The Bellingham Herald

• Whatcom County sees biggest jump in unemployment in 15 years
  Job losses hit Whatcom County hard last month, as the number of people actively looking for work swelled by more than 2,000 between December and January. Whatcom County's unemployment rate in January soared to 8 percent, from 6.1 percent in December.
  While some of the jump is because of seasonality as layoffs typically occur at the end of the holiday shopping season, this big of a jump is surprising, said Hart Hodges, director of the Center for Economics and Business Research at Western Washington University.
  

  ---

• Home prices flat in Whatcom County, bucking national trend
  Home prices in Whatcom County remained basically flat for the past year, escaping the trend enveloping much of the U.S., according to a new federal study.
  One reason Whatcom County prices may not be falling as much: This report is based on conforming mortgages only and does include homes financed with jumbo loans, said Julia Hansen, an Economics professor at Western Washington University. She said the high-end home market appears to be experiencing the biggest slowdown locally and may not be picked up by the index.
  

  ---

• Officials from U.S. and Canada push for cooperation as Olympics near
  "It's clear Obama gets it," Gov. Chris Gregoire said Tuesday, Feb. 24, during a luncheon address to a conference on northern border issues attended by U.S. and Canadian officials. "He understands."
  The conference was organized by the Pacific Northwest Economic Region group, which involves public officials from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and three Canadian provinces. It was held at the Woodrow Wilson Center, involved the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University and those attending included local, state, provincial and federal officials from both countries.
  

  ---

• Western golf places fourth in tournament
  Western Washington University's Jake Koppenberg tied for fourth place in medalist play and the nationally ranked Viking men's golf team finished fourth among 19 teams at the Cal State Bakersfield Intercollegiate Tournament held Monday, Feb. 23, and Tuesday, Feb. 24, at the Seven Oaks Country Club.

Consumer Reports

• Automotive X-Prize entried near finalization
  At least 25 teams have been accepted to compete in the Progressive Automotive X Prize, beginning later this year. The X Prize organization announced that the entry list will close at the end of this month. Entrants fall into two classes, a Mainstream class that must seat four, have a 200-mile range, and have at least four wheels; and an Alternative class that must carry at least two and have a 100-mile range.
  Entries include Western Washington University, another successful team in previous alternative fuel races, including winning the California Clean Air race in 1991 and placing first in class in the 1991 GM-sponsored Sunrayce solar-car event in Australia. Western will enter a biomethane and CNG powered hybrid in the Alternative class.

Broadway World, NYC

• Shorties! An evening of solo performances
  "Comedy/Magic/Mayhem" by Chris Bange. Comedy and magic and mayhem. Christopher Bange is an actor, magician, and clown. He studied theater at Centralia College and Western Washington University. He then went on to study Clowning and other types of Physical Theater at Dell'arte: International School of Physical Theater.

Seattle Times

• $50k missing in travel funds at Evergreen
  An audit at The Evergreen State College revealed that a professor with a study-abroad program to Chile hasn't accounted for at least $50,000 in student fees and other college money, and that he misrepresented the college by signing contracts with a Chilean company partly owned by his family.