Board recommends sheriff changes, 40-year business closes among top TNT stories

A mix of business closures, food-safety reports and a high-profile political fight over sheriff were among Tuesday’s top stories. Here’s a look at the latest local headlines.

Here are key takeaways:

• Ben Franklin Crafts & Frame Shop in Bonney Lake will close after 40 years when its lease expires Feb. 28, 2027, with owner Adrian Taylor citing rising rent, insurance, benefits, taxes and state labor regulations as key reasons. An online petition to save the Bonney Lake craft store had gathered 823 verified signatures as of Friday afternoon, with supporters describing it as a community gathering spot and the town’s only independent small retailer.
• Knapp’s, an 88-year-old Tacoma restaurant founded in 1938, has closed after about nine months under new owner Billy Brewer, who bought the business and brand last August but did not own the building. Structural challenges facing independent diners — including real estate pressures, a consolidated food-supply chain and competition from diverse dining options — contributed to Knapp’s demise, with the restaurant running on nostalgia rather than food quality or service.
• The latest Pierce County restaurant inspection reports are out. Stacks Burgers in Parkland received 100 red points during a June 11 inspection for violations including improper handwashing, improper cooling of cooked onions, inadequate hot holding temperatures for cheese sauce and unapproved overnight cooking of pork without proper temperature monitoring.
• The Pierce County Charter Review Commission voted 12-9 Monday to send a proposal to the November ballot that would revert to an appointed sheriff system and terminate Sheriff Keith Swank’s four-year term on Jan. 1, 2027. If voters approve the amendment, Pierce County would join King County as the only Washington counties that appoint rather than elect their sheriff.

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.