In the Media
The three living women who will be inducted into the YWCA Northwest Women's Hall of Fame next Sunday, March 13, are in special company when it comes to the fourth "legacy" honoree.
Frances Axtell was born on a farm in Illinois in 1866 and died in Seattle in 1953, but spent much of her life in Bellingham. Known for her courage and sense of humor, she broke ground for women in Northwest and national politics.
Twenty-one Western Washington University athletes, 15 men and six women, were on the 2011 United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association West Region Indoor Track and Field team.
The squad is composed of the top five regionally in each individual event and the top three relays.
Western Washington University had three provisional national qualifying performances and three meet record efforts in winning both the men's and women's divisions Saturday at the University of Puget Sound Quadrangular Track and Field meet held at Baker Stadium.
The Viking men took nine events and finished with 89 points, 51 ahead of runner-up Seattle Pacific. The Western women won eight events, finishing with 66 points to 50 for the second-place Falcons.
Amanda Dunbar came back from a week of debilitating illness with a courageous effort, but she and her Western Washington University teammates were still forced to endure the sick feeling of seeing a title slip away along with their 26-game home winning streak.
Alaska-Anchorage came into the inaugural GNAC Women's Basketball Tournament as the conference's leading defensive team despite two losses to Western. The Seawolves overcame Dunbar's game-high 23 points to take a remarkably intense title game over the regular-season leader Vikings 68-67 on Saturday, March 5, at Carver Gym.
The future of a plan to consolidate most of the state's education work into a new Department of Education was undecided Wednesday, as the governor prepared to pump up her promotional campaign for consolidating state education programs and boards into one cabinet-level department.
The proposal by Gov. Chris Gregoire was passed by the Senate Education Committee with one major change. Higher education was removed from the consolidation effort.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on the bill but no vote.
The students of Western Washington University’s Advanced Photo Seminar will showcase their creativity and skills with photography and mixed media in a gallery show titled “Mixed Nuts: A Tasty Blend of Photography and Mixed Media” from March 8-16 in the University’s B Gallery.
The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and the opening reception will be from 4-7 p.m. on March 10 in the B Gallery.
The Bottom Line Duo is one of three internationally touring bass and cello duos in history.
So, of course, double bassist Spencer Hoveskeland and cellist Traci Hoveskeland like to make that known.
"We kind of make a big deal out of that novelty," Spencer said in a phone interview from a tour stop in Idaho. "What's neat about it is just the variety of music we can play, which is what we've got going for us over other duos. Pop music lends itself well to our instruments."
Madeline Simon started earning college credit in high school. Now a mechanical engineering major at WSU, she takes a full load of courses every semester as well as classes each summer.
Even so, she may not graduate in four years.
“I have known what I wanted to major in since my senior year of high school and have been taking extra classes since then hoping to graduate on time,” Simon said. “Most kids in my program don’t get out in four years.”
While still sluggish overall, the Whatcom County real estate market has some interesting changes taking place.
Whatcom County real estate agents sold 109 homes and condominiums in February, about equal to the 110 in January, according to data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. That was among the lowest monthly totals in the past five years, with the lowest being 104 in February 2009.
Larry Farr has announced his candidacy for the Ward 3 City Council seat that Barry Buchanan is expected to vacate as he launches his mayoral campaign.
As things stand now, Farr would face off against Cathy Lehman, director of the Whatcom County chapter of Futurewise. Lehman announced her candidacy for the Ward 3 seat earlier in the week.
Farr also sought the seat in 2007 but lost to Buchanan in the general election, with Buchanan garnering 58 percent of the vote.