In the Media
Jennifer Hahn sees more than the forest for the trees. She sees dinner.
From ferns come fiddleheads. From trees, sap for syrup or blossoms for a fritter. From the forest floor, delicate mushrooms and lemon-flavored wood sorrel.
Where some see weeds, Hahn sees possibilities.
Western Washington University's Sarah Porter ran her first 10,000 meters of the season and turned in a NCAA Division II automatic national qualifying time of 33:48.12 late Sunday, May 1 at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Track and Field Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.
The Western Washington University men's golf team shot an opening round 2-over par 290 on Monday, May 2, and is tied for fourth among 20 teams at the NCAA Division II Central/West Regional being held at the University of New Mexico Championship Course in Albuquerque.
Defending champion Sonoma State shot a 5-under 283 and holds a 4-shot in the tournament, which runs through Wednesday, May 4. Fort Lewis is second (287) and Colorado State-Pueblo third (288). The Vikings are tied for fourth with Dixie State.
Skagit Valley College President Gary Tollefson announced Monday that he intends to retire in December.
Tollefson met with the school’s board of trustees Friday afternoon to discuss his retirement.
“I am very proud to have had the opportunity to lead this exceptional institution,” Tollefson said. “I have utmost respect for the faculty and staff here. I believe they are among the best anywhere in the nation in serving, educating and inspiring students.”
Western Washington University's Brooklyn Holton is eighth among 17 competitors in the heptathlon and the Vikings' Tim Clendaniel is ninth among 16 participants in the decathlon following first-day action Monday, May 2, at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Multi-Events Championships in Nampa, Idaho.
Atlanta Falcons punter Michael Koenen, who attended Ferndale High School and Western Washington University, will host a free, non-contact football camp for kids in the third through eighth grades on June 25.
The All-Star NFL Football Kids Camp is put on by Multop Financial on behalf of the Michael Koenen Foundation. It is the third year Koenen has hosted the camp.
One of the signs of a great idea is when it takes on a life of its own. Northwest Ballet Theater Artistic Director John Bishop and Western Washington University English Professor Christopher Wise had such an idea a couple of years ago.
“The idea of Emerald Bay came about after Christopher and I began researching Bellingham historical data and found out about what happened to the Chinese immigrants here in 1885, when locals ousted them from the area,” Bishop said. “We decided to create a ballet that would use that history as a backdrop and would have a similar formula to Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story.”
Incoming University of Washington President Michael Young will make $550,000 a year in base salary, plus $193,000 a year in deferred compensation, payable after five years.
The contract was approved Monday morning by the UW's Board of Regents.
A small showdown over tax breaks is coming soon to the state Capitol.
Washington has more than 500 exemptions and special tax rates on the books, worth billions of dollars a year, and debate so far in the Legislature has been about cutting programs to cover a $5.3 billion budget gap over the next two years.
LEGISLATORS should pass the proposed constitutional amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 8214 and its companion House Joint Resolution 4219, to require proper funding of public employee pension benefits. The issue requires two-thirds of both houses and a vote of the people in November.
Legislators may have thought they were done when, in the last day of the ordinary session, they passed a bill stripping the 3 percent annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) out of the state Plan 1 pensions. This bill, assuming Gov. Chris Gregoire signs it, ends future increases to more than 500,000 beneficiaries.