In the Media

It’s a quarter after 10 on a Saturday morning at the Red Onion Lounge. Mary Hart is shuffling through loose papers like a lawyer ready to defend the accused. Transient rays of sunlight creep in from the Cave Creek strip, spotlighting the Midwestern women’s red hair and steel-blue eyes.

Surrounded by six “bushy dudes” with motorcycles and patched leather jackets, Hart might lead a local to mistake her for just another biker. Hart is a biker, but she is also a teacher, a mother, a district treasurer and a volunteer. She’s on the state board of directors for the motorcycle advocacy group the Modified Motorcycle Association of Arizona.

Ron Buch, pastor of Aledo Church of Christ, once had political aspirations.

He graduated from Western Washington University with a double major — in political science and communications — and once served as an aide to U.S. Congresswoman Linda Smith, a former representative from the state of Washington whose photograph hangs in his office.

THE Legislature is considering a proposal to turn Western Governors University, a private online institution, into a state university. While the bill's supporters claim that WGU provides greater access to working citizens, there are serious drawbacks that deserve consideration.

First, we have so many worthy private nonprofit colleges and schools in our state that it seems wrong to give public sanction to a school from Utah when local institutions have a history of reaching out to our citizens. Granting WGU recognition may also dissuade other colleges from establishing an online presence, reducing competition and innovation.

THE proposal currently in the Legislature to partner with Western Governors University to create WGU Washington has led a few critics to question if a low-cost, online university can also be high quality.

WGU is a nonprofit university founded by 19 U.S. governors, including former Washington Gov. Mike Lowry, to expand education access and capacity. The university was not created to replace traditional schools — it is designed to meet the educational needs of working adults (the average student age is 36) who are not able to attend those traditional colleges and universities. The creation of WGU Washington will provide state residents another option for college at no cost to the state.

Bellingham was one of the first cities in the United States to have a curbside recycling program. Back in 1983, volunteers in the Birchwood neighborhood would pick up recyclables, sort them and take them to be recycled.

So it can't be an accident that an art show based on recycled materials is popular here. It's in our blood.

Friday, April 1, is opening night for the 10th year of the "ReArt Show" at Allied Arts' gallery at 1418 Cornwall Ave. The show features works from local artists that have to be made of at least 75 percent of materials plucked from the waste stream.

Debbie Adelstein, the chief deputy auditor, has announced her candidacy for Whatcom County auditor. Adelstein brings six years of senior experience to the office as the chief deputy of the auditor’s office.

Adelstein has lived in Bellingham since 1967 with the exception of three years while husband Steve attended law school at Gonzaga University.

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen says budget cuts could have a negative impact on students.

Larsen said on Wednesday that cutting Pell grants in the federal budget would devastate students of local schools like Western Washington University.

She was born to Philetus and Eva (Shumway) McKinney in Neilsville, Wisconsin. She graduated from Todd County high School in Mission, SD and Western Washington University in 1950.

Erika Quint pitched a one-hit shutout in winning the opener 10-0, but the Vikings managed just one hit and were blanked 8-0 in the nightcap as Western Washington University split a non-conference softball doubleheader with Sonoma State University on Wednesday, March 30, in Rohnert Park, Calif.

Both games went just five innings because of the eight-run mercy rule.

Samantha Rutherford drove in six runs, one shy of the school record, as Western Washington began its northern California road trip with a 13-5 win over Cal State Monterey Bay in the opener of a non-conference softball doubleheader Tuesday, March 29, in Seaside, Calif.

The Vikings, ranked No. 9 in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association/NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll, fell 3-1 in the nightcap.