In the Media
Whatcom Country resident Susan Colleen Browne reports that her memoir, "Little Farm in the Foothills: A Boomer Couple's Search for the Slow Life," has been selected for the Washington State Library's Summer 2010 Reads booklist.
A graduate of Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University, Susan is a novelist and Whatcom Community College creative-writing instructor, as well as a speaker and workshop leader at community colleges and writer's conferences. When not writing, she says she is an aspiring locavore, sustainable gardener and organic bread-baker.
“The Canadian dollar is strong relative to the U.S. dollar, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that the Canadian economy has weathered the recession a lot better than the U.S. economy,” Paul Storer, who chairs the economics department at Bellingham’s Western Washington University, told The Seattle Times.
They line up A-to-Z in grocery and health food stores, a dizzying array of supplements, vitamins and herbs with claims ranging from saving your heart to reducing your stress.
Many of the products target health concerns of seniors, yet some cost more per month than prescription drugs. What's worth buying?
"There's a huge amount of information out there, but people don't know who to trust," says Anu Singh-Cundy, an associate professor of biology at Western Washington University who studies plant biochemistry.
In the 1990s, Bev Smith purchased a portion of the 30 acres of farmland in Ferndale that her family used to own.
"My folks sold the farm when they retired," Smith says. "They divided the 30 acres into five-acre plots, and I got one of them. This property I own is where I used to chase the cows to the barn to milk them when I was a child."
The idea for this show came to me in the words 'glacial speed,'" Cynthia Camlin says as she surveys the paintings in her ambitious solo array at the 1708 Gallery.
"'Glacial speed' used to mean the epitome of slowness. Now some scientists are telling us that all polar ice will be gone by year 2100, just 90 years from now. That's what they say, and I hope they're wrong. I hope we can slow down global warming caused by carbon emissions, but I know that's politically difficult."
Camlin, who teaches painting at Western Washington University in Bellingham and sports a hefty résumé of solo and group exhibitions, feels a duty to call attention to the danger.
On the first trip, they towed their custom-built hybrid car from Bellingham to Detroit in a trailer.
On the second trip, they saved money by driving it instead.
The handful of Western Washington University students laughed when they realized they actually spent more money hauling their lightweight hybrid, called the Viking 45, than they would have if they'd just driven it — because the car, which has a body akin to a Ferrari and the engine of a Honda Insight hybrid, gets 100 miles to the gallon.
The students make up the only college team still in the running for the X Prize, an international competition designed to find a super-fuel-efficient car that will reduce Americans' dependence on oil and change the future of transportation. The team will be in Detroit on Sunday for the competition finals. At stake: a $10 million prize for Western's Vehicle Research Institute.
"What a historic day," said Tulalip Tribes chairman Melvin Sheldon Jr., who was on hand from Washington. "I see our young people here, and they are going to carry this on. This day will be remembered long after some of us elders have continued our journey."
Retired Western Washington University professor Bert Webber, a self-described "old, white guy," first proposed the name change in 1990 to the state's board of geographic names. The name was finally approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names in November and by B.C. authorities in February.
After years of study and debate, the city and Port of Bellingham have released a preliminary draft master plan to guide redevelopment of 220 acres of waterfront industrial land.
The finished draft appears to contain few, if any surprises. Port and city officials have been discussing the emerging features of the plan at public meetings for the past year. Now, the formal draft is available for public review and a new round of public scrutiny.
Traffic will be limited to one lane on Bill McDonald Parkway as crews begin work on a new traffic signal at 25th Street.
The work will take place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 13, through Friday, July 16. During subsequent weeks, work will take place during the same hours Monday through Friday, according to Bellingham Public Works. The work is expected to take eight weeks to complete.
To lure shoppers from British Columbia, DeWaard & Bode, a home-appliance store in Bellingham, touts great prices made lower by a strong Canadian dollar.
DeWaard & Bode appeared to gain another selling point in May when the state Department of Revenue ruled that starting July 1, British Columbia residents no longer would have to pay Washington sales tax of up to 9.5 percent.