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Open a BECU Early Saver account and receive a gift. It’s never too early to start developing healthy financial habits. And since April is Credit Union Youth Month, it’s a great time to help kids take the first step! BECU’s Early Saver account makes saving easy and rewarding.1 In addition to earning a premium rate on their first $500, kids can track their savings using online banking. Plus — to ...read more

The next round of Music Groups starts April 17 and 18! These groups were created with the intent of supporting children and their parents socially, by providing an open space to create and foster relationships. Music can support a child's overall development. Connections between speech and singing, rhythm and motor behavior, and preferred music can be used to enhance mood, language, motor, ...read more

City Mayors and County Commissioners, in partnership with Skagit County Public Health, have worked together to solve the upcoming funding shortfall faced by Skagit First Step Center. Committed to North Star Project efforts to collectively address homelessness and behavioral health, leaders embraced the challenge to meet the needs of community members experiencing homelessness.Through partnership ...read more

Everett, Washington – Once again, NW Plus Credit Union is pleased to announce that on March 17th, 2023 our 4th annual Member Loyalty Bonus will disburse to over 9,100 eligible members, totaling more than $344,000. nw+|cu’s Member Loyalty Bonus rewards both savers and borrowers for their overall relationship with the credit union.  nw+|cu is pleased that our efforts in 2022 continued to provide us ...read more

Press Update 1 - Contributed by Unified CommandA unified command has formed to address the March 16, 2023 train derailment near Anacortes. The command consists of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington Dept. of Ecology, BNSF Railway, Skagit County Department of Emergency Management, and Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.Shortly after midnight, a train derailed near the Swinomish Casino ...read more

Program will award grants to restaurants, hotels, motels, and others impacted by Covid-19   The State Department of Commerce announced a new grant opportunity for businesses in the hospitality and lodging industry that suffered business losses due to the pandemic. The application portal opens on March 14 at wahospitalitygrants.com.     VISIT WEBSITE    Who can ...read more

Skagit Valley College (SVC) will host the Northwest Conference Girls and Boys All-Star Basketball Game on Wednesday, March 15 at 6 p.m. on its Mount Vernon campus in the Dave DuVall Pavilion Gym.   The community is invited to celebrate the spirit of basketball and sportsmanship. The cost of admission is $7 for adults and $5 for students.   This game is a terrific opportunity for students, ...read more

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Lorna Gober, MD, has joined PeaceHealth’s Northwest network as chief medical officer (CMO).  As CMO, Dr. Gober will work closely with the PeaceHealth Northwest executive team as well as medical staff and medical group physician leadership. Dr. Gober will also be an important addition to the PeaceHealth senior physician leadership team made up of other PeaceHealth hospital and ...read more

SEDRO-WOOLLEY — The city of Sedro-Woolley will host a town hall Saturday with the state legislators from the 39th District. The town hall is 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the City Council chambers. State Sen. Keith Wagoner and representatives Carolyn Eslick and Sam Low will provide updates on key bills important to the people of Skagit County as the Legislature passes the midway point of its 105-day ...read more

  Home prices have declined for six straight months every month from July 2022 through December 2022. In December they declined by 0.8% from November, the largest monthly decline since September. Why it matters: Home prices are cooling because of higher interest rates. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is now well over 6%. Up from over 3% at the start of 2022.The Fed has been raising ...read more

More than half of the homes are needed for residents at the lowest income levelsOLYMPIA, WA --- The Washington State Department of Commerce today released its final housing needs projections, which show the state needs to add 1.1 million homes over the next 20 years, and more than half of them need to be affordable for residents at the lowest income levels. Based on census data and the Office of ...read more

  MAR. 2, 2023   AWB Hopeful About Legislative PrioritiesYesterday marked the halfway point of the 105-day legislative session. AWB is encouraged to see key bills around housing, energy and workforce move forward, and there’s still time for lawmakers to address the urgent issue of public safety. Eighteen AWB-supported housing bills are still alive. This includes ...read more

The Port of Skagit maintenance team marked a major milestone recently, by completing an upgrade to LED lighting at the La Conner Marina.  While the Port’s maintenance teams have been upgrading all Port facilities to LED lighting as needed when old lights burn out, a proactive and complete upgrade at the marina began in earnest several months ago to take advantage of bulk purchasing discounts and ...read more

PeaceHealth announced that Amber Asbjornsen will become chief development officer for the PeaceHealth Northwest network on March 13.  She will provide philanthropy leadership to the network development staff and volunteer boards for PeaceHealth St. Joseph, United General and Ketchikan foundations, building upon the culture of gratitude in the Northwest network.  “I am thrilled to join the ...read more

OLYMPIA ꟷ After weeks of negotiations, the Washington State Hospital Association has reached a compromise position on Senate Bill 5236, the hospital staffing bill. WSHA worked with the prime bill sponsor, union representatives and other key legislators to identify a way forward to address concerns raised by staff in some hospitals while also ensuring patients across Washington state will maintain ...read more

The Skagit County Board of Commissioners is pleased to announce the appointment of Jack Moore to the position of Planning and Development Services Director. Jack has been serving as Planning and Development Services Assistant Director since December 2022. A Skagit County native, Jack has provided Skagit County and the community a longstanding service history. He has dedicated over 25 years to ...read more

Rep. Carolyn Eslick introduces “Students First” program to empower parents, improve students’ educational outcomesThe program would give parents control over where to direct their share of education-related state funding   On Thursday, State Rep. Carolyn Eslick, R-Sultan, introduced a bill that would allow parents to use their share of state education funds for private or home-based ...read more