Tag: Washington State

  • How a 2001 Property Tax Cap Keeps Everett’s EMS on the Ballot — Initiative 747 Explained

    How a 2001 Property Tax Cap Keeps Everett’s EMS on the Ballot — Initiative 747 Explained

    Why does Everett keep putting EMS funding on the ballot? Because of a 2001 voter-approved law called Initiative 747, which caps how much property tax cities can collect from existing properties each year at 1%. Costs rise faster than 1% almost every year, so cities periodically ask voters to “lift the lid” and restore the rate. Everett’s EMS levy on the August 4, 2026 primary is the third such lid lift for emergency services since the original 2000 EMS levy passed. Voters’ Pamphlet statements are locked tonight (May 11) at 11:59 PM. The full pamphlet drops to Snohomish County mailboxes in mid-July.

    How a 2001 Property Tax Cap Keeps Everett’s EMS on the Ballot — Initiative 747 Explained

    If you live in Everett and you’ve been wondering why the City Council keeps sending things to the ballot — a library levy, a fire services question, and now this August’s EMS levy — there is one law that explains almost all of it. It’s called Initiative 747, voters approved it in 2001, and it has shaped how every city in Washington raises money ever since.

    Here’s what this means for you, the resident, in plain language. Initiative 747 caps how much of your property tax bill the city can grow each year — to just 1% on existing properties. Costs for everything cities buy (firefighter wages, ambulance equipment, fuel, health insurance, pension contributions) typically grow 3-7% per year. That gap, multiplied across 24 years, is the reason Everett is sending the EMS lid lift to the August 4 ballot. If you vote yes in August, the city’s EMS property tax rate restores from about $0.36 per $1,000 of assessed value back up to $0.50 — roughly $80 per year for a typical Everett homeowner — and funds approximately 78 firefighter-paramedic positions at the Everett Fire Department. If you vote no, the rate stays where it is and the gap keeps widening.

    That’s the immediate decision. But the structural story behind it is worth understanding, because the same lever keeps coming back. So let’s walk through it.

    What Initiative 747 actually says

    In November 2001, Washington voters approved I-747 by a wide margin. The text was simple: cities, counties, fire districts, library districts, and other taxing districts could no longer raise their property tax revenue from existing properties (called “the regular levy”) by more than 1% per year without going back to the voters. Before I-747, the cap had been the lesser of 6% or inflation — set by a 1971 law (I-72) and tightened by I-695 in 1999 and I-722 in 2000.

    The 1% cap was struck down by the Washington Supreme Court in 2007 (Washington Citizens Action of Washington v. State), but the state legislature reinstated it the same year in a special session. It’s been the law of the land ever since. RCW 84.55.010 is where you’ll find it in the state code.

    Two important nuances. First, the 1% cap is on revenue, not on individual bills — your property tax bill can go up by more than 1% if your home’s assessed value rises faster than your neighbors’. Second, new construction is exempt — when a developer builds a new apartment building or a new home, the tax revenue from that brand-new construction comes in on top of the 1% cap. That’s why fast-growing cities have an easier time absorbing the cap than slow-growth ones.

    Why a 1% cap forces cities back to the ballot

    Here’s the math problem. Imagine your fire department’s budget in 2001 was $10 million. In 2002 the city could raise that by 1% to $10.1 million. In 2003, another 1% to $10.2 million. After 24 years of 1% growth, the budget is roughly $12.7 million.

    But the real cost of running a fire department over 24 years didn’t grow at 1%. Wages, health insurance, pension contributions, vehicles, equipment — most of those grew 3-5% per year, with some years (notably the 2021-2023 inflation surge) at 7-9%. After 24 years at even a modest 3% real cost growth, that same fire department actually needs about $20 million to do the same job. The gap between $12.7 million (what the cap allows) and $20 million (what it costs) is roughly $7.3 million per year.

    That gap is what forces cities to do one of three things: cut services, find new revenue sources (utility taxes, sales tax increases, transportation benefit district fees), or go back to the voters and ask to “lift the lid” on the property tax. A levy lid lift is a vote that resets the rate back up to a higher number — often the rate the levy was originally at — and starts the 1% clock again from the new, higher base.

    Everett’s EMS lid lift: what the August 4 ballot actually does

    The EMS levy on Everett’s August 4 primary ballot is the third lid lift since the original 2000 EMS levy was approved. Voters first approved a dedicated EMS property tax rate of $0.50 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2000. Each subsequent year, the 1% cap and faster-growing assessed values together drove the effective rate down. By 2026, the rate had compressed to roughly $0.36 per $1,000.

    The August 4 measure asks voters to restore the rate to $0.50 per $1,000. For a homeowner with a property assessed at $600,000, that’s the difference between paying about $216 per year for EMS today and about $300 per year after the lid lift — an increase of approximately $80 per year, or about $7 per month. The increase funds roughly 78 firefighter-paramedic positions at the Everett Fire Department, according to the city’s April 22 announcement, and continues the staffing that handles cardiac arrests, strokes, overdoses, and the medical calls that make up about 80% of fire department dispatch volume.

    The Pro/Con committee for the Voters’ Pamphlet was appointed by the City Council on April 29. Pro and Con statements were due May 7. Rebuttals — where each side gets to respond to the other side’s argument — are due tonight, May 11, by 11:59 PM. After tonight, the pamphlet content is locked. The full Voters’ Pamphlet will be mailed by the Snohomish County Auditor to registered voters in mid-July.

    The bigger picture — three Everett ballot questions, one shared cause

    The EMS levy is the most immediate ballot question, but it’s not the only Everett civic decision driven by Initiative 747. The city is also weighing two other paths to close its projected $14 million general-fund gap in 2027.

    The first is regionalizing fire services into a Regional Fire Authority (RFA). An RFA is a separate taxing district that runs fire and EMS for multiple cities, funded by its own property tax levy outside the city’s general fund. Voters would have to approve formation of an RFA on a future ballot. South King County cities have used this model for years.

    The second is regionalizing library services by joining the Sno-Isle Library system. Sno-Isle is funded by a separate property tax levy in the cities and counties it serves. Joining Sno-Isle would shift Everett library operations off the city’s general fund — but it would also require voter approval of the new levy and a transfer of city library assets.

    Either of these moves, or both, could close part of the 2027 gap. Both require voter approval. Both exist as options because Initiative 747’s 1% cap has compressed the general fund’s growth capacity over 24 years. The mayor’s office and the City Council have signaled that all three levers — EMS lid lift, RFA formation, and Sno-Isle regionalization — are on the table for the rest of 2026 and 2027.

    Why some voters support I-747 and why others want it changed

    The case for keeping I-747 in place, articulated by supporters like the Washington Policy Center and the late Tim Eyman (the initiative’s original sponsor), is that the 1% cap forces cities to prioritize spending and pushes them back to voters whenever they need more money. Supporters argue this is the right level of accountability — voters get to weigh in on every major revenue increase rather than seeing taxes rise automatically.

    The case for changing I-747, articulated by associations like the Association of Washington Cities and the Washington State Association of Counties, is that the 1% cap is below almost any reasonable measure of inflation. Even in low-inflation years, a 1% cap forces real cuts. The result, critics argue, is a constant cycle of lid lift elections, layered local taxes (utility taxes, sales tax increases, fees), and growing reliance on regional special-purpose districts that voters often don’t even know exist.

    Both views are represented in the Snohomish County Charter Review Commission’s current proposal slate. Proposal 13 (foundational government services budgeting), Proposal 14 (a budget stabilization fund with a 4-vote use threshold), and Proposal 21 (a 4-vote supermajority on the 5-member County Council to raise taxes) all touch the same structural question I-747 raises: how should local government handle the gap between a 1% cap and rising costs? The Charter Review Commission’s first public hearing on those proposals is Wednesday, May 13 in Arlington.

    What to do next

    If you live in Everett or anywhere in Snohomish County, here are the practical steps for the August 4 EMS levy and the wider structural conversation.

    First, read the Voters’ Pamphlet when it arrives in mid-July. The Pro statement, Con statement, and rebuttals being locked tonight are the official arguments voters will see in their mailbox. The committee statements are available after locking at the Snohomish County Auditor’s elections page: snohomishcountywa.gov/190/Elections.

    Second, check your voter registration before the August 4 primary at voter.votewa.gov. Ballots mail in mid-July, are due by 8:00 PM August 4, and you can return them by drop box anywhere in Snohomish County or by mail (postmarked by August 4).

    Third, if you want to weigh in on the structural lever rather than the specific levy, the Snohomish County Charter Review Commission’s three public hearings are May 13 (Arlington), May 20 (Monroe), and May 27 (Mountlake Terrace) — all at 5:30 PM. Written comments can be submitted to the commission through May 29 via the commission’s page on the county website.

    Fourth, for the Everett City Council’s own decisions on the 2027 budget — including any future ballot questions for an RFA or Sno-Isle regionalization — public comment is taken at every council meeting. Council meets the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at 6:30 PM in the council chambers at 3002 Wetmore Avenue. Comments can also be emailed any time to council@everettwa.gov.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Is Initiative 747 still law? Yes. The state Supreme Court struck down the original initiative in 2007 (Washington Citizens Action of Washington v. State), but the state legislature reinstated the 1% cap the same year in a special session. RCW 84.55.010 is the current statute.

