Helpline leader Dan Willms moves on
WALLA WALLA — After five years of “extremely rewarding” times at the helm of Helpline, Dan Willms is returning home to his family and the family business. Today was his last day at the desk of executive director.
Eye to eye from afar
What household hasn’t had this conversation?
United Way leader exits with 'ambivalence'
The board of United Way of Walla Walla County has announced the resignation of Executive Director Liz McDevitt, one she tendered with “marked ambivelance,” she said in a letter to board members.
J.U.G.S. Pink Ball fights cancer with fantasy, fun and yum
WALLA WALLA — Strength. Hope. Cure. Awareness. And one crazy, fantastical night.
Walla Walla social worker placed on probation
WALLA WALLA — A local addiction and social worker professional has been placed on probation by the Washington state Department of Health.
Dayton man celebrates new lease on life
Badly injured in a motorcycle crash, Will Teeters is on the road to a full recovery, but not a return to the saddle, he says.
On the day dedicated to matters of the heart, Will Teeters struggles to adequately express the overflowing love in his, even after sleepless nights of pain.
A day when hearts are uncamouflaged
Dear Camo Man, Happy first married Valentine’s Day, Honey. Not that we need excuses for romance ... our days are filled with it.
‘Personal feelings’ spill over into vandalism
Jim Sanders, former YMCA director and co-owner of Public House 124 restaurant, told police he dumped cooking grease on the lawn of current YMCA leader Randy Grant.
Social services in Walla Walla County get funding boost
WALLA WALLA — More than $3.7 million dollars has been awarded to community agencies by Walla Walla County’s Department of Human Services through a competitive bid process.
Dads, daughters, dancing add dollars to Jr. Show
The annual dance is set for Saturday in Milton-Freewater.
MILTON-FREEWATER — The Jr. Show organization here is not typically associated with life’s fancier moments.
Miss Kate: The ray amongst the rage
I spend a quite a bit of time parenting my daughter in a repressed rage.
Milton-Freewater girl copes with seizures
MILTON-FREEWATER — The wind whipping through the Ferndale Elementary School parking lot carries a sting. Robin Reynolds, a paraprofessional, is buttoned into her fluffy winter coat.
Prickly pets pose health problem
Hedgehogs in Washington state and elsewhere are making health officials prickly.
The best medicine they could ask for
Best friends Norma Leisle and Kathleen Walker are fighting cancer the way that’s most natural to them: together.
The long chain of coincidences wrapping friends Norma Leisle and Kathleen Walker together reads like a novel— one filled with terror and trauma and love.
Milton-Freewater community rallies for ill principal
Ron Richwine is battling esophageal cancer and surgery has failed to stop its spread.
MILTON-FREEWATER — In the place residents here have long roared for victory at sporting events, they did it again Sunday ... in hope of another team win.
Officials: Flu likely to hit here
WALLA WALLA — The nation’s spreading influenza outbreak has not hit rural Washington yet, but there’s no reason to think Walla Walla will escape, according to health officials.
No country for unwanted pets
There’s being lucky and then there’s being Lucky.
Beefing up the mission to nourish the needy
Matthew 25:35-40 — For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me ... The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Creativity, connection inspire Texas musician
Everyone who knows Hamilton Loomis knows he climbed the musical staircase under the guidance of Bo Diddley.
Second day, first baby
Jayden Croy’s arrival today appears to make him the first baby of the new year in the Valley.
WALLA WALLA — He waited until the second of January, but everything else is first about Jayden Marshall Croy.
Gift goes both ways at adoption event
WALLA WALLA — There’s a lot going on this day at Blue Mountain Humane Society, what with a staff training in session, seasonal decorations blinking and fluttering and a photographer snapping away.
STAR gets unexpected boost from trust
WALLA WALLA — Glenna Awbrey was pretty sure she didn’t hear the Monday afternoon conversation correctly.
Budgets brighten for STAR, youth center
WALLA WALLA — “Don’t come back.”
Foundation launches first online giving campaign
WALLA WALLA — The Blue Mountain Community Foundation is launching its first year-end, online gift campaign for investing in local causes.
Tobacco sales to youths on rise
WALLA WALLA — The number of retailers is Washington state illegally selling tobacco to minors has risen to its highest level in more than a decade, health officials said Wednesday.
