Recent Stories
Our World: The value of open space in towns
There’s a sign on the East Wenatchee side of the Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail touting the benefits of living close to the river and the trail. Realtor Lorre Stimac of Premier One Properties is using the Edgewater Cottage Community development’s proximity to the trail and the ease with which a person can bike to downtown Wenatchee as key selling points.
Our World: Our investment in the future
It never ceases to amaze me that North Central Washington produces extraordinary people who make significant contributions in the world. This week, the folks at Camp Fire put the spotlight on Jan Watson, who was born in Leavenworth and graduated from Wenatchee High School. Watson, a former executive with Microsoft and Cranium, is a partner in an intriguing startup company call Burro that is bringing entrepreneurship to the western African nation of Ghana.
Our World: A really big show for the seniors
On Wednesday evening, some of the better virtual bowlers from the Wenatchee Valley Senior Activity Center could be found demonstrating the finer points of the game to twentysomethings at a Greater Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce event at the Confluence Technology Center. That serves as a reminder of what the Senior Center means to the Wenatchee Valley and also highlights the untapped resource we have in the 1,700 members who frequent that establishment and stay active through trips, activities, meals and classes.
Our World: A Haiti project worth supporting
A team of medical professionals from the Wenatchee Valley will be headed to Haiti in April to perform humanitarian work and the community has an opportunity to make important contributions to their effort. Teams from the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center have been providing humanitarian medical aid to Haiti since 1986 in the northern city of Milot. Dr. Dale Peterson, a retired urologist, has championed this work and over time medical professionals in the community have embraced these efforts.
Our World: Leavenworth banquet highlights town’s community spirit
The folks in the Bavarian City sure put on a heck of party. The annual Leavenworth chamber banquet was held last night at the Enzian Motor Inn and the place was packed. John Curley, formerly the host of Evening Magazine, was an entertaining auctioneer for the event, cajoling people into upping their bids and tossing in an occasional barb at the expense of public officials and other luminaries.
Our World: Bold initiative in Chelan Valley
If you want an inspiring example of a community coming together to alleviate suffering of those in need, one need look no further than the Chelan Valley. Something extraordinary has happened over the past 18 months, all because a key group of people in the community made the decision to get sit down together regularly and find creative solutions to social service needs.
Our World: A question of balance
As time goes by, I find myself growing increasingly enthusiastic about what can be accomplished with the resources and talents we have here in North Central Washington. There is a great sense of independence and freedom that comes with getting things done when you’re not relying on someone else. Perhaps we should invest less time and energy worrying about the latest machinations between Democrats and Republicans in Olympia or Washington, D.C., because far too little is accomplished by fixating on those dramas.
Our World: Closer to Haiti than we knew
It takes a crisis to remind us that we are part of a larger world rather than in just an isolated bubble of prosperity and abundance. Along with the rest of the world, we watched in horror this week as television screens brought home to us the utter devastation from the earthquake in Haiti, the most impoverished nation in the hemisphere. It may have surprised people how much of a local story this became as we discovered how many ties North Central Washington has with that country.
Our World: Sacrificing for the greater good
There’s nothing quite so inspiring as folks who make significant sacrifices for the greater good. We saw an outstanding and somewhat unusual example of this when union and non-union employees of Okanogan County agreed to make significant wage concessions to save the jobs of four individuals, according to a story by our reporter, K.C. Mehaffey.
Police officers know they work in a dangerous world
When you ask local law enforcement officers how they’ve been affected by the recent spate of cop killings in western Washington, you see in their eyes a great depth of emotion and also a steely resolve to take every reasonable step to avoid that fate. A death in the law enforcement family is felt deeply by everyone in the public safety profession, as I learned in conversations with law enforcement officers this week.
