You couldn’t blame Ronin Mausten for donning a wide smile Saturday.

Anyone with the kind of luck the 2-year-old from Tacoma had at the Washington Sportsmen’s Show would be beaming too.

Ronin, as father Gabe Mausten recalled, had 10 minutes to catch a pair of trout at the event’s trout pond for kids. He snagged the first early in his turn, but time was running out as Ronin waited patiently for his second.

Then, as if the fishing gods gave Ronin a nudge themselves, the miraculous occurred.

“The trout jumped right out toward him!” Garbriel Mausten said, seemingly still in disbelief a few minutes later. “Right at his feet.”
Read more »

Federal Way police and South King Fire & Rescue firefighters will face off in a charity basketball game Feb. 6.

The game will take place at 12 noon at Decatur High School, 2600 S.W. 320th St.

The Federal Way Lions Club is sponsoring the event to celebrate Helen Keller Day. Proceeds will go to help adults and children with sight and hearing needs in the community.

Admission is free. For a donation of $5 or more, people will get a Lions King Dog, pop and chips.

The police and fire departments have been battling each other in friendly charity competitions …

Read more »

Getting around Canyon Road and the South Hill areas by bus will get a little easier next month with the addition of a new route in the area, Pierce Transit announced today.

Called Route 446, Canyon Road-South Hill Mall and Bus PLUS, the route serves the South Hill Mall Transit Center, 104th Street East, Canyon Road, 160th Street East, and the Meridian Center. It starts up Feb. 8.

Read more »

Here’s today’s seminar schedule for the Tacoma Home & Garden Show at the Tacoma Dome. For more information, click here.

…

Read more »

Reporter Kris Sherman, who is working on a larger upcoming story about changes at Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base, reports the following:

If your head whipped around on I-5 near DuPont today and you thought, “What was that?” when you passed a sign reading “Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) next 6 exits,” it wasn’t your traffic-befuddled brain.

It was a brand new highway sign, heralding change at the South Sound’s two big military bases. Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base are merging into one installation Monday.

The first sign of the change went up on northbound I-5 at …

Read more »

The smell of freshly laid bark and the sight of sprouting daffodils seem out of place inside neon-decked walls of the Tacoma Dome. But it’s a welcome sort of out-of-place – a reminder that spring isn’t that far off.

Rocks, plants, grass and bark surround a simple 997-square-foot house that Adair Homes will give away. It looks move-in ready from the outside, though it’s hollow on the inside and lacks a finished roof. Construction will continue through the weekend on the home in the northeast corner of the Dome.

“This house is great as a starter home, a vacation home …

Read more »

The Tacoma Home & Garden Show features thousands of items for either house or yard, but visitors have to know where to look ( the map inside the free program helps). In the Dome itself are more of the home products, while the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall focuses on gardening and plants. (Hot tub displays were found at both sites.)

For Granvil and Heidi Hays, the displays are a chance for one-stop shopping. The couple walked the aisles with buying in mind.

“We’re looking to remodel the bath, and also we were over on the other side looking …

Read more »

The Tacoma Home & Garden Show runs through Sunday, so we’ll be talking to a few of the exhibitors to find out why they attend the show.

WHO: Al Wahl and Donna Stebner, Northwest Cabinets of Puyallup.

HOW LONG AT THE SHOW? Every year since the show started – 27 years.

WHY DO THE SHOW? “It’s more important when there are no other customers out there,” Wahl said.

“For the exposure,” Stebner added.

“Money’s tight, so people know they’re going to get a good deal (at …

Read more »