    Does I-747 apply to my individual property tax bill or to total city revenue? It applies to total revenue from existing properties — not to individual bills. Your specific bill can rise faster than 1% if your home’s assessed value increases faster than other homes in your tax district. New construction is exempt from the cap.

    How much will the EMS levy lid lift cost a typical Everett homeowner? For a home assessed at $600,000, the increase is roughly $84 per year — about $7 per month — based on the rate restoring from $0.36 per $1,000 back to $0.50 per $1,000. The exact amount depends on your assessed value.

    What does the EMS levy fund? Approximately 78 firefighter-paramedic positions at the Everett Fire Department, according to the city’s April 22 announcement. These positions handle the medical calls that make up about 80% of fire department dispatch volume — cardiac arrests, strokes, overdoses, falls, and other emergencies.

    When is the EMS levy on the ballot? August 4, 2026, on the Washington State primary ballot. Ballots will mail to registered Snohomish County voters in mid-July.

    What happens if the EMS levy fails? The current rate of approximately $0.36 per $1,000 stays in place. The Everett Fire Department would have to find approximately $7-8 million per year in operating savings or alternative funding to maintain current staffing — likely through some combination of position reductions, regionalization (RFA), or general fund reallocation.

    What’s the difference between a lid lift and a new levy? A lid lift restores a previously-approved property tax to a higher rate the voters originally approved — it doesn’t create a new tax. A new levy would be a brand-new property tax district or measure that didn’t exist before. The EMS levy is a lid lift.

    When does the Voters’ Pamphlet arrive? The Snohomish County Auditor typically mails the Voters’ Pamphlet to registered voters about three weeks before the election. For the August 4 primary, that means mid-July 2026.

    🗳️ Exploring Everett Deep Coverage — Initiative 747 and the EMS Levy

  • Everett’s New 20-Unit Pallet Shelter for Mothers and Children Opens at Sievers-Duecy — VOAWW Ribbon Cutting April 2026

    Everett’s New 20-Unit Pallet Shelter for Mothers and Children Opens at Sievers-Duecy — VOAWW Ribbon Cutting April 2026

    Quick answer: On Monday, April 27, 2026, the City of Everett and Volunteers of America Western Washington (VOAWW) opened a 20-unit Pallet Shelter Village for women experiencing homelessness with their children. The village is built on city-owned land off Sievers-Duecy Boulevard, includes a community kitchen, playground, showers, and detached restrooms, and offers up to 12 months of transitional stays with wraparound recovery and job support — funded by City of Everett American Rescue Plan Act dollars and a $250,000 match from Snohomish County.

    There is a quiet, specific moment at a ribbon cutting that does not show up in the photo op. It is the moment a city council member, a CEO, and a mayor walk away from the cameras and the contractors start moving keys to a coordinator’s office. After that moment, the building is no longer a project. It is somebody’s address.

    That moment happened in Everett on April 27, 2026, on a parcel of city-owned land off Sievers-Duecy Boulevard in the west end of town. The City of Everett and Volunteers of America Western Washington — the organization most longtime Everett residents know simply as VOAWW — cut the ribbon on a 20-unit Pallet Shelter Village. It is the city’s third Pallet shelter project. It is the first one in Everett built specifically for women and their children. And it is, by far, the cleanest answer the city has produced to a question Casino Road and Pinehurst-Beverly Park families have been asking for years: where can a mother go with her kids when she does not have anywhere to go?

    Here is what is on site, how to qualify, who paid for it, and why this matters for Everett’s broader homelessness response in 2026.

    What’s Actually On The Site

    Twenty pallet structures sit on the lot. Each unit is designed to house one mother and up to three children — a sleeping space plus secure storage, climate control, and a lockable door. That is a different physical reality than the bunkhouse and emergency-shelter setups that most homeless families in Snohomish County had access to before this opening.

    Around the units, the village has the infrastructure that makes a temporary home livable for a family with kids. There are detached restrooms. There is a separate shower facility. There is a community kitchen and gathering place — a hard-walled, year-round space, not a tent — where residents can cook, eat, and meet with case workers without leaving the village. And there is a playground, the single feature that signals more about who this village is for than any other piece of the build.

    The Pallet structures themselves were built by Pallet Shelter, the Everett-based company whose modular units have been deployed across more than 70 cities. The site is enclosed and managed; access is controlled.

    Who It’s For And How Long Residents Can Stay

    The shelter is for women and their children, full stop. Residents can stay for up to 12 months while they work toward permanent housing.

    That 12-month window is the critical difference between an emergency shelter and what VOAWW is operating here. Emergency shelters typically run on 30-, 60-, or 90-day stays — barely enough time to stabilize, let alone rebuild a life. A 12-month transitional stay is long enough for a mother to get into substance use treatment if she needs it, hold a job for long enough to build a rental history, save a damage deposit, get her kids into a stable school routine, and apply for the permanent housing programs whose waiting lists run six months and longer.

    That is the math behind transitional housing as a model, and it is the math that the new village was built around.

    Wraparound Services — The Part That Actually Determines Outcomes

    VOAWW will be providing the wraparound services at the village. That word — wraparound — is one that gets used loosely in nonprofit-speak, but in this case it means something specific.

    Recovery assistance is on the list. So is job assistance. VOAWW already operates a portfolio of programs across Snohomish County that touch substance use disorder services, behavioral health, employment readiness, and family-stabilization case management. That is the same machinery that gets connected to a Pallet shelter resident from the day she moves in. It is the part of the model that determines whether 20 units become a revolving door or become 20 successful exits to permanent housing every 12 months.

    Brian Smith, the CEO of Volunteers of America Western Washington, said at the ribbon cutting on April 27 that “It’s about dignity. It’s about stability.” That language is plain on purpose. The model is not built around innovation theater. It is built around the boring, durable work of giving a mother a stable address long enough that she can put a kid in the same school for a full year.

    Where The Money Came From

    The City of Everett allocated American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars to the project. ARPA is the federal pandemic-recovery funding stream that gave municipalities one-time capital to spend on community resilience — and Everett’s allocation of it toward a Pallet shelter for mothers is one of the clearer uses of ARPA dollars in Snohomish County to date.

    Snohomish County contributed $250,000 to the project, which the City of Everett matched. The combined county-city contribution closed the funding gap that had kept the project moving through planning and into construction over roughly two years.

    The site itself is on city-owned land. That detail matters because it shortcuts one of the costliest line items in any shelter project — the land acquisition — and it gives the city long-term control over how the parcel is used.

    Why This Site, Why Now

    This is Everett’s third Pallet shelter project. The first two are well-known in the community — the Phil Johnson Ballfields site, which broke ground in 2023, and the South Everett site that opened earlier in the timeline. Each shelter targets a slightly different population because that is how Pallet’s modular shelter model works in practice: same structural footprint, different operator, different intake criteria.

    The Sievers-Duecy site fills the gap in Everett’s shelter portfolio that had been there since the first two opened. There was emergency shelter capacity for single adults. There was capacity for families through other agencies. There was no Everett-operated Pallet shelter that was set up specifically for the configuration that had become the fastest-growing slice of Snohomish County’s homelessness data — a mother with children, fleeing or recovering from something specific (a domestic situation, a substance use crisis, a sudden housing loss), and needing both privacy and structure.

    The 20-unit village answers that gap, in that geography, with that model. It is the answer to a question that residents on Casino Road, in Pinehurst-Beverly Park, and in the South Forest Park area had been raising at neighborhood meetings for the last 18 months.

    Who Showed Up On April 27

    The ribbon cutting was attended by Everett City Council President Don Schwab, VOAWW Executive Director of Housing Services Galina Volchkova, VOAWW CEO Brian Smith, and Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin. Each spoke in their public role; each represents a part of the partnership chain that produced the village.

    The mayor’s office has been signaling pallet-shelter expansion as a multi-year priority since 2022, when the third site at Glenwood and Sievers-Duecy was first proposed in a public neighborhood meeting. The city council allocated the ARPA dollars. VOAWW is operating it. The county made the match. That kind of layered partnership is not a typical accomplishment, and it is worth naming the structure that produced it.

    What Comes Next

    Two things, mainly.

    First, intake. VOAWW will be working through its case management pipeline to identify the first cohort of residents — women with children who are currently sheltered in less stable arrangements (couch-surfing, vehicles, emergency shelter, fleeing domestic violence) and who meet the program’s transitional-housing eligibility. The first wave of move-ins will follow the ribbon cutting by a matter of weeks.

    Second, outcomes tracking. A 20-unit village with a 12-month maximum stay should be producing roughly 20 successful exits to permanent housing per year if the model works. That is the metric that determines whether Everett gets a fourth and a fifth Pallet shelter, or whether the program plateaus. Both the city and VOAWW have been clear that the data on transitional success is part of how they will be evaluating the model.

