Front Porch

OPPORTUNITY

Improving Mountain Loop Highway

The public is invited to two community meetings on Wednesday and Thursday to learn about and provide input on the Mountain Loop Highway Feasibility Study.

The study will look at ways to improve access to recreational opportunities along the loop, with special attention to the 14-mile gravel stretch of road, extending from Barlow Pass to White Chuck River. The study is being conducted by the Federal Highway Administration.

People will have two opportunities to weigh in:

Granite Falls: 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Granite Falls Middle School Multipurpose Room, 405 N. Alder Ave.

Darrington: 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Darrington Community Center, 570 Sauk Ave.

More info: flh.fhwa.dot.gov/projects/wa/mountain-loop

EVENTS

Honoring military dogs

The Floyd Norgaard Cultural Center Veterans Day celebration at 11 a.m. Saturday will feature two military working dogs and their handlers from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

There are about 2,500 war dogs in service today. Dogs have fought alongside American forces in every conflict since the Revolutionary War, but only officially since WWII. Until November 2000, military working dogs were euthanized or abandoned after retirement.

The Floyd Norgaard Cultural Center is located at 27130 102nd Ave. NW in Stanwood. The event is free and the public is invited.

Vape awareness

Henry M. Jackson High School students want to warn people about the possible health effects of using vape products, which reportedly have contributed to more than a thousand lung illnesses and two dozen deaths nationwide.

“Half of those sickened are young people like us,” said freshman Katerina Vaagen in a morning announcement at Jackson High School.

Vaagen was responsible for starting a pledge drive to not vape. Now, Everett Public Schools is partnering with Snohomish County Health District to host three parent information nights on vaping. They are 7 p.m. Thursday in the Eisenhower Middle School cafeteria; 7 p.m. Nov. 18 in the Heatherwood Middle School cafeteria and 7 p.m. Nov. 21 in the Community Resource Center off Broadway in Everett.

More info: www.everettsd.org or www.snohd.org/273/Vaping-Vapor-Products

A conversation on “The State of American Politics”

Go to Langley Friday to hear journalist and author Lynne Olson talk about American politics, her experience writing about the subject and her new book “Madame Fourcade’s Secret War,” about a young woman who led France’s largest spy network during World War II. “Political maven” Robert Merry, also a journalist and author, will join in the conversation.

The event starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, 565 Camano Ave., Langley. There will be a book signing after the discussion.

More info: www.wicaonline.org