Car prowlers strike, ex-governor bemoans WA biz climate among TNT’s top stories
From a former governor’s critique of state spending to a Key Peninsula mushroom operation feeding Tacoma’s top restaurants, Pierce County readers have plenty to catch up on today. Also Monday, a beloved doughnut shop is closing, and deputies are hunting four suspects after a wave of car break-ins in Parkland. • Former Gov. Christine Gregoire told the Association of Washington Business that the state budget has grown from about $33 billion when she left office to nearly $80 billion today, calling it “a little bit too much growth” and arguing Washington has a spending problem, not an income problem. Gregoire also faulted legislative leaders for lacking business experience, asking how many Democratic caucus members “have come from a business past” and warning that stacking “one more tax, one more rule, one more regulation” is driving away the predictability employers need.
• Adam’s Mushrooms, a Key Peninsula farm run by Adam DeLeo, now produces roughly 850 pounds of mushrooms a week across about a dozen species, with help from a $370,000 USDA farm loan in August 2025. Field Bar chef Ike Hippensteel said he designs his menu around what he can get from Adam’s Mushrooms and microfarm Local Color Farm & Fiber, telling The News Tribune that if a resource like Adam’s didn’t exist, “I would make a resource like Adam’s”.
• Milkvue Handcrafted Donuts + Coffee in Gig Harbor served its last walk-up customers on Sunday, May 17, with co-owner Seung Kim citing rising rent and payroll costs alongside insufficient traffic as the reason the brick-and-mortar shop on Point Fosdick Drive is shifting fully to wholesale. Milkvue’s mochi and raised doughnuts will be available through Metropolitan Market, Olympia Coffee, Uwajimaya, Seattle Fish Guys, Burien Press, Social Tea, Chaco Coffee & Tea and DIY Tea Lab across the Puget Sound area, the shop announced on Facebook.
• Four suspects broke into 14 vehicles at the Garfield Station Apartments in Parkland near Pacific Lutheran University on May 16 at 4:35 a.m., smashing windows and rummaging through cars in what residents say was the second incident in two days. Surveillance video showed a white sedan pulling into the lot at 3:09 a.m. with four people — two prowling cars while two acted as lookouts — and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information to call 253-287-4455.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by senior editor Adam Lynn. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.