LeMay Family Collection Foundation

Washington's 29th legislative district is one of forty-nine districts in Washington state for representation in the state legislature. It includes most of Tacoma. The district's legislators are state senator Steve Conway and state representatives Melanie Morgan (position 1) and Sharlett Mena (position 2), all Democrats.

Spanaway Lake High School is a high school in Spanaway, Washington, for grade levels 9 through 12. In 2007, 6 percent of 10th graders meet standard on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) writing test and 7 percent meet standard on the WASL reading test. The overall writing scores have increased 28 percentage points in five years. SLHS currently has to improve in the areas of math and science. Among 10th graders, 33 percent meet the standard in math and 23 percent meet the standard in science. The school is offering a greater selection of math courses to its students, as well as providing increased training to teachers to help them reach struggling students in math and science. SLHS made adequate yearly progress (AYP) in 79% of student categories. The school did not meet the standard in math among several sub-groups and reading among special education students. Each year individual schools and the school district must “raise the bar” in gradual increments so that by 2014, 100 percent of students achieve proficiency in each subject. Spanaway Lake High School underwent a major remodel which included the students being taught at Liberty Junior High for the 2009–2010 school year. The school was reopened in fall 2010. The Spanaway Lake wrestling team was co-champions of the 2001 wrestling season. Coach Greeley led the Sentinels to three consecutive top four finishes including the school's first state title in 2001 and a runner-up finish in 2003. The wrestling room of the new remodeled school was named in Paul Greeley's honor.

Parkland is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pierce County, Washington. The population was 35,803 at the time of the 2010 census and had grown to 38,623 as of the 2020 census. It is an unincorporated suburb of the city of Tacoma and is home to Pacific Lutheran University. Parkland borders most of Tacoma's southern cutoff at 96th St, and borders with much of the northern cutoff of Spanaway, Washington, at 152nd St (or Military Rd E). The most influential motorway is State Route 7/Pacific Ave, which travels north and south, and leads from Interstate 5 in Tacoma all the way to Mount Rainier. Pacific Ave is also a main commercial corridor through much of the county, including Parkland. It was given its name by early white settlers for the park-like nature of the vast Garry Oak and blue camas flower prairie, and the many meandering creeks crossing it. In 1890, Norwegian-Americans from the Midwest chose this area as the site of their new college, which is now Pacific Lutheran University, home to 3,500 full-time students and the Lutes varsity sports teams.

Spanaway is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 35,476 at the 2020 census, up from 27,227 in 2010. Spanaway is an unincorporated area near Tacoma, and is often identified together with the more urban, less wealthy Parkland. Spanaway's main business thoroughfare is Pacific Avenue South, which is a north–south road that coincides with State Route 7 through the Spanaway area.

Challenger High School is a public secondary school in Spanaway, Washington. The school serves grades 9-12 and graduates 100 to 130 students each year. To enroll, students must meet certain requirements, and unlike other high schools in the district, a normal school day at Challenger is 3 hours long. Students have 4 classes and are trusted to have done four hours of homework each night. Challenger is a part of Bethel School District.

Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a private Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congregations of Region I of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. PLU has approximately 2,700 students enrolled. As of 2023, the school employs approximately 238 full-time professors on the 156-acre (63 ha) woodland campus. PLU’s academic programs into four colleges: the College of Health Professions; the College of Humanities, Interdisciplinary Studies, and Social Sciences; the College of Natural Sciences; and the College of Professional Studies.

KLAY (1180 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a news/talk/sports information format. Located in Lakewood, Washington, United States, the station serves the Tacoma area. The station is owned by Sacred Heart Radio. The station features news, talk, weather, traffic, and sports reporting. KLAY has been on the air for about 53 years. Broadcasting coverage is roughly from Downtown Seattle south through the state capital of Olympia.

Washington High School in Parkland, Washington, United States. It serves grades 9-12 in the Franklin Pierce Schools. Its boundary includes most of Parkland and small portions of Tacoma.

Franklin Pierce High School is a public high school in Clover Creek, Washington (the facility has a Tacoma mailing address). It is named after the fourteenth US President, Franklin Pierce, who was president when the Washington Territory was formed in 1853. It is a part of the Franklin Pierce School District.

On November 29, 2009, four police officers of Lakewood, Washington were fatally shot at the Forza (now Blue Steele) Coffee shop, located at 11401 Steele Street #108 South in the Parkland unincorporated area of Pierce County, Washington, near Tacoma. A gunman, later identified as Maurice Clemmons, entered the shop, shot the officers while they worked on laptops, and fled the scene with a single gunshot wound in his torso. After a massive two-day manhunt that spanned several nearby cities, an officer recognized Clemmons near a stalled car in south Seattle. When he refused orders to stop, he was shot and killed by a Seattle Police Department officer. Five people, all friends and family of Clemmons, were convicted of crimes associated with aiding his escape and enabling him to elude capture, but most convictions were reversed on appeal, based on court findings of misconduct by the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office.

The Pierce County Library System (PCLS) is a library system serving the residents of Pierce County, Washington. The Pierce County Library System has 20 library locations serving 580,000 people in unincorporated Pierce County and 15 cities and towns which have annexed to the system for library service. It circulates 6.9 million items annually, hosts seasonal youth story times, teen clubs, events for youth and adults, classes for skills development and technology, an active summer reading program, and connects with social media. In 2016, there were 334,362 library cardholders, PCLS locations had more than 2.2 million visitors, and the website had more than 3.5 million visitors.

Manuel Ellis was a 33-year-old African American man who died on March 3, 2020, during an arrest by police officers in Tacoma, Washington. The Pierce County Sheriff's Department initially claimed that Ellis had attacked a police car and then attacked officers, leading to the arrest. State prosecutors quoted civilian witnesses as saying that Ellis did not attack the police car or officers; they also said it was the officers who initiated the use of physical force on Ellis after a conversation. Video of the incident showed officers repeatedly punching Ellis, choking him, using a Taser, and kneeling on him. State prosecutors stated that "Ellis was not fighting back", citing witness statements and video evidence. A police radio recording showed that Ellis said he "can’t breathe". Ellis told officers "can't breathe, sir" multiple times, according to prosecutors. Ellis was hogtied, face-down, with an officer on him, for at least six minutes, and a spit hood was placed on his head in this position, stated prosecutors. Ellis died at the scene while receiving medical aid from paramedics.In early June 2020, Ellis's death was ruled by county medical examiner Thomas Clark as a homicide due to "hypoxia due to physical restraint", and with "contributing conditions of methamphetamine intoxication and a dilated heart". Prosecutors, in May 2021 documents, quoted Clark as saying that additional evidence that emerged after the autopsy concluded indicated that "Ellis's death was not likely caused by methamphetamine intoxication", and further indicated that restraint caused the death.After Ellis's death, four Tacoma police officers were placed on paid administrative leave; they returned to work two weeks later, with the Tacoma police department stating "there were no known departmental violations". The Pierce County Sheriff's Department conducted a three-month investigation into Ellis's death before disclosing that a Pierce County deputy was present during Ellis's arrest. As a result, in mid-June 2020, Governor of Washington Jay Inslee ordered a new investigation by the Washington State Patrol, while the Washington Attorney General would decide potential criminal charges. In May 2021, Washington prosecutors charged two Tacoma police officers, Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins, with second degree murder for the killing of Ellis, and charged another Tacoma police officer, Timothy Rankine, with first degree manslaughter.