Outdoors
The Northwest is an outdoorsy playground all year round - punctuated by mountain ranges that bisect Washington and Oregon and continue on up into British Columbia. As the seasons change and the inevitable autumn rain kicks off, there's a positive flip side to all the sprinkles - snow in the
Outdoors
The fall hunting season is upon us. The Pacific Northwest is famous for its green forests and the wide variety of animals that inhabit them - many of them legal game for hunters. Washington state is home to several varieties of deer, as well as elk, pheasants, grouse, waterfowl, wild
Outdoors
Looking for a fun way to welcome Fall? Harvest festivals throughout the Puget Sound area can turn any Oct. weekend into a celebration.PIERCE COUNTY Metro Parks Tacoma (www.metroparkstacoma.org/harvestfest) is sponsoring four separate harvest festivals this year featuring arts and crafts, carnival games, live entertainment and more. They are: Harvest Fest at Norpoint,
News Front
As the Washington National Guard celebrated the 45th Annual Adjutant General's Militia Ball, hearts and minds were with hundreds of guardsmen battling wildfires across the state. "In fact, this is the first militia ball that I've ever been to where we still have more than five hundred of our fellow guardsmen
Music
When I was working as a volunteer at The Grand Cinema in 2005, I was given headphones by a girl and told to listen to this new band called Arcade Fire. I listened in, and what I heard was the sound of a scrappy group of Canadians making lo-fi versions
Stage
Lakewood Playhouse kicks off its 77th season with Aaron Sorkin's breathtaking courtroom drama A Few Good Men. As with most of Sorkin's creations, such as the television dramas, The West Wing and The Newsroom, this play is rife with high ideals, compelling clashes of culture and beliefs, larger-than-life but flawed
Reviews
Like most towns in the South Sound, Lakewood is filled with chain restaurants that you can find just about anywhere. However, like every town as well, it has a hidden local favorite that generally only the neighborhood knows about. Lakewood has a handful of these. El Pulgarcito on South Tacoma
Arts
I regret that I did not get to see more work by Betty Sapp Ragan or get to know her personally before she died in May 2014. I reviewed a couple of group shows she was in, and I had the pleasure of visiting her studio during last year's Tacoma
Arts
Close your eyes and visualize an event called an "art and wine walk" (but then open them to read this.) In your visualization, you might have imagined a nattily dressed gentleman with a gal on his arm; she's in a flowing silk dress, and they're jaunting from space to space,
Arts
The Squaxin Island Tribe‘s "Home of Sacred Belongings" Museum Library and Research Center in Shelton will hold its 16th annual Native art auction and dinner, Sept. 19, on site at the museum. Billed as "an experiential evening," the affair will feature Native delicacies, including moss pudding, wild game, carrots or huckleberry
Outdoors
On Saturday, Gig Harbor celebrates the return of the salmon - a little early. The ninth annual Donkey Creek Chum Festival offers walking tours, boat races, touch tanks, crafts and music but not many salmon, other than dead ones - some that kids will coat with paint to make salmon-printed T-shirts
Attractions
Active-duty soldiers, Reserve, retired, National Guard, plus their dependents and also disabled veterans, were granted free gate admission to the 2015 Washington State Fair Monday, Sept. 14. The next military appreciation day at the fair will be Monday, Sept. 21. As part of the fair's military appreciation day, patrons Monday were
Jobs & Education
When students at Pierce College on Joint Base Lewis-McChord start their fall quarter Sept. 21, many will take courses that are textbook-free - enjoying significant cost savings and experiencing a wholly new way of learning. Pierce College is the third community college in the United States and the first college in
News Front
On the 14th Anniversary of 9/11, Joint Base Lewis-McChord's 2nd Ranger Battalion received two valorous unit awards for combat actions in Afghanistan. The first recognized the members of A Company for actions during Operation Bulldog Bite in November 2010. They were supporting members of the 101st Airborne and the Afghan National
News Front
The Permission To Start Dreaming (PTSD) Foundation, a Gig Harbor-based nonprofit focused on raising awareness and funding for alternative therapies to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for returning soldiers, will hold its fifth annual Prayer Breakfast Friday, Sept. 25, at 7 a.m. at the Jim & Carolyn Milgard Hope Center. The prayer
News Front
The staccato of automatic weapons fire filled the still desert air at the Yakima Training Center. "You're next," 1st Lt. Kenneth Medina, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, said to me as we approached the shoot house on Range 24. "You can enter with my men and see how well they do as
Military Life
Sarge looks nervous. She has the somewhat disconnected but hyper-vigilant appearance that many of her breed possess. These dogs' owners and fans say the dogs are "different." A complex mixture of the comfort of home and the disquiet of war seems to bond them to the soldiers who have saved
News Front
Spc. Jacob Darbonne patiently explained to a soldier assigned to the 6th Battalion, Kumaon Regiment of the Indian Army how his M-4 works. Through halting English, the Indian soldier said he appreciated what Darbonne, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, had told him. "This is good for us to come
News Front
The Army retired the colors the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, then redesignated the unit the 1st Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Tuesday. Units reflag frequently. It's a part of the realities of force restructuring as the military grows and shrinks to meet demand. And as personnel and budget cuts loom large
Archives
Friday, Sept. 21 JAZZ ed taylor band Tacoma jazz guitarist Ed Taylor has Gibson Guitars in his camp, an honor that allows him to play what he feels are the best guitars in the world. His Gibson of choice: the Steve Howe ES-175, which he works masterfully on his latest CD, Songs