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The Bellingham Herald
- Bill earmarks federal funding for VRI project
The earmark was won by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who also got in the bill $1 million for Whatcom Transportation Authority to help replace its aging bus fleet and $750,000 for the Vehicle Research Institute at Western Washington University. That WWU program would use the money to design and build two prototype, fuel-efficient, lightweight public transit buses for small transit districts.
- WWU ranked 8th nationally in green-power usage
Western Washington University has been named one of the top "green power" universities in the country by the Environmental Protection Agency. Western, which buys 100 percent of its electrical energy from green sources, was ranked eighth out of 20 colleges and universities.
All the schools on the list are part of the EPA's Green Power Partnership, a voluntary program that can be joined by a variety of organizations and companies. Western is the only university in the state on the list.
- City installs WWU-designed pet-waste stations along trail
Based on the realization that many people don't mind bagging their dog's waste but don't like toting the bag, Bellingham has installed five custom-designed "pet waste collection stations" along Railroad Trail.
The challenge of crafting a collection station was given to industrial design students at Western Washington University.
The winning design features a trail map on top, so people know how far it is to the next station. There's a slot for people to take a bag, and a larger opening for people to dispose of their bag.
- Riverboarding puts riders eye-to-eye with raging waters
She's technically from Western Washington University and regularly sports pads and a helmet. But Rochelle Parry never played for the now-defunct Vikings football team.
Maybe she should have.
The 46-year-old, who works as a web and graphic designer for the Bellingham university, spends a good chunk of her time dodging her own share of would-be tacklers, though these more resemble large boulders, crashing waves, souse-holes and strainers.
- County's at-large candidates talk growth, watershed protection
County Councilwoman Laurie Caskey-Schreiber has served two terms in District 2 but wants to move to Bellingham so she's seeking the At-Large seat. She believes the council has been fiscally responsible and done a lot to support rural communities and cities.
Age: 48
Family: Husband, Tom Schreiber.
Education: Bachelor's degree in communications from Western Washington University.
Employment: Administrative services manager in WWU's sociology department since 1993.
- Walker, Hayes, Blethen eye Port seat
After 14 years on the Port Commission, incumbent Scott Walker is facing a primary election challenge from Hamilton Hayes and John Blethen at a time when waterfront redevelopment dreams and controversies are keeping the port in an unaccustomed public spotlight.
JOHN BLETHEN
Age: 65
Family: four daughters, five grandchildren.
Education: Bachelor of arts, Antioch College; master's in education, Western Washington University.
- Algae at the bottom of city's water restrictions
The cause of the abnormally high levels of algae hasn't been determined, but it could be due to the warm, sunny weather, or runoff from last winter's storms, Monjure said.
Officials don't think the broken Nooksack River diversion dam is causing the problem. The diversion dam usually pumps water into Lake Whatcom in the summer to help keep safe water levels, but it was damaged in the January floods and hasn't been repaired or reopened.
Robin Matthews, director for the Institute of Watershed Studies at Western Washington University, agrees with city officials that it is unlikely the diversion dam operations would impact the algal populations, partly because of the sheer size of the lake.
The Olympian
- Northwest playwrights bring new works to festival
Works by Northwest playwrights will explore love, work, death, drinking and what really happens in the dark forests that surround us during Festival Northwest, which opens this week in Tacoma. The festival, part of the 2009 Northwest Playwrights Month sponsored by Northwest Playwrights Alliance, will bring three full-length plays and two nights of short works to Tacoma Little Theatre.
This year, two of the full-length plays, “A Story that Ends and Begins with a Dream” and “John Lennon’s Gargoyle,” come to Tacoma from The Working Theater Collective of Portland. The third full-length play, “Convention,” written by recent Western Washington University graduate Dan Erickson, was recognized by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
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