Here’s a thought…
“Old age is no joke, but it can feel like one.”
TAD TOMPKINS
Jurors excused for February 24-28
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS ||| JURY DUTY: FEBRUARY 24-28, 2025 For the jury period beginning Monday, February 24th through Friday February 28th, all jurors are excused. Thank you.
A climate ad that reached millions
Science Moms’ Super Bowl ad, why extreme heat worsens diabetes, & three S’s of climate action ||| FROM TALKING CLIMATE ||| If you tuned in to the Super Bowl this year, you might have seen an ad from Science Moms, a nonpartisan climate advocacy group of climate scientists and moms I'm
Climate COMPASS | Islanders invited to shape San Juan County’s climate future
||| FROM CHOM GREACEN and FAITH VAN DE PUTTE for THE MADRONA INSTITUTE ||| Join fellow islanders on Saturday March 8th from 3-5PM at the Emmanuel Episcopal Parish Hall for COMPASS (Comprehensive Plan Outreach for Meaningful Public Action & Sustainable Solutions). San Juan County is updating its Comprehensive Plan, a
PROCLAMATION | Day of Remembrance February 19, 2025
||| FROM TOWN OF FRIDAY HARBOR ||| Photo courtesy of the San Juan Historical Museum. Pictured left to right: Edna Hemphill Nash, Beryl Wade, Jack Saoka, John Nash, and Yuki Saoka Jack and his first wife, Fuji Saoka, moved to the island in 1917. Jack found work at
County seeks proposals from transportation service providers for pilot project
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS ||| San Juan County is seeking proposals from interested parties to provide a variety of transportation services throughout the County. Three separate Requests for Proposals (RFPs) outline services including foot passenger transportation to Anacortes, inter-island foot passenger transportation, and emergency barge transportation services.
It’s a girl! Researchers confirm newest Southern Resident J Pod calf is female
||| FROM KOMO-TV SEATTLE ||| The newest member in the J Pod of the Southern Resident killer whales, calf J62, has been confirmed as a female by the Center for Whale Research. A team was sent to Snug Harbor on Feb. 8 after receiving reports of probable resident whales off the
OPALCO meets with County Council: Energy supply will not meet demand
What’s our energy future going to be? ||| FROM KRISTA BOUCHEY for ORCAS POWER & LIGHT COOPERATIVE ||| The OPALCO team attended and presented at the San Juan County Council meeting on February 10. The team outlined the dire situation that the regional power supply is facing. Our shrinking regional
Memoir writing discussion at Orcas Library
||| FROM SAM GAILEY for ORCAS ISLAND LIBRARY ||| This Friday, Feb. 21st, at 6 pm, please join writers Edee Kulper and John Ashenhurst as they discuss their process of writing memoirs during their time in the San Juan Islands. They will also explore the journals of Rachel Adams, a
Island Health looking for a Medical Assistant
||| FROM ORCAS ISLAND HEALTH CARE DISTRICT ||| Island Health is looking for a full-time Medical Assistant at our clinic on Orcas Island, with an opportunity for on-the-job training. Under the direction of the Clinic Manager, the Medical Assistant oversees the effective clinical operations of the clinic. The Medical Assistant provides
Amid statewide drop in test scores, OCS performance defies the trend
||| FROM ORCAS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL ||| As Orcas Christian School (OCS) students complete their Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) testing, the school is reporting strong student performance. MAP is a standardized assessment that evaluates a student's knowledge in reading, language, and math. Schools use the test to help educators identify
Community Water Taxi requesting support for HB1923
||| FROM COMMUNITY WATER TAXI ||| San Juan Island Community, We continue to shape and support legislation to help our local ferry crisis. We are asking for your support for HB1923, "The Mosquito Fleet Act", which will provide funding for passenger transportation initiatives in San Juan County and beyond. If
Senator Murray on Trump indiscriminately firing workers at Hanford and Bonneville Power Administration
||| FROM THE OFFICE OF SENATOR PATTY MURRAY ||| Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement in response to reports that the Trump administration began firing Washington state workers at the Hanford site and the Bonneville Power Administration.
“We might have to shut down the Country”
Anthony Romero, the A.C.L.U.’s executive director, talks about what he thinks could happen if the Trump Administration defies the authority of the courts. ||| FROM THE NEW YORKER ||| In less than a month, Donald Trump has come through on his promise to exact retribution on his enemies and to
Trump and Musk are playing ‘Russian roulette’ with the Northwest power grid
||| FROM LATITUDE MEDIA ||| The Trump administration’s layoff spree at the Department of Energy is now hitting federal workers who keep the power grids running, posing serious reliability issues for large swaths of the country. Power dispatchers, transmission schedulers and planners, field workers, and realtime traders have been laid off from
Our country’s first American-born president
||| BY LIN MCNULTY, EDITOR, theORCASONIAN ||| There were seven presidents elected in the United State before we elected our first American-born executive, and English was not his first language. The first U.S. citizen to run for president and be elected was Martin Van Buren in 1836, 60 years after
Booing an anthem? Three fights in nine seconds? Welcome to USA-Canada hockey.
||| FROM THE WASHINGTON POST ||| There hadn’t been a fight in an international hockey tournament since the NHL hosted the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, but there hasn’t been an international hockey tournament at a time of such strained relations between the United States and Canada. Against the backdrop of
