Another new orca baby born to J pod — the second this month

Another new orca baby has been born to J pod, the Center for Whale Research confirmed Friday morning. It’s the second calf born this month for the endangered southern resident orcas that frequent Puget Sound.

“We confirm that there is a new calf in J pod and the mother is J41,” Ken Balcomb, the founding director of the center, wrote in a text message to The Seattle Times on Friday morning.

“We have to await the whales’ return to determine its health condition and hopefully determine its success. It is important to note that the observation was in Canada and we could not be there due to covid restrictions.”

Center observer Mark Malleson caught up with the whales near Sheringham, British Columbia, Balcomb wrote. The whales were very spread out, foraging, and could not be located before dark.

J35, the mother orca also known as Tahlequah, gave birth to a male calf on Sept. 4. Mother and baby were seen this week romping and feeding. Tahlequah raised worldwide concern in 2018 when her calf died shortly after birth and she carried it for 17 days and more than 1,000 miles.

This is the fourth birth to the southern residents since 2019. In such a small population, every calf is celebrated. There are now 74 southern residents in the J, K, and L pods.

The orcas face three main threats to their survival: boat noise and vessel disturbance; pollution; and lack of food, especially Chinook salmon, their main diet particularly in summer.

— The Seattle Times

6-vehicle crash blocks traffic in Thurston County for more than 4 hours

A six-vehicle crash, including two semi-trailers, blocked northbound I-5 near Maytown in Thurston County for more than four hours on Thursday, the Washington State Patrol announced later that day.

Although as many as 15 vehicles were thought to have been involved in the crash, the actual number was six, according to a State Patrol memo released after the wreck.

According to the State Patrol and Trooper Ryan Burke:

About 12:30 p.m. Thursday, a white passenger vehicle, reportedly being driven erratically, crashed into the center jersey barrier on the freeway. A second vehicle then crashed into the white car.

The driver of the white car, a 20-year-old Chehalis man, then pulled back into traffic and left the scene. That caused a semi-trailer driver to hit the brakes, followed by a second semi-trailer that hit the brakes and crashed into the jersey barrier, pushing it into the southbound lanes.

A fifth vehicle then crashed into the second semi-trailer and a sixth vehicle, headed south, crashed into the displaced jersey barrier.

The State Patrol classified the crash as a “personal injury hit-and-run collision,” although it wasn’t immediately clear if the Chehalis man was taken into custody.

The Chehalis man was driving at a “speed too fast for conditions,” which were wet after heavy rain swept through the area Thursday afternoon.

Only one person was injured: A 63-year-old Tumwater woman who was evaluated at the scene, according to the State Patrol.

Northbound I-5 was blocked for four hours, 44 minutes.

— The Olympian

Ivar’s temporarily closes Seattle restaurants due to COVID-19

After an optimistic reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic this past June, Seattle seafood institution Ivar’s is abandoning indoor dining until — hopefully — next spring. Both Acres of Clams on the waterfront and the Salmon House on Lake Union will close Sept. 28.

The two spacious restaurants — the Salmon House seats 692 — seemed better suited than many to turn a profit during COVID-19 indoor dining capacity restrictions, first at 25%, now at 50% under the governor’s Safe Start Phase 2. But even after reducing expenses, menu changes and more delivery, the company says the two full-service places haven’t approached break-even sales.

“We all feel terrible…” company president Bob Donegan says. “There were many tears as we met with our teams and told them. We look forward to being back together in the spring if there are solutions in place.”

A statement from the company echoes the dire conundrum faced by many in the restaurant industry this fall. “Without cruise passengers, conventions, tourists, banquets, Sounders, Seahawks, and Mariner fans, and workers in the downtown offices, there are few people eating in our full-service restaurants,” it reads. “We fear when the weather changes and the rains return, we lose outside dining and we won’t have any customers.” Ivar’s notes that their landlords “kindly stepped up” to modify leases on the two restaurants.

— The Seattle Times

Washington weed businesses see boost during pandemic

While the COVID-19 pandemic has played havoc with the Washington economy and many of its industries, it has boosted at least one: the state’s legal marijuana operations.

Marijuana sales at state-licensed stores jumped in March as the state went into its “Stay Safe” restrictions with workers in nonessential jobs told to stay home and many stores and entertainment venues closed, data from the state Liquor and Cannabis Board show.

Compared to February, sales and the state’s corresponding tax revenues rose about 28% in March, according to figures presented in a recent legislative committee work session on marijuana. They stayed at near-record levels through July, the most recent month for which the state has records, when nearly $130 million in legal marijuana sales were reported.

That was 42% higher than in July 2019.

David Morgan, co-owner of Lucky Leaf in downtown Spokane, said marijuana sales typically pick up in warmer weather, but they definitely noticed “a pretty big spike” in March that is continuing into September.

While legal marijuana sales have risen steadily each year since state-licensed stores opened in 2015, the jump this spring was larger than that trend. Morgan noticed a spike when local residents received their $1,200 stimulus payments and a drop when the federal government’s additional $600 in pandemic unemployment benefits ended.

“There was an uptick in sales, definitely, as soon as the lockdown hit,” Carol Erhart, of 4:20 Friendly, said. While the marijuana business has some expected upticks — around the holidays, just before Bloomsday — this one was not so predictable, although in retrospect it was logical, she said.

For many people, anxiety levels are up during the pandemic, with worries about catching the virus or whether their job will be affected, if it hasn’t been already, she said.

“People are self-medicating,” Erhart said.

— The Spokesman-Review

Thurston schools can slowly reopen to in-person learning, county Health Officer says

About two months after recommending distance learning for the fall term due to a spike in local COVID-19 cases, Thurston County Health Officer Dr. Dimyana Abdelmalek is now recommending local schools gradually resume in-person learning, prioritizing high-need students.

At least two local districts were already taking steps in that direction.

On Monday, North Thurston Public Schools announced that, after starting the school year 100 percent remote, it would start bringing small groups of students on-site next week for in-person instruction. Similarly, Olympia School District planned to begin in-person instruction this week for small groups of students with special needs.

North Thurston Superintendent Debra Clemens said in a prepared statement that Abdelmalek’s latest recommendation means the district will be able to expand existing plans.

“Our goal has always been to bring students back to the classrooms for face-to-face learning as long as we can do so safely following public health recommendations,” Clemens said. “It is good to see that all of our efforts to mitigate the transmission of COVID-19 in our immediate community are working.

“We already planned to start bringing small groups of students back as early as next week. The new guidance backs up this plan and allows us to expand the number of students moving forward, starting with our youngest learners and those who need services that cannot successfully be delivered remotely.”

Labor Day weekend had local public health officials on high alert for increased case numbers due to holiday-related gatherings, similar to what followed the Fourth of July. But case counts have instead been steadily declining.

— The Olympian