(Airdate: May 9, 2025) Co-hosts Jim Burke and Commissioner Heather Dudley-Nolette welcome Prosecuting Attorney James Kennedy. This is part of Heather’s County Government 101 series (What does the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office do?) It turns out, a lot more than prosecute. The office also advises and defends the county.
KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro welcomed Jefferson County Commissioner (District 1 ) Heather Dudley-Nolllette and explored intergovernmental collaboration.
This is KPTZ 91.9 FM in Port Townsend, Washington. I’m Taylor Clark with your local news and commentary for Thursday, May 8, 2025. For today’s news, we will be hearing report by Willie Bence, Director of the Jefferson County Department of Emergency Management from the Monday County Commissioners meeting. I’ve had to edit this slightly for length, but we will include the unedited version on our website at kptz.org. SO… Here’s Willie Bence answering a KPTZ listener question about the situation with FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
(Airdate: May 7, 2025) Nan Evans talks with Port Townsend photographer Kerry Tremain about the beauty of his bird photography and the emotional connections we all have to birds once we open ourselves to honor that we humans co-evolved with birds.
(Airdate: May 6, 2025) Jennifer Gold comes into the studio to tell us about her latest and most ambitious novel, Polite Calamities. Jennifer aka Nicole Persun writes very discussable book club fiction. I believe this book makes the leap to literary fiction. It is an historical novel set in the late 1960s at a beach enclave in Rhode Island. It is The Great Gatsby meets Taylor Swift and the story of The Last American Dynasty. The changing culture, feminism, art and even horses all play their part. The three women characters are central to the plot and each is unique and well developed. The reader is enthralled and cares about the outcome. Find out more about Jennifer and her coaching projects at jennifergoldauthor.com.
KPTZ’s Chris Bricker and Siobhan Canty, President & CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, explore new paradigms and new developments from our County’s good people doing good work. In this episode, Chris and Siobhan visit the Far Reach Botanical Conservancy with founders Sue Milliken and Kelly Dodson, who possess a lifetime embodiment of plant knowledge and a long history of cultivating and conserving rare plants. On 6 acres in Port Townsend, the Conservancy acquires and conserves botanically significant wild and cultivated ornamental plants new to North America with special emphasis on those that are threatened or vulnerable to loss.
(Airdate: May 5, 2025) KPTZ’s Christine Walsh Rogers and Taylor Clark were joined by A.J. Hawkins and Jen Hauser from The Parlor here in Port Townsend (http://shopkalma.com) a space focusing on weaving community at the intersections of grief and joy. Listen in to hear more about the resources they offer, including the Memory Tree and the Community Grief Altar, and how the process of grief can help us with some of the very difficult things that happen in our lives.
This month on the BOCC Public Health Report, Dr. Allison Berry said that avian flu is down in WA state and locally. Pertussis (whooping cough) is up, with 14 reported cases. She said that it starts with cold-like symptoms and proceeds to a persistent, severe cough. As a bacterial infection, it can be treated, so seeking treatment is essential and staying up to date with vaccinations (every 10 years for adults) is good practice. Willie Bence talked about how FEMA money is drying up under the new administration in Washington DC, upcoming safety seminars, and the “All County Picnic” at Finnriver on June 28, among other things. Dr. Berry will be on hiatus for a few months (she’s having a baby). but Willie Bence will be on this summer with important public safety updates every first Monday in June, July and August on KPTZ.