    How To Help

    VOAWW’s main support channels are listed at voaww.org, including the donation page that funds the wraparound services side of the operation (recovery support, job assistance, family case management). Snohomish County donors who want to support the Sievers-Duecy site specifically can contact VOAWW’s development office through the same site.

    For volunteer involvement, VOAWW operates an extensive volunteer program across its housing, food, and family services lines. The volunteer page on voaww.org is the central intake.

    For neighborhood residents in the immediate vicinity who want to be part of welcoming the new community in — donations of children’s books, school supplies, kitchen basics, and bedding are routinely needed when a transitional shelter opens. Contact VOAWW for the current list and drop-off instructions.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Who is eligible to stay at the new Pallet shelter village? Women who are experiencing homelessness with their children, working toward permanent housing. Each unit houses one mother and up to three children. Intake is managed by VOAWW.

    How long can a resident stay? Up to 12 months. The site is designed as transitional housing — a stabilizing stop, not an indefinite shelter.

    Where exactly is the village located? On city-owned land off Sievers-Duecy Boulevard in west Everett. The site was originally proposed at Glenwood and Sievers-Duecy in 2022.

    Who funded the project? The City of Everett allocated American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars. Snohomish County contributed $250,000, which the City of Everett matched.

    Is this the only Pallet shelter in Everett? No. This is Everett’s third Pallet shelter project. The first sites at Phil Johnson Ballfields and South Everett serve different populations.

    Who is operating the shelter day-to-day? Volunteers of America Western Washington (VOAWW) is the operator. VOAWW provides wraparound services including recovery assistance and job assistance.

    Who built the pallet units? The structures were built by Pallet Shelter, the Everett-based company whose modular shelter units have been deployed across the country.

    How can I support the new shelter? Donate through voaww.org, volunteer through VOAWW’s volunteer program, or contact VOAWW for the in-kind donation list (children’s books, school supplies, bedding, kitchen basics) when the first cohort moves in.

    Related Reading From Exploring Everett

    For context on Everett’s homelessness response, the Everett Gospel Mission shelter expansion piece on Exploring Everett covers the parallel growth of the city’s largest shelter provider; the Volunteers of America Western Washington complete guide details every program in VOAWW’s Everett-area portfolio; the Stations Unidos profile covers the anti-displacement work happening on Casino Road; and the Cocoon House youth-homelessness profile covers the part of the population this Pallet village will not directly serve.

    The Sievers-Duecy village is one piece of a multi-organization response. The other pieces, taken together, are how Everett actually moves families out of homelessness — one address at a time.

    🏠 Exploring Everett Deep Coverage — VOAWW Pallet Shelter

  • LETI’s New Telehealth Hub in South Everett: 25 Free Computers for Snohomish County Latino Families

    LETI’s New Telehealth Hub in South Everett: 25 Free Computers for Snohomish County Latino Families

    Quick answer: The Latino Educational Training Institute (LETI) in Everett has launched a new telehealth space stocked with 25 Wi-Fi-enabled computers, blood pressure monitors, and infrared thermometers — all donated by UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Washington. The hub is free for anyone in Snohomish County who needs to take a doctor’s video visit but doesn’t have the device, the connection, or the private space to do it from home.

    If you have ever tried to take a video appointment from a kitchen table while two kids did homework on either side of you, you already know why this matters.

    Latino Educational Training Institute — most people just call it LETI — has spent twenty-seven years building the kind of community center that does more than fit one purpose. Computer classes. GED prep. Microentrepreneurship training for landscapers and house cleaners who want to formalize their businesses. Vocational coursework. A space where families could come, in Spanish, in English, and ask the question that had been worrying them all week. The roof above all of that, since 2026, now also covers a telehealth hub — and that hub is one of the cleanest pieces of community-organization infrastructure to land in south Everett in a long time.

    Here is what is inside, who built it, and why families in the Casino Road corridor and across Snohomish County should know it exists.

    What the Telehealth Hub Actually Is

    The space is exactly what the name suggests: a room at LETI’s Everett training center stocked with everything you need to take a telehealth appointment.

    UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Washington donated 25 Wi-Fi-enabled computers to the room. They also donated the kind of medical equipment that makes a video visit useful instead of theatrical — blood pressure monitors, infrared thermometers, and the basic tools a clinician on the other side of the screen can actually ask you to use during the appointment so they have a real reading to work with.

    The point is that residents can use the donated equipment for both physical and behavioral health telehealth appointments. The computers are free for everyone — not means-tested, not credentialed, not gated by membership.

    That last detail is the one that matters most. Free for everyone is a different rule than free for clients. It means a grandmother who walked over from her apartment can come in. It means a working mom on her lunch break can come in. It means a teenager who needs a behavioral health visit and doesn’t want to take it in the room they share with two siblings can come in.

    Why LETI Is the Right Place For This

    LETI was founded in 1998 to provide general educational enrichment, skills development, and community service to the growing Hispanic community of Snohomish County. Twenty-seven years later, that mission has stretched into roughly every direction a community center can stretch.

    Founder and CEO Rosario Reyes framed the telehealth space this way: “This new telehealth space helps remove barriers that too often stand between people and the care they need.” That is a CEO talking about her own organization, in her own public role, in a quote distributed to local press — and it lands cleaner than most institutional statements because the barrier she is describing is specific. It is not philosophical. It is the wall that goes up when your phone is old, your internet is unreliable, and the appointment your insurance offers you is by video.

    LETI has been a trusted community partner in Snohomish County for years. The organization runs vocational classes — office assistance, bookkeeping, professional licensing — that have helped families turn informal work into licensed independent businesses. A landscaper who has been taking cash work for a decade can use the classes to formalize, get an EIN, and put a real business name on the side of a truck. That is the same population for whom a free telehealth room is not a luxury but a missing piece of infrastructure.

    The New 15,000-Square-Foot Facility — Context for Why This Matters Right Now

    The telehealth hub didn’t appear in isolation. LETI received a $3.8 million state allocation in 2024 to build out a new 15,000-square-foot facility in south Everett — a project that has been progressing toward a fully operational building with a commercial kitchen, several classrooms, a child care center, and a large multipurpose space for events like quinceañeras.

    The 2026 facility plan reads like a long list of needs the Casino Road and Pinehurst-Beverly Park families had been telling the city for years. A commercial kitchen so the food-truck entrepreneurs in the area have a licensed prep space. Classrooms for adult education that runs in the evening when shifts end. A child care center for parents in those classes. An event space large enough for the celebrations that hold the community together — quinceañeras, weddings, graduations — without forcing families to rent at hotel-banquet prices.

    The telehealth room slotted into that build as one more piece of the puzzle. The 2026 State of the City address by Mayor Cassie Franklin specifically called out LETI as one of the immigrant-community-serving organizations the city plans to strengthen ties with over the next year. Read that one way, and it is standard mayoral-speech language. Read it another way, and it is the city signaling that LETI is now part of how south Everett delivers services that the city itself cannot run alone.

    What This Means For The Latino Community On Casino Road

    Casino Road is the spine of the most diverse part of Everett. Latino families, Cambodian families, Filipino families, families from across East Africa, and longtime English-speaking families share this corridor — and the health-equity gap that runs through it is the kind of gap that telehealth was specifically designed to close, if anybody actually made the technology accessible.

    The catch is that telehealth was sold to America as a 2020 innovation that would democratize care, and then it quietly stratified along the same lines as every other piece of digital infrastructure. If you had broadband, a recent laptop, and a quiet room, telehealth was a gift. If you didn’t have one of those three, telehealth was just another appointment your insurance had moved farther out of reach.

    LETI’s hub is the answer to that stratification. Twenty-five computers. Donated, working, available, free. Equipment to make the visit clinically meaningful. A space that already feels familiar to the families who would benefit most from it. The combination is what makes it real instead of symbolic.

    How To Use The Hub

    If you live in south Everett and want to use LETI’s telehealth space, here is what you need to know.

    LETI’s Everett training center is reachable at 425-775-2688. The organization’s website is letiwa.org, where the about page lays out the founding history, the program list, and current locations. Walk-in availability for the telehealth space is being managed at the center itself — call ahead if you want to confirm a specific computer slot for an appointment you already have scheduled, particularly if you need the blood pressure cuff or thermometer during your visit.

    If you do not yet have a telehealth appointment but want to set one up, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Washington members can call their plan’s member services line to get started; other insurance plans have their own telehealth scheduling rules.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Is LETI’s telehealth hub only for UnitedHealthcare members?
    No. UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Washington donated the equipment, but the computers are free for everyone to use. The hub is not means-tested or restricted to specific insurance plans.

    Can I use the hub for behavioral health visits?
    Yes. The space is set up for both physical and behavioral health telehealth appointments. A private computer station can be used for therapy or counseling visits.

    Where is LETI located in Everett?
    LETI operates training programs in Everett with a connected presence in Lynnwood. The main Everett contact number is 425-775-2688. The 2026 new facility build-out in south Everett is the larger 15,000-square-foot space the organization is moving toward operating fully.

    Do I need to speak Spanish to use LETI’s services?
    No. LETI serves the Latino community as its founding mission, but services are open to anyone. Bilingual staff support is available.

