Hilltop Action Coalition and Tacoma Police Department placed first among 700 nominees and have won the MetLife Foundation Community-Police Partnership Award. The award comes with a $15,000 prize, which will go to HAC.

The volunteers of HAC and the cops of TPD teamed up when gang and drug violence on the Hilltop were at their worst.

Associated Ministries founded and supported HAC as a means to mobilize residents willing to form block watches, put on white ball caps and go on “walkabouts,” where they gathered information on, and photos of, criminal activity. Those residents demanded more help from …

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Beginning today through the end of the year, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium visitors can get half-off the admission price  and  help out hungry Pierce County families.

The zoo’s Help Out for Half-Off campaign starts offers the admission discount  to visitors who donate a non-perishable food item.

The zoo’s goal is  to collect 5,000 pounds of food – enough to feed 17,500 people for one day – for Emergency Food Network, according to zoo spokeswoman Whitney DalBalcon. EFN provides food and essentials to 67 Pierce County food banks, hot meal sites and shelters serving low-income people and …

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Bethel School District is a step closer to changing the way its schools are organized.

A committee of community members and staff voted Wednesday night to recommend switching the Spanaway-based district’s grade configuration to a different model.

Most of the 23 members on hand favored moving away from the junior high structure to one in which elementary school ends at fifth grade, grades six to eight are housed together in middle school, and ninth-graders are included in high school.

The ultimate decision about whether to make a change belongs to the school board. Officials said the earliest a change could …

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The Fife City Council has unanimously approved a contract hiring Yakima assistant city manager Dave Zabell to run day-to-day operations of the north Pierce County city of 8,210 residents.

The council voted 7-0 Tuesday night to approve Zabell’s contract, which sets his annual salary as Fife’s city manager at $135,000.

He is scheduled to start as Fife’s top administrator Jan. 10, overseeing 150 employees and an annual general fund budget of about $13 million.

Zabell, 53, has been Yakima’s assistant city manager since 2005.

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The Puyallup Homeless Coalition is holding a community meeting tonight to discuss longterm plans for a shelter and affordable housing.

The meeting is 7 p.m. at the Puyallup Activity Center, 210 W. Pioneer.

Coalition leaders also hope to soon provide more emergency shelter. They’re working with churches in Puyallup to coordinate a series of temporary homeless camps, starting with a “safe park” for people living in their cars.

The Puyallup City Council earlier this year passed an ordinance allowing temporary camps

Six Tacoma school buildings and a home have been named to the Tacoma Register of Historic Places by the City Council. The schools are Fern Hill Elementary, the Tacoma Public Schools Central Administration Building downtown, Jason Lee Middle School, Stewart Middle School, McCarver Elementary and Whitman Elementary. Last year, Tacoma Schools  commissioned a report on its historic buildings and nominations to the registry grew out of that report.

The residential dwelling named to the registry is the Beutel house on North 10th Street.

Puyallup City Council has officially moved the start time of its regular meetings an hour earlier to 6 p.m.

The change to city code was approved in a 4-3 vote Tuesday after a lengthy discussion and some — at times heated — comment from the public.

Councilmen Don Malloy, John Knutsen and Rick Hansen voted against moving the meeting time, saying they heard feedback from residents that it should stay at 7 p.m. to give people time to get home from work and eat dinner beforehand.

“I think 7 p.m. has historically worked for us,” Malloy said.

A handful of …

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Organizers of a sand sculpting championship in Federal Way that washed up in rain and red ink withdrew their request Tuesday night for $50,000 from the city to cover their losses.

“I am not here to request any more funds,” said Rudi Alcott, a board member for the organizing group, the Federal Way Community Council.

Instead, Alcott vowed to the City Council that his group will hold the World Championship of Sand Sculpting again in Federal Way next year, possibly starting in August to avoid rains last September that hurt attendance.

Alcott said during an interview he pulled the request at the last minute Tuesday night “because we believe we found other funding” to cover the losses. Alcott said he expects the money to come from the community in the Federal Way area but he declined to elaborate.

The City Council gave the community council $58,000 in “seed money” for the event in July. It also awarded the championship $23,000 last year in lodging tax money for promoting tourism.

The event from Sept. 8-Oct. 10 lost $48,474, according to a community council report. Some bills are still being received.

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