Bill-job conflict Its not unusual in Olympia

Rep. Steve Kirby says he kept busy during the Legislature’s brief hiatus this month by training for his new job at a Tacoma-area credit union. It’s a field that intersects with his work at the Capitol. As the chairman of the House Business and Financial Services Committee, Kirby has the power to decide the fate of finance-industry bills - including those that affect his new employer, ...

McCarver a natural candidate for experimentation

McCarver Elementary School was an obvious choice for the Tacoma Housing Authority’s experiment. Built in 1925 and located in the heart of the Hilltop, the school serves Tacoma’s poorest population. Its approximately 400 students draw heavily on the shelters and transitional housing scattered across the hill. This year, which is typical, 96 percent of McCarver’s students qualify ...

Reputation earns housing authority some latitude

Housing authorities in most cities don’t have the flexibility to try experiments such as the McCarver Program. They’re bound by strict U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development protocols that determine who gets assistance and ...

Years of detective work reunites teens accused of 88 gang shooting

The key was patience, with a dash of cunning. John Ringer, a longtime Tacoma police detective and gang expert, knew what went down the day 17-year-old Bernard Houston was killed. He knew six rival gang members in two cars boxed Houston in at a Hilltop intersection and gunned him down. He knew where they were seated in the vehicles, what they said before shots rang out and that the drive-by was ...

Thurston needs 3 candidates

The Thurston County auditor has announced a three-day special filing period seeking candidates for three offices that did not draw candidates for the upcoming election. The deadline for initial filing ended May 17 with no declarations of candidacy for the three ...