Pet of the Week: Penelope

Crossposted from Tails from RASKC Penelope is a 1 ½ year-old, brown torbie, shorthair female cat (#A550272). Her adoption color is RED, meaning she is a spirited cat with a fun-loving personality. Penelope is an affectionate lovebug who likes getting attention on her own terms. This sweet girl has a big personality! She can get a little overstimulated with petting, so keep an eye out for signs she may need a break. Penelope can be a little shy and would do best in a calm, quiet home. She may also do best… Read More

Seafair Fleet Week and Seafair Weekend are here!

Seafair has hosted Fleet Week on the Seattle waterfront since 1950, and is doing it again this week! Seafair, the Seattle Navy League and the Port of Seattle welcomed ships and personnel from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy to the Seattle waterfront Tuesday, July 31 during a majestic Parade of Ships. Ship tours are operating Aug. 1-5. The Centerline has published a blog post covering the Aug. 3-5 Seafair Weekend; featuring the annual sun-soaked showcase of hydroplanes, pirates and aerial displays – headlined by the Blue Angels’… Read More

My internship experience at King County International Airport

By Sydney Brusnighan Sydney Brusnighan is a Tukwila resident, Raisbeck Aviation High School student and Finance and Business Administration Intern with King County International Airport / Boeing Field. Her internship aligns with KCIA’s support of the King County Aerospace Alliance. As I approach the halfway point of my time here at the airport, I have begun to reflect on what I have completed and what events lie in the future. Through daily tasks, I have been able to gain a holistic view of Finance and the airport’s inner workings. Everyone on the… Read More

Funding victory gets staff back to doing what they do best

When funding for a major five-year study of Public Health’s pioneering FLASH sexual health education program was restored last week, employees who work on the program took a collective sigh of relief. “We were starting our third year of the project when we received notification that our study, which is funded by the Office of Adolescent Health’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program, was going to be terminated two years early, so we weren’t going to have the final two years of our funding to complete the study,” Andrea Gerber, Health Educator and… Read More

King County Parks: An opportunity to serve

King County’s Park and Trail Ambassadors Program – and the Adopt-a-Park or -Trail Programs – allow the local community to enjoy the outdoors while serving, maintaining and stewarding their own Big Backyard. Maintaining a network of 200 parks, 175 miles of regional trails, 215 miles of backcountry trails, and 28,000 acres of open space is a big challenge, and community volunteers help King County preserve these lands for visitors today and into the future. King County Parks receives on average 8,000 volunteers per year and, together, they donate more than 55,000 volunteer… Read More

Celebrating summer learning

Crossposted from Best Starts for Kids Blog Robots whizzing across the floor while kids learn coding languages to control them. Creative writing exercises that become movement-based art about what it’s like to be a young person today. A youth-led book club discussing The Hate U Give, a young adult novel about the aftermath of racist police murder. These are just a few examples of the incredible summer learning opportunities we saw while celebrating Summer Learning Day last week with our partner School’s Out Washington. As part of hundreds of Summer Learning Day celebrations across… Read More

With investments by Amazon and City of Seattle, King County Metro will offer more frequent, reliable service on some of its most popular routes

King County Metro will offer more frequent and reliable bus service on some of its most popular routes beginning this fall thanks to significant investments by Amazon and the City of Seattle. Amazon’s investment will provide 22 additional weekday trips for two years across some of Metro’s busiest routes serving West Seattle, Shoreline, Ballard, and Capitol Hill. The additional service provides room for roughly 1,700 weekday boardings, and includes the RapidRide E Line and C Line, and Routes 8, 40, 62, and 63. The additional service hours will be part of Metro’s… Read More

King County Community Court grand opening in Redmond

The King County Community Court in Redmond will be holding its grand opening celebration Wednesday, Aug. 1 at 1 p.m. Visit the new site and click on the infographic sample below for more information.  

Proudly in defense of breastfeeding, in King County and everywhere

Crossposted from Public Health Insider Statement from Patty Hayes, Director of Public Health—Seattle & King County, responding to news that the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services aggressively attempted to water down international support for breastfeeding through the World Health Organization. “The notion that any national or international health agency would not completely support breastfeeding is truly shocking. Breastfeeding is broadly endorsed by both the medical community and nutrition community – and for very good reasons. Decades of research have demonstrated benefits such as: Breast milk supplies antibodies, which lowers the… Read More

Purple Loosestrife – July’s Weed of the Month

Crossposted from Noxious Weeds Blog Although it is perhaps one of the prettiest noxious weeds, purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is widely recognized throughout North America as a highly invasive and damaging weed in wetlands and along shorelines. Vigorous perennial roots and rhizomes, combined with incredibly prolific seed production, result in one of the most successful invasive plants we have on this continent. Unfortunately, dense populations of purple loosestrife significantly reduce the habitat quality of wetlands and shorelines for waterfowl, amphibians, fish and other critters. Purple loosestrife does not play well with other plants and… Read More