The Bellingham Herald

• WWU, Chinese debaters spar over China's role in global climate change
  China has become one of the world's great powers in the 21st century, with the world's largest population and one of its largest economies. Yet, like the United States, it is also one of the largest producers of greenhouse gasses.
  At Western Washington University on Wednesday, Feb. 18, students from WWU and Beijing Foreign Studies University in China debated whether China should shoulder an equal burden in combating the climate change that has resulted from those gas emissions.
  

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• Kremen blocks funding for Terraquarium study
  County Executive Pete Kremen stunned backers of the waterfront Terraquarium Wednesday, Feb. 18, by announcing he will block a $600,000 grant for the project that was approved by the Whatcom County Council on a 4-3 vote in December.
  

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• MBA open house set for Feb. 25
  Western Washington University's Master of Business Administration Program will host an open house for prospective MBA applicants at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25, in Parks Hall room 441.The open house will inform prospective applicants about the competitive advantage of an MBA degree. No reservations are needed to participate, and refreshments will be served. Maps and directions for this event can be found at www.cbe.wwu.edu/mba.
  

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• WWU men fall to third, women stay at fourth in latest polls
  The Western Washington University men dropped one spot to third and the Viking women remained fourth in the latest NCAA Division II West Region basketball polls released Wednesday.
  

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• Road-weary Viking women fall to MSU-B on the road
  Weary from traveling nearly 6,000 miles over the last eight days, Western Washington University lost 67-62 to Montana State University Billings in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball contest Wednesday, Feb. 18, at Alterowitz Gymnasium. The Vikings, ranked No.4 in the West Region of NCAA Division II, fell to 15-7 overall and 7-4 in league action. Guard Amanda Dunbar paced Western, which had split two games in Alaska last week, with 18 points, 13 in the second half.
  

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• Blaine woman trying to get anti-evolution initiative on state ballot
  Kim Struiksma doesn't think evolution should be taught in schools. So the 25-year-old Blaine resident, along with a group of friends from her church, have fashioned Initiative 1040, which "concerns a supreme ruler of the universe." 
  Western Washington University biology professor David Leaf has taught classes on intelligent design and evolution to biology majors and has acted as a consultant to a group of Burlington-Edison School District residents who fought against intelligent design being offered in schools in the Skagit Valley.

Seattle P-I

• Washington legislature cuts funding
  The Legislature took its first step toward dealing with Washington's massive budget deficit on Wednesday, passing bills that would free up more than $700 million to help fill the current fiscal year's budget deficit. Gov. Chris Gregoire quickly signed the savings bills into law and applauded lawmakers for moving with unusual speed. But that relatively quick work was immediately overshadowed by an upcoming preliminary state revenue forecast, scheduled for Thursday.

Winnipeg Free Press

• Obama may not be the free-trade defender Canada needs
  Barack Obama may have once trash talked free trade, but few are expecting anything so antagonistic during his first visit to his country's closest trading partner.  Rather, the U.S. president's first words on foreign soil Thursday will likely aim to smooth any ruffled feathers over his campaign rhetoric to renegotiate or kill the North American trade pact under which $1.5 billion in goods cross the border each day."I think he will want to send a signal to Canadians that we want to make this relationship as strong as possible," says Don Alper, director of the Center for Canadian-American Studies at Western Washington University.