Sale of tobacco products to minors on the rise in Washington
The number of retailers in Washington state illegally selling tobacco to minors has risen to its highest level in more than a decade, health officials said today.
Walla Walla's first same-sex marriage under new law held Sunday
WALLA WALLA -- Although the air was chilly at Pioneer Park Sunday, the mood was warm as Kathleen Claymore and Shara Orcutt were allowed, at last, to say "I do."
Program helps put former inmates on right path
WALLA WALLA — Scott Andrews concedes he ruined his life and took other people down with him.
Former convicts face many bumps in road
WALLA WALLA — Former convicts face many challenges in staying on a straight path, according to findings by the U.S. Department of Justice, said Chuck Hindman, board president of the STAR Project in Walla Walla.
Extra ear wax calls for careful action
Specialists say shedding the excess can be done at home, but demands gentle treatment.
WALLA WALLA -- Folks not hearing the jing-jing-jingle of Christmas might suspect hearing loss. Chances are good, however, there's a different Grinch to blame.
Reporter, trainer share in gains from strength work
Monday was hard. I had been dreading it all weekend, this moment of truth. It was time to see what eight weeks -- give or take a few days -- of strength training had actually wrought.
Walla Walla veterans find support in coffee, conversation
WALLA WALLA — Not one of the six men sitting in the back corner booth of McDonalds on Ninth Avenue earlier this week was serving in the military Dec. 7, 1941. Yet each eventually heard the call of duty because of that two-hour period when hundreds of Japanese fighter planes first attacked America, at a naval base on Pearl Harbor near Honolulu.
Reporter, trainer share in gains
Monday was hard.
Extra ear wax calls for careful action
WALLA WALLA — Folks not hearing the jing-jing-jingle of Christmas might suspect hearing loss. Chances are good, however, there’s a different Grinch to blame.
Out of home; forever in mind
Another Thanksgiving has come and gone with the familiar face absent from the holiday table. This seems as good a time as any to finish a column I have been writing in my heart for months now.
Navy Seal's 'strap doohicky' packs a workout punch
Here’s what I learned this week — the minute you get cocky about whatever mountain you climbed in strength training, there’s another one waiting for you.
Don't let the bed bug (chemicals) bite
Incorrect application or the wrong chemicals can cause serious problems for everybody but the intended target.
With our attention turned inside our homes during winter, we might be more apt to notice squatters. Like those with multiple legs, hiding out under baseboards and mattresses.
Embattled peanut processor suspended by FDA
On Monday, the U.S. Drug and Food Administration suspended the food facility registration of Sunland Inc., the beleaguered Texas-based producer of nuts and nut and seed spreads.
From sour to sweet, with several detours
WALLA WALLA — What’s happened to Jesse Barton might be the epitome of being “Walla Walla,” and has people from elsewhere shaking their heads.
Whooping cough lessens in state, Walla Walla
WALLA WALLA — State health officials have reported the record number of whooping cough, or pertussis, cases in Washington state is easing, with some areas returning to levels more typical before the epidemic.
New United Way focus to address long-term problem
While the agency will continue its traditional support, it will also provide grants to tackle issues such as mental illness.
WALLA WALLA — In a break from business as usual, changing the bleak picture of mental illness here is front and center for Walla Walla County United Way’s 2012-2013 campaign season, its leader says.
Family rallies as cabinet maker fights for life
Elias Hegdal of College Place was critically injured earlier this month in a wreck on Highway 11.
Elias Hegdal has never been afraid of hard work, his family says.
Fit -- in sickness, too
And then came the flu.
Duo tuned in to education, entertainment
WALLA WALLA — In their shared career, Traci and Spencer Hoveskeland have traveled the world.
Beauty in Bloom
Color is everywhere. On the inside, that is. Notably at Holly’s Flowers on this day.
'You do not negotiate with a terrorist'
Alan Raguso didn’t set out to write “The Diabetes Slayer’s Handbook,” with its slant toward medieval weaponry, and all. The Walla Walla author just knew he had been in the battle of his life. For his life.
Walla Walla woman sees need, spirit firsthand in disaster zone
While much of America will be glued to media sources this evening, today’s election seems very distant to Jill Becker and those she is surrounded by on the hurricane-hit East Coast.
Trainer helps pull beginners past beginning
I was never one of those kids who could play the "fall back" game.
