The state’s tolling director said Thursday morning he expects at least a $1 increase for tolls on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to address flat revenue and rising expenses.

Craig Stone said his staff is preparing options for review by  the bridge’s citizen advisory committee starting next week that would raise tolls paid at booths between $1.50 and $2. Good to Go! toll rates would increase by between $1.50 to $1.75 under the options. It’s a starting point for the committee, and they can consider other options.

The committee is scheduled make a recommendation to the Washington Transportation Commission, the agency …

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The ongoing controversy over the efforts by the Washington Military Department to move Camp Murray’s main gate deeper into the Tillicum neighborhood was voted the top news story of the year in West Pierce County.

Although I was hoping to see a lot more votes, the Camp Murray gate story was voted tops by an overwhelming margin.

David Anderson, president of the Tillicum-Woodbrook Neighborhood Association, had put out a request for residents in the neighborhood and others to cast their votes for the story.

The extension of sanitary sewer into Tillicum and Woodbrook took the No. 2 spot.

Efforts to …

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Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church in Gig Harbor voted today to leave the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) primarily because the denomination changed its constitution to allow non-celibate gays to be ordained as clergy and lay leaders.

With 1,660 members, Chapel Hill Presbyterian is one of the largest mainline Protestant churches in the South Sound region.

The Rev. Mark Toone, senior pastor of Chapel Hill, said his congregation reached a “tipping point” last spring when a majority of regional governing bodies, called presbyteries, voted to change the church’s constitution to permit gays and lesbians to be ordained.

“For 30 years, we have battled over the same theological turf,” Toone told 1,200 parishioners before today’s vote. While it’s painful to leave the denomination, Toone said, “it would be more painful to remain.”

Sumner Presbyterian Church also voted Sunday to depart. Two other South Sound Presbyterian congregations, First Presbyterian of Tacoma and Evergreen Presbyterian in Graham, also decided recently to leave the denomination.

Chapel Hill members voted by written ballot whether to leave and join the smaller Evangelical Presbyterian Church. About 92 percent of the members who cast ballots voted to do so.

After dropping their ballots into purple bins after a congregational meeting, several members said they voted to leave in response to the ordination of gays and lesbians and other issues of disagreement.

“The church is being influenced by culture,” said Deanna Nilsen. “There has to come a point when we stand on the word of God.”

“It’s a mixed feeling,” said Tiersa Chaffin. “It’s bittersweet. It’s hard to separate.”

Chapel Hill prepared for the vote for seven months, studying issues and working with its regional body, the Presbytery of Olympia.

“It’s been a long process,” said Margie Doerksen. “It’s sort of a relief today to take this first step.”

Doerksen said Chapel Hill welcomes gays and lesbians into the congregation.
“We choose not to have them in leadership because we feel that’s scripturally correct,” Doerksen said.

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Crews will place travel restrictions on Stinson Avenue between Harborview Drive and Rosedale Street for at least a month starting Monday due to a water pipe replacement project.

The section of Stinson will be closed to southbound travel typically from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays. The closure could begin as early as 5 a.m. the day paving occurs. Both travel lanes will be open otherwise. A detour map is available here.

Workers with Gig Harbor-based Pape and Sons Construction Inc. will install a new 12-inch water pipe and pave the section of roadway. It is the final piece …

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OK. So it wasn’t even close to a “Where Were You When the Lights Went Out” event, but tonight’s power failure on the Gig Harbor and Key peninsulas was a major inconvenience and annoyance to commuters stuck in stop-and-go traffic and people wondering what they could eat that didn’t need cooking once they got home.

Even at 8 p.m., nearly an hour after the power was restored to much of the peninsulas’ 65,000 residents, motorists cruised by restaurants, peering in windows to see whether food was being served again.

If you were hungry, it was ugly. Burger King, closed. The …

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A 2005 graduate of Gig Harbor High School has set up the “Steven Slater Legal Defense Fund” for a famous JetBlue flight attendant.

Gary Baumgardner, 23, who works as an airline pilot on the East Coast, said Thursday that the fund had surpassed $3,000 since he started the account Tuesday morning. He said all the money raised will go to Slater. After a confrontation with a passenger, Slater is accused of cursing out the passenger on the plane’s public-address system, grabbing some beer …

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Many drivers are still recovering from last weekend’s encounter with the 27-mile-long traffic snake in Snoqualmie Pass, so all of this week’s ideas are within 27 miles of Tacoma. That way, no matter how bad things get, we guarantee you won’t be stuck in 27 miles worth of traffic.

But drivers beware: Construction work is expected to close multiple lanes of northbound I-5 through Lakewood, with the potential for 10-mile backups. Try to avoid the area from 9 tonight through 8 a.m. Sunday, with the heaviest traffic expected Saturday.

The weekend forecast calls for high temperatures in …

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The Harbor History Museum is reopening mid-September at a new facility in downtown Gig Harbor.

The museum has been closed since 2008 while the new 15,000 square foot building was under construction. When it opens its doors Sept. 18, its official name will be the Sehmel Family Harbor History Museum. The Sehmels have donated $1.5 million to the museum, officials announced Wednesday.

The museum, established in 1973, aims to raise $500,000 in the next four months.

In September’s free-admission grand opening, visitors will be able to view the 65-foot fishing vessel Shenandoah, the historic Thunderbird Hull #1 and the one-room, …

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