    What other services does LETI offer beyond telehealth?
    Vocational training (office assistance, bookkeeping, microentrepreneurship), GED preparation, professional licensing pathways, and microloan information for small business owners.

    Is there a cost for using the computers or equipment?
    No. The 25 computers and the donated medical equipment are free to use.

    Related Reading From Exploring Everett

    LETI’s telehealth hub sits inside a much larger story about how south Everett’s institutions are being rebuilt around the families who actually live there. The Casino Road neighborhood guide on Exploring Everett lays out the full corridor; the Stations Unidos profile covers the anti-displacement community development corporation working in the same geography; and the Volunteers of America Western Washington guide covers the wraparound services many LETI clients also rely on.

    This is the part of Everett where the community organizations are the institutions. LETI is one of them, and the telehealth hub is one of the reasons why.

  • Glacier Peak Books State, Jackson and Lake Stevens Fight at Funko Field: Wesco 4A Baseball Comes Home

    Glacier Peak Books State, Jackson and Lake Stevens Fight at Funko Field: Wesco 4A Baseball Comes Home

    **The quick read:** Wesco 4A baseball regular-season champion Glacier Peak punched its WIAA State Tournament ticket Saturday at Bannerwood Park with an 8-2 quarterfinal win over Bothell. Jackson and Lake Stevens dropped their quarterfinals and head to the Consolation Bracket — both of which are being played at Funko Field in Everett on Thursday, May 14. Then on May 29-30, the WIAA 3A and 4A State Baseball Championships return to Funko Field for the third straight year. This is a great time to be a local high-school baseball fan.

    If you grew up around Everett, you already know: high school spring sports get every bit of the love that the pro and junior teams in this town do. And right now, the Wesco postseason is putting all of it within a five-mile drive of downtown Everett.

    Here’s where Wesco baseball stands heading into the back half of May — and why all roads lead to Funko Field.

    Glacier Peak Locks the State Bid

    Glacier Peak entered the District 1/2 4A Baseball Tournament as the No. 2 seed on the back of the Wesco 4A regular-season league title. Saturday at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue, the Grizzlies took care of business in their quarterfinal, beating No. 10 Bothell 8-2 to clinch a state berth.

    In a District tournament where five of the 12 teams advance to State, a quarterfinal win is the magic number. Glacier Peak is in. From here it’s playing for seeding and a potential District 1/2 championship.

    Their next game is the semifinal Thursday, May 14, at 4:00 p.m. at Bannerwood Park against No. 3 Eastlake (out of KingCo 4A). That game will be streamed on the Eli Sports Network. If Glacier Peak wins, they’re in the District championship Saturday, May 16 at 6:00 p.m., also at Bannerwood Park.

    Jackson and Lake Stevens Aren’t Done — and They’re Playing in Our Backyard

    This is the part that matters for an Everett high-school baseball fan with no easy way to get to Bellevue on a school night: the Consolation Bracket is being played at Funko Field.

    Two Wesco programs are still alive in that bracket:

    • **No. 8 Jackson** (which beat No. 9 Issaquah 3-0 in the first round before falling 3-2 to top-seeded Woodinville in the quarterfinal Saturday)
    • **No. 4 Lake Stevens** (which dropped a 5-1 quarterfinal to No. 12 Skyline)

    Both teams play their Consolation games at Funko Field on Thursday, May 14:

    • **Bothell vs. Lake Washington — 4:00 p.m. at Funko Field**
    • **Jackson vs. Lake Stevens — 7:00 p.m. at Funko Field**

    That’s a Wesco-vs-Wesco showdown between Jackson and Lake Stevens in a loser-out game on AquaSox dirt. The winner survives to play on Saturday May 16 for the final State Tournament bid out of this District. It’s exactly the kind of high-school baseball game that makes a Thursday night worth showing up for.

    Kamiak’s Run Ended Early

    The other Wesco team in the field, Kamiak (No. 11 seed), drew No. 6 Lake Washington in the first round Thursday May 7 and dropped that game 6-0. Tough draw, tough result, but the Knights’ regular season — and the fact that they made the District field at all — speaks to the depth of Wesco 4A baseball in 2026.

    And Then State Returns to Everett

    Once the District 1/2 dust settles, the bigger picture: the 2026 WIAA 3A and 4A State Baseball Championships return to Funko Field on Friday and Saturday, May 29-30, for the third consecutive year. Four 3A teams and four 4A teams will play for state titles on the same field where the AquaSox host Northwest League games all summer.

    This is one of the cooler quirks of the Everett sports calendar. The same outfield grass where Felnin Celesten will be standing in June was, three weekends earlier, where a Washington high-school senior took an at-bat for a state championship. That’s a sneaky-great asset for the city, and the Snohomish County Sports Commission has done well to bring it back year after year.

    What About the Wesco South 2A-3A Race?

    In the Wesco South 2A-3A baseball league, Edmonds-Woodway won its fourth straight league title with a clincher against Shorewood on May 1. That’s a remarkable run of program-level dominance — four-peat at the league level is the kind of thing that puts a coaching staff in the local baseball hall of memory.

    Edmonds-Woodway will represent Wesco South in its respective District 1 3A tournament. Specific bracket information for that race is still developing on the WIAA schedule page; we’ll track it as the playoffs unfold.

    Things to Watch This Week

    Wesco 4A loyalty test: Both Jackson and Lake Stevens are alive at Funko Field Thursday night. If Wesco fans want a clear preference, it’s “let one of ours grab the last State bid.” Showing up in person is the easiest way to be loud about that.

    Glacier Peak’s semifinal: Eastlake is a serious draw on Thursday at 4 p.m. The Wolves were a state semifinalist a year ago out of this same tournament. If Glacier Peak gets through, the Grizzlies are in the District championship Saturday with a real shot at the No. 1 District 1/2 4A seed at State.

    The state weekend: Mark May 29-30. Two days of high-school state-championship baseball at Funko Field, before the AquaSox come back home for their summer push. If you’ve never gone to a state championship game in person, this is a good year to start.

    Fan-Voice Take

    There’s a thing this town does well that doesn’t always get praised the way it deserves: we show up for the kids. The Silvertips and AquaSox get the headlines, but the Wesco 4A district tournament has been a real local event for as long as the four-school Everett School District plus Glacier Peak, Jackson, Lake Stevens, and Kamiak have all been playing in the same league pyramid.

    A Thursday-night doubleheader at Funko Field where one Wesco team has to send another Wesco team home with one swing? That’s why we love it. Bring a hat. Bring some money for the concession line. Bring your kid. Sit behind the dugout and pay attention, because two years from now one of those guys might be in pro spring training and you’ll get to say you saw the first big swing.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Who won the Wesco 4A baseball regular-season title in 2026?

    Glacier Peak. The Grizzlies entered the District 1/2 4A Tournament as the No. 2 seed.

    Where is the District 1/2 4A Baseball Tournament being played?

    The main bracket games are at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue. The Consolation Bracket games are being played at Funko Field in Everett.

    When is the Wesco vs Wesco Consolation game at Funko Field?

    Thursday, May 14, 2026, at 7:00 p.m., when No. 8 Jackson plays No. 4 Lake Stevens in a loser-out game.

    How many teams from the District 1/2 4A Tournament advance to State?

    Five teams. Quarterfinal winners are guaranteed State bids; Consolation Bracket survivors play for the remaining spots.

    When and where is the WIAA State Baseball Tournament?

    The 2026 WIAA 3A and 4A State Baseball Championships are at Funko Field in Everett on Friday and Saturday, May 29-30. Four 3A and four 4A teams will compete.

    Who won the Wesco South 2A-3A baseball title in 2026?

    Edmonds-Woodway, defeating Shorewood on May 1 for the Warriors’ fourth straight league title.

    Where can I watch the District 1/2 games online?

    Eli Sports Network is streaming all seven games at Bannerwood Park. The Consolation games at Funko Field have been historically streamed by local outlets — check the WIAA and Wesco Athletics schedule pages.

  • Anders Miller’s Road Test: Silvertips’ Backbone Heads to Art Hauser Centre With a Historic Save Percentage

    Anders Miller’s Road Test: Silvertips’ Backbone Heads to Art Hauser Centre With a Historic Save Percentage

    **The quick read:** Everett Silvertips goaltender Anders Miller takes a 12-0-1 playoff record, a 1.79 goals-against average, and a .936 save percentage into Game 3 of the WHL Championship Final on Tuesday, May 12, at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert (6:30 p.m. PT). Through two rounds he sat at .948 — no WHL goalie with nine-plus playoff games has ever posted better. With the series tied 1-1 and the next three games on the road, the Silvertips’ chances of winning their first Ed Chynoweth Cup since 2007 depend on whether Miller can carry that work in front of someone else’s crowd.

    Hockey playoff series get decided by goaltending. We say that every spring like it’s a fortune-cookie cliché, but in the 2026 WHL Final it’s also literally what’s happening. The Everett Silvertips are tied 1-1 with the Prince Albert Raiders heading into a three-game road swing, and the player most responsible for keeping this dream season alive is wearing pads.

