The Olympian
Cost to preserve centuries-old oak tree exceeds budget
The City of Tumwater now has a plan to keep the 400year-old Davis Meeker Garry Oak tree standing, almost two years after former Mayor Debbie Sullivan called to cut the tree down after a large branch fell near Old Highway 99. The plan consists of a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
SAVE Act would cost WA millions, secretary of state says
Washington’s top elections official on Thursday blasted a controversial federal bill that he said would disenfranchise voters and lead to millions in additional costs for the state. Democrats and critics have slammed the SAVE America Act, arguing...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Army letter denies plans to shut its only West Coast museum
Last summer, U.S. Rep. Marilyn Strickland demanded answers from the Army secretary in a letter opposing the proposed closure of the only Army museum on the West Coast. On Friday the Washington Democrat heard back. In a response addressed to...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
United Way of Thurston County closing prompts local shift
United Way of Thurston County, which stunned the Olympia area earlier this month when it announced it was closing March 31, received some good news on Thursday, the executive director said. Chris Wells said the local United Way is in talks to have its...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Washington lawmakers agree on supplemental operating budget
It was another session full of difficult budget decisions, Washington state lawmakers said Wednesday. House and Senate budget writers have unveiled a supplemental operating budget deal that relies on a hotly debated income tax on millionaires and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Thurston County prosecutor Tunheim to retire after 38 years
Long-time Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney Jon Tunheim will not seek reelection this year. Tunheim publicly shared his decision to retire on his campaign Facebook page Monday. Christy Peters, his current chief of staff, kicked off her campaign...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Orca named for Olympia man who prevented relative’s capture
Karen Munro Ellick said it was an unusually warm spring day in Olympia on March 7, 1976, when she and her husband Ralph Munro went sailing with friends on South Puget Sound waters. The trip was cut short when the group noticed a barrage of marine...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Fire destroys beloved 100-year-old Thurston County landmark
Terry Torrence learned a fire broke out at his long-standing antique store over a 6 a.m. phone call on Feb. 23. “I immediately went over there and saw fire trucks pouring water on the building,” the 73-year-old said. “(Firefighters) told me they...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
13 schools awaiting lead-in-water results after repairs
North Thurston Public Schools is waiting on new leadin-water test results from the state before it removes “hand wash only” signs from some water fixtures in its elementary schools, an assistant superintendent recently told the school board. The...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Anniversary of 2001 ‘BIG quake’ brings out memories
earthquake struck as Deborah Ross listened to TVW from the fourth floor of an office building at the corner of Union Avenue Southeast and Plum Street in Olympia on Feb. 28, 2001. “It was clear right off that it was an earthquake and I scrambled under...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Winners and losers of WA Democrats’ proposed budgets
State budgets are often referred to as “moral documents.” They’re where Washington puts its money, the idea goes, reflecting its values and priorities. Now, after House and Senate Democrats unveiled their respective operating budget proposals Sunday,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Tumwater to convert Lodge Building to Parks & Rec office
City of Tumwater has plans to purchase a piece of property tucked away in Tumwater Valley for permanent office space for the Parks and Recreation Department. The building at 4315 Tumwater Valley Drive, commonly known as the Lodge Building, has seen a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
$1M lawsuit accuses teacher of excluding student from class
No one has said why Tumwater School Board President Casey Taylor allegedly filed a $1 million tort claim against the district, but public records suggest the claim accuses a nonbinary teacher of trying to exabout clude a student from their...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Team effort rescues bald eagle hit on I-5
A bald eagle was rescued from southbound Interstate 5 in Tumwater Sunday evening, according to the Washington State Patrol. Sometime between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday, the bird was hit by a passing vehicle and landed on the right shoulder of I-5...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Principal says students afraid to come to school amid ICE actions
Capital High School Principal Condee Wood said there are students in the Olympia district who are afraid to come to school in the wake of federal immigration enforcement activity around the country. Her comment was in response to a question from...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Lacey City Council asks about adding units at shelter
An effort to add higher income units at an Olympia housing development that will serve the homeless has prompted the Lacey City Council to ask if the same can be done at Maple Court. Maple Court is a former motel near Marvin Road Northeast and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Olympia man pleads guilty in connection to teen’s fatal overdose
An Olympia man pleaded guilty to two crimes Tuesday in connection to the 2024 overdose death of a local teen. Son Thien Nguyen, 34, enoutside tered guilty pleas for seconddegree manslaughter and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance, ecstasy, in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Olympia to fix emergency road flooding in ‘Lake 28’
The Olympia City Council declared an emergency in order to address flooding on 28th Avenue on the city’s northwest side. Some residents in the area have said the problem has exwest isted for a decade and have even named the low point in the roadway...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Privacy limits on license plate cameras pass state Senate
Washington state is one step closer to limiting the use of automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras. ALPR technology from comDemocrat, panies including Flock Safety gathers data and images for use by government agencies. Many law enforcement...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Medics use onboard ultrasounds to bring ‘inside care outside’
Ultrasound devices onboard Thurston County ambulances are helping paramedics more efficiently diagnose and treat patients in life-or-death situations. The county’s Medic One program is an early adopter of onboard ultrasound devices, Thurston County...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
14,000 WA families could lose child care under proposed budget, advocates say
Child care subsidies have helped Tacoma mom of four Alexis Cortes be able to stay in the workforce and attend school. Now, cuts proposed in the governor’s supplemental budget have Washington parents like Cortes worried about the future. About 40% of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
River Ridge High School demolition and renovation update
A resident has reached out to The Olympian, wanting to know more about current construction at River Ridge High School in Lacey, and the demolition underway this week on campus. Here’s what we know. The eye-grabbing work is part of a multiyear effort...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
What’s going on with Olympia’s historic space age building?
