The Bellingham Herald

• Three UW students plead guilty to WWU thefts
  Three University of Washington students will spend 90 days in jail for stealing items out of several Western Washington University students' dorm rooms in February.
  On Thursday, July 2, Samuel Sisay, 19, Iyob Habte, 19, and Haben Sebhatu, 19, pleaded guilty to charges of residential burglary, third-degree malicious mischief and third-degree theft.
  They were arrested Feb. 22 after a University Police officer searched their car and found four laptops and a video game system that had been reported stolen from four dorm rooms in Nash Hall.
  

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• WWU students won't pay more for bus passes, but university will
  Western Washington University students will not see an increase next year in the transportation fee they pay nor will they have their late-night shuttle service cut, a university spokesman said.
  According to a draft deal between the university and Whatcom Transportation Authority, the university will pay about 25 percent more over the next three years for prepaid bus passes for students. The money will come from reserves.
  

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• Port moves ahead on waterfront plan
  Port of Bellingham commissioners agreed Tuesday, July 7, to spend an additional $332,500 to complete waterfront redevelopment planning by the end of the year.
  The money represents the port's half of the cost of finishing up a master plan, environmental impact statement and development regulations for 220 waterfront acres that include the idle industrial property that was the former site of Georgia-Pacific Corp. pulp and paper manufacturing.
  The Bellingham City Council approved paying its share of the planning costs by a 4-3 vote on June 29.
  

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• Two Vikings make national all-academic team
  Western Washington University distance runner Jordan Welling and steeplechaser Eric Brill have been named to the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association NCAA Division II Men's Track & Field All-Academic Team announced today.

Crosscut.com

• New leader navigates budget cuts at WWU
  His mantra is "transparency," yet the most controversial decision of Bruce Shepard's first year as president of Western Washington University was opaque.
  Western folk from the greenest freshman to the most senior professor are invited, even instructed, to "call me Bruce," yet some of those who work with him believe he is less comfortable and skilled in one-on-one meetings than working with a crowd.
  Shepard, who succeeded Karen Morse as head of the Bellingham campus, is candid and forthright in an interview and has the best relations with the student press of any president in recent years. Faculty members, focused on the effects of budget cuts and continuing economic troubles, give him good marks for a process in which every jot and tittle of the university budget is online and the president constantly asks for suggestions to better the process.