Island County Commissioners have approved a grant of $70k to the Low Income Housing Institute that will go towards “predevelopment costs” associated with the Institute’s proposal to purchase the Harbor Inn in Freeland and turn it into 10 low-income units. Also, the commissioners approved asking the Washington state Housing Trust...
Oak Harbor Mayor Bob Severns went through a PowerPoint presentation at the City Council meeting that addressed the City Council’s no-confidence vote in City Administrator Blain Oborn. Mayor Severns went through each point raised by the council’s motion of no-confidence to explain the reasons why the complaints were either misleading...
Gov. Jay Inslee has conditionally commuted Rogelio Vasquez’s 46-year sentence after he has already served 22 years. Vasquez was convicted and sentenced following a 1998 crime spree in Coupeville. Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks, who prosecuted Vasquez, recommended approval of the commutation in a statement to the Clemency and Pardons...
Editor Jessie Stensland wrote an In Our Opinion column in the Oct. 19 edition of the Whidbey News-Times endorsing several candidates for Oak Harbor City Council. They Said It Jessie Stensland: …ultimately Shane Hoffmire and Fe Mischo are the best candidates because they are independent thinkers who want to make...
Editor Jessie Stensland wrote an In Our Opinion column in the Oct. 16 edition of the Whidbey News-Times endorsing several candidates for school boards. They Said It Jessie Stensland: Voters should support the incumbents islandwide. They are open and proud about their records, as they should be. For the Oak...
Editor Jessie Stensland wrote an In Our Opinion column in the Whidbey News-Times supporting the levy increase put forward by WhidbeyHealth. For more details on the proposal, see this story. They Said It Jessie Stensland: [V]oters should support an increase in a levy that helps fund operations at Whidbey Island...
Politicians in Olympia are eyeing redrawing the lines that make up the 10th Legislative District to unite the Islands in three counties into one district. The 10th is a critical swing district and how it is redrawn could have significant political consequences. “No matter what, there is going to be...
Island County Public Hospital District No. 1, better known as WhidbeyHealth, is proposing an increase in their levy rate from $0.078 to $0.50 per $1,000 of assessed value. The proposition will appear on the ballot in this November’s election. The district, which has struggled financially particularly since the beginning of...
