Issaquah’s Sustainability Film Series bags plastics documentary
October 25, 2011
The film “Bag It” and a discussion about plastics anchor the next Sustainability Film Series event.
“Bag It” started as a documentary about plastic bags and evolved into a broader investigation into plastics. The film details plastics’ effects on waterways, oceans and human beings.
Then, after the film, a panel of experts plans to lead a discussion about plastics and how to reduce plastics usage. King County EcoConsumer Tom Watson and People for Puget Sound representative Heather Trimm plan to participate in the discussion.
The free event is from 6-9 p.m. Nov. 2 at the King County Library Service Center, 960 Newport Way N.W. Call the municipal Resource Conservation Office at 837-3400 to learn more.
Hear from candidates in Issaquah Video Voters’ Guide
October 23, 2011
NEW — 6 a.m. Oct. 23, 2011
The countdown to Election Day is on, ballots started to arrive in mailboxes and voters face a multitude of choices.
Options abound for local voters to learn about City Council, Issaquah School Board and regional races.
City Council candidates recorded statements for the Issaquah Video Voters’ Guide to air until Nov. 8, Election Day.
Or, Issaquah Channel 21 viewers can watch a candidate forum recorded Oct. 13.
Organized by The Issaquah Press and moderated by Publisher Debbie Berto, the forum attracted candidates for City Council, Issaquah School Board and Port of Seattle Commission.
Issaquah City Council, school board candidates gather at forum
October 18, 2011
Candidates for local and regional offices offered prescriptions for counteracting the ailing economy and educating a 21st-century workforce at a forum Oct. 13.
Candidates for positions on the Issaquah School Board laugh at a joke during a candidate forum Oct. 13 at the King County Library Service Center. By Greg Farrar
Organized by The Issaquah Press and moderated by Publisher Debbie Berto, the forum attracted candidates for City Council, Issaquah School Board and Port of Seattle Commission.
The candidates, gathered at the King County Library System headquarters in Issaquah, answered questions in 40-minute sections organized by office.
The forum occurred days before King County Elections mails ballots, and as many voters start to pay attention to the off-year election. Election Day is Nov. 8.
Though the majority of council seats is up for election, only a single seat is contested. In the lone contested race, challenger TJ Filley faces incumbent Councilman Joshua Schaer for the Position 4 seat.
Incumbent Councilman Fred Butler, appointed Councilwoman Stacy Goodman and candidate Paul Winterstein did not attract opponents for the other positions.
In a far-reaching discussion about municipal issues — transportation headaches, economic development, ongoing efforts to regulate a medical marijuana operations and more — Filley and Schaer stuck to usual themes from the campaign.
King County Library System adds Kindle e-books to collection
September 27, 2011
King County Library System users on the hunt for a popular title, like say, “I Don’t Know How She Does It” — a comic tale about a mother balancing children and a career — no longer need to head to the brick-and-mortar library for a paper-and-ink book.
The library system started offering e-books to Kindle e-reader users. The rollout came as Kindle maker Amazon.com started offering books for the device at libraries nationwide.
“With the increase in popularity of digital readers, at about last year’s holiday gift-giving season, we ramped up our digital collection significantly,” said Marsha Iverson, public relations specialist for the Issaquah-based library system. “We kind of saw of it coming and got a little bit ahead of the curve, so we do have a good selection of digital downloads.”
Before the announcement Sept. 21, the library system offered books only on other e-readers, but not the popular Kindle. The library uses e-book distributor OverDrive for digital titles.
Off the Press
July 19, 2011
One good mania deserves another
After a decade of sweeping readers and moviegoers off their feet with a school named Hogwarts, games of Quiddich and battles of good against evil, the final wave of Pottermania is now sweeping over Issaquah, the nation and the world, with the last of the epic movies having blasted through every worldwide box office record last weekend.
Greg Farrar Press photographer
Ticket sales of $475 million in three days is not too shabby!
Over the years, we’ve covered lines of fans at the local movie theater, costume parties for the latest book release at local shops, and huge shipments of Harry Potter books making their way from King County Library System headquarters on Newport Way to all of the branches in the system.
The question is, now what? Every generation has its “mania.” We’ve had the Jazz Age, Golden Age of Hollywood, Beatlemania, discomania and now the end of Pottermania. What should we proclaim in Issaquah to be the next all-consuming mania?
For the socially conscious, my personal preference would be to promote “Littermania,” getting us all to join in to pick up every scrap of paper, every beverage bottle and every plastic wrapper. Ever hear of the 1950’s fad of college students cramming into a phone booth? There’s at least one phone booth still in town, across the street from The Press building. Let’s have a contest of bagging up litter around town and seeing how many bags it takes to fill the phone booth!