Questions have been raised on social media about what’s happening to the distinctive and historic building in downtown Olympia that was once home to a bank and then a string of popular nightclubs. Now we have some answers. Jennica Machado, the city’s...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Auditor draws ‘hard line’ on sharing Al security camera plan
Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall will not share specific details about her plans for AI-enabled security cameras, she said in a Wednesday news release. Hall said she believes in being an “open book” when it comes to how she runs county elections, but...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Port of Olympia commission largely supports waterfront hotel
The Port of Olympia commission on Tuesday was briefed on a waterfront hotel proposal, an idea that largely received their support and resulted in them asking port staff to continue looking into it. There was one exception: “I’m less enthusiastic,”...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Thurston detectives seek help solving mother’s cold case homicide
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office is renewing its call for information about the homicide of Karen Bodine as the 19th anniversary of her death approaches. Bodine, a mother of three, was found at dead at the entrance of an old gravel quarry located...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Budget, affordabilty likely to dominate legislative session
The Washington state Legislature is back in session. Monday marked the first day of 2026’s 60-day legislative session. The hallways beneath the Capitol dome buzzed with activity as lawmakers returned to Olympia for opening day ceremonies at noon. In...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Olympia aims to boost food access, security in times of crisis
The Olympia City Council unanimously approved a referral from council member Dani Madrone to develop a food system plan during its Jan. 6 meeting, in an effort to ensure residents have access to local food in times of crisis. Madrone’s referral states...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Major Capitol Lake project could cost $416M
The Washington State Department of Ecology took over the efforts to restore Capitol Lake to an estuary over the summer, with several new objectives and a goal of completing 60% design of the restored Deschutes Estuary by the end of 2025. Ecology’s...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
What’s happening at downtown hotel; new restaurant coming
The Governor Hotel in downtown Olympia on Capitol Way across from Sylvester Park appears to have closed for a forthcoming renovation, according to a check of the property on Wednesday. A parking entrance on Capitol Way was fenced off, the automatic...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Can city cut down beloved 400-year-old tree? Judge rules
A Thurston County Superior Court judge has ruled that the City of Tumwater can’t cut down the historic Davis Meeker Oak tree without prior approval from its Historic Preservation Commission. The 400-year-old oak tree has been the subject of debate in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Olympia eyes terminating major development agreement
Olympia’s Land Use & Environment Committee unanimously approved plans to terminate the Briggs urban village development agreement to be forwarded to the City Council for review. Terminating the plan would ultimately allow more homes to be built in the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Work begins on The Gibson project; Providence to keep Lacey AIC open
A downtown Olympia project known as The Gibson, which will turn a former office building into 64 units of affordable housing, is underway, accordinto ing to a check of the property. The building is owned by developer Ken Brogan, who turned a former...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
WA secretary of state, a D&D fan, promotes tabletop gaming
When Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs was growing up, he got hooked on what would become a lifelong hobby: Dungeons & Dragons. As a person of color and nerd who’d been picked on as a kid, he said the fantasy role-playing game was a chance for...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
How does transfer pact between SPSCC and Evergreen work?
application fee, no essay, no recommendation letters and guaranteed admission. It almost sounds too good to be true, but it’s all part of a new agreement announced by The Evergreen State College and South Puget Sound Community College to streamline...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
$14M plan will bring protected bike lanes to Capitol Way
The City of Olympia has plans to reconfigure the Capitol Way Corridor to reduce speeding in the area and make the neighborhood more accessible to all modes of transportation. Senior Engineer Joey Jones provided more details on the city’s plans during...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘Shocked’: Thurston County passes $1B budget with 3-2 vote
Thurston County commissioners narrowly adopted a new biennial budget with substantial spending cuts Tuesday. The $1 billion budget for 2026-2027 passed with a contentious 3-2 vote at The Atrium, the county’s administrative headquarters in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Want to manage a ditch in Thurston County for $15K a year?
