ML Terrace
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Lake Stevens
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Mville Pilchuck 41
Mariner
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Meadowdale
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Kamiak
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Monroe
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Oak Harbor
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The to-do list Party: Mukilteo’s biggest event of the year — the Lighthouse Festival — runs through Sunday on the waterfront. Music, games, arts, rides, loads of food and more. mukilteo lighthousefestival.com
Preps kickoff: EdmondsWoodway beats Jackson 35-14,
Pot: Comcast Arena hosts the Cannabis Cup, a two-day trade expo for the fledgling legal marijuana industry with vendor booths and seminars. Marijuana smoking area is included for those 18 and older, but no selling or distribution. Doors open at noon today and Sunday. cannabiscup.com/seattle
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Pooches: Camano Island State Park goes to the dogs today. Join canines and their creatures to play and learn. tinyurl. com/dogafternoon ●
EVERETT, WASHINGTON
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County to pay $575K in suit The settlement resolves a legal claim brought by a nonprofit environmental group over public records requests. By Noah Haglund Herald Writer
EVERETT — Snohomish County has agreed to pay a
$575,000 settlement to resolve a public records lawsuit brought by activists promoting environmental causes in farming areas. The agreement with Citizens
for Sustainable Development, finalized Thursday, also calls for the county to appoint the group’s president to a committee that mediates between farm and environmental interests. Neither Sustainable Development’s president, Lew Roane, or its attorney, DeWelle Ellsworth,
could be reached by phone or email Friday. The group has been a registered nonprofit with the state since 2010. It has taken issue with county policies in the Snohomish River floodplain, See SUIT, back page, this section
Leave it to beavers
The woman began her position coordinating the county’s major purchases while on leave from a job in a Vegas-area school district.
They’re being relocated to nearby waters as part of an effort to improve ecosystems
By Noah Haglund Herald Writer
MARK MULLIGAN / THE HERALD
Ben Dittbrenner (in green), Molly Alves (hidden), Andy Bryden (in orange) and Jason Schilling release beavers into a lodge they built earlier on Forest Service land near Skykomish on Wednesday. A team with the Tulalip Tribes worked with state Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Forest Service to relocate six beavers, including the one above, found near Duvall.
By Chris Winters Herald Writer
the buzz
SKYKOMISH — On a rainy Wednesday, a small team hiked into the woods near Skykomish hauling three heavy cages. Their destination: a creekside pile of cut branches and
sticks. Their cargo: a family of six beavers. The first cage was lined up with an opening in the pile of wood, which is actually a lodge built by the team the previous Friday. The cage was opened and the matriarch of the family, weighing 50 pounds, was gently
Candid camera Keep it to your selfie: Apple plans to tighten security for users’ online storage accounts after hackers broke into celebrities’ accounts, downloaded nude selfies and posted them online. Apple will add email notifications to alert users to possible hackers (Page A8). Apple also recommends that if you really want to
take naked selfies, invest in a Polaroid camera. How ya going to keep ’em down on the farm? “Utopia,” Fox’s newest reality series, which premieres Sunday, will follow 15 people left to fend for themselves for a year on a secluded parcel of land with only a large barn, a chicken coop and two dairy cows to shelter and sustain them. There will be
encouraged into the lodge. Once she waddled in, one of the team called out, “Mama went in,” and a small cheer went up. Mama beaver was followed by one of her young, then the cage was removed and the lodge entrance blocked to prevent the
essentially no support nor contact with the outside world (Page D4). No nude celebrity selfies? No Justin Bieber? No ISIS? No D.C. gridlock? No Vladimir Putin? Can they give us the weekend to practice our milking technique and pack our toothbrushes? Forever in yoga pants: Long a staple of everyday life and the fashion world, the
Finance worker under review
beavers from leaving while the next cage was lined up. Within 10 minutes, the entire family — mother, father, three subadults about one year old and one kit — was in the lodge, the entrance blocked with a log.
A high-level Snohomish County finance manager who coordinates all major purchases faces a personnel investigation in the Nevada school district that employed her until recently. Bramby Tollen started working as Snohomish County’s purchasing manager in June, while on leave with the Las Vegas-area Clark County School District. There was about two and a half months of overlap. The Nevada district has opened a probe. “We cannot comment on pending investigations,” district spokeswoman Melinda Malone said in a prepared statement. “Ms. Tollen did resign from the Clark County School District, effective Aug. 29.” Tollen did not return a call or email Friday seeking comment. Her start date in Snohomish County was June 13. In her old job, she worked for one of the country’s largest school districts, with an enrollment of more than 320,000 students. Her new job in Snohomish County involves a crucial role managing a $225 million annual operating budget and total revenues of about $840 million. The job pays $98,000 per year. Snohomish County officials say they’re not rushing to judgment and don’t want to violate Tollen’s employment rights. They’ll wait to see what the Clark County schools turn up. “When they’re done with that investigation, if she violated their rules or regulations or policy, they’re going to let us know,” Deputy County Executive Mark Ericks said. “We’ll make See REVIEW, back page, this section
See BEAVERS, Page A2
appeal of blue jeans might be fading as sales have dropped 6 percent in the past year. More people are buying the casual and comfortable “active wear” items, such as yoga pants, leggings and sweatpants (Page A8). Tastes change; we understand. But we do wonder how cool James Dean would have looked in a leather coat and pajama bottoms.
—Jon Bauer, Herald staff
INSIDE Business . . . . .A8 Classified . . . . B1 Comics . . . . . .D2 Crossword . . .D2 Dear Abby. . . .D3 Good Life . . . .D1 Toasty 80/55, C8 VOL. 114, NO. 208 © 2014 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
Horoscope . . .D6 Lottery . . . . . .A2 Obituaries. . . .A6 Opinion. . . . .A11 Sports . . . . . . . C1 Short Takes . . .D4
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