In the Media

Western Washington University's Claire Rachor has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women's Golfer of the Week for Apr. 3-9.

Rachor, a sophomore from Bellingham, had a 36-hole total of 147 in finishing second at the Grand Canyon Spring Invitational on Monday and Tuesday. It was her best performance of the season.

A Kitsap Peninsula legislator proposes to legally tie tuition increases to a state college's ability to produce the graduates that Washington needs.

Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, introduced a bill earlier this week to do that.

It would prohibit the state's four-year universities from raising tuition if they don't meet enrollment and graduation goals set by the state's Higher Education Coordinating Board.

"We need a more direct focus on outcomes," Kilmer said.

Nobody's going to mistake Erika Quint for former University of Washington star softball pitcher Danielle Lawrie.

Lawrie was the best player in college softball, a two-time player of the year who used her dominating pitching performances, and ultra-competitive personality to lead the Huskies to the top of the NCAA Division I softball world.

Western Washington has won six consecutive NCAA Division II national championships in women’s crew.

For the first time during that domination, however, the Vikings’ varsity eight last year did not win its race at nationals.

A chink in the armor?

A sign of decline?

Um, not according to Jean Piette.

Western Washington University defeated defending national women's DII champs Washington State to take the Pacific Coast women's DII college title Sunday.

WWU already had the #1 seed coming from the Pacific Northwest, as they had beaten WSU by a point in league play. They were further helped when Utah State failed to make the trip to the championships, and Western was awarded a bye through semis.

Unattached athlete Michelle Howe holds a 150-point lead in the heptahlon and Central Washington University's Jason Caryl has a 268-point advantage in the decathlon after first-day action Thursday, April 7, at the Western Washington University Multi Events meet being held at Civic Stadium.

Final-day action Friday begins at 9 a.m.

Recently, officials at the University of Washington admitted that they are taking more out-of-state students to bring in more tuition money. Since the budget cuts are at unprecedented levels in this state, it does not surprise me at all.

The issue I have with it is that many local students who have done extraordinary work at either the high school or community college levels will, unfortunately, get the short end of the stick.

Jennifer Hahn hasn't walked all that far down the driveway of her home when she stops in front of a small Indian plum tree that's starting to sprout green, plucks a leaf and pops it into her mouth.

It tastes like bitter cucumber, she says, adding: "They're really the first signs of spring."

The Bellingham resident is standing on the edge of her six-acre wooded hillside, where she'll forage for greens to add to an early spring meal made from recipes featured in her book, "Pacific Feast: A Cook's Guide to West Coast Foraging and Cuisine" ($21.95, paperback).

The House Democrat's proposed budget for 2011-2013 will go to the full Washington House in the near future.

On Wednesday evening, the House Ways and Means Committee approved 16-11, with Democrats all for and Republicans all against, a proposed 2011-2013 state budget of roughly $32 billion.

The committee rejected along party lines a Republican proposal for a roughly $31 billion budget that would have slashed health care and human services much more than the Democrats' budget.

The state budget proposed by House Democrats this week is ugly but honest.

It was going to be ugly no matter what – given the Grand Canyon-size revenue hole the Legislature faces – but it could so easily have been dishonest.

All kinds of strange and foolish ideas surfaced as the sheer brutality of the next biennium’s shortfall came into focus. There was talk of borrowing one-time cash against future revenue, of pretending that there’d be 25 months of revenue to cover 24 months of spending, of expanding gambling and legalizing drugs for the sake of easy money.