This week is candidate filing week. But it’s not for county commissioner, or the port, or any of the councils in Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater, or any school district for that matter. Instead, it’s for commissioner seats at some of the lowestprofile...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
$7.6M to revamp Tumwater fire station that opened in 1995
Tumwater’s T2, also known as the North End Fire Station, is set to undergo a $7.6 million renovation project to turn what was originally a volunteer fire house into a more fully-functioning facility for the growing city. Fire Chief Brian Hurley...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Tree-seed bank in South Sound is crucial as wildfires worsen
smelled like Christmas inside the Silvaseed extractory Tuesday morning, Dec. 2, as machines whirred meticulously to remove millions of conifer seeds from cones and sort them into large barrels. Hidden inside an unassuming complex in the small...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
WA revamps push to require high school financial education
Financial education could soon be a requirement to graduate high school thanks to a renewed legislative push heading into the 2026 session. State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti is requesting agency legislation and is teaming up with state Sen. Adrian...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Lawmaker warns of rising blackout risk amid clean energy push
2026 approaches, a Republican state lawmaker is raising alarm bells about possible energy shortfalls amid extreme conditions — with potential reliability problems hitting as early as next year. State Sen. Matt Boehnke is calling for action in the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
48th annual Toy Run expected to bring large crowd to Olympia
The 48th annual Olympia Toy Run is this Saturday, and this year’s event is expected to bring 1,500 people on motorcycles to downtown. According to a news release from the Department of Enterprise Services, Deschutes Parkway will be closed to normal...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Traffic congestion expected at downtown Olympia intersection
Work crews plan to demolish a sidewalk at Fourth Avenue and Plum Street in Olympia this week to make way for major safety improvements. The demolition will start on Dec. 1, weather permitting, on the southeast corner of the intersection, according to...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Tacoma Zoolights opens; dogs are allowed for first time
Zoolights, the annual outdoor light display at Tacoma’s Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, opens Friday. For the first time, the zoo will allow visitors to bring their dogs on five select nights in December and January. Remember that a section of Five...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
WA stocking 65,000 jumbo rainbow trout in these lakes
Washington anglers: Start your boat engines. Ahead of Thanksgiving weekend, the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife is loading more than two dozen lakes with nearly 65,000 jumbo rainbow trout, according to a recent WDFW news release. The goal: to...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Gov. Ferguson unveils first appointment to WA Supreme Court
There’s a new Washington state Supreme Court justice in town. Gov. Bob Ferguson revealed his first appointment to the state’s highest court at a Monday morning news conference at the Temple of Justice in Olympia. His pick: Colleen Melody, who serves...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Olympia resident sells 10 acres to city for future park
The City of Olympia has partnered with a local conservation organization to purchase a nearly 10-acre property of undeveloped land awash in mature, native trees to become a future public park. Parks Planning and Design Manager Laura Keehan said the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Tractor appears, then disappears at Grand Mound roundabout
A weathered tractor and rake appeared in the middle of a Grand Mound roundabout in late October. The unsanctioned centerpiece quickly drew local admiration as well as a threat of removal from the Washington State Department of Transtery...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Port of Olympia race neck and neck after third ballot count
The Port of Olympia District 2 race between incumbent Bob Iyall and challenger Jerry Toompas moved into the spotlight on Thursday as Toompas inched ahead of Iyall in what has become a neck and neck contest. The two candidates were separated by about...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Olympia’s $20 minimum wage measure failing in early results
Proposition 1, the initiative to raise Olympia’s minimum wage to $20 and adopt a Workers’ Bill of Rights, is poised to fail, according to preliminary results. Wednesday’s tally showed 55.9% of voters voting “no,” and 44% voting “yes.” The vote tallies...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Fatal house fire near Steamboat Island under investigation
The cause of the house fire that killed a woman near Steamboat Island in Thurston County on Saturday is under investigation, Griffin Fire Chief Corey Rux said Tuesday. Rux said in a news release that the Griffin Fire Department, along with multiple...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Look inside improved ballot processing center in Tumwater
When a voter casts their ballot in Thurston County, it eventually ends up at an unassuming warehouse building in Tumwater, just west of South Puget Sound Community College. Once there, the ballot undergoes a rigorous inspection process before being...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Nonprofits warn Prop. 1 will raise costs of services
Several Olympia-area nonprofit organizations drafted a collective impact statement on Olympia’s Proposition 1 ballot measure and what raising the minimum wage to $20 and adopting a Workers’ Bill of Rights would do to local programs and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Road workers deliver workplace grievances to commissioners