    Here’s why Anders Miller’s Game 3 might be the single most important shift of his career, and why Silvertips fans should feel both nervous and weirdly calm.

    The Number That Makes the Rest of the WHL Stop Talking

    Through two rounds of the 2026 WHL Playoffs, Miller put up a .948 save percentage. That is, per QuantHockey, the highest save percentage ever recorded in WHL playoff history by a goalie with nine or more games played. Not the highest of the year. Not the highest in the conference. The highest, full stop, going back through every postseason the league has ever played.

    Through 13 playoff games this spring, Miller now sits at:

    • **Record: 12-0-1**
    • **Goals-against average: 1.79** (2nd in the WHL playoffs)
    • **Save percentage: .936** (2nd in the WHL playoffs)
    • **Shutouts: 1** (T-2nd)
    • **Wins: 12** (1st)

    He’s the Mary Brown’s Chicken WHL Goaltender of the Month for April. He was Goaltender of the Week earlier in the run. He came over from Calgary in a midseason trade and proceeded to author the most efficient playoff goaltending stretch any 16-team WHL has seen.

    For fans who weren’t paying attention until the Penticton series: this isn’t a hot streak. This is the structural reason this franchise is two wins from each side of a championship.

    What Game 2 Told Us — and What Game 1 Didn’t

    In Game 2 of the Final at Angel of the Winds Arena, Miller stopped 37 of the shots he saw and the Silvertips ran away with it 6-2. That’s the version that has the Penticton series fresh in your head: Anders deletes a six-game series with goaltending, the team scores enough, off we go.

    Game 1 wasn’t that. The Raiders broke through with three second-period goals and won 4-2 — Mason Sivertson, Lukas Cootes on the power play, and Owen Christensen with the game-winner. Miller wasn’t bad; the second period got away from the entire team. But the gap between his Game 1 line and his Game 2 line is the entire reason this series shifted in 48 hours.

    Translation: the Silvertips don’t need Miller to be perfect. They need him to be the version of himself that the 2026 playoff numbers describe, and they need the team in front of him to give him a second period he can actually defend.

    Why Art Hauser Centre Changes Everything

    The Raiders take a 26-6-2 home regular-season record into Game 3. That is one of the best home environments in the entire CHL. The Art Hauser Centre is older, smaller (roughly 2,800 capacity), and louder than what Everett’s faced in this run — the building is structurally close to the ice in a way that newer arenas have engineered away.

    Three games in a row in that environment is the test. Game 3 Tuesday, Game 4 Wednesday, Game 5 Friday if needed. Then back to Angel of the Winds. The Silvertips have been 8-0 on the road through these playoffs — the best road playoff team in the WHL this spring — but that record was built against Wenatchee, Spokane, Penticton’s South Okanagan Events Centre. The Art Hauser Centre is a different room.

    What Miller controls on the road is the same thing he controls at home: angle, depth, rebound control. What he doesn’t control: the second-period crowd surge after a Raiders push, the visiting bench getting last change, or the in-between TV stoppages that hand a hostile building its momentum back. Those are the moments where playoff goaltending stops being numbers and becomes character.

    What to Watch in Game 3

    Three things to track Tuesday night:

    Volume on the first 15 shots. Miller has been excellent on the early-game shot volume across the playoffs. If Prince Albert generates 12-15 shots in the first period and Miller is at full credit, expect the Silvertips to find their offensive feet by the second.

    The second-period scoreboard. It’s been the franchise’s bête noire of this series — three goals against in the second of Game 1, then the team fixed it in Game 2. If Game 3 features a clean middle 20 minutes, the road games are winnable. If Prince Albert finds another second-period gear with their crowd behind them, the math gets harder.

    Power-play goaltending. Lukas Cootes scored on the power play in Game 1. Killing penalties on the road in a 2,800-seat building is one of the most uncomfortable jobs in hockey. Miller’s .948-through-two-rounds work included serious short-handed minutes against Penticton; the road PK in Saskatchewan is the next level of that test.

    The 19-Year Drought Context

    The Silvertips have not won the Ed Chynoweth Cup since 2007. That’s the entire framing for this stretch. There have been good Everett teams. There have been deep Everett playoff runs. There has not been a championship.

    Anders Miller wasn’t on any of those rosters, obviously. He was traded in from Calgary mid-season for exactly the moment Everett is in right now: a deep run in late spring where the path is mostly carved out by goaltending. If the Silvertips lift the cup, the franchise will print Miller’s stat line on a banner.

    If they don’t — well, the .948 was still the best save percentage in WHL playoff history at the cutoff, and that doesn’t go away.

    Schedule

    • **Game 3:** Tuesday, May 12 — at Prince Albert (Art Hauser Centre), 6:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. CT
    • **Game 4:** Wednesday, May 13 — at Prince Albert
    • **Game 5 (if needed):** Friday, May 15 — at Prince Albert
    • **Game 6 (if needed):** Sunday, May 17 — at Angel of the Winds Arena
    • **Game 7 (if needed):** Monday, May 18 — at Angel of the Winds Arena

    TV: TSN in Canada. Streaming: Victory+ in the United States.

    The Silvertips are eight wins from their first championship since 2007. Three of them, maybe more, have to come 1,200 miles from home. The goalie carrying the franchise’s first banner in 19 years is on the bus.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    When is Game 3 of the 2026 WHL Final?

    Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. PT (7:30 p.m. CT) at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

    What are Anders Miller’s 2026 WHL playoff stats?

    Through 13 games: 12-0-1 record, 1.79 GAA, .936 save percentage, 1 shutout. His .948 SV% through two rounds was the highest in WHL playoff history for a goalie with nine or more games played.

    Who has home-ice advantage in the WHL Final?

    The series follows a 2-3-2 format. Games 1-2 were at Angel of the Winds Arena (split 1-1). Games 3, 4, and 5 (if needed) are at the Art Hauser Centre. Games 6 and 7 (if needed) return to Everett.

    Where is the Art Hauser Centre?

    Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Capacity is approximately 2,800. The Raiders went 26-6-2 there in the regular season.

    How can I watch the WHL Final from the U.S.?

    Victory+ streaming service is the U.S. broadcast partner. TSN carries the games in Canada.

    When was the Silvertips’ last WHL championship?

    2007. The franchise has not won the Ed Chynoweth Cup in 19 years.

    Who is starting in goal for the Raiders?

    Michal Orsulak started Game 1 and stopped 39 of 41. He is expected to be the starter for the home games at Art Hauser Centre.

  • AquaSox Drop Mother’s Day Finale 8-5 But Steal Five of Six From Hillsboro; Vancouver Up Next

    AquaSox Drop Mother’s Day Finale 8-5 But Steal Five of Six From Hillsboro; Vancouver Up Next

    **The quick read:** The Everett AquaSox lost the Mother’s Day finale 8-5 to the Hillsboro Hops on Sunday, May 10, 2026, at Funko Field (Everett Memorial Stadium) in front of 2,261 fans — but they won the series five games to one, sit at 18-15, and are now tied with Tri-City for second place in the Northwest League. Next up: a six-game road trip to Vancouver starting Tuesday, May 12.

    You don’t usually want your homestand to end with a loss. But if you have to give one back, give it back the day after you put up 15 runs on Star Wars Night and after you’ve already locked up five of six against your division opponent. The AquaSox can live with that math.

    Here’s how the Mother’s Day finale at Funko Field went, what the full Hillsboro homestand told us, and what to watch when the Frogs cross into Canada on Tuesday.

    How the Finale Got Away

    Hillsboro came out of the dugout like they were trying to salvage something — and they did. The Hops put up a four-spot in the top half of the first two innings on the strength of a Kenny Castillo two-run single with the bases loaded, a Wallace Clark RBI single, and a Trent Youngblood RBI single in the second.

    To Everett’s credit, the Frogs answered immediately. Josh Caron took the first pitch he liked deep for a solo home run to put Everett on the board. Then the AquaSox loaded the bases on two singles and a walk. Jonny Farmelo drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in run number two, and a passed ball plated the third. Just like that, 4-3 game, and Funko Field had its Mother’s Day energy back.

    That was as close as it got. Alberto Barriga’s two-run blast to left-center in the fifth — his fifth homer of the year — made it 6-3. Then in the top of the eighth, Wallace Clark and Brady Counsell hit back-to-back solo home runs to push it to 8-3.

    The Frogs had one more swing left. Luis Suisbel led off the bottom of the eighth with a 386-foot solo shot, and Anthony Donofrio followed two batters later with a 395-foot blast to the Paine Field Home Run Porch — his first long ball of 2026 in his Everett Memorial Stadium debut. Beautiful piece of theater for Mother’s Day. Not enough to flip the result.

    Final: Hillsboro 8, Everett 5. Loss to Walter Ford (0-2). Hops righty Joangel Gonzalez (W). Game time: 2:32.