Or, how about “musicmania?” There are a lot of scheduled music events this summer in town. For instance, during the next ArtWalk on Aug. 5, we could all bring that musical instrument in the back of the closet that we used to play — kazoo, violin, bongo drums, tambourine — and make ourselves a gleeful racket on Front Street and at Gilman Village.
Issaquah-based King County Library System is named No. 1
June 21, 2011
The top library system in the United States is headquartered in Issaquah.
Moreover, strong circulation at the Issaquah and Sammamish libraries — and others across the 46-library system — helped earn the King County Library System the Library of the Year title from Library Journal magazine and Gale, a publishing company.
“We really got this award because of our patrons and our communities,” Julie Brand, community relations and marketing director for the library system, said after the announcement. “It’s really a reflection of their support and their use of us. Going forward, we need to continue to find the ways to be relevant to them in their lives, in how we deliver services, and the sorts of resources and information that we provide to them.”
Organizers cited the library system’s efforts to encourage reading, help people searching for jobs and community outreach. The library system is run from offices along Newport Way Northwest.
Who’s News
June 21, 2011
Marlena Norwood accepted to UC Berkeley summer program
Eastside Catholic High School junior Marlena Norwood was accepted into the National Student Leadership Conference on Medicine and Health Care at University of California, Berkeley.
In the 10-day conference, students will witness how to suture and perform a craniotomy demonstration, practice drilling into model skulls, participate in simulated clinical rounds and determine the identity of mystery “outbreak” diseases. They’ll also visit with physicians and researchers.
Library offers prizes for teens to film book reviews
June 7, 2011
Some books make great movies, especially if they have a great director.
For the third consecutive year, the King County Library System is holding the Read.Flip.Win Video Book Review Contest, open to middle and high school students.
Library staff members invite teenagers to shoot a short video about a book they have read. The contest has two categories — video book review and video trailer — allowing participants to create a review for the book or to film a trailer about it.
All videos must be three minutes or less.
“It’s totally a fun contest,” Issaquah teen services librarian Jessica Gomes said. “It’s a highly interactive way of sharing what you’re reading with other people.”
Once teenagers create their video, they have to post it on YouTube and give it the tag, “RFWkcls2011.” Participants can enter as many videos as they want, and each submission must have a registration form.
The deadline for the contest is July 31. A panel of librarian judges will award the winners Aug. 27 during a red carpet event at the King County Library System Service Center in Issaquah.
The top winner in each category will receive a $150 gift card to Best Buy, purchased by the KCLS Foundation. The judges will award mini Oscars to other creative entries.
City Council confirms, lauds municipal board appointees
May 3, 2011
Onetime City Council finalist Paul Winterstein is going to continue serving the city on the Human Services Commission, the liaison between social service groups and municipal government.
The council appointed Winterstein and 35 other people as members and alternates to city boards and commissions April 18. Terms on the 11 affected boards start May 1. The city does not pay members.
“I am continually amazed at the number of people — and their qualifications — that stepped forward to fill our boards and commissions,” Councilman Fred Butler said before the unanimous decision to appoint the members. “It seems to me in going through the applications and the qualifications of folks, we’ve got an especially strong group of people filling some critical holes on our boards and commissions again this year.”
The city put out a call for board and commission applicants in January. Then, Mayor Ava Frisinger and board officers narrowed the applicant pool, and recommended appointees to the council for approval.
The city is continuing the interview process for alternates to serve on the Sister Cities and Urban Village Development commissions.
From Presidents to Pants: Rocker reinvents sound for kids
May 3, 2011
Chris Ballew, lead singer of The Presidents of the United States of America, performs for a group of youths as his kiddie rock persona Caspar Babypants.By Tim Pfarr
After almost 15 years of rock ‘n’ roll, Grammy-nominated Seattle musician Chris Ballew decided to turn down the gain on his amplifier. In 2009, The Presidents of the United States of America front man formed the children’s band Caspar Babypants, playing shows for parents and toddlers across Western Washington.
The group will make a stop in Issaquah May 7 for a 10:30 a.m. performance at Blakely Hall as part of a literacy event sponsored by a Community Action Grant from the Foundation for Early Learning.
The band’s songs — written by Ballew — are folkie and touch on topics such as centipedes, elephants and frogs. Although the tunes are directed at children younger than 6 or 7, adults might find themselves just as entertained.
