They are the largest seastar in the world, with an arm-tip-to-arm-tip “wingspan” of more than two feet  Continue Reading

Officials Say Indoor Masking Protects Unvaccinated Children   From San Juan County The Center for Disease Control has recently released new guidance on wearing masks for fully vaccinated individuals. That announcement has been followed by the governor’s decision to more or less match the CDC guidance. Fully vaccinated means two weeks past your final shot.  Continue Reading

From San Juan County Sheriff’s Office Over the last few weeks, the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office has been getting increasingly more reports of dead deer that show no real signs of trauma but have foaming mouths. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife now believes the cause of the deaths is Adenovirus Hemorrhagic Disease. AHD  Continue Reading

From San Juan County Since the last update on Friday, May, total cases in San Juan County have increased from 179 to 180. There are four close contacts of positive cases currently in active quarantine. There is one new case on San Juan Island since the last update. This new case is a close contact  Continue Reading

From San Juan County Sheriff’s Office   On April 28, the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office investigated a report of a hidden camera located in the bedroom of a Friday Harbor residence.   The landlord Ryan H. Bennett was charged with residential burglary with sexual motivation and voyeurism.   Future court dates were set and  Continue Reading

From Spring Street International School Island residents may be noticing decorated file cabinets scattered around the town and islands. These cabinets were designed by English composition students at Spring Street International School to help relieve food insecurity for islanders. The cabinets were repurposed to become food donation cabinets, where people can freely take or give  Continue Reading

From San Juan Community Theatre San Juan Community Theatre and San Juan Island Museum of Art have collaborated to produce a series of mini-documentaries highlighting local artists. The newest edition features Tom Small. Take a look at Tom in action at his home workshop as he creates gorgeous stone sculptures here. As a kid, Tom  Continue Reading

Age: Approximately 1.5 years Sex: Female Breed: Domestic Shorthair, Dilute Calico Application: www.apsfh.com/adoption-program/feline-application/ Meet Sissy! A gorgeous feline looking for a forever home. Sissy has a few guidelines she would like her adopters to follow: Must have a variety of toys, comfy bed, plenty of food, a nice window seat, room to strut around, and  Continue Reading

From San Juan County Ages 12 and older can now register for COVID-19 vaccine clinics on San Juan, Orcas and Lopez islands. Find full details and links to register at www.sanjuanco.com/1737/COVID-Vaccine-Info. This is the Pfizer vaccine. It was approved for use with those 12 years and older May 12. The second shots will be three  Continue Reading

By Deb Langhans, holistic life coach, Journeys to Healing Journeys to Healings presents “Processing the Pandemic” Inner Journey Collage© Workshop from 10 a.m.-noon and 3-5 p.m. Sunday, June 27 online for $50.  The scourge of COVID-19 has upended our lives as the most horrific pandemic since 1918. While vaccines provide hope for eventually defeating the  Continue Reading

From San Juan County The draft 2021 notice of funds for the San Juan County Home Fund is available to review. The draft plan states the final version will be released June 1 and applications are due July 16. Applications will establish a list of projects for funding in 2021. The Home Fund is used  Continue Reading

From San Juan Community Theatre Director Margaret Hall will hold auditions for ages 16-35 at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 6 in the Gubelman at the San Juan Community Theatre.   We are looking forward with hope to presenting “Mamma Mia!” this November. Additional auditions for all ages will be held on Sunday, July 11. All  Continue Reading

From the San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild It seems like only a few years ago that the San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild threw a grand opening party for our community’s beloved Brickworks building and plaza, but in fact, the original historic building is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. May is “History Lives Here” month  Continue Reading

From Skagit Valley College Up to 250 juniors and seniors in Skagit, Island and San Juan counties can take up to five credits at Skagit Valley College this summer, thanks to a new summer program affiliated with Running Start. Running Start is a dual credit program that began in the early 1990s and allows high  Continue Reading

From Washington Health Benefit Exchange Health coverage purchased on Washington Healthplanfinder became much more affordable May 6 as the Washington Health Benefit Exchange rolled out new savings to help Washingtonians with the cost of their individual health insurance. Under the new American Rescue Plan Act, over half a million people statewide will find more savings  Continue Reading

Open Positions include Friday Harbor Mayor, Port Commissioner, San Juan School Board and more   From San Juan County If you have ever wanted to be an elected official, now is your chance.  Offices will soon be open in fire, school, hospital, water, sewer, port, parks and recreation, and cemetery districts throughout the county.  Three  Continue Reading

From Island Rec Island Rec is pleased to welcome Katie Aiello as its new recreation specialist. Katie will primarily be organizing sports, fitness and outdoor programming. After spending the last 10 summers on San Juan Island, she is happy to now call it her permanent home. Katie is originally from California but has also lived  Continue Reading

By Learner Limbach, Orcas Island Have you ever looked at your choices on a ballot and thought, “I’m just not excited about any of these”? I have, and I’m tired of being coerced into voting for the “lesser evil”. I think many others are, too. Ranked-choice voting is one idea that is giving me hope,  Continue Reading