    The Homestand: Five-and-One

    This is the part that matters. Across six games against Hillsboro, the AquaSox took five. They opened the series winning four straight, blew the doors off the Hops 15-1 on Star Wars Night Saturday in front of a season-high 3,254, and then dropped the Mother’s Day matinée. Net result: the AquaSox climbed to 18-15, tied with the Tri-City Dust Devils for second place in the Northwest League, and they did it while running their best hitters through their first true rhythm of the season.

    Star Wars Night Saturday was the showcase — four home runs from Luke Stevenson (a three-run shot in the first that put Everett on the board), Luis Suisbel, Felnin Celesten, and Carlos Jimenez. Evan Truitt pitched 5.1 innings of one-run baseball, walked one, struck out four. The bullpen — Will Armbruester and Adam Smith — closed it without surrendering another run. 15-1. That game alone tells you why this prospect group is starting to feel real.

    Friday’s 8-1 win on Colton Shaw’s seven-strikeout start. Bryce Miller’s rehab gem on Silver Sluggers Night. Stevenson, Celesten, Jimenez, Caron, Donofrio, Suisbel — six different bats putting up tape-measure swings on a single homestand. That’s not noise. That’s a roster catching fire at the right time.

    Players to Watch Heading Into Vancouver

    A few names you want on your radar before the Frogs roll into B.C.:

    Felnin Celesten. Back-to-back Northwest League Player of the Week earlier this stretch, the Mariners’ top-tier middle infield prospect kept it going on Star Wars Night with a two-run home run plus an RBI single. He’s the engine.

    Luke Stevenson. Mariners’ Hitter of the Month for April, ranked the organization’s No. 8 prospect, and the Star Wars Night three-run homer was a reminder why the rankings exist.

    Anthony Donofrio. The Sunday solo homer is his first of the season, but the swing path on a 395-foot ball to the Home Run Porch is the kind of contact you remember. Watch this one.

    Luis Suisbel. Two homers across the homestand including the Mother’s Day shot. He’s quietly building a power profile.

    Brandon Eike. Six homers on the season heading into Vancouver. Still the longball pillar in this lineup.

    Brock Moore out of the bullpen — April Bullpen Award winner, 8.1 IP / 20 K / 4 SV / 2.16 ERA across the early season. Whenever this lineup gives him a lead, you trust the result.

    Next Up: Six in Vancouver, Then Home Against Tri-City

    The Frogs head north and cross the border for six games against the Vancouver Canadians at Nat Bailey Stadium — the legendary “Nat” — starting Tuesday, May 12, with first pitch at 7:05 p.m. The Canadians are the Blue Jays’ High-A affiliate and play in arguably the most charming ballpark in the Northwest League: 6,500 capacity, opened 1951, dual-purpose for baseball and the occasional concert.

    Vancouver is a road test for a roster that’s been thriving at home. Funko Field is friendly. The Nat has its own personality — the right field porch, the wind off False Creek, the sushi-and-Pacific-Dip concessions — and the Canadians have been playing well in their own building. This is the homestand-momentum-meets-road-reality matchup.

    After the six in Vancouver, the AquaSox return to Funko Field for a six-game homestand against the Tri-City Dust Devils — currently tied with Everett for second place. That’s a series with second-place implications baked in. Promotions confirmed for the Tri-City series include a ZOOperstars appearance, an AquaSox beanie hat giveaway presented by IBEW/NECA, and Sunday Fun Day.

    What This Homestand Told Us About 2026

    Three things came out of these six games against Hillsboro that matter for the rest of the season.

    First, this lineup can score in bunches. Fifteen runs on Saturday. Eight on Friday. Ten or more in multiple games across the prior road trips. The power is there, the patience is there, and the prospect-driven energy is there.

    Second, the bullpen depth is real. Moore, Smith, Armbruester, the back-end pieces — Everett has been winning the late innings even on nights where the offense doesn’t blow it open.

    Third, 18-15 with a five-of-six series win over a division opponent in May is the kind of position you want to be in heading into a road swing. The Frogs are not chasing anymore. They’re being chased.

    The Mother’s Day loss stings. The homestand was a statement.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What was the final score of the AquaSox-Hops game on May 10, 2026?

    The Hillsboro Hops beat the Everett AquaSox 8-5 in the Mother’s Day finale at Funko Field (Everett Memorial Stadium). Attendance was 2,261.

    Who won the AquaSox-Hops series?

    The Everett AquaSox took five of the six games against Hillsboro on the May 5–10 homestand.

    What is the AquaSox record after the homestand?

    The AquaSox are 18-15 on the season, tied with the Tri-City Dust Devils for second place in the Northwest League.

    When does the AquaSox next series start?

    The Frogs play a six-game road series at the Vancouver Canadians starting Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at Nat Bailey Stadium. First pitch is 7:05 p.m.

    Who hit home runs for the AquaSox on Mother’s Day?

    Josh Caron hit a solo home run in the second inning. Luis Suisbel hit a 386-foot solo shot in the eighth, and Anthony Donofrio hit a 395-foot solo shot in the same inning — his first long ball of the season.

    What happened on Star Wars Night?

    The AquaSox demolished the Hops 15-1 on Saturday, May 9, in front of a season-high 3,254 fans. Luke Stevenson, Luis Suisbel, Felnin Celesten, and Carlos Jimenez all homered.

    When do the AquaSox return to Funko Field?

    After the Vancouver series, the AquaSox return home for six games against the Tri-City Dust Devils. The Tri-City series includes a ZOOperstars appearance, a beanie hat giveaway, and Sunday Fun Day.

  • Armed Forces Day Is May 16 — The Bremerton Parade Is the Puget Sound’s Flagship Tribute, and Here’s What NAVSTA Everett Families Should Know

    Armed Forces Day Is May 16 — The Bremerton Parade Is the Puget Sound’s Flagship Tribute, and Here’s What NAVSTA Everett Families Should Know

    What is Armed Forces Day 2026 and where is the Puget Sound’s flagship event? Armed Forces Day 2026 falls on Saturday, May 16. Established by Defense Secretary Louis Johnson in 1949 to honor all U.S. military branches under one banner after the Department of Defense unified the services, it lands annually on the third Saturday in May. In the Puget Sound region, the Bremerton Armed Forces Day Parade — the longest-running such parade in the country — steps off at 10 a.m. along Pacific Avenue in Downtown Bremerton, followed by a Heroes’ BBQ free to anyone with a military ID at Quincy Square. For NAVSTA Everett’s Navy families, it’s an hour’s drive (or a ferry ride) to the regional center of the day.

    For the roughly 6,000 sailors who call Naval Station Everett their duty station and the families who PCS in alongside them, Armed Forces Day is the one calendar day each year that recognizes active service across all branches at the same time. It is distinct from Memorial Day — May 25 in 2026, honoring those who died in service — and from Veterans Day in November, which honors those who have served honorably. Armed Forces Day, as the Department of Defense puts it, is the day for the people currently wearing the uniform.

    A Holiday Built for Uniformed Service

    On August 31, 1949, Defense Secretary Louis Johnson announced the creation of Armed Forces Day to replace the separate Army Day, Navy Day, and Air Force Day observances. The unified holiday followed the 1947 National Security Act, which had folded the services under a single Secretary of Defense. The first Armed Forces Day was celebrated on May 20, 1950, with a parade in Washington, D.C. that drew 10,000 troops from all branches past the president and his party. The inaugural theme — “Teamed for Defense” — survives as the holiday’s core idea seventy-six years later.

    The Puget Sound’s Flagship Event: The Bremerton Parade

    Across the water from Everett, Bremerton has run an Armed Forces Day Parade every year since 1948 — the local procession predates the federal holiday itself. The first march was organized by the Bremerton Chamber of Commerce to honor Master Sergeant John “Bud” Hawk, a Bremertonian who received the Medal of Honor from President Truman for his actions in the Falaise pocket during World War II. The parade absorbed the Armed Forces Day designation when the holiday formalized in 1950 and has run continuously since.

    By scale, the Bremerton parade is now the longest-running and largest Armed Forces Day parade in the nation, per the City of Bremerton and the Greater Kitsap Chamber, which organizes it. It draws 20,000+ from across Western Washington, with entries from Oregon and Spokane.

    Parade Specifics for 2026

    • Date: Saturday, May 16, 2026
    • Step-off: 10:00 a.m.
    • Route: Pacific Avenue, Downtown Bremerton
    • Reviewing stand: Pacific & 5th Street (units perform a one-minute slot in front of the stand)
    • Cost to spectate: Free
    • Runtime: About two hours

    Expect military marching units, color guards, classic vehicles, school bands, civic groups, and floats. The U.S. Navy Brass Band, Naval Base Kitsap’s resident ensemble, typically anchors the parade’s music slot.

    The Festival, the BBQ, and the Resource Fair

    After the parade clears Pacific Avenue, festivities continue at Quincy Square in downtown Bremerton. The Heroes’ BBQ is free to active-duty, reserve, retired, and veteran service members with a valid military ID — a nontrivial perk for NAVSTA Everett sailors and their families willing to make the trip across Puget Sound. The day also includes a Resource Fair, where veteran service organizations, family-support providers, and benefit administrators staff tables and field questions.

