Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Sorted by date Results 926 - 950 of 1021
Mason County’s health outcomes are ranked in the lower middle range of counties in the state and the health factors are ranked as one of the least healthy counties in the state, according to the 2021 community health assessment released by the board of health. The life expectancy in Mason County is 79.7 years old, compared to the state’s 80.4 years. The county’s life expectancy rate increased by 4.3 years from 1994 to 2019. The top cause of death in Mason County is cancer, which kills 167 people...
Two years after the first case of COVID-19 was identified in Washington, Mason General Hospital is the lone facility in the county handling the medical treatment of hospitalized COVID patients. With the omicron wave, Mason Health and Mason General Hospital is seeing more patients than ever. In August, Dr. Dean Gushee, Mason Health chief medical officer, said the hospital was bursting at the seams. He said little has changed since then. “Early in the pandemic, we were seeing very occasional C...
A surge of COVID-19 cases primarily related to the omicron variant is putting additional pressure on hospitals, emergency rooms, urgent care centers and 911 emergency medical services systems, North Mason Regional Fire Authority Chief Beau Bakken told the Shelton-Mason County Journal in an email statement Friday. “Here at the NMRFA we are experiencing a lot of 911 calls for mild to moderate symptoms that are related to a COVID infection,” Bakken wrote. “Mild to moderate symptoms includes dehydra...
Residents in the Hood Canal School District as early as tomorrow could receive ballots for the district's replacement levy and a building bond that would create a new junior high school building, additional classrooms for early learning programs, a more accessible playground and a new transportation maintenance building. Voters have until 8 p.m. Feb. 8 to cast ballots. The proposed tax rate for the replacement levy is an estimated $1.04 per $1,000 of assessed home value. The estimated cost for...
In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt won the first of four elections for president of the United States. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean. Zippo lighters, Skippy peanut butter and a gasoline tax all debuted. "Night & Day" sung by Fred Astaire and Leo Reisman and Bing Crosby's "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" were the two best-selling songs. That's the same year the steel-and-concrete U.S. Highway 101 bridge over the Skokomish River was built. Ninety year...
For about the next six weeks, drivers can expect daytime lane closures on state Route 3 north of Shelton from Bell Road to about a mile north. Mason PUD 3 crews are replacing aging underground facilities. The work began Monday. Flaggers are directing traffic through the work zone, and lane closures can be expected from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays until Feb. 18....
March 23, 2021, was a sunny day in Lewis County. Zachary Lee Rager, an 18-year-old Centralia teen wanting to take advantage of the pleasant weather, headed to a familiar hangout with some friends, a bridge connecting the banks of the Chehalis River. When Rager jumped, he did not know how cold the water would be. He did not know the temperature would be 42 degrees Fahrenheit. “He jumped off this bridge so many times, he’d done this time and time again with all his friends,” Lee Hines, Zachary’s stepfather said. “But the difference this time...
Election officials will get more protection from harassment if SB 5148 becomes law. The bill was approved in the Senate on Jan. 12 with 48 yeas and 0 nays. It will be up to the House to approve or amend it. In debate on the Senate floor, Sen. David Frockt, D-Seattle, said the bill will address a "grievous threat" to our democratic system. "Here in our own state, in Washington state, which inspired this legislation last year, the top elections official, a deputy to our former Secretary of State h...
College students struggling to balance the cost of higher education with daily expenses will have the burden eased if lawmakers pass a bill increasing access to money through the Washington College Grant program. The House College & Workforce Development Committee had a hearing for HB 1659 on Jan. 12. It aims to modify the WCG program by increasing award eligibility and providing an annual stipend for expenses beyond tuition and fees. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Vandana Slatter, D-Bellevue, said, “You should not have to be extraordinarily luc...
Harborview Medical Center is the only hospital in Washington that provides training for nurses to become sexual-assault nurse examiners, also known as SANE. A bill in the Legislature is aimed at taking down barriers to training, especially for those coming from rural and underserved areas. The House Health Care & Wellness Committee had a virtual session Jan. 10 to discuss HB 1621, which would establish a stipend program for nurses for them to complete a training course designed by the international association of forensic nurses. “We try to fig...
Immediate action must be taken to address climate change, the housing crisis, transportation and education, Gov. Jay Inslee said in his annual State of the State address Jan. 11. "We face a variety and dimension of demands greater than ever as we enter 2022," he said. "We must take action this day to keep and strengthen our commitments to those in need right now and in the future." With a 2021-23 budget supplemented with leftover COVID relief money and new federal revenue sources, Inslee said le...
For a large portion of Washingtonians, the use of cosmetic products is a part of their daily routine, but some of those products often contain harmful chemicals that pose health risks. A bill making its way through the Legislature will require manufacturers to adhere to more transparent label requirements. Similar bills that monitor and prevent the distribution of cosmetic products have already passed in California and Maryland. “It’s a simple bill that will have a huge impact on the health and well being of many of our community mem...
mmunity and technical colleges across the state will get help if HB 1601 becomes law. The bill would provide homeless students and students who age out of the foster care system help with laundry storage, shower facilities, locker rooms, food banks, technology, reduced-price meals or meal plans, case management services and short-term housing/housing assistance. Not addressing the problem “results in people not being able to graduate or go onto a career. It hurts our students, our institutions and our local communities,” Rep. Mari Leavitt, D-Un...
