The City Council has okayed a 4 percent pay hike for Teamsters Union employees for the city. According to city human resources directory Emily Schuh, the raises are similar to what other city employees will be getting. 

A woman in the 1000 block of 20th St. reported the theft of 12 duck decoys, 24 geese decoys, a tent, a child’s snowboard, and a dead snow goose from her front yard in the afternoon of New Year’s Eve. 

Grabbing readers from the get-go with a sizzling murder that's the perfect setup for what's to come, this latest in Seattle writer Jayne Ann Krentz's unique "Arcane Society" series pairs a bitter, wounded ex-cop-turned-bartender with an emotionally guarded genealogy librarian.

It's a buyer's market for homes in Anacortes/ Housing prices fell last month. Homes sales for 2008 were down sharply from the previous year. And, there are a lot of homes on the market right now.

March Point resident Don Munks, who recently retired from the Skagit County commissioners, says he wants the governor to name him director of the state Agriculture Department.

City retail sales has been down this year. It’s down about eight percent for the first eleven months of the year.