La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

No building permit has yet been issued, but excavation began at the 306 Center Street condominium project site last week to find the water table on the property so that paperwork could be completed for removal of contaminated soil. Following that...

Local grocery shoppers pause and compare prices. They add up the rising costs of food and wonder how they will afford their next meal. This is how Arin Magill, director of the La Conner Sunrise Food Bank, defines food insecurity: concern about where...

Don’t let December’s rain, gray skies or fields of standing water distract you into thinking it has rained a lot. November maintained 2023’s pattern of rainfall below the monthly century’s norms. While precipitation came down 22 days, half of thos...

Representatives of the bedrock of American democracy – libraries and newspapers – discussed “News & Media Literacy: Informed or Influenced?” at a forum organized by the League of Women Voters of Skagit County Monday evening, April 29 at the PUD bui...

IF IT IS NOT ONE FIELD, IT IS ANOTHER – Every spring in the Skagit there are tractors cultivating, turning the soil and planting. It is not a race, but they are in it for the long haul, one season at a time. These John Deere were planting potatoes o...

Skagit County voters are casting over 70% yes ballots and overwhelmingly approving proposition No. 1, Continuation of Emergency Medical Services Levy, in the April 23 election. After the third vote count Monday, April 29, 70.8% of votes, 19, 912 are...

Washington’s access to quality preschool services falls below many other states, only serving 16% of 4-year-olds and 8% of 3-year-olds, a new national report found. The National Institute for Early Education Research released its annual preschool r...

Town Administrator Scott Thomas is known for his occasional use of dry humor, but there wasn’t anything funny about his report to Town Council members last week regarding drought conditions this year. “We’re already in a state of drought,” Thomas tol...

Any registered voter interested in becoming a county commissioner, state legislator, statewide executive office holder or U.S. congressional representative or senator has to make her decision and file with the Skagit County elections or Secretary of...

Jan Paul, Shelter Bay board of directors treasurer since July 2023, announced her resignation in a way that was as surprising as it was low key at the end of the monthly board meeting last Wednesday, April 17, at the organization’s clubhouse. W...

Good things come to those who wait. Patrons of the Swinomish Casino & Lodge north of La Conner are being treated to increased promotional play offers and other incentives through the end of May after its reopening on Wednesday. The tribal gaming...

The La Conner School Board may not have to look far to find a successor to Dr. Will Nelson. Board president Susie Deyo last week raised the prospect of the school district hiring from within its ranks an acting interim superintendent to succeed...

When the U.S. House of Representative voted 366 to 58 to approve military aid to Israel Saturday, April 20, Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Arlington) voted yes. The Israel package totals $26.4 billion. It provides $13 billion to the U.S. Defense Department to...

Because of its desirability and geographic constraints limiting growth, La Conner has long dealt with a housing crunch, especially with affordable housing. Those conditions have now contributed to a pressing side effect: homelessness. In his written...

Town planning commissioners trod a familiar path at their April 16 public meeting. The five-member advisory panel, which is in the process of drafting updates to the transportation element of the La Conner Comprehensive Plan, revisited options for...

A new schedule starts at Town Hall next week. Beginning April 29, the building will be open for town business from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday. It will be closed on Fridays so that staff can work on various projects without...

Math is cool again. That’s the message La Conner School Board members heard during their one-hour public meeting Monday night. Math teachers Dan Hansen and Julia Johnson shared with the board via Zoom how the district’s new curriculum has con...

The Washington state Department of Ecology declared a statewide drought emergency April 16, citing the state’s low snowpack, the forecasts for a dry and warm spring and summer and the end of winter snowstorms. The only exceptions are for the S...