In the Media
The controversial proposal for a major coal-export port to be built at Cherry Point near Bellingham hit two big setbacks this week: environmentalists broke off talks with the developer, SSA Marine, which was also caught building a road through forested wetlands without proper permits.
With these news developments fresh, we're taking the opportunity to publish the second installment of the package we posted earlier this summer by Western Washington University journalism students who took an in-depth look at the proposal.
Briefly, here are this week's developments:
Western Washington University's Theatre and Dance Department and the Summer Youth Theatre Institute present "The Jungle Book," an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's beloved collection of stories, at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5-7, at WWU's Performing Arts Center Mainstage Theater.
There are no words, Cloe Hussey says, to describe the energy of the women in her boat as they soar across the water to the finish line of a race.
“We might be a couple feet from the finish line, but none of us stops pulling our hardest,” said the University of Portland student. “Crew athletes gets the ultimate high when their bodies are screaming only inches away from the finish line.”
That energy level will only increase this year for UP’s women rowers and their fans. For the female rowers, the university has elevated the student-run club into an official varsity sport, competing in the NCAA Division 1 competition in the West Coast Conference. The school hired Bill Zack, former assistant coach with the UCLA women’s rowing team for nine years, as the first head coach of the newly formed team. He started June 1.
UP’s director of athletics, Larry Williams, said Zack is the perfect leader for the new program.
For most of us, our mothers have made a profound impact on our lives. From the intangibles and practical examples, their influences have shaped the people we have become.
This can include setting the standard of daily conduct that includes fair sportsmanship, good manners and showing respect to others.
These were values that his parents instilled in Bill Wright daily. His mother insisted that despite the adversity and inequality that prevailed against African Americans at the time, Bill was expected to rise above and act like a champion.
William (Bill) Wright was born on April 4, 1936 in Kansas City, Mo., to Bob and Madeline Wright. As a child, his family moved to the Pacific Northwest where Bill was introduced to golf by his father, an accomplished player who often caddied for jazz singer Bill Eckstine.
Should Heather Purser decide to marry her partner, she can do that in Suquamish now.
On Monday, the Suquamish Tribal Council formally changed its ordinances to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.
The Suquamish ordinance means gay couples are afforded all the rights heterosexual couples are allowed on the reservation and other places in which gay marriages are allowed.
Purser, a 28-year-old who lives in Seattle but was raised in Kitsap County, has been trying to get the tribe's law changed for about four years. She made the most progress at the tribe's general council in March.
Americans face a unique challenge today in defining their identities. Globalizing markets have connected us with faraway peoples and places, allowing us to buy cheap goods manufactured in nations with limited labor and environmental protections. Globalization has also spurred heavy migration and a demand for freer international trade. Our identities may follow markets, reducing the centrality of the nation-state in our lives.
Western Washington University women's basketball coach Carmen Dolfo was re-elected to a second three-year term on the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Board of Directors by a vote of the organization's membership.
Dolfo represents NCAA Division II coaches in Group II, which consists of the south, south central, central and west regions. She has served on the WBCA board since 2008.
Florida State head coach Sue Semrau was elected vice president of the WBCA. She also is president-elect, and will automatically succeed incoming WBCA President Charli Turner Thorne, head coach at Arizona State, when Turner's term expires in two years.
The Annual Members Art Exhibition is on view through Aug. 14 in The Galleries of The Phipps Center for the Arts. For this show, members of The Phipps were invited to submit one piece of their original work in any media -- painting, photography, drawing, sculpture, fiber, ceramics, jewelry, glass, and mixed media. Work by over 40 member artists is included this year. The opening reception is Friday, July 29, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., with the judge’s presentation at 7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
Research by Alex Parker of Bellingham could shed light on how our solar system developed.
Not bad for a 24-year-old fresh out of school.
Parker recently finished his doctoral work in astronomy at the University of Victoria, B.C., and landed a research job at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.
The center is a joint venture by Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution to, in its own words, "determine the nature and evolution of the universe."
For anyone who thought the wrangling over the U.S. deficit and debt ceiling in the "other Washington" didn't have much to do with this one, credit-rating agency Moody's had a stark rejoinder Thursday: Think again.
Moody's warned that if there's no budget deal and it cuts the federal government's top-notch credit rating, the equally high ratings of King County, Seattle and Bellevue, the University of Washington and five local school districts would be placed under review for possible downgrade as well.
That at least raises the possibility that the next time the county or one of those other public entities goes to borrow money, it would have to pay a higher interest rate. All now have the highest rating of Aaa, which gives investors great confidence they will repay the debt on time and allows them to borrow money at the most attractive rates.