    For a Navy family new to the region — the May-through-August window is the peak Permanent Change of Station arrival period — the Bremerton resource fair functions as a one-day overview of what’s available across Puget Sound for service members and their dependents.

    How NAVSTA Everett Families Get There

    NAVSTA Everett to Downtown Bremerton is roughly an hour by car (I-5 south to WA-16 west to WA-3) or, often faster on a Saturday, the Edmonds-Kingston ferry plus a 30-minute drive south down the Kitsap Peninsula. Vehicle wait times on Washington State Ferries grow on Armed Forces Day weekend; check the morning sailing schedule before leaving.

    Closer-to-Everett options exist on a smaller scale. USO Northwest serves NAVSTA Everett and other regional installations with Armed Forces Day recognition activities. The American Legion Post 6 in Everett and the Snohomish County Veterans Assistance Program at the Drewel Building (425-388-7255) historically mark the day locally.

    For confirming whether NAVSTA Everett itself runs a base-specific Armed Forces Day program in any given year, the Fleet & Family Support Center at 425-304-3735 is the right clearing-house.

    What Civilian Everett Neighbors Can Do

    Armed Forces Day is one of the few non-controversial holidays on the American calendar specifically asking civilians to show up for the people in uniform. Practical, low-key ways to do that this year, ranked by effort:

    • Lowest effort: Pick up a check at a local restaurant for a uniformed sailor sitting two tables over, without making a scene. That one gesture lands.
    • Modest effort: Drive south, or take the ferry. Bremerton’s parade was built by a chamber of commerce in 1948 because a small Navy town wanted to thank one of its own.
    • Higher effort: Plug into the resource fair as a civilian volunteer. The Greater Kitsap Chamber takes parade-entry and volunteer applications through Eventeny each spring.

    Why the Day Still Matters for Everett

    Naval Station Everett is the destroyer pier for the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Northwest grouping, with Arleigh Burke-class ships homeported here per the most recent Navy Region Northwest public listing. The community footprint of those crews — the families in Mukilteo, Marysville, north Everett, Lake Stevens, and Mill Creek schools — is the part of “Navy in Everett” that is visible 364 days a year, in classrooms and grocery aisles and youth-soccer sidelines. Armed Forces Day is the one day that makes that footprint visible to everyone else, all branches at once, under one roof.

    It also sits at the center of the longest stretch of military observances on the U.S. calendar — Military Spouse Appreciation Day (May 8), then Armed Forces Day, then Memorial Day (May 25), with Navy Gold Star Remembrance Month and Mental Health Awareness Month running underneath. Armed Forces Day is the active-duty thank-you in the middle.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    When exactly is Armed Forces Day 2026?

    Saturday, May 16, 2026. By federal designation since 1949, Armed Forces Day always falls on the third Saturday in May (afd.defense.gov).

    Is Armed Forces Day a federal holiday?

    No. It is a federally recognized observance but not a federal holiday. Federal offices, banks, and post offices remain open. Active-duty personnel are typically scheduled normally, though units often participate in parades, ceremonies, and community events.

    What’s the difference between Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day?

    Armed Forces Day (third Saturday in May) honors currently serving active-duty, Reserve, and National Guard personnel across all branches. Memorial Day (last Monday in May, falling on May 25 in 2026) honors those who died in service. Veterans Day (November 11) honors all who have served honorably, living or deceased.

    Will NAVSTA Everett be open to the public on Armed Forces Day?

    Naval Station Everett does not run an annual public open-house tied to Armed Forces Day. The base hosts its separate public-access events on different dates each year, and operational tempo influences which years feature broader community access. Call the NAVSTA Everett Fleet & Family Support Center at 425-304-3735 for current-year guidance.

    What’s free for military ID holders on May 16, 2026?

    At the Bremerton festival at Quincy Square, the Heroes’ BBQ is free to active-duty, reserve, retired, and veteran service members with a valid military ID. Many Snohomish County restaurants and businesses also run independent discount or free-meal programs for Armed Forces Day; those vary year to year and are not centrally listed.

    How long has the Bremerton parade been running?

    Since 1948. It started a year before Armed Forces Day was federally established, originally as a hometown tribute to Master Sergeant John “Bud” Hawk, the Bremertonian Medal of Honor recipient. The parade absorbed the federal designation in 1950 and has run continuously every year since.

    Can civilians march in the Bremerton parade?

    Yes. The Greater Kitsap Chamber accepts parade-entry applications from civic groups, school bands, businesses, and veterans organizations through its annual Eventeny portal. There is also a “Veterans Walk with Pride” participant track for individual veterans.

    What’s the fastest way for an Everett family to get to the Bremerton parade?

    The Edmonds-Kingston ferry plus a 30-minute drive south is often the faster door-to-door option than I-5 to WA-16 on a Saturday morning, and it’s the more pleasant trip. Check the Washington State Ferries schedule and vehicle wait times before leaving — wait times grow on Armed Forces Day weekend.

  • Mason County Roads — May 10, 2026

    Mason County Roads — May 10, 2026

    May 10, 2026 — Sunday morning brief. Sources checked: WSDOT Olympic Region highway alerts, Mason County Public Works, MasonWebTV road work feed, Shelton-Mason County Journal. Live conditions: WSDOT highway alerts · WSDOT travel map.

    Active Alerts

    No active alerts from WSDOT or Mason County Public Works this morning. Mason County highways — SR-3, US-101, SR-106, SR-302, SR-108, and SR-119 — are open and operating under normal Sunday conditions. No emergency closures or unscheduled lane restrictions reported overnight.

    Major Projects — Current Status

    ProjectStatusEst. CompletionSource
    SR-3 Freight Corridor (Belfair Bypass)Construction 2026, completion 2028 — funding at risk. Supplemental budget includes $48.3M in 2025–27 biennium; Ferguson budget proposes delaying final phase from 2027–29 to 2031–33 biennium.2028 (if funded)Shelton Journal 2/26/26
    Olympic Highway North (Shelton)Design phase — bid spring 2027, construction summer 20272027–28Shelton Journal 3/19/26
    SR-3 Shelton Safety (Craig Rd to Arcadia Rd)Pre-design — roundabouts planned, no construction dateTBDWSDOT engage
    SR-3 Belfair Widening (MP 25.3–27)Active constructionOngoingWSDOT

    Commuter Notes for Today

    • SR-3 Belfair (MP 25.3–27): Belfair widening construction zone remains active. Travel time normal on Sunday — no flagging or daytime lane closures reported. Use caution through the work zone.
    • US-101 Shelton / Kamilche: No reported alerts. Sunday volumes light. Drive normally between Olympia, Shelton, and Hoodsport.
    • SR-106 along Hood Canal (Union area): Open. No alerts overnight on the Hood Canal corridor.
    • SR-302 (Key Peninsula side toward Victor): Open. The SR-302 Victor Creek fish-barrier project completed major construction in December 2025 — the new bridge is carrying traffic and lane configurations are back to normal.

    Report a Road Issue

    • State highways (SR-3, US-101, SR-106, SR-302, SR-108, SR-119): Call WSDOT at 511 or visit WSDOT highway alerts.
    • Mason County roads: Mason County Public Works at (360) 427-9670 or report online at masoncountywa.gov.
    • City of Shelton streets: Shelton Public Works at (360) 432-5100.

    This brief is compiled each morning from public sources. For real-time conditions, always check the WSDOT live travel map before you drive. Conditions can change quickly — especially on SR-3 and US-101 where flagging operations and weather-related restrictions can appear with little notice.

  • For Visitors Flying Into Paine Field From Portland: A 2026 Everett Weekend Guide for the New June 10 Nonstop

    For Visitors Flying Into Paine Field From Portland: A 2026 Everett Weekend Guide for the New June 10 Nonstop

    If you live in the Portland metro and have been wondering whether Everett, Washington is worth a weekend, June 10, 2026 changes the answer. That’s the day Alaska Airlines resumes daily nonstop service between Portland International (PDX) and Paine Field (PAE) — landing you 25 minutes north of downtown Everett at a small, walk-to-the-gate terminal that bypasses SeaTac entirely. This guide is the Everett itinerary the new route makes practical for the first time.

    Why Paine Field is the right airport for an Everett trip

    Most Pacific Northwest visitors arrive into SeaTac and immediately face a decision: drive 90 minutes north against I-5 traffic, or skip everything north of Seattle entirely. Paine Field changes that calculation. It is a small commercial terminal in Snohomish County that opened in March 2019, operated by Propeller Airports. There is no remote parking shuttle. There is no terminal-to-terminal monorail. You walk from the gate to the curb in roughly the time it takes to clear a single TSA line.

    From the curb, a rideshare to downtown Everett is roughly 25 minutes. To the waterfront — about 30. To the AquaSox stadium at Funko Field — under 30.

    The weekend itinerary the new nonstop makes possible

    Friday evening — Land, drop, and walk to dinner. Land at Paine Field by early evening on Alaska’s daily PDX-PAE nonstop. Drop bags at a downtown Everett hotel, then walk to Hewitt Avenue. The dining stretch on Hewitt has rebuilt itself in 2026 — R Harn Thai opened earlier this year and is the right call for a first-night meal. Order the khao soi.