Thurston County road workers and their allies took their workplace grievances directly to the Board of County Commissioners last week. Over four dozen people packed into The Atrium, many in Public Works-labeled orange vests, to show their disapproval...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Why Lacey homeless shelter isn’t accepting new residents
The city of Olympia earlier this month completed the final phase of a long-term plan to move homeless residents out of Percival Canyon on the city’s west side and into housing. When the day was complete, 32 people, as identified on a “by name list,”...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Olympia nonprofits, franchises fear Prop. 1
Alex Ketter, the co-owner of Olympia Senior Care on the city’s west side, said he first heard about the proposal to raise Olympia’s minimum wage and adopt new worker protections and rules through a signature gatherer while grocery shopping. He was told...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Vance lands in Israel as US tries to shore up Gaza truce
Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday for meetings with the country’s leaders, as the Trump administration rushes to shore up the hard-won, fragile ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip. Israel and Hamas agreed this month to a truce in their...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Tenino guild offering stone carving to keep heritage alive
On three August summer days stone carver Daniel Miller taught a group of students how to work with sandstone at the historic Hercules #1 Quarry in Tenino. “What I was trying to accomplish was to give beginner students an insight into the tools, the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Experts aim to restore historic piano after Capitol break-in
Delivering the Blüthner piano back to the Washington state Capitol was a proud moment for Ken Eschete. In 2017, the Spokane-based piano technician had worked to restore the historic instrument, which had lived in the State Reception Room for nearly...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Percival Creek Canyon in west Olympia closed to encampments
Thirty-two people have been moved into transitional housing after the city of Olympia completed the final phase of closing Percival Creek Canyon to homeless encampments last week. The west Olympia canyon runs from U.S. Highway 101 into Capitol Lake...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
3 questions for Port of Olympia commission candidates
The Port of Olympia commission candidate field is set. It features District 2 incumbent Bob Iyall against newcomer and special education teacher Jerry Toompas, while in the District 3 race, Port of Olympia citizens advisory committee member Anthony...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Missing girl declared legally dead as case remains unsolved
Oakley Carlson, an Oakville girl missing for four years, has been declared legally dead in Pacific County Superior Court despite her case still being unresolved. Attorneys for Bruce Wolf, the guardian ad litem for Carlson’s siblings, petitioned the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Intruder breaks into, damages WA Capitol building
An intruder broke into the Washington state Legislative Building Sunday night, causing significant damage. Gov. Bob Ferguson posted on social media platform Bluesky that the intruder “damaged several facilities and historical artifacts.” In addition,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
$14M project to bring bike lanes, more to Olympia roadway
Olympia has a longtime plan to reconfigure the lanes on Capitol Way to Capitol Boulevard, from near the Capitol Campus to Tumwater. The $14 million project will bring bike lanes, crosswalks and more to the area, according to the city. City Senior...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Sederberg presents Olympia Art Museum at Arts Walk
Dave Sederberg is known around town for the outdoor installations that have been popping up to illuminate Olympia since the dark days of the pandemic. But if you don’t know Sederberg, who owns Pacific Stage and has long been a supporter of the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Thurston commission spares animal services from budget cuts
Thurston County will spare local animal services from funding cuts for now following public pushback to a proposal last week. On Friday, the Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved reversing a Sept. 23 decision that alarmed supporters of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Truck driver dies when semi leaves onramp, lands on parkway
The Washington State Patrol is investigating after a log truck merging onto U.S. 101 from southbound I-5 on Wednesday morning left the roadway and landed on Deschutes Parkway below. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Tumwater Fire Department...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Almanac says Washington winter to be mostly mild
Winter is still a few months off, but if you love the snow — or if you do everything you can to stay out of it — you may already be wondering what the season will bring. Nationwide, it’s expected to be a “mostly mild” winter, with some “pockets of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Port of Olympia explores future of ferry service
Five months ago the Port of Olympia hosted an electric fast ferry demonstration on Budd Inlet, generating plenty of buzz about the possibility of that service transporting passengers to other Puget Sound destinations, including those close to...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Home building training program celebrates first graduates
South Puget Sound Community College, the Olympia Master Builders Foundation, and United Way of Thurston County celebrated the first graduates of a new, collaborative Residential Construction Academy on Wednesday afternoon. The Residential...
Read Full Story (Page 1)