New rules for Tacoma forum, dead Gig Harbor teen IDed among top TNT stories

The Tacoma City Council voted 5-4 to overhaul its community forum rules this week, while Pierce County medical examiners identified two crash victims and state investigators named a Puyallup police officer involved in a shooting.

Here are Friday’s top stories from The News Tribune:

• The Tacoma City Council approved controversial changes to community forum rules at its June 9 meeting in a rare split vote, with no commenters speaking in favor and roughly 15 urging the council to vote no. The new rules double forum duration to two hours and speaking time to three minutes per person but reduce the frequency from twice to once monthly and allow forums to take place outside city hall in neighborhood council districts.
• Daniel P. Hallstrom, 16, a former Gig Harbor High School student, died from blunt head and torso trauma after his vehicle fell down a steep embankment near the 5600 block of 98th Avenue Northwest on Wednesday at 6:32 p.m. The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said Hallstrom was driving fast and did not make a corner near Kopachuck Middle School, with his vehicle found about 100 yards down a ravine, and the Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death an accident.
• Puyallup police officer Zion Gregory, 29, was identified as the officer who shot and seriously injured a man during a June 5 domestic-violence response, after the suspect approached him in the street armed with a metal baton. Gregory was hired by Puyallup police in March 2025 and is assigned to patrol, and the case marks the state Office of Independent Investigations’ first deadly-force investigation in Pierce County since assuming that role in May.
• Manfred Bahle, 79, was identified as the driver who died Thursday at about 4:25 p.m. when an Eatonville School District bus struck his vehicle at state Route 161 near Eustis Hunt Road. There were 36 children on the bus at the time of the collision, with one child taken to a hospital with minor injuries and the rest uninjured, while the cause remains under investigation.

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.