Latest news with #Puyallup
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
State's first hybrid-electric ferry out of shipyard, nearing return to service
Vigor Shipyard delivered the state's first hybrid-electric ferry to Washington State Ferries on Monday, moving the effort to add the first lower-emissions vessel to the fleet a step closer. The Wenatchee ferry, which has been at Vigor's Seattle shipyard being retro-fitted for nearly the past two years, is now at WSF's maintenance facility on Bainbridge Island. It will next undergo sea trials, and is scheduled to return to service this summer on the Bainbridge-Seattle run. According to an announcement from Vigor, the 202-car Wenatchee is the largest ferry in the United States to be converted to run on electric power. Two diesel generators were removed from the Wenatchee as part of the project, which then added two battery rooms that house 864 battery modules. New propulsion controls were added, as well as new electric and fiber optic cable around the vessel, according to Vigor. The Wenatchee will now be stationed at Eagle Harbor for final work to prepare the ferry for service, including crew training and Coast Guard certification. Two other ferries of the same class, known as Jumbo Mark II, had been slated to follow the Wenatchee into conversion immediately, part of a state effort to shift the fleet away from diesel power by 2050. Vigor won the bid for those three boats at a cost of $150 million, and the Wenatchee was initially anticipated to be delivered for service in 2024. In March the state announced that those two boats, the Tacoma and the Puyallup, will not be converted until after the 2026 World Cup, when many tourists are anticipated to arrive for the soccer games hosted in Seattle. That directive from Gov. Bob Ferguson led to the announcement that the ferry system will restore several routes, including Bremerton-Seattle, to full service in June. The electrification plan also calls for the building of 16 new hybrid-electric ferries in coming decades, and bids for construction of five, 160-car boats were opened in May. WSF is currently evaluating proposals from two bidders, Eastern Shipbuilding Group of Florida and Nichols Brothers Boat Builders of Whidbey Island. This week WSF also issued an update on a related project, which will install new electric charging systems at ferry terminals around Puget Sound in anticipation of a hybrid-electric fleet. The agency said Monday that an announcement to award a contract is expected soon, and in-water exploration at two sites, Bainbridge Island and Seattle, will begin in June. This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Washington state's first hybrid-electric ferry conversion complete
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wake up Washington. Every day Trump finds a new level of corruption
Trump is the most corrupt individual elected to the office of president. He has been an unethical, immoral grifter his entire life. Now he is aided by the Supreme Court, which granted him immunity, and the Republicans in the Senate and House, who blindly support his illegal activity to destroy the Constitution (Project 2025). Day one, Trump pardons 1,500 insurrectionists. Then enlists Elon Musk's DOGE to illegally fire federal employees and close agencies needed by US citizens Then he enacts his tariffs, which throws the economy into chaos. Prices rise. Last week, he received a $400,000 bribe from Qatar, which could cost the taxpayers a billion dollars to retrofit. Next comes the Big Beautiful Bill that only benefits the rich. A day later, he hosted a dinner to sell his corrupt cryptocurrency. The guests paid an average of $1.8 million to enrich the Trump Crime Family. This week he is pardoning fellow felons who were tried and convicted by a jury of their peers. Some even pleaded guilty. This goes against the norms of pardon policies. All while deporting immigrants and sick children who entered the country legally. Can't get more corrupt than this. Steve Golubic, Puyallup Dear Tacoma residents. I'm in Troop 507, located in the Fernhill area. One of my troop members is an Eagle Scout now, but to become an Eagle, he had to do a community project. His project was cleaning up part of a neighborhood, which is at South D Street behind Fred Meyer. A neighborhood group that helped with the success of this project, are part of a group called South End Neighborhood Council (SENCO). Not only was our troop there helping, but we had a lot of volunteers helping too. The first thing we did was spread mulch and dirt, but before we could do that, we had to clean up the place. We found