Washington: Joseph Turner

June 1, 2009 - 12:04 pm
NEWS FEED: News Tribune

Photos from the Gayl Bertagni wake at the Swiss are on line

Gerry Collen took hundreds of pictures Saturday afternoon at The Swiss Pub, where a wake was held for Gayl Bertagni, the co-owner who died in an accident over the Memorial Day weekend.

I covered the wake and wrote a story for Sunday's paper.

Collen graciously provided some of the pictures. He posted 15 of them on our Web site, and provide a link to many more.

Here's a link to The News Tribune photo gallery.

And if I did this right, here is a link to Gerry's Gallery, where you'll find 155 more photos from the wake.

Here's the story that appeared in Sunday's paper.

Family, friends raise glasses to Swiss co-owner
Memorial: About 500 turn out to honor chef, mother who had ability 'to connect with anybody and everybody'

By Joseph Turner

Sunday,May 31, 2009
Edition: SOUTH SOUND, Section: Front Page, Page A01
Gayl Ann Bertagni, the Swiss Pub co-owner who died during Memorial Day weekend, still can hush a boisterous crowd of several hundred tavern patrons - at least, the mention of her name still can.

February 26, 2009 - 03:28 pm
NEWS FEED: News Tribune

Coming soon: E-mail alerts when sex offenders move next door

I wrote about this program back in July 2008, but it's taking longer than expected. And wouldn't you know it: Pierce and King counties, the big boys, are the ones that are delaying the advent of the e-mail alerts.

I've heard that Gov. Chris Gregoire is going to announce the rollout of the program at a news conference on March 9.

Here is the story I wrote last year:

E-mail will alert residents of felons
The state is beefing up its monitoring of sex offenders. An online system will send e-mail to people who sign up to learn when a felon moves nearby.

By Joseph Turner
joe.turner@thenewstribune.com

Monday,July 14, 2008
Edition: SOUTH SOUND, Section: Front Page, Page A01
Washington residents will soon be notified by e-mail if they want to know when a sex offender moves into their neighborhood.

February 1, 2009 - 09:36 am
NEWS FEED: News Tribune

Parks advocates want sales tax to pay for Pierce County trails

This story will appear in the print edition later this week. There is a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday.

BY Joseph Turner
joe.turner@thenewstribune.com

Advocates for a 100-mile trail system that would connect to every city and town in Pierce County are asking the Legislature to let county voters raise the local sales tax to provide a steady stream of money for parks, trails and open space.

The 1/10th percent increase, which would boost the overall sales tax in Tacoma to 9.4 percent after April, would raise almost $13 million a year. April is when the Sound Transit 1/2-cent sales tax takes effect.

The new parks tax would be in addition to the sales tax hike that voters approved in 2000 to pay for parks.

January 26, 2009 - 07:43 pm
NEWS FEED: News Tribune

Chopp says he won't let general assistance be eliminated

I wrote a story, which appeared in Saturday's paper, about Gov. Chris Gregoire's proposal to cut about 22,000 people off state assistance by eliminating the GAU and ADATSA programs. (See story below to have acronyms spelled out.)

There should have been a comment from House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, inserted into that story. I interviewed him after I turned in my story, but apparently his remarks never caught up with my story.

So, here they are: "I care about those folks," Chopp told reporters last Thursday. "We're looking to make some changes (to GAU) in a logical way . . . otherwise some people could die.