Torrential rain on top of significant snowfall a week earlier led to flooding and collapsed structures in northern portions of Mason County last week. Rain gauges at Sanderson Field in Shelton recorded 5.54 inches of rain in a 48-hour period that ended at 3:53 a.m. Friday. On the Tahuya Peninsula, the swollen Tahuya River and other streams and tributaries inundated roads, land and homes. Northshore Road was closed briefly. "North Mason experienced a significant rainfall event Thursday and...
Mason County commissioners declared a state of emergency due to the snowstorm and low temperatures at an emergency meeting Jan. 5. According to the declaration of emergency, designated departments are authorized to enter into contracts and agreements to combat the emergency for the health and safety of people and property and to provide emergency assistance to the victims. It allows the departments to meet the demands without procedures or formalities prescribed by law. It lasts until Jan. 19....
The new mayor of Shelton said he sees his role as being "the face of the city." At the Jan. 4 Shelton City Council meeting, Eric Onisko was elected to be the new mayor by a 5-2 vote, with Joe Schmit receiving two votes. Onisko and Schmit were among the four council members sworn in for four-year terms earlier that evening. This is the second term for the 54-year-old Onisko, who owns the Hillcrest Shell and the Bayshore Texaco. "I think we work well together, and we have nowhere to go but up,"...
Mason County recordwed 657 COVID-19 cases in the past week, according to the Division of Emergency Management. There were 362 cases recorded from Jan. 7 to 9. The county recorded five died last week, including a woman in her 60s, two women in their 70s, a man in his 70s and a man in his 80s. The county’s pandemic death toll is 89. The seven-day case rate per 100,000 people is at 798.2 and the 14-day case rate is at 1,352.6. Nine people were hospitalized with COVID as of Tuesday and the county i...
Retired teacher Nancy Snyder has found a way to educate people about the causes of extreme weather, and the Climate Change Committee of the League of Women Voters of Mason County is but one of the recipients of the knowledge Snyder has gained in the past year. Snyder was originally slated to attend an in-person training session offered by the nonprofit Climate Reality Project, which was founded by former Vice President Al Gore in 2005 as the Alliance for Climate Protection. However, COVID-19...
State representatives Drew MacEwen and Dan Griffey and state senator Tim Sheldon were given a Mason County sendoff at the Shelton Yacht Club last Friday before the 2022 legislative session. The event was put on by the Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce, North Mason Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Council of Mason County. Sen. Sheldon, D-Potlatch, spoke first at the event and said there weren’t a lot of highlights to report from the 2021 legislative session. He said the b...
The 2022 legislative session kicked off Monday, and it is another virtual session due to COVID-19. The Journal sent questionnaires to Sen. Tim Sheldon and Reps. Drew MacEwen and Dan Griffey, with only Sheldon responding before the Journal’s print deadline. Q: What are some of the goals you would like to accomplish during the 2022 legislative session? Any legislation you are planning on introducing? Sheldon: The 2022 legislative session will be a short 60-day session in an election year, and I d...
One year to the day after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Gov. Jay Inslee announced he supports legislation criminalizing lying about election results. “It should not be legal in the state of Washington for elected officials or candidates for office to willfully lie about these election results,” he said speaking to reporters in Olympia on Jan. 6. Making false statements about election results without evidence would be classified as a gross misdemeanor under his proposal, Inslee said. A draft is undergoing finishing touches, but it doesn...
Extreme weather wreaked havoc throughout Mason County this week. Freezing temperatures, snow, ice and rain contributed to power outages, road and school closures, delayed garbage pickups and other maladies. The most disruptive effect was the closure of a 50-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 101 from Hoodsport to state Route 104 due to downed trees and power lines. The road closed at 9:20 Sunday night and had yet to fully reopen as of Tuesday afternoon. State Route 119 from Hoodsport to Lake Cushman...
For more than a week, City of Shelton public works crews worked around the clock de-icing streets, plowing snow and dropping sand to help motorists navigate an extended snap of snow, freezing rain and ice. "They've been grinding it out," Mike Albaugh, the city public works department's maintenance supervisor, said Tuesday. "We've definitely been keeping up to the best of our abilities," he added. The city owns four snowplows, one road grader and one de-icer. Crews of four or five employees...
Andrew Wesley Bertrand was found guilty on two counts of first-degree child molestation on Dec. 14 in Mason County Superior Court. Bertrand will be sentenced at a hearing Feb. 1. According to the Mason County Sheriff’s Booking and Intake Report, Shelton Police took a report of two juvenile women stating Bertrand had touched them under their clothes. During a forensic interview with one of the juveniles, she disclosed that Bertrand was dating her mom and would stay late. After her mom would go to...
