In the Media
The Otter Creek Valley, in southeastern Montana, glows green in early July, dotted with sage and bright patches of yellow clover and wild mustard after a spring of heavy rains. Ranchland rises gently toward rugged hills and buttes. Otter Creek twists a narrow channel through the middle, reflecting clouds. Otter Creek Road follows the creek. Few pickups pass between the unincorporated community of Otter to the south and the one-gas-station town of Ashland to the north.
A month before and about 6,000 miles away, in Beijing, a city of 20 million, where enveloping smog obscures the surrounding mountains, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer spoke of this Montana valley — or, rather, what’s beneath it. The governor of the state with the greatest coal reserves keynoted a coal conference sponsored by Peabody Energy, the largest private coal company in the world, with massive operations in northeast Wyoming, just south of Otter. Schweitzer and coal companies such as Peabody see economic opportunity in exporting coal to China and other energy-hungry Asian markets. More than a billion tons of coal beneath the Otter Creek Valley could be shipped and burned there.
Opening a store containing thousands of products is no easy task, but Amy and Steve Zwaller are happy about the help they've received.
The Zwallers are in the final stages of opening an Ace Hardware store in Bellingham's Sehome Village Shopping Center, near REI. The store is scheduled to open Tuesday, Aug. 23, just in time to assist college students returning to Western Washington University. Once open, store hours will be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Amy Zwaller said getting the store ready has been a smooth process to this point because they've received plenty of support from the company, which she said is known for helping stores get started while allowing them to be independently owned and operated. They've also received plenty of help from local companies to get the store ready.
Five Whatcom County residents and one nonprofit will be honored next month as environmental heroes by RE Sources for Sustainable Communities.
An awards banquet for the winners will be held Saturday evening, Sept. 17.
The winners are:
Liam O'Sullivan, the Seattle mountain guide for Nordfors during his Rainier climb, is a WWU alumnus.
East College Way on the Western Washington University campus will be closed to all pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers next week while crews repave it.
Whatcom Builders, under contract with the university, will begin work Sunday, Aug. 21, and it's scheduled to finish Friday, Aug. 26. The work involves repaving the street and installing new crosswalks and signs. Also, the street will be designated a "sharrow," or a street marked for both bicyclists and cars.
Federal education officials have fined Washington State University $82,500 for violations in 2007 of a campus-crime-reporting law, including not properly reporting two sexual assaults, the university said Friday.
WSU will appeal the fine, spokesman Darin Watkins said.
The U.S. Department of Education detailed the fine in a letter to WSU President Elson Floyd on Friday, more than five months after federal education officials completed an investigation of WSU's campus-crime statistics.
Bellingham’s Western Washington University is one of three Washington universities among the top 20 on a list of colleges that do the most to help solve climate issues and operate sustainably.
Western ranked at number 14 on Sierra Magazine’s list of “Coolest Schools” this year. WWU ranked 48th last year.
John Thompson with Western says the university was the first in the nation to have its students choose to pay a fee to make the school entirely green powered.
When amateur arborist John Wesselink strolls through Whatcom Falls Park, he can see the forest for the trees.
But, oh, the trees he sees.
"The beauty of Whatcom Falls Park is that there's such a variety of native woody species. It's loaded with woody botany," said Wesselink, who's leading "Walk our Woods: Trees and Shrubs of Whatcom Falls Park," from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21.
Getting ready for his upcoming exhibit starting September 1 at Miro Tea, artist Matt Bazemore was seen painting on the sidewalks of Ballard Avenue this week.
Bazemore said "The Ave" is one of his favorite topics along with other Ballard favorites like Golden Gardens and trains.
"I do get out of the neighborhood a couple times a year but everything I need is right here in Ballard," Bazemore said as he continued to work on a painting of the Ballard Hotel.
“Bears of the Last Frontier: The Adventure of a Lifetime Among Alaska’s Black, Grizzly, and Polar Bears,” by Chris Morgan
Follow the epic journey of wildlife conservationist and bear biologist Chris Morgan as he travels by motorcycle across Alaska while filming the PBS Nature documentary “Bears of the Last Frontier.” Morgan treks deep into the wild and magical habitat of brown bears on the Alaska Peninsula, grizzly bears in Denali National Park, and polar bears on the sea ice.
Chris Morgan is a British conservation ecologist specializing in international bear research and conservation and a lecturer at Western Washington University.