The Bellingham Herald

• WWU rowing to be on TV
  Highlights of Western Washington University's fifth consecutive NCAA Division II national championship in women's rowing can be seen Saturday, July 4, at 11 a.m. on KIRO TV (Ch. 7) as CBS presents the 2009 NCAA Championships Spring Highlight Show.
  The program includes footage of the national championship rowing races held May 31 at Cherry Hill, New Jersey, on the Cooper River.
  Western's accomplishment was the first time that a team in any NCAA rowing division has won five straight titles since the NCAA began a rowing championship in 1997.
  

  ---

• Festival of Music again attracting top-notch talent
  The Bellingham Festival of Music is celebrating its 16th season of orchestral and chamber concerts from Friday, July 3, to Sunday, July 19. Board member Herb Fine recently spoke about the upcoming festival.
  What's makes this festival special?
  "It's world class," Fine said. "While we use some local talent, most come from top orchestras from around the globe."
  Everyone should see cellist Joshua Roman who performs July 15," Fine said. "He's an amazing artist."
  Roman won the principal chair in the cello section of the Seattle Symphony at the age of 22.
  "He's like the next Yo-Yo Ma," Fine said. "He's got a rock star aura about him."
  Where are the concerts?
  Most are at the Western Washington University Concert Hall.

Physorg.com

• International team of students, scientists head to Siberian Arctic
  Scientists and undergraduate students from across the United States and Russia are departing July 2 for a month-long field course in the Russian Arctic. The program, known as The Polaris Project, is training future leaders in arctic research and education, and informing the public about the impacts of climate change.
  Participating institutions include The Woods Hole Research Center, Carleton College, Clark University, Holy Cross College, St. Olaf College, University of Nevada - Reno, Western Washington University, and Yakustk State University.
  Andy Bunn, a faculty member at Western Washington University, said "I did not appreciate the massive changes underway in the Arctic before traveling to Siberia last year. Yet, that change is just likely beginning. I'm excited to return this year and to see this anew with the fresh crop of students. They are the luckiest undergraduates in the country."

Washington Times

• A different time: Wright paved the way for Woods
  Bill Wright vividly remembers the feeling he had while he was flying to Denver for the 1959 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship with a group of other golfers who were competing in the tournament at Wellshire Golf Course.
  "Here I am. I can't belong to any club, but I qualified for the tournament," Wright said. "The players didn't really want to even go on the same plane with me."
  Wright couldn't belong to any club, because this was 1959 and he was black. The players didn't want to go on the same plane with him because he was black, and in 1959 black players didn't compete with white players, particularly in a major USGA tournament.
  Wright, 73, had been a basketball star in his youth, all-city and all-state at Franklin High School in Seattle, and he went on to play at Western Washington University. But golf became his love, and it was a tough love for a black golfer. He tried to play in the Seattle city amateur championship but wasn't allowed, "because I did not belong to any golf club."