Here’s a thought…
“Before we work on artificial intelligence, why don’t we do something about natural stupidity?”
READER BOARD
2025 Marine Naturalist Training Program Opens Registration
||| FROM CONOR AGNEW for THE WHALE MUSEUM ||| The Whale Museum has opened registration for the 2025 spring and summer sessions of the Marine Naturalist Training Program! This hybrid program is an intensive multi-day overview of the natural history of the San Juan Islands and Salish Sea, and leaves
It’s tick time again
||| FROM RUSSEL BARSH for KWIAHT ||| Native Blacklegged Ticks are questing again; in fact, they began their search for fresh hosts in the islands nearly a month earlier this year, presumably due to this winter’s unseasonably mild weather. The islands’ conservation biology laboratory, Kwiaht, is calling on islanders to
Midnight Mutterings | The right to rewrite
||| MIDNIGHT MUTTERINGS by JACKIE.BATES ||| We all learned in school that history is written by the winners. We have our own recent experience of that sad fact. After the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol, it was called a riot, an insurrection and many other unflattering terms.
The one-page calendar that changes how you view the year
||| FROM BIG THINK ||| Key Takeaways Most of us need to refer to a calendar quite frequently to know what calendar date (day, month, year) corresponds to which day of the week. But rather than having to change your calendar every month, this one-page calendar works for the entire
Sheriff’s Report | January 1 – 7, 2025
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE ||| WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1 25-000010 Citizen Dispute 12:01:40 01/01/25 Lopez Deputies responded to a welfare check. An adult child took their parent's vehicle for a ride without asking for permission. The situation resolved itself without Deputy interference, as they returned home a short
Ferguson may delay converting ferries to electric power
||| FROM THE SEATTLE TIMES ||| CLINTON, WHIDBEY ISLAND — Describing the Washington State Ferries system as “in crisis,” Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson said he may postpone the ongoing work to convert the fleet’s largest ferries to electric power. “That is something I’m very interested in,” he told a group of
Health experts rally for ‘call to arms’ to protect children from toxic chemicals
In new paper in the New England Journal of Medicine, leading researchers to propose action to protect kids ||| FROM THE GUARDIAN ||| Children are suffering and dying from diseases that emerging scientific research has linked to chemical exposures, findings that require urgent revamping of laws around the world, according
OICF | A New Beginning
||| FROM LINDSAY JENNINGS for ORCAS ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ||| I wish I could say it’s been a great start to the year and fill this message with only joy and excitement. Hard to do when so many are suffering from recent bouts of violence in our country and throughout
‘The Santa Anas’ by Joan Didion
||| BY JOAN DIDION ||| There is something uneasy in the Los Angeles air this afternoon, some unnatural stillness, some tension. What it means is that tonight a Santa Ana will begin to blow, a hot wind from the northeast whining down through the Cajon and San Gorgonio Passes, blowing
WSF Weekly Report | 61,000 passengers in one day
||| FROM STEVE NEVEY for WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES ||| A message from Steve Yesterday, I joined Governor-elect Ferguson, Senate Transportation Committee Chair Marko Liias, House Transportation Committee (HTC) Chair Jake Fey, and HTC members Representatives Dave Paul and Greg Nance, for focused conversations on WSF’s service. We attended a meeting
Occam’s Razor | Our island, our world through the eyes, pen of S.C. Watson
Welcome to our weekly feature, Occam's Razor, from local artist S.C. Watson.
Art Opening: Visual Arts Committee
||| FROM BETHANY MARIE for ORCAS CENTER ||| Join us for the first Art Show of 2025 at Orcas Center – Friday, January 17 at 5:30pm - showcasing the art of our dedicated Visual Arts Committee! About 20 years ago, a group of artists decided to take up the task
San Juan County Jury Duty: January 13-17, 2025
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS ||| JURY DUTY: JANUARY 13-17, 2025 All Jurors summonsed for jury duty the week of January 13 - 17th are excused. Thank you.
Bob Ferguson vows to make fixing Washington’s ferry system a ‘top priority’
||| FROM KING-5TV ||| MUKILTEO, Wash. — Governor-elect Bob Ferguson boarded a state ferry Wednesday and sailed into uncharted waters on Wednesday. The state ferry system is sinking, with a budget deficit of at least $10 billion over the next four years. Ferguson minced no words. "It's a front-burner issue,"
Attention San Juan County businesses: Sales tax increase effective April 1, 2025
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS ||| San Juan County’s Treasurer’s Office is providing notice to local businesses of an upcoming increase to sales tax in San Jaun County. A 1/10th of 1% sales tax will be enacted on April 1, 2025, to support a new Cultural Access Program. Businesses must collect the
Washington State bans net-pen aquaculture
||| FROM NATIONALFISHERMEN.COM ||| Commercial finfish pen aquaculture appears finished in Washington State, after the Board of Natural Resources voted Jan. 7 to ban the industry. The vote was a victory for Washington State’s Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, who pushed for strict limitations on leasing state tidelands for
