The Bellingham Herald

• Loss of NOAA chance to re-examine plans
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's decision to move its research fleet from Seattle to Newport, Ore., and not to Bellingham, was disappointing considering the efforts our community put into trying to land the facility here.
  
  The new Marine Operations Center for NOAA will employ 78 shore-side employees and 178 researchers and on-board crew members starting in 2011. We are sad that those jobs won't be joining our economy. ...
  
  There was also talk about how well the NOAA center would combine with Western Washington University's Huxley College. University officials have labeled Huxley as the most-likely part of the university to locate at the waterfront property.
  

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• Viking Night set for Oct. 1
  The 20th annual Viking Night Dinner and Sports Auction, presented by Key Bank, will take place on Thursday, Oct. 1 at Sam Carver Gymnasium on the Western Washington University campus.
  
  Viking Night is recognized as one of the premier social events in Whatcom County, with more than 500 Western boosters attending each year. The evening includes a hosted social hour, dinner, and silent and live auctions.
  
  "Celebrating 20 Years of Viking Night," the theme of this year's event, will give attendees an opportunity to meet male and female Athletes of the Year from 1990 thru 2009 and see the impact this event has made on the lives of so many Western student-athletes.

Examiner.com

• College-bound: Preparing you and your child for freshman year
  There’s a lot to think about when your child heads off to college. You walk a parental tightrope, balancing between encouraging independence and wanting to tack a list of dos and don’ts on your kid's dorm room wall.
  
  What are some practical ways to help your child start his first year of college with confidence? ...
  
  5. Plan for some adjustments—Thanksgiving and Christmas break may seem a long way off now. But it’s not too soon to realize that things will be different when your child comes back home. “Students will be accustomed to a different schedule, a different social life, and more freedom to come and go,” explains an online resource from Western Washington University’s Counseling Center. If you can't think about this reality right now, tuck #5 into your back pocket for down the road.

The (Everett) Herald

• Racer takes to the water naturally
  Alumnus John Peeters wins national hydroplane championships
  
  It’s only in the winter, when most people don’t want to play on Lake Goodwin, that John Peeters can freely run his 12-foot-long, open-cockpit hydroplane.
  
  In the summer, he’s limited to driving on certain lakes where hydro boat races are planned.
  
  Good thing Peeters, 27, likes to compete. In fact, he’s so good at racing he recently brought home two national titles: one in D-stock hydro, the largest and fastest of the American Power Boat Association’s stock category; and the second in outboard stock hydro 400, an international racing class. ...
  
  A graduate of Western Washington University with degrees in economics, accounting, marketing, business administration and photography, he’s an expert in Web design. He’d rather be racing.

Issaquah Press

• Western Washington University rowing champ maps her future
  “Once a rower, always a rower,” NCAA Division II champion Hilary Gastwirth says when asked about her future.
  
  At 22, Gastwirth possesses more experience than most of her peers, taking pride and ownership in winning three individual NCAA titles and was a member of the four-time NCAA II championship team.
  
  It all began when she was 15. One day, she accompanied her mom to watch her cousin Casey Clingan compete on Lake Washington with the University of Washington crew team. During the competition, her uncle, Wes Clingan, a member of the 1972 and 1973 championship UW row teams, turned to her and said that she had the right build for the sport and should consider looking into it.

The (Tacoma) News Tribune

• WWU alum starts organic farm near Orting
  During recent record-breaking heat, you could almost hear the corn growing at Tahoma Farms in Orting.
  
  Their first year on the farm, Tahoma owners Kim and Dan Hulse are predicting a bumper crop of sweet corn.
  
  That's due in part to the ready supply of well water that kept the corn and the farm's other produce well-irrigated as the thermometer climbed to triple digits. ...
  
  The Hulses met while working on an organic farm in Puyallup. Kim became interested in sustainable agriculture while taking classes in environmental studies at Western Washington University, and Dan learned a lot while working for an organic produce distributor.