The state Senate approved Thursday evening a bill that would allow families to stop autopsies based on religious objections.

Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, authored the bill in response to a court fight waged between the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office and the family of a New York man who died on Mount Rainier in December. The man, Brian Grobois, was an Orthodox Jew and his family argued an autopsy would run counter to his religious beliefs despite the insistence of Dr. Thomas Clark, the county’s chief medical examinier, that the examination was necessary and he had the legal authority …

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The Tacoma Murals Project is ready to stir the paint pot for another season of crime and grime fighting.

Part of the City of Tacoma’s Safe, Clean and Attractive initiative, Graffiti Reduction Through Community Based Art aims to cut tagging and get residents involved in defining and beautifying their neighborhoods. To that end, the city wants to hear from people who live in areas battling blight and vandalism, and who have a wall ready for a mural. The application deadline is April 2, so start procrastinating now.

The city will provide the artist to develop the painting, and …

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A citizen advisory committee will hold a meeting and public hearing starting at 6:30 this evening as it considers raising toll rates on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

The Washington State Department of Transportation will hold an open house to answer questions before the meeting at 5:30 p.m.

The meeting and preceding open house will be held inside the Gig Harbor Civic Center, 3510 Grandview St. in Gig Harbor.

Staff has presented the committee with four options to raise tolls. They would increase:

1. The tollbooth rate to $5.50 from $4, Good to Go! rate to $4.25 from $2.75, and pay …

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Tacoma Public Schools have decided not to seek a state waiver that could have allowed the school district to shorten the school year because of January’s snow emergency.

Instead, the school district announced Tuesday, most Tacoma students are scheduled to attend school June 20 through 22 to make up for the three school days lost to snow, acting Superintendent Carla Santorno said. The Tacoma School Board had previously approved those dates as official snow make-up days as part of a series of calendar revisions made last September following an eight-day teacher strike.

(A few Tacoma schools that use an alternate …

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The city of Lakewood will lay off four employees under a plan City Manager Andrew Neiditz announced Monday night to close a projected budget shortfall of slightly more than $1 million.

Another four positions that are currently vacant would be lost under the budget-balancing plan Neiditz presented to the City Council. The city has about 250 employees.

Neiditz also proposed eliminating or reducing this year’s cost-of-living adjustments for managers, slashing training and supply budgets, reducing the number of city-paid cell phones and increasing certain fees.

“We don’t at all have a spending problem, but we have a revenue problem that …

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Two new hotels will be constructed along the Pacific Highway corridor in Lakewood, City Manager Andrew Neiditz announced Monday night.

Groundbreaking of a four-story, 109-room Courtyard by Marriott and 101-room TownePlace Suites will begin later this year on adjacent properties. Both hotels will open in late 2013.

Once opened, Pacific Highway will have four newer hotels built in the last six years. LaQuinta Inn and Suites and Candlewood Suites opened in 2007 and 2010, respectively.

Louisiana-based InterMountain Management LLC will develop both hotels. One of the hotels will be built on the site of a mobile home park that …

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Saint Martin’s University in Lacey will join the worldwide celebration of the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’ birth Tuesday, Feb. 7, with a marathon reading of the 19th-century author’s works.

Saint Martin’s English Department, along with the English honor society Sigma Tau Delta, will host the event from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Harned Hall, 5000 Abbey Way S.E. Students, faculty, and staff will read 20-minute excerpts from some of Dickens’ most beloved stories, including “Great Expectations,” “A Christmas Carol,” “A Tale of Two Cities” and more.

The celebration is free and open to the public.

The Pierce County Skills Center will host an open house on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 from 6-8pm at the Frederickson Campus, 16117 Canyon Rd. E.

Students interested in attending PCSC in the fall will have the opportunity to learn about the programs it offers, talk with instructors, tour the facility and pick up an application. Light refreshments will be served.

PCSC is a regional high school offering free hands-on job training to students ages 16 to 20. Students learn technical skills to prepare them for college and future careers.

Course offerings include training for careers in aerospace, building trades, …

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