Posts Tagged ‘storm’

A bad day for ferries: Lummi Island-Gooseberry Point ferry discontinued, while another runs aground

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

Brianna Gibbs // THE WESTERN FRONT

After more than 15 months of failed negotiations, the Lummi Nation Indian Tribe has asked the Whatcom County ferry service from Gooseberry Point to Lummi Island to end within 60 days.

In a letter sent by Clifford Cultee, Chairman of the Lummi Indian Business Council, Cultee said that efforts to reach an agreement have halted and “the parties remain far from agreement.”

Whatcom County had been renting the use of the Gooseberry Point ferry terminal, according to an email sent on Feb. 4 by Whatcom Council Member Sam Crawford. The county paid $16,667 a month to ferry passengers to and from Lummi Island, Crawford said.

(more…)

Tags: , , ,
Posted in News | View Comments

Governor’s emergency declaration may help to qualify Washington for federal money

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

Caleb Hutton // THE WESTERN FRONT

Local governments may be left responsible for only 12.5 percent of the bill from damage caused by severe December storms, after Gov. Chris Gregoire’s declaration yesterday that 17 counties, including Whatcom County, were in a state of emergency between Dec. 8-18.

The Kitsap Sun reported some specific numbers yesterday evening about just how much disaster relief local governments could qualify for. And while the focus of that article is mainly on Kitsap County, we’re in a pretty similar boat:

The emergency declaration qualifies the county, city and other public agencies for 75 percent federal funding and 12.5 percent state funding to restore public property. The local governments must provide the remaining 12.5 percent.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in News | View Comments

And we’re back

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

Caleb Hutton // THE WESTERN FRONT

Ah, the first post of a fresh quarter.

As the new news blogger, my goal is to post something every weekday. I’ll mostly be using this blog to cover local issues — all the serious stuff that goes on around campus and in the city. But I’ll also be using it to compile some education news from around the state and country.

So with that, here’s a couple national stories of note:

-Print textbooks may be a thing of the past for attendees of two-year colleges in Washington state, according to an article published in the Chronicle of Higher Education last week. The state helps many students to pay for the (often very expensive) textbooks at two-year colleges. So to save state money, legislators have proposed putting a $30 cap on course fees. It begs the questions, could the same thing happen at four-year universities like ours?

Last quarter, The Western Front wrote an editorial in support of electronic textbooks.

-The Washington Post is reporting today that the Obama administration will soon be taking steps to reform the No Child Left Behind Act.

In local news, the Bellingham Herald reported this morning that all public schools in Whatcom County were closed due to last night’s slush (er, snow) storm. Classes at Bellingham Technical College and Whatcom Community College were delayed, but Western was open like it was a normal day.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in News | View Comments