Senator-elect Kevin Ranker’s first post-election challenge? “I hope to be able to take a nap,” he quipped Wednesday. Well, perhaps he can catch a cat nap. “I’ve got meetings as early as next week that I’ve already been called in to,” Ranker said.
DT McCarty grew up in a segregated Alabama in the 1950s, attended an all-black university, and encountered subtle and not-so-subtle racism during her life. She never thought the America she knows — an America she said is still grappling with attitudes about race — would elect a black president in her lifetime.
Bowing to the stress of tough economic times, the San Juan County Council on Tuesday approved a new set of stormwater fees, but only after slashing the amount property owners will pay for so-called “capital projects” by 90 percent.
San Juan Island School Board members are reconsidering the use of crumb rubber as an underlayment at the Friday Harbor Elementary School playground. A special school board meeting is scheduled for tonight, 5:30, in the high school library.
Enrollment is on the rise at two of the island’s three private schools. Spring Street International School added 13 students this fall. Stillpoint School’s enrollment increased by five. Paideia Classical School saw a six student drop in enrollment this school year.
San Juan County voters helped make history Tuesday. They voted overwhelmingly for America’s first black president, sent one of their own to the state Senate for the first time in 100 years, elected two new County Council members, and helped Gov. Christine Gregoire maintain the governorship.
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Bellingham, easily won a fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, District 2, Tuesday. At 8:10 p.m. Larsen was leading with 65,976 votes to Rick Bart’s 41,066, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Votes had been reported in Island and Snohomish counties. Elections officials were still awaiting results from King, San Juan, Skagit and Whatcom counties.
Rep. Jeff Morris, D-Anacortes, won a seventh term Tuesday as the San Juan Island’s representative in the state House. At 8:59 p.m., Morris received 11,630 votes to Howard Pellett’s 3,206. Pellett is the Green Party’s candidate and a former Bothell city councilman now living in Anacortes.
Lovel Pratt was elected to the San Juan County Council from San Juan South tonight, succeeding Kevin Ranker, who opted to run for state Senate rather than reelection.
For inspiration, Kevin Ranker turned to the rock on Election Day. Not just any rock — a little white rock with the word “hope” etched in the surface, a good luck charm given to him during his first campaign for political office by a neighbor’s son.
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Bellingham, was coasting Tuesday to a fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, District 2. At 8:10 p.m. Larsen was leading with 65,976 votes to Rick Bart’s 41,066, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Votes had been reported in Island and Snohomish counties. Elections officials were still awaiting results from King, San Juan, Skagit and Whatcom counties.
Libby Nieland of the Secretary of State’s office watched as San Juan County elections workers processed ballots in the tight quarters of the elections office. She was impressed.
Pat Speer’s life will be celebrated Saturday, 1 p.m., in Turnbull Gym at Friday Harbor High School. The event is open to the public. Her ashes will be interred at a later date in Nebraska.
