(Airdate: September 1, 2021) A seafood treat in their native Europe, the Green Crab poses an ecological and economic threat to the Pacific Coast. Catch up with the latest in a 6-year effort to create a baseline database of our nearshore ecosystems and to monitor for expansion of the Green Crab territory into the Salish Sea. Nan Evans talks with Chris Jones and Eileen Cooney, members of the Washington Sea Grant’s citizen science team working at the lagoon at Kala Point.
(Airdate: September 1, 2021) Washington State boasts 3,000 miles of coastline that protects communities from ocean storms and provides important resources for local economies. Shoreline monitoring is a critical tool for assessing the health of our shorelines and for evaluating the success of restoration projects along the shore. And anyone can do it! Host MaryAnn Wagner talks with Jason Toft, a principal research scientist at the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, who developed a Shoreline Monitoring Toolbox anyone can use and whose work focuses on Puget Sound shorelines.
The 175 additional cases in August are more than twice the number in any previous month (there were 82 in January 2021 and 79 in November 2020). In just one month, these 175 new cases account for 25 percent of all 695 cases recorded in Jefferson County. It is believed that the actual number is higher, but many people who use home testing kits do not report the results to the local health department.
Also note that nearly 100% of new cases in Washington and the U.S. are the Delta variant. Delta results in a higher number of cases requiring hospitalization and is significantly more contagious than all other variants to date.
(Airdate: August 30, 2021) Officer Bill Corrigan of the Port Townsend Police Department discusses with Attention Please! host Phil Andrus strategies for more safe cycling and walking about in our community.
(First airdate: August 31, 2021) Joe Gillard, a history buff and founder of History Hustle, a digital publication, has fun with Cris talking about their favorite selections from his book The Little Book of Lost Words. Who doesn’t need to know about a word like Snollygoster, a dishonest politician or Snuggery, a cozy room perfect for reading and dreaming?
KPTZ has lost one of it’s longtime DJs, David Miller, host of the Monday afternoon 1960s rock and roll show, Drift away. David passed away on August 25. To us at KPTZ he was known as Dr. Dave. Dr. Dave played a 2-hour set every Monday, with an emphasis on The Beatles and other 60s artists, with some comedic records and Broadway musical tunes thrown in. Dr. Dave had a great radio voice, a big laugh, a dry wit, and a big heart. During his shows, Dave always included a heartfelt plug for his favorite charity, the Port Townsend Food Bank and its manager Shirley Moss, for the good work she does.
To some, Dr. Dave was known as Dr. David Miller, PhD. That title came with his Doctorate in Education, earned at Miami University of Ohio, not far from his family home near Dayton, Ohio. That led David to a 30-year career as a school superintendent for several public school districts in Northern and Southern California. He also shared his experience and expertise with countries in Africa and the Middle East by advising them on modernizing and improving their education systems.
Dave always told people that he was best known as “Vicky’s husband.” David also has a daughter Becky Sims and her husband Bryce who live in Houston, Texas and stepchildren Aaron & Chrissy Murphy, Andrea & Tim Lawton with grandsons Issac (6), Daniel (4) and Julian (2) as well as Matthew and Claudia Murphy and granddaughter Charlotte (18 mos).
On Monday, August 30 from 1-3pm, The Briceman’s Boxed Chocolates show was in memory of and dedicated to Brice’s friend, Dr. Dave. Click here to listen to the archived broadcast, which is available for streaming until Sept. 12, 2021.
Remembrances for Dr. Dave can be made as cash donations to the Port Townsend Food Bank. KPTZ, Dr. Dave’s radio home since 2013, is also accepting memorial donations in his honor.
We’ll miss you Dave!
The Community Build Project has worked to construct tiny homes as a means of providing temporary housing for our local homeless population. Peter’s Village was the first incarnation of this project, with 12 tiny homes (or “wooden tents) on the grounds of Community United Methodist Church in Port Hadlock. If you drive down San Juan Avenue in Port Townsend, you’ll notice the next nearly completed construction phase of the Project: brightly-colored, secure shelters, located on the grounds of Evangelical Methodist Church. On July 31, we visited the Community Build Open House and spoke with builders, organizers, and organizations about their work, their plans and their dreams on behalf of our unsheltered neighbors.
On today’s Through Science to Health, KPTZ’s Dick Keenan interviewed Kate Keenan, Retired Communicable Disease Investigator from San Diego County. They discussed the big picture, that the virus continues to pose a threat to our collective health 18 months after the first reported cases in our state.
The Delta variant is dramatically changing the face of the pandemic. It is more transmissible and infectious, affecting even those who have been fully vaccinated. Returning to masking when indoors, despite vaccination, is the best chance of reducing community spread. Our current case rate is the highest it’s ever been: 263 per 100,000 population.
Vaccination remains effective at preventing hospitalization and death, but slightly less effective at reducing infection, once exposed. Thus the new recommendation to provide an additional dose for those immunocompromised persons. This data comes from a country with high immunization rates – Israel – who decided that an additional dose would blunt fresh waves of hospitalizations in the face of the delta variant. The additional doses are not a new formula, but a repeat of the shots you originally received. Future vaccines may be reformulated according to the variants circulating.
Human behavior is the most complicated factor in maneuvering this pandemic. Although we have made remarkable progress with a safe and effective vaccine, medical treatments and sufficient masking supplies, there is also progress in a population response to the current threat of the Delta variant. As much as we want our old world back, many individuals, organizations and businesses are adopting the interventions we know stems the tide of more community spread such as masking, reducing traveling and monitoring ourselves for any sign of infection.
