KITSAP — Welp. Last month, the federal government approved a bill that cut funding for numerous departments in health care, education, science and more social service institutions while also slashing a billion in funding for public media. Smaller, rural radio stations were some of the first to feel the effects. NPR responded by cutting its budget by millions to help cover some of the shortfall and provide relief to vulnerable member stations. Eastern Washington’s Northwest Public Broadcasting faced losing 21 percent of its budget. Seattle member station KUOW listeners raised nearly $1.5 million in less than 12 hours in response to the bill. Meanwhile, last month in Bremerton, the Kitsap Sun notched its 90th anniversary with a feature at the Kitsap History Museum. While newspapers are historically and typically a for-profit-owned industry—not exactly public media—they have also been disappearing in droves over the past two decades. The Seattle Times Free Press section, dedicated to the journalism crisis, has reported that more than a third of newspapers nationwide have closed since 2005, employment in the industry is down 70 percent while more than 1,000 counties across the country don’t have a single local full-time-journalist equivalent. The Kitsap Sun staff is currently down to single digits with two interns. Earlier in June, the Free Press reported a Columbia Journalism Review study which links a rising rate in public corruption in areas without daily newspapers.
ALSO KITSAP — The 2025 August Primary Election is Aug. 5. Three candidates are on the ballot for Bremerton Mayor. See page four for a dispatch of interviews with each of those candidates from Ash Black. There are also contested school board seats up for election in Bremerton and North Kitsap, a contested city council seat on Bainbridge and a levy rate increase proposal for the Kitsap Regional Library to fund operations.
OLYMPIC PENINSULA — A wildfire has burned more than 1,000 acres near the Staircase recreation area and was still smoldering at 10 percent containment as of a press time. The fire, reported July 6, was determined human caused and only the third fire of its size in the area in the past three decades. Not yet a month later, a new fire was reported just north of the Staircase fire. Even further north on the peninsula last month, a tanker truck rolled off Highway 101 and spilled an estimated 3,000 gallons of petroleum into Indian Creek, a salmon-heavy tributary, which drains into the Elwah River. Port Angeles, whose main source of drinking water is the Elwah, enacted a ‘Do Not Drink’ the tapwater order for a day but lifted it that evening. The driver of the truck was admitted to a local hospital but released with minor injuries and accused of negligent driving. Meanwhile on the coast, at press time, an 8.7 magnitude underwater earthquake near Russia triggered tsunami warnings along the entire coast and into the Strait of Juan De Fuca.
IN OTHER NEWS — Bremerton made the national news circuit and the viral internet rounds last month when a front tire broke off the axle of a monster truck at the Kitsap Fairgrounds, flew out of the arena and into the parking lot, damaging multiple cars and nearly flattening one. No one was injured. The organizers of the event released a statement that they were already in communication with the facility to ensure that it won’t happen again and shared a video of the incident captured on an arena side camera. No report yet on who is responsible for damages. MEANWHILE… The Valkyrie, a 56-foot modern day viking ship, the first ever Coast Guard approved viking ship, inspired by a 1,000 year old Norwegian ship recovered from Denmark pulled in to port in Poulsbo for a weekend on its maiden voyage last month. Learn more about that ship and project at northwestvikingship.com. PLUS… The Bremerton-based People’s Exchange posted that it gave away more than 800 pieces of free clothing at the Kitsap Pride Festival inspiring another round of use for the garments instead of entering the waste stream. AND IN BUMMER NEWS… A friend of the Smokestack and bar manager at Town Portal Barcade in downtown Bremerton, former Silver City beertender, Josh McKenna suffered a severe stroke last month. The Barcade and community rallied, raising some $15K thru a gofundme organized by one of the bar’s owners. Find out how you can help at Town Portal. <3smokestack
