The Outback Farm is a community garden and learning space located between the Fairhaven Complex and Buchanan Towers dorms on Western Washington University's south campus. Since the early 1970s, the farm has provided learning opportunities for Western students and free food to those in need.
With warming temperatures and a departure from the rainy winter months, Whatcom County finds itself entering prime fishing season once again. Starting April 25, the season officially begins, with seasonal lake openings and lifted fishing restrictions.
On March 23, the City of Bellingham approved an ordinance that allows the public works director, based on the recommendation of the police chief, to temporarily close certain alleyways in the downtown district and remove their inhabitants. The closures were approved on April 13, and construction began the following day.
Every two years, Western Washington University’s art department comes together to put on a gallery celebrating the artwork made by faculty and staff. For the 2026 biennial, 20 artists were featured in the exhibit, with works ranging from paintings, photography and sculptures to videos and installations.
The case of approximately 25 skinned canine carcasses that recently washed ashore on Guemes Island in Skagit County last week has been uncovered. According to the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, a veterinary forensics team concluded the dead canines were foxes.
About a hundred students and community members surrounded Fisher Fountain on Thursday, April 16, at 2 p.m. for a protest led by WWU Divest Apartheid Coalition, a student political organization against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. The protest was against “Triggered: The Ceaseless Tour,” an event held by Students Supporting Israel that invited Israeli reserve soldiers to speak on campus. Several speakers condemned the university’s compliance with the event despite students' concerns.The event was originally planned to be hosted on campus, but was relocated off campus to the Stateside student housing apartments in downtown Bellingham the day of due to security concerns. Organizers were told by university officials that they could not guarantee the safety of the event.
The portal awards over $5 million to students after each annual cycle. The scholarship portal is a centralized application process that allows students to fill out a single annual form that matches them to any scholarship they are eligible for.
Western Washington University is putting in a new building on the south side of campus that will serve as a welcome center and student resource facility. Construction started at the beginning of spring quarter and is slated to take 18 months, with completion not expected until fall quarter of 2027.
An estimated 200 people gathered in Maritime Heritage Park on Oct. 7, participating in the March for Gaza wearing keffiyehs, waving flags and holding homemade signs, where members from various groups spoke in solidarity with Palestine.
For many in Whatcom County, casinos are more than just a place to gamble. They are social hubs, spaces for excitement and sometimes, moments of personal satisfaction and relief.
Western students returning to campus this fall will no longer be using their Western Cards to board WTA buses. As of June 23, 2025, the university has fully transitioned to a digital bus pass system through the Umo Mobility app.
What was once a hidden gem for local skaters will be taking on a new life. The City of Bellingham, in cooperation with Northwest Skate Collective, is renovating the informal skate park under Roeder Avenue Bridge into an official city park.
Western Academic Workers United has set a strike deadline of Wednesday, May 28. If Western Washington University administration does not meet the union’s demands, including bargaining rights, the student union’s operational student employees will begin picketing that morning.
The energetic hum of voices, the clink of glasses, and the familiar kiss of pool balls rolling down the green felt tables — State Street Bar’s doors are finally open once more.
About 50 resident advisors, lifeguards and other operational student employees from Western Washington University’s Western Academic Workers United gathered in a town hall meeting on Thursday, April 24, to discuss the union’s upcoming strike authorization vote, which will run from May 6 to 9.
Hundreds of community members wearing Washington State Nurses Association shirts filled the sidewalks outside of PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham on Tuesday, April 29. PeaceHealth employees and community members in their blue WSNA wear came together to host informational pickets.
Little Squalicum Pier opened on April 2, 2025, giving the public new access to bay views extending 1,248 feet into the water. The pier was originally built in 1912 by the Olympic Portland Cement Company to transport its products to offshore barges. The City of Bellingham has been planning to turn the site into a public walkway since 1995.
It only takes a few hours in Bellingham to notice the sounds of trains rolling past. The minimum and maximum volume for train horns are regulated by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, which requires horns to sound at 96 dB to 110 dB – at its quietest, the sound is comparable to a power mower, and at its loudest, a live rock concert.
As the main chamber of Bellingham City Hall quickly reached capacity at 7 p.m. Monday, April 14, security guided the overflow of attendees to view the meeting via livestream in the mayor’s boardroom. In both the chamber and the boardroom, transgender community members and allies — dressed in funeral attire — showed up en masse, imploring the city council to pass a resolution declaring Bellingham a transgender sanctuary city.
Western Washington University’s Viking Union Gallery will close fall quarter of 2025 and be repurposed to house the La Plaza Latine Student Center. This decision comes from Melynda Huskey, Vice President of Student Affairs at Western.
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