SR 99 construction may delay your commute Monday 8/25 & Tuesday 8/26
Employees commuting to/from downtown Seattle for work on Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 25 and 26, should prepare for upcoming transit delays and reroutes on State Route 99 and Aurora Avenue North as the state closes sections of the roadway for construction 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 22 through 5 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27. Seventeen routes will be directly affected by either delays, reroutes or both during the construction closures. Riders can go online to see reroute information for five Aurora Avenue North bus routes. Riders on another 12 bus routes should prepare for… Read More
Employee uses Zumba to help employees get in shape
At a Seattle Storm basketball game, 80 Zumba instructors performed for the half time show. Sitting in the crowd, Lilian Yetter thought that might be something she’d want to try. “They were looking like they had so much fun. One lady I focused on out of the 80 instructors out there had this big smile on her face, and I was watching her thinking, ‘wow, this is really cool,’” Yetter said. So Yetter joined a local gym to learn Zumba, and was greeted by none other than the Zumba instructor with the… Read More
Employees take noxious weed fight to the streets
The employees of King County’s Noxious Weed Program know they can’t stop the spread of invasive plants on their own, so they’re bringing a secret weapon to the fight – local residents and businesses. “We try to teach people enough so they can do better at controlling these plants. A lot of people want to control noxious weeds and invasive plants, but not everyone knows how. We offer that expertise,” said Sasha Shaw, the noxious weed education specialist. Throughout the year, staff from the program attend public events to answer questions about… Read More
Radio brings out employee’s passion for music
When Sandy Macdonald isn’t working as a civil rights investigator, he is playing music – as a radio host, producer and in a band. “I just enjoy playing the music and I enjoy being part of live radio,” Macdonald said. An 18-year employee with what is now King County’s Office of Civil Rights and Open Government, Sandy gets in the radio booth every second and fourth Sunday of the month to host 91.3 KBCS’s show, “Sunday Folks” from 9 a.m. to noon. The show describes itself as “A morning mix of traditional… Read More
PAO’s Annual Food Frenzy Drive Raises $11,600 for Food Lifeline
The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (PAO) completed its annual two-week fundraising project in July called Food Frenzy, which raised $11,600 for Food Lifeline which equals last year’s total. The money will provide 46,400 meals for hungry children. Food Frenzy is a “friendly” competition between law, accounting and engineering firms with the goal of feeding children during the summer months when food bank shelves aren’t well stocked and school lunch programs aren’t running. The PAO again won the competition in the Public Sector category for 2014 and has won in that category for the past… Read More
Lync Awareness Event at King Street Center
More than 175 employees stopped by the KCIT Lync Team’s booth on July 23 and 24 to learn more about Lync. Some of the questions we heard were focused on: What’s changed in Lync 2013 compared to 2010 Update on the Outlook contact phone numbers in Lync issue How to get your picture in Lync How to get more information and training.
Lunch and Learn highlights County’s efforts to end human trafficking
According to Kelly Mangiaracina, King County’s Task Force Coordinator for Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC), an estimated 300-500 children are forced into prostitution in Seattle every year. When the CSEC Task Force was convened by Juvenile Court Judge Barbara A. Mack in 2013, it hoped to change that. “King County was very fortunate to realize this is an issue. We’re very fortunate to have great organizations in the area that want to do something about it,” Mangiaracina said at the Equity and Social Justice “Stopping Human Trafficking” Lunch and Learn held on June… Read More
Five Questions with Judy Garcia, Director of Probation Services, District Court
1. What was your first role at King County and how did you progress to Director of Probation Services? I began as a Volunteer for the Federal Way District Court Probation Department in 1982, while working for the Weyerhaeuser Company. During my time as a volunteer, I enjoyed interviewing defendants about life problems and writing pre-sentence reports much more than I enjoyed talking with sawmill managers about log inventories, and writing competitor analysis reports. I found working in the criminal justice system, rather than in the timber industry, to be highly interesting… Read More
It’s not waste anymore at King County Transfer Stations
King County is reducing our impact on the environment by helping residents and businesses increase recycling at County owned transfer stations, keeping reusable and recyclable items out of the landfill. Transfer station recycling is up by 2,057 tons or 49 percent over the first half of this year, due largely to a 21 percent jump in yard waste recycling, a 60 percent spike in scrap metal recycling, and a more than 400 percent increase in wood waste recycling. These increases are the result of a number of changes, including the full restoration… Read More
Helping young adults with disabilities make school-to-work transition
The transition from high school to adulthood can be scary for anyone, but particularly for someone who has a developmental or intellectual disability. “You start to become an adult when you leave high school. Whether you’re an 18 or 21 year old like the people we serve, it’s just a pivotal time. Everyone wants to know, ‘Well what are you going to do?,’” Richard Wilson said. Wilson is the program manager who heads up the Developmental Disabilities Division’s School to Work Program. The program works with school districts in King County to… Read More
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