The Northern Light

• Senior Center's Hanks wins award
  Dana Hanks took over as the Blaine Senior Center/Community Center coordinator last February after 31 years serving on the staff of the county-owned Roeder home. The 101-year-old house was given to Whatcom County parks and recreation in 1971 by Mrs. Donald Keyes as a community cultural arts and social center, and for the last three decades Hanks has been closely identified with its diverse program of performances, classes and events.
  Hanks joined the Roeder Home staff as an intern while still an undergraduate at Western Washington University and rose to become the facility’s coordinator, a job she’s held for the past 20 years.

The Seattle Times

• UW employee put on leave after talking to the media
  The University of Washington has placed an employee on administrative leave after she talked to the media about a controversial budget-cut absorbing method.
  Marla Bradeen, an analyst with the facilities services department, was mentioned in a seattletimes.com story last week about the department's plan to lay off 17 custodians and eliminate the night shift for many remaining workers. While the change would cut costs, it could also force night-shift custodians to quit other daytime jobs or find new daytime caretakers for children or elderly parents.
  Bradeen, an analyst with the facilities services department, received a letter Friday informing her she was under investigation for releasing confidential and sensitive information without permission. The letter was dated June 11, the same day UW custodians and students held a rally to protest the shift switch.

Medical News Today

• Colleges, communities combat off-campus drinking
  Programs that bring colleges and their surrounding neighborhoods together may help reduce off-campus drinking problems, a new study suggests.
  Researchers found that an alcohol control program at Western Washington University that also involved the community -- including increased police patrols in neighborhoods subject to loud and sometimes dangerous college parties, combined with efforts to make off-campus students better neighborhood residents -- led to a decline in student heavy episodic drinking (also called "binge" drinking).
  In the case of WWU, a public university in Bellingham, Washington, researchers focused on curbing off-campus drinking problems by connecting the college and community. Funds were devoted to bump up police patrols in neighborhoods where college parties were a problem and to better enforce underage-drinking laws. That was coupled with education efforts to make students aware of their responsibilities as residents of the community; the inclusion of community-service projects in some courses; and forums that brought together students, neighborhood residents and law enforcement to talk about neighborhood issues.