The Bellingham Herald

• WWU budget cuts mean reduction in student access
  No matter how Western Washington University officials work the impending budget cuts, student access to the university will be significantly reduced. During a presentation to the board of trustees on Thursday afternoon, Feb. 12, WWU President Bruce Shepard outlined dismal budget projections, giving trustees a picture of how the statewide budget cuts will affect the university over the next couple years.

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• Local cinematographer releases Mount Baker trails DVD
  Local award-winning producer/cinematographer of wildlife and backcountry productions Karen Edmundson Bean has released "Walking Wild: Mount Baker, North," a new DVD in the Walking Wild series.
  
  In her previous documentaries, Bean interviews people as she goes along, but the walks on "Mount Baker, North" did not lend themselves to that. However, she did not want to leave the area's geology, botany and entomology out of the film. Bean contacted and interviewed three Western Washington University scientists: assistant professor of Biology and herbarium curator Eric DeChaine, Biology professor Merrill A. Peterson and assistant Geology professor Jackie Caplan-Auerbach.
  
  "They were each very unique people and very excited about what they do," Bean said.

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• WTA wants to increase bus fare to $1
  Cash fares would increase from 75 cents to $1, and riders could no longer use transfer slips to switch buses without paying a second time, under a proposal by Whatcom Transportation Authority staff.
  
  Western Washington University charges each student $25 a term to pay for universal bus passes and late-night shuttle service, among other costs. Currently WTA gets between $14 and $15 of that fee for passes, totaling $561,928 per year, said Rick Nicholson, WTA's director of service development.
  
  The agency wants to increase WWU's contribution to $702,411 per year, which would mean WTA would get between $17.50 and $18.75 of each student's fee. The increase would require the university and transit agency to renegotiate the contract, he said.

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• Bellingham mayor lobbies in Olympia for more funding
  Frustrated with the potential cuts to higher education and K-12 schools, Mayor Dan Pike decided to take his own ideas to the state capital. On school funding, Pike said that recent discussions with education leaders in the area, particularly at Western Washington University, left him frustrated. WWU officials are still trying to figure out how to cut about 5 percent of their budget, even after raising tuition 7 percent. One option under discussion is reducing enrollment.

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• WWU career fair shows there are still jobs out there
  With all of the economic turmoil that's taken place in the past six months, there was a slightly different look this year at the Western Washington University Winter Career Fair. The event, held last week on the Western campus, attracted the same number of employers as last year, with 83 companies and groups recruiting people for internship programs or jobs. The difference this year was the makeup of the companies, as well as the group of people coming in this year, said Effie Eisses, employer relations manager at Western's Career Service Center.

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• WWU athletics: WWU runners break six school records; Viking women rout UAF; Men fall to Western Oregon; Women's furious rally falls just short at No. 1 Alaska-Anchorage; Men hold off Saints

US Golf Association Insider

• This teacher's always been a class act
  Teaching and the game of golf are intrinsically linked. Regardless of age or skill level, you are a student. And, as golfers will tell you, lessons learned on the course translate well in life. WWU alumnus Bill Wright, the first African-American to win a PGA event, has lived his life to that tenet.

EurekAlert

• What if Washingtonians don't address climate change?
  "The costs identified in the report illustrate the types of costs Washingtonians will face from uncontrolled climate change," said Hart Hodges, another member of the Program on Economics steering committee and professor of Economics at Western Washington University. "The report demonstrates that there's a real chance we'll face very difficult impacts if we do not act now."

MMA Junkie.com

• How Ryan Couture blazed his own path into MMA
  Even Ryan Couture, a legitimate crown prince of mixed martial arts, has to be amused at how different his life was just four years ago. Indeed, Couture, son of MMA legend Randy Couture, was building a drastically different life in Bellingham, Wash. His banking career seemed like it could be his future, and he hadn't come near wrestling since finishing high school in suburban Seattle.
  
  After a high school wrestling career, Couture enrolled in Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., where he became a Math major. He graduated in 2004 and took a job at a bank to remain in Bellingham, falling into a routine that might now seem terribly boring. Soon, Couture entered the gym.