In the Media

The Sodexo Foundation, the anti-hunger charitable arm of Sodexo, Inc., named eight Sodexo employees as 2011 Heroes of Everyday Life for their exemplary efforts fighting hunger in America. Nominated by colleagues, friends, or employers, honorees will each receive a $5,000 grant for the hunger-related charity of their choosing. They will also be formally recognized at the foundation's annual fundraising dinner tonight in Washington, D.C.

"These inspiring individuals understand that hunger among children and their families is not simply a third world reality," said Robert A. Stern, president, the Sodexo Foundation. "They are witnesses to the fact that hunger is where we least expect it – everywhere; and we honor them for giving without measure in their efforts to eradicate it."

Whatcom Transportation Authority will restore Sunday bus service in Bellingham starting Sunday, June 12.

The agency also will make other changes to various routes, as well as launch an online trip planner that day.

WTA cut its Sunday service last September after voters rejected a sales tax increase for WTA. Then Bellingham formed a citywide transportation benefit district, which asked voters for a two-tenths of 1 percent sales tax increase for various transportation purposes, including contracting with WTA to restore Sunday service. Voters approved it.

Western Washington University released its draft 2011-13 operating budget on Wednesday afternoon, June 8.

The WWU Board of Trustees is scheduled to adopt the budget on Friday morning.

I haven’t had a chance to look through the detailed budget yet, but here is some overview information.

The university is budgeted for about $128 million in expenditures for the 2011-12 school year. About $40 million will come from the state and about $78 million is expected to come from tuition, which includes a 16 percent increase for resident undergraduates and increases that are the same dollar amount for other students. About $10 million of the budget is expected to come from an increase in administrative services assessment revenue (an increased fee charged to the university’s auxiliary programs) and one-time funds (reserves) and salary savings.

Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna launched his campaign for governor Wednesday night with an ambitious call for big increases in state support for public schools and universities, while squeezing down the size of state government.

Taking the stage at Bellevue's Sammamish High School, where he graduated in 1980, McKenna told hundreds of cheering supporters he'd reprioritize state spending to boost education funding closer to where it was when he was a student.

Western Washington distance runner Sarah Porter and Viking pole vaulter Ryan Brown have been selected the 2010-11 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Female and Male Athletes of the Year, respectively.

The awards are voted upon by the athletic directors at the GNAC's institutions.

Christopher Wise, an English professor at Western Washington University, has been one of the organizers for the Bellingham community's recognition and numerous events about the forced removal of the Chinese from the Puget Sound region around 1885.

"Emerald Bay," a ballet staged by Bellingham's Northwest Ballet, is based on a story written by Wise, and features historical figures such as Mark Twain, Goon Dip and Dirty Dan Harris. The ballet, which has already been performed in Seattle and in Mount Vernon, is on stage Friday through Sunday, June 10-13, at Mount Baker Theatre.

The tradition started in 1973 when Ruggles Larson called his four daughters together to tell them about a new race called the Sound to Narrows.

If they’d train and run with him, Larson told them, he’d buy them new running shoes.

“He bribed us with cool shoes,” said Samantha Larson, who was 7 at the time and the youngest participant in the race. “... During the race I was just hoping my laces would come undone so I could stop and rest.”

This area is becoming well-known for its vibrant, locally owned business culture, and next week is an opportunity to show it off to others across the U.S.

Between Tuesday, June 14 and Friday, June 17, more than 600 business and public leaders are expected to gather in Bellingham for the ninth annual BALLE Business Conference. BALLE stands for Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, a national organization that has Whatcom County's Michelle Long as its executive director. Most of the events surrounding the conference will be hosted by the local group Sustainable Connections at Western Washington University, which is co-sponsoring the event.

Western Washington University is holding two information sessions for its Everett-based Master in Business Administration (MBA) program from 6-7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14 and Tuesday, July 26 at University Center of North Puget Sound’s Gray Wolf Hall, Room 380, 2000 Tower St., Everett.

While our nation may be moving quickly to become a true rainbow of racial diversity, America’s newsrooms aren’t keeping pace.

"Minorities make up 35 percent of the nation's population," said Sanjay Bhatt, a Seattle Times business reporter speaking at Tuesday's (June 7) Northwest Journalists of Color's 25th anniversary scholarship awards. "If our newsrooms reflected that growing diversity, we would have more than 14,000 journalists of color working at the nation’s newspapers."