In the Media
For someone who was initially turned down by every music school she applied to, Canadian soprano Erin Wall has done pretty spectacularly, thank you.
Wall, who was born in Calgary and grew up in Vancouver, spent 11 years studying piano but didn't take her first voice lessons until her final year of high school. When she was rejected after her first auditions and told by a few officials that she should consider a different career, Wall worked on her singing for a year and tried again. She made up for lost time, going on to study at Western Washington University, Rice University and the prestigious training program at Chicago's Lyric Opera.
Over the past few weeks, America's colleges have sent another class of graduates off into the world. These graduates possess something of inestimable value. Nearly every sensible middle-age person would give away all their money to be able to go back to age 22 and begin adulthood anew.
But, especially this year, one is conscious of the many ways in which this year's graduating class has been ill served by their elders. They enter a bad job market, the hangover from decades of excessive borrowing. They inherit a ruinous federal debt.
Gov. Chris Gregoire said Tuesday she thinks a court challenge is needed to show whether tax increases in the Legislature actually require a two-thirds vote to be enacted.
Several House Democrats set the stage for a possible court challenge when they brought a bill closing a bank-tax exemption to a floor vote May 24. The bill got 52 votes, enough for a majority, but it failed to meet the supermajority test of 66 yes votes required by Initiative 1053.
Education reformers are right to promote college as a logical extension of high school, but they — we — should beware of getting boxed in a corner.
Simplistic reading of policy rhetoric about college readiness has inspired a backlash. Some point out that not everyone wants to go to college. True. Others hint darkly that not every student is college material. Not so true. Unless there are serious cognitive and developmental challenges, why not?
Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves, but in Whatcom County, we tend to wear our home on our chests.
In an area dominated by casual style, something as simple as a T-shirt can be an instant marker for locals.
Four Western Washington University outdoor track and field athletes, three of them national champions, have been named United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Americans. The honors went to the top eight finishers in each of the events at last weekend's NCAA II Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Two athletes who ended their careers with historic senior seasons, pole vaulter Ryan Brown and distance runner Sarah Porter, have been named Western Washington University Male and Female Athletes of the Year, respectively, for 2010-11. The announcement was made Tuesday at the first Dub-Dub-Blue awards ceremony.
A Sanitary Service Co. garbage truck struck the corner of a dorm room at Western Washington University Monday, May 30, causing damage roughly estimated at $10,000.
No one was hurt in the incident that occurred shortly before 9 a.m. in a section of the Ridgeway Commons complex known as Beta, according to Tim Wynn, director of facilities management at WWU.
Carole Jacobs’ mission is not yet complete.
So when the time came to decide if she would seek a fifth term on the Clover Park School Board, Jacobs, the longest-tenured member of the quintet of directors, just couldn’t walk away.
“To work in the Clover Park School District is to go on a mission,” she said. “It’s not an easy district – but the work is amazing.”
State employees already expect changes in their paychecks after July 1. Many are in for changes in their workplaces, too.
Lawmakers wrapped up 135 days of regular and overtime sessions last week, shifting the course of state government and opening the door to more “outsourcing” to the private sector.
What will get contracted out remains to be seen, according to the Office of Financial Management and affected agencies. Short term, more state printing might go to private print shops, and later, a private car agency might be allowed to bid for the right to run the State Motor Pool.