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Educators Adapt as AI’s Presence in the Classroom Grows | Whatcom Watch Online

by Hope Rasa
When OpenAI (an American artificial intelligence organization headquartered in San Francisco) released ChatGPT in November 2022, it placed a powerful form of generative AI in the public’s hands.
Generative AI is different from traditional AI, which most Americans have been using daily for decades. Siri, spam filters and Netflix recommendations — all traditional AI — provide suggestions based on existing data. Generative AI, like ChatGPT, learns from existing data to create new conte...

Hidden Pollution: Microplastics on Whatcom County Beaches | Whatcom Watch