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.

The recent winter storms cost the city about $30,000 for overtime pay, sand, rock salt and fuel. The city spread more than 500 tons of sand on city streets. 

Tesoro plans to shut down it’s March Point refinery for maintenance for several weeks starting in mid-January.

This week’s Police Blotter is a bit shorter than usual. Possibly, some would-be criminals were having the same difficulties getting around town as the rest of us.

This week we find five Northwest authors on the Northwest Bestsellers list. Four of their books have been here for quite awhile, but one new book has appeared. Oregon author Jane Kirkpatrick's Aurora tells the story of the Oregon's Old Aurora Colony and their heritage. Also on this week's bestseller list are: Ivan Doig's The Eleventh Man, Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain, Christopher Paolini's Brisingr and Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian.