Steve Klein addresses current issues impacting Yelm and vicinity and provides a meeting place for anyone with an interest in this area to provide their ideas and opinions
TYPOGRAPHY BY JORDAN METCALF/ILLUSTRATIONS BY TOMMY PEREZvia AARP
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“The top two locations will be recommended to the Legislature in October. By June 2023, the commission will narrow its options to one.” Courtesy of WSDOT’s Washington Aviation System Plan via The Tacoma News Tribune.
An area on the border of Pierce and King counties is being considered as a potential site for an airport, and many locals are fighting against that possibility.
“We’ve got some of the last and best farmland in … the Puget Sound area. It’s very productive farmland that would essentially be destroyed,” said Tim O’Brien, president of the Enumclaw Plateau Community Association.
The Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission – created by the state Legislature – must recommend a location that could house a new airport facility as Seattle-Tacoma International Airport will soon reach capacity, according to the state Department of Transportation’s website.
Sea-Tac typically serves 50 million passengers per year, according to a study from the Puget Sound Regional Council. Come 2050, that number will increase as the population and jobs continue to grow in the region.
Two types of locations are considered in this process: “greenfield locations” and existing airports. Greenfield locations are undeveloped land where a new airport would be constructed from the ground up.
In 2018, senior executives at one of the country’s largest nonprofit hospital chains, Providence, were frustrated. They were spending hundreds of millions of dollars providing free health care to patients. It was eating into their bottom line.
The executives, led by Providence’s chief financial officer at the time, devised a solution: a program called Rev-Up.
Rev-Up provided Providence’s employees with a detailed playbook for wringing money out of patients — even those who were supposed to receive free care because of their low incomes, a New York Times investigation found.
In training materials obtained by The Times, members of the hospital staff were instructed how to approach patients and pressure them to pay.
“Ask every patient, every time,” the materials said. Instead of using “weak” phrases — like “Would you mind paying?” — employees were told to ask how patients wanted to pay. Soliciting money “is part of your role. It’s not an option.”
If patients did not pay, Providence sent debt collectors to pursue them.
“A view of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot and turbulent southern hemisphere was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft in 2019.” Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gillvia NPR
The gas giant Jupiter is coming the closest it has come to Earth in 59 years this Monday and will be particularly visible because it coincides with another event called opposition.
When in opposition, a planet is on the opposite side of Earth from the sun, so you could draw a straight line from the sun to Earth to Jupiter, all in alignment. Jupiter’s opposition happens every 13 months. Looking from the Earth, when the sun sets in the west, Jupiter will rise in the east, directly opposite. During opposition, planets appear at their biggest and brightest.
Separately, Jupiter is coming closer to Earth than it has since 1963. Because of Earth’s and Jupiter’s differing orbits around the sun, they don’t pass each other at the same distance each time. When it’s closest on Monday, Jupiter will be about 367 million miles from Earth, according to NASA. At its farthest, it’s 600 million miles away.
The result of both is that the views may be somewhat better than normal.
“A photo provided by NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI shows Neptune with its rings and several of its moons clearly visible, as captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Camera.” Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI viaThe New York Times.
Neptune and its rings come into focus with Webb telescope
No spacecraft has visited Neptune since 1989, when the NASA probe Voyager 2 flew past on its way out of the solar system. Neptune, which is four times as wide as Earth, is the most distant planet of our solar system. Voyager 2’s observations whetted the appetites of astronomers, who were eager to learn more about the ice giant.
Now we’ve returned. Sort of.
On Wednesday, the James Webb Space Telescope cast its powerful gold-plated eye onto this remote world. The power of this infrared machine, the largest and most advanced telescope ever sent to space, has provided some of our best views of Neptune in 30 years.
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Ground-based observatories and the Hubble Space Telescope have taken many images of Neptune in the past three decades. But the Webb’s views of Neptune, taken in July, provide an unprecedented glimpse at the planet in infrared light.
It took just a few minutes for the telescope to image Neptune close up, and an additional 20 to take a wider view, revealing not just the planet but myriad galaxies behind it stretching into the cosmos.
“A map showing four potential trail extensions or developments in south Thurston County. Staff presented the Board of County Commissioners with the options during a Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022 meeting.” Courtesy of Thurston County via The Olympian.
Looking for new trails? Thurston County officials consider developing these four options
Thurston County officials are considering extending and developing four trails to better serve the region. Staff presented the four options to the Board of County Commissioners last week and identified an early front runner near Littlerock. However, the board delayed picking an option to pursue. With these options, the county aims to link trail systems and corridors as well as improve accessibility in underserved areas, said strategic and long-range planner Shannon Shula.
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The Chehalis Western Trail also could be extended 3.15 miles from where it intersects the Yelm-Rainier-Tenino Trail to Vail Loop Road, Marson said. Additionally, the Yelm-Rainier-Tenino Trail could be connected to Bucoda, he said. This extension could start at Tenino City Park and run 3.6 miles south, mostly along State Route 507.
Western Forest Industries Museum (WFIM), the nonprofit organization that founded Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad in 1980, has been reformed in order to bring the railroad back to operation. While the road ahead is long, WFIM intends to reopen the museum, and the railroad, and expand operations to the town of Eatonville, creating a significant economic demand generator for the town, while improving the museum, and highlighting the stories of the people that lived along and worked on the railroad.
It won’t cost you extra money to visit national parks on one day this weekend. More than 120 National Park Service sites typically charge a fee that ranges from $5 and $35. On Saturday, Sept. 24, however, those sites will be free to visit. Park officials are celebrating National Public Lands Day. The day is organized each year to encourage people to get outdoors, help preserve and show appreciation for public lands.
PTL Hardwood Floors LLC unveiled a new mural showcasing the city’s pride on Saturday, Sept. 17.
The mural, located on the business at 310 Railroad Ave. NW, was made possible in part thanks to a beautification grant from the City of Yelm.
The mural pays homage to Yelm’s roots and traditions. Each letter is painted with a different theme as Mount Rainier looms in the background.
The Yelm City Council previously approved an ordinance to create an arts commission, which has worked to encourage the development and creation of artwork throughout the city. The group is made up of five to 12 volunteers appointed by the city council, according to the city’s website.
The commission serves as Yelm’s primary resource to promote and preserve the city’s notable “community assets” by allowing public input, and creating policies to implement art into Yelm-owned public space.
The commission encourages citizens to engage with the artwork through the city by taking photos with the works of art.
The new mural on the backside of PTL can be viewed from the Prairie Line Trail. The nearest intersection to the mural is First Street and Stevens Avenue.
