News

Gig Harbor Now reporters chase down news that affects community residents, providing facts with context and perspective.

Wellness Wednesday | Heart health awareness: Education and tips for a healthier future

Feb 14, 2024 | By: Scot Fleshman

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States. With that singular statistic, it is vital that we focus on February as American Heart Month. This awareness month was “established by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Presidential Proclamation 3566 in December 1963.” With that in mind, we are using February to

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Harbor Happenings | Exploring local links to Steinbeck and a famous journey

Feb 14, 2024 | By:

Most locals know about the connection between Gig Harbor’s early settlers and Croatia. But the city also is connected with Monterey, California and Mexico’s Sea of Cortez. Historian Michael Kenneth Hemp will discuss the links and historical timelines of West Coast settlement, migration, first peoples, fisheries, local boat building and world-famous literary events at 2

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Gig Harbor Real Estate | Prices pick up ahead of spring buying and selling season

Feb 13, 2024 | By: Alison Paoli

The Gig Harbor real estate market continued to pick up momentum in January despite a significant shortage of available homes to buy.

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Kopachuck State Park improvements finally forthcoming

Feb 13, 2024 | By:

A renovated Kopachuck State Park, at long last, will begin to emerge this spring. Fourteen years in the works, construction is slated to commence in late April. All permits have been approved. Drawings are finished. Bids will be sought by the end of February. Groundbreaking would follow. “I’m very excited to get out to bid

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Gig Harbor Now and Then | WWII-era incendiary balloon was a mere inconvenience on the Key Peninsula

Feb 12, 2024 | By: Greg Spadoni

Our previous column noted that in a unique event, a Japanese incendiary balloon designed to set the forests of the Pacific Northwest aflame landed on the Key Peninsula in 1945, near the end of World War 2. The topic generated three questions. Where did the Japanese incendiary balloon land on the Key Peninsula? Answer: On

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Free legal pop-ups debut this week in Gig Harbor

Feb 12, 2024 | By:

Legal advice may not, at first, seem as fundamental a human need as food or medical care. But Bob Vollbracht, volunteer leader of the Gig Harbor Key Peninsula Housing-Homeless Coalition, has seen the profound benefit of free legal services to low-income clients shaken by situations such as domestic violence, child custody disputes or looming evictions.

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Newly formed nonprofit wants to adopt school district’s KGHP

Feb 12, 2024 | By:

A small group of radio enthusiasts has offered to assume management of KGHP-FM, the 36-year-old radio station that Peninsula School District is looking to rehome. A gap remains, however, between the newly-formed nonprofit’s vision for the station and the district’s plans. In a “next steps” meeting Thursday, Feb. 8, that drew more than 30 attendees,

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Two in Tow & On the Go | ‘Manhunt,’ bonfire and more DeMolay memories (Part II)

Feb 10, 2024 | By:

I first visited Fox Island’s Tacoma DeMolay Sandspit Park in 2021, when the kids and I were still the seeking out the Puget Sound’s elusive “real sand” beach after moving here from California. At the time, I’d never heard of the word “DeMolay” before. But I figured it was the last name of a local

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Former officer at Gig Harbor prison charged with inappropriate relationship

Feb 09, 2024 | By:

Pierce County prosecutors charged a former corrections officer at the Women’s Correctional Center for Women in Gig Harbor with engaging in an inappropriate relationship with an inmate.  Prosecutors charged Danielle Alexandra Lucas, 32, with first degree custodial sexual misconduct on Wednesday, Feb. 8. The News Tribune newspaper of Tacoma first reported the charge.  Charging documents

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Two in Tow & On the Go | The history of the DeMolay club behind this PenMet park (Part I)

Feb 09, 2024 | By:

The sandspit is a slice of Washington geography that’s truly special around here — and unlike any place we’ve ever been. But, did you know this nature preserve also has a uniquely interesting social history filled with mystery and intrigue? Namely, in its past relationship to … a secret society. Have I got you hooked yet? Read on.

Have I go

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