    Saturday morning — Waterfront and Jetty Island. Drive 10 minutes to the Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place — the redeveloped working waterfront with restaurant row, marina access, and the seasonal Jetty Island ferry. Jetty Island is a free 20-minute walk-on ferry to a two-mile sand spit in Possession Sound. Bring a windbreaker even in June.

    Saturday afternoon — Funko HQ and downtown. Funko’s Everett headquarters sits in a converted historic downtown building and is open to visitors. The retail experience is unlike any other corporate flagship in the Pacific Northwest. Combine with a walk through the surrounding gallery district — the Everett Art Walk runs the third Thursday of each month if your trip aligns.

    Saturday evening — AquaSox or Silvertips, in season. The Everett AquaSox play at Funko Field downtown (Mariners High-A affiliate, summer schedule) and the Everett Silvertips play at Angel of the Winds Arena (WHL major junior hockey, fall through spring playoffs). Either is a low-cost, high-energy minor-league experience you cannot reproduce in Portland.

    Sunday — Boeing Future of Flight or a North Cascades day trip. The Boeing Future of Flight aviation museum sits adjacent to Paine Field — convenient to a Sunday departure. For a longer day, Everett is the gateway to Mukilteo, Whidbey Island via the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry, and the western foothills of the North Cascades. None of these are easy out of SeaTac.

    Why this works as a weekend the previous schedule didn’t allow

    Without a PAE-PDX nonstop, the Portland visitor’s only option for an Everett weekend has been to fly into SeaTac and drive 90+ minutes north. The drive eats Friday evening and most of Sunday morning. With the new daily Alaska nonstop, you can land in Everett by 6 PM on Friday and depart by mid-day on Sunday and not lose either bookend to airport time.

    The June 10 launch lands during AquaSox season, before the worst summer Mukilteo ferry queues, and during the most active stretch of the Port of Everett’s outdoor programming.

    Practical details for Portland-area visitors

    • Airport: Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE), Everett, WA. Operated by Propeller Airports.
    • Tickets: alaskaair.com
    • Service start: June 10, 2026, daily.
    • Rideshare to downtown Everett: ~25 minutes.
    • Hotels: Downtown Everett options cluster around the Hewitt Avenue corridor and the waterfront.

    Frequently asked questions for visitors

    Is Paine Field a real commercial airport?

    Yes. Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE) opened its commercial terminal in March 2019. It is operated by Propeller Airports and serves Alaska Airlines and Avelo Airlines. After the June 10, 2026 Portland launch it will run 13 daily commercial departures across nine nonstop destinations.

    How far is Paine Field from downtown Everett?

    Roughly 25 minutes by rideshare. The terminal sits on the southwest edge of Everett near Mukilteo.

    What is there to actually do in Everett for a weekend?

    Waterfront Place at the Port of Everett, Jetty Island (seasonal ferry), Funko HQ in downtown, AquaSox baseball at Funko Field (summer) or Silvertips hockey at Angel of the Winds Arena (fall through spring), the Everett Art Walk on third Thursdays, and Boeing Future of Flight adjacent to Paine Field for a Sunday departure-day stop.

    Do I need a rental car?

    For a Friday-to-Sunday Everett-only itinerary, rideshare is enough. If you want to add Mukilteo, Whidbey Island via ferry, or any North Cascades day trip, rent a car at the airport.

    What’s the closest hotel to Paine Field?

    The airport area itself has limited lodging. Most visitors stay downtown Everett or near the waterfront — both are roughly 25-30 minutes from the terminal.

    Related Exploring Everett coverage for visitors

  • Paine Field’s Portland Nonstop Returns June 10: The Complete 2026 Guide to What Alaska Airlines’ Relaunch Means for Everett

    Paine Field’s Portland Nonstop Returns June 10: The Complete 2026 Guide to What Alaska Airlines’ Relaunch Means for Everett

    Quick answer: Alaska Airlines resumes daily nonstop service between Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE) in Everett and Portland International Airport (PDX) on June 10, 2026. The route brings Paine Field to nine nonstop destinations and 13 daily commercial departures — the busiest schedule the Snohomish County commercial terminal has run since it opened in March 2019. Tickets are on sale at alaskaair.com.

    What’s actually changing on June 10

    Paine Field has had no nonstop option to Portland since the route was discontinued earlier in the terminal’s history. Alaska’s relaunch closes the Pacific Northwest’s most-asked-about gap in the PAE schedule. Portland is the second-largest metro in the region and the natural sister-city pairing for Everett’s commercial terminal — the I-5 drive between Everett and PDX is roughly four hours in light traffic and routinely six on a Friday. A daily nonstop reframes that calculation entirely.

    Propeller Airports, the operator of the Paine Field commercial terminal, announced the relaunch on December 19, 2025. The June 10, 2026 first-day schedule was confirmed in subsequent press materials. The route operates daily.

    Why this matters specifically for Everett

    Three reasons this is more consequential than a single new route would suggest at most airports.

    • Connection geometry. Portland is one of Alaska’s hub-style operations. A nonstop from Paine Field into PDX opens efficient one-stop connections through the Alaska network to cities like Houston, Nashville, Orlando, Dallas, Bozeman, Spokane, and Austin — destinations PAE does not serve nonstop and probably never will at this terminal’s scale. The connection bank, not the destination itself, is the real product.
    • The 13-departure threshold. Paine Field opened in 2019 with a deliberately small commercial footprint. The June schedule lands the terminal at 13 daily commercial departures — the highest count since opening. That is the threshold at which the terminal stops feeling like a boutique alternative and starts functioning as a primary regional airport for North Puget Sound.
    • The Boeing factor. Many Boeing executives, suppliers, and customer representatives based out of Renton, Kent, and Tukwila routinely fly to PDX for business. A PAE-PDX nonstop is the first time that traveler can credibly fly out of Everett rather than detour to SeaTac. The aerospace business case for the route is structural, not speculative.

    The Paine Field route map after June 10

    With the Portland addition, Paine Field’s nonstop network reaches nine destinations across Alaska Airlines and Avelo Airlines schedules. Connection efficiency varies — some markets benefit dramatically from the new PDX option (Texas, Tennessee, Florida), others remain best served via Alaska’s existing PAE nonstop network or a SeaTac drive.

    What the SeaTac comparison actually looks like

    For an Everett resident, the practical question is whether the PDX nonstop is worth choosing over a SeaTac drive plus a SeaTac-PDX flight. The Paine Field math has always been: 25-minute drive vs. 60-90 minute drive, no remote parking shuttle, smaller TSA wait, walk-to-gate terminal experience. The trade has been fewer destinations.

    For Portland specifically, the PAE option after June 10 is roughly an hour and 45 minutes door-to-door from north Everett to gate-to-gate boarding versus three hours through SeaTac. For connection itineraries, the PDX-via-PAE option is competitive with PDX-via-SEA for any onward destination Alaska serves out of Portland.

    What this signals about the terminal’s trajectory

    Paine Field’s commercial terminal opened with two airlines and 24 daily departures in early plans, before COVID compressed the operation. The path back to that scale has been incremental — destination by destination, frequency by frequency. The June 2026 Portland addition pushes the terminal to its highest commercial activity since opening, but it is still well below the 24-departure plan that originally permitted the terminal. The structural ceiling is still there. The trajectory between now and that ceiling is what local travelers will be watching.

    Propeller has not announced additional routes beyond Portland in the June schedule, but each addition like this tightens the case for the next one. Spokane, Boise, and Sacramento have circulated as candidates over the years; June 10 is the first new destination announcement since the terminal added Avelo service.

    Frequently asked questions

    When does Alaska Airlines start the Paine Field to Portland nonstop?

    June 10, 2026, with daily service. Tickets are on sale at alaskaair.com.

    How many daily flights will Paine Field have after the Portland route launches?

    13 daily commercial departures, across nine nonstop destinations. That is the busiest schedule the Paine Field commercial terminal has run since opening in March 2019.

    What connections does the new Paine Field-Portland route open up?

    Portland is one of Alaska’s hub-style operations. The new PAE-PDX nonstop offers efficient one-stop connections to cities including Houston, Nashville, Orlando, Dallas, Bozeman, Spokane, and Austin via the Alaska network.

    Was there ever a Paine Field to Portland nonstop before?

    The route had been discontinued. June 10, 2026 is a relaunch — the first time PAE has had nonstop service to PDX in years.

    How long does it take to drive from Everett to Portland?

    Roughly four hours in light traffic, six or more on a Friday afternoon. The flight reframes that math entirely for travelers who can use the new daily nonstop option.

    How does this compare to flying from SeaTac to Portland?

    For a north Everett resident, the door-to-gate time at PAE is roughly an hour and 45 minutes versus three hours through SeaTac. Connection itineraries via PDX out of PAE will be competitive with SEA-PDX for Alaska-served onward destinations.

    Who operates the Paine Field commercial terminal?

    Propeller Airports operates the commercial terminal at Paine Field. Snohomish County owns the airport itself.

    Related Exploring Everett coverage