The Anacortes Arts Festival pre-festival activities kick off this weekend with the Art Dash on Saturday morning and the Art at the Port exhibit that night.    

The City Council has, for the first time, approved a transportation policy which allocates minimum of $1.1-million annually for street maintenance. The policy, when combined with other legislation, will mean an annual $20 car tab fee.

The An-O-Chords are getting ready for their annual summer weekend featuring two shows at Brodniak Hall as well as a Sunday barbecue at Washington Park. The theme for this summer’s shows is “Juke box music through the ages.”

Tesoro Corp. says it plans to spend $400 million to produce petrochemical feedstocks in its West coast refineries for extraction at their March Point refinery here.

Island Hospital now offers an online patient portal that enables patients and their families to take a more active role in their care by providing easy, secure access to their health information anywhere with an Internet connection.

Police are investigating the theft of a 5-foot-tall lawn gnome from a home on M Ave., apparently hauled off by more than one person because of the size.