In the Media
Opponents of a $30 annual access fee for state lands are pointing to the not-so-distant past in arguing it would raise barriers to access by the poor and fail to raise the officially projected $71 million.
Attendance at state parks dipped by about 18 percent last time the state charged fees to park at them, and some research suggested the poor were deterred by the cost. Parks officials see that 2003-06 drop as modest and see a future decrease as preferable to closing parks. They point out that 41 states charge for entry.
A tenured Western Washington University theater professor has been suspended with pay for the second time due to student complaints.
Associate professor Perry Mills was suspended Thursday, Feb. 10, after two students filed complaints about his actions this quarter, said Paul Cocke, director of university communications.
Larrabee Elementary School Principal Eric Paige is being recommended as the new principal for Carl Cozier Elementary School.
Paige, who has been principal at Larrabee since 2004, would be replacing Tom Venable at Carl Cozier. Venable is transitioning into the deputy superintendent position, which he will take over full time starting with the 2011-12 school year. Karst Brandsma, the current acting deputy superintendent for the district, is retiring this summer.
Western Washington University's Sanford Piano Series will conclude its 2010-2011 season with a concert featuring Ilya Itin, performing works by Rachmaninov and Beethoven at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 18, at WWU's Performing Arts Center Concert Hall.
Western Washington University swept the Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball weekly awards for Feb. 6-13 with Meghan Carrillo being named Player of the Week and Erika Quint earning Pitcher of the Week honors.
Whatcom Day Academy preschool teachers soon will be helping to improve early childhood literacy education across northwest Washington.
The Whatcom County independent school recently won a $30,000 grant to document specific literacy teaching practices and then share those ideas with early childhood education groups in Whatcom County and other areas of the region.
Sylvia Tag, a librarian at Western Washington University, grew up in the United States, the daughter of a Scandinavian father and an Egyptian mother.
With the political revolt in that country, she has stayed in e-mail contact with relatives on her mother's side in Alexandria, including college-age cousins who count themselves among the young opponents of Hosni Mubarak, who has stepped down as Egypt's president.
As a dragon emerged from the blue waves before them, a group of Happy Valley third-graders broke into a measured scream.
The students weren't at risk of losing life or limb. The sea was in a classroom, and the dragon was a puppet, but it didn't make it any less fun for the children to scream along.
The third-graders provided sound effects and sang as students from Western Washington University acted out scenes from the book "Tofu Ling Sets Sail." The WWU students are elementary education majors in professor Gaye Green's arts methodology course, and the performance is part of the art education department's Bringing Books to Life program.
A good business idea could get someone $500 at a Western Washington University DECA competition Saturday, Feb. 12.
The BIG Idea Fast Pitch Competition begins at 2 p.m. in room 210 of WWU's Academic Instructional Center and will feature five-minute business pitches for web and mobile applications and sustainable technology.
A school record tying three home runs and three-hit pitching propelled Western Washington University to an 8-1 victory over Dixie State (Utah) in final-day action at the second annual Desert Stinger Softball Tournament at Majestic Park on Sunday, Feb. 13, at Las Vegas.
The Vikings tied Augustana (S.D.) for the tourney title, both teams going undefeated in five games. The 5-0 start is a school first for Western.