random assortments of trash, including needles. With help from everyone together we got the cleaning done and were also able to plant a variety of plants. Our troop came back several more times to clean it up. Then we came back to enjoy a neighborhood party. The work it took to revitalize that area was worth it. It looks amazing now, and I hope to do something similar for my Eagle Scout project. Let's revitalize Tacoma! James Frazier, Tacoma Every Memorial Day, we're asked to bow our heads and salute the flag in solemn gratitude for those who 'died for our freedom.' But the truth is far more painful: our soldiers aren't dying for freedom — they're dying for profit. We are not a peace-loving nation. We are an empire addicted to war, propped up by a military-industrial complex that profits from every bullet fired and bomb dropped. The children of senators and CEOs don't enlist. It's the poor, the forgotten, the desperate — offered a uniform and a promise, but handed a death sentence wrapped in a flag. They're sent across the world to kill people they've never met, in wars that crumble under scrutiny. Civilians become collateral. Our democracy erodes — not from foreign threats but from within, by those who trade lives for power and profit. The hardest truth? Many of our fallen didn't die for a cause — they were sacrificed yo keep defense stocks soaring and politicians in office. Stop repeating the lie. They didn't die for freedom. They died for empire. If we truly want to honor them, we must make sure no one else dies for a lie. Let them be the last. Gregory Alderete, Steilacoom
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
After delay, Lake Washington ends Puyallup's perfect season in 4A state semifinal
A night's sleep, the bright morning sunshine in Yakima and a change of uniforms from black to gold couldn't change one thing: Puyallup was still in an 8-0 hole in the fifth inning of the 4A state semifinal game against Lake Washington. After Friday night's game was postponed and moved to Saturday due to issues with the lighting at Parker Faller Field, Lake Washington's big lead proved too much to overcome. A solo home run from third baseman Gage Thompson put Puyallup on the board in the sixth inning, but Lake Washington comfortably won, 8-1, to advance to the 4A state championship game later in the day. 'It's a great feeling, man,' said Lake Washington pitcher and Oregon commit Shane Johnson, who started the game on Friday and pitched four shutout innings. 'We worked our tails off, battled adversity a lot this year. Just excited, man.' The game was billed as a potential pitcher's duel between two of the state's best in Johnson and Puyallup's Mason Pike, but Lake Washington jumped on Pike early Friday, piling up all eight of its runs in the first three innings of the game. 'I honestly felt pretty good,' Pike said on Saturday. 'They just put the barrel on the ball, so they did a good job.' Pike walked two of the first three Lake Washington batters, which was uncharacteristic. 'Just didn't get some pitches,' Puyallup coach Marc Wiese said. 'That's what happens sometimes. We ran into an extremely hot Lake Washington team. … He had walked 14 guys all year, something like that, and he's a good command guy. He just didn't get ahead. 'Again, you've just got to 100 percent tip your cap to Lake Washington and their hitters and what they did. It was explosive.' Puyallup came into the game with a perfect 28-0 record and is the No. 2 ranked team in the country by MaxPreps. Lake Washington, meanwhile, entered the game with an 18-11 record. Considered by many a title contender prior to the season, Lake Washington was up and down all year, but the Kangs are peaking at the right time, clearly. 'I think it's just the culture, man,' Johnson said. 'You never wanna play the Kangs in May.' Lake Washington will face Eastlake in the Class 4A state championship game, moved to 4 p.m. on Saturday. The third/fourth place consolation games for both 3A and 4A were cancelled by the WIAA to make room for the completion of the Puyallup-Lake Washington game and to avoid another night game on Saturday. The 3A state championship game between Kennewick and Mount Vernon will be played at 1 p.m. Puyallup has been knocking on the door in recent years, reaching the state semifinal game twice and the state championship game twice in the past four seasons, but the Vikings have fallen short each time. 'This team has won as many games as any team has in state history,' Wiese said. 'This game doesn't dictate, not winning a state championship, their legacy. I'm proud of them. 28-1 and you know, it was bad timing to lose.'
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Light fight: Controversy postpones Puyallup vs. Lake Washington state baseball game
Trailing 8-0 to Lake Washington after four innings, it looked like the lights were about to go out on Puyallup's undefeated baseball season. Instead, the lights at Parker Faller Field in Yakima started going out as the sun was setting in the final game of the day, a Class 4A state tournament semifinal game. Puyallup coach Marc Wiese voiced his frustration with the lighting conditions as the game wore on, then the umpires paused the game and began having conversations with both team's coaches, event staff and Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) staffers on hand for the event. Most of the lights, particularly in the outfield, were operational and working fine, but several of the lights in the two fixtures on both baselines closest to home plate were out. Each light fixture at the stadium had between six and eight individual lights. On one of the baseline fixtures, only two were functioning. Several were out on the other, as well. After almost an hour-long delay, the umpire crew and WIAA officials decided to postpone and resume the game at 10 a.m. Saturday. 'When the lights didn't fully come on, the umpires decided to suspend the game because they couldn't see the balls coming in,' Justin Kesterson told The News Tribune. Kesterson is the WIAA's assistant executive director. 'The home plate umpire made that decision with his crew, that it was just too hard to see the ball, to be fair with both teams and for safety.' Puyallup coach Marc Wiese had pointed words for the WIAA. 'You can't play baseball in this,' he said. 'We've got four lights (total) basically on both bases. And here's the thing: Yakima Valley (Community College), their coach even told them, you cannot play night games here, etc. The WIAA knew about this. They've got some explaining to do.' Kesterson said he was not personally aware of any issues with the stadium lighting during night games prior to the event. 'I'm not aware, myself, of any situations where there were issues with the lights,' he said. It looked likely Lake Washington was closing in on a win, stunning the undefeated, nationally-ranked Puyallup Vikings from the first pitch. The game was billed as a potential pitcher's duel — Puyallup's Mason Pike and Lake Washington's Shane Johnson — but Lake Washington jumped on Pike early. Johnson, meanwhile, was rolling. Lake Washington coach Derek Bingham said it was a difficult situation. 'It's really tough,' he told the TNT. 'You prepare all season for the final four, play your best game of the year for four innings and now you've gotta come back and do it tomorrow.' Whether or not the rules would allow for Bingham to use Johnson, an Oregon commit, again on Saturday, he wasn't sure. But he said he won't throw him again. 'He's got too bright of a future for me to put him back out there after a full warm-up, pitching four innings,' Bingham said. 'I would never do that, regardless of what's on the line.' Bingham said he also didn't feel there was any gamesmanship from Wiese, with Puyallup trailing 8-0. 'I have too much respect for Marc for that,' he said. 'It was dark. I agree it's dark. I don't know if it's unplayable, but when it got darker, it looks like maybe.' Wiese said he felt the site, which is a bit dated, simply isn't adequate to host the 3A and 4A baseball championships. What's available to the WIAA in any given year depends on the schedules of minor league baseball teams around the state, a WIAA spokesperson told the TNT. Last year's 3A and 4A state tournament semifinals and championship games were played at Gesa Stadium in Pasco. 'This is not suitable,' Wiese said. '100 percent. The biggest thing is, for (the WIAA) to know about this lighting, it's just a disappointment, to be quite honest with you. At the end of the day, we've got three innings left and we still have a shot to win. Tomorrow, we're gonna roll over, it's gonna be a new day. Maybe we'll have some good fortune.' The game will resume at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The 3A and 4A third/fourth place consolation games have been canceled. The 3A state championship game will be played at 1 p.m. and the 4A state championship game will be played at 4 p.m. The WIAA said it considered trying to move the consolation games to other local sites, but it didn't look like it'd work. 'We had that conversation, just talking through the facilities and what might be available, especially on short notice,' Kesterson said. 'We didn't feel that would be able to be done, to be able to set up all the other components of that. There was no other stadium available to help mitigate the issue of trying to push and keep the games at their scheduled times.'
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Hazen knocks out short-handed Puyallup in 4A state soccer tournament quarterfinal
Hazen handed a hobbled Puyallup boys soccer team a 2-1 loss in a Class 4A state quarterfinal match Saturday. Western Washington University-bound Vikings leading scorer Zack Robertson saw only limited playing time because of an Achilles injury and second leading scorer Curran Caufield sat out the action with a hamstring problem. Homestanding Puyallup still played the Highlanders tough, however. 'I'm proud of how well the team pulled together,' said Vikings head coach Matthew White. 'We could have played dead, but we didn't. They did well to do the best they could in a tough situation.' Puyallup finished with a 16-3-1 record, while Hazen of Renton carries a 19-1-1 mark into a 7 p.m. Friday semifinal back at Sparks Stadium. 'I think we have a big chance of winning,' said Hazen senior Vitaly Polyukh, who punched in his team's first goal 14 minutes into the match. 'We have a good super strong team right now.' 'Hazen has a good team, so credit goes to them,' White said. Robertson got in just enough to tie the action at 1-1 in the 44th minute with his 30th goal of the season. He was limited to 15 minutes the first half and 15 minutes the second. 'He made the most of it,' White said. 'I'm surprised our trainer let him play at all.' Robertson and his teammates left saddened by the loss and he also had his injury to deal with. 'It's not too bad, but it could be better,' Robertson said. The Highlanders took their 2-1 lead on an own goal off a Kai Hirano corner kick at the 54:45 mark, then held on for the win. Puyallup put the pressure on at the end, coming up empty on two corner kick opportunities in the closing minute. 'It was a great season,' White said. 'It's a fantastic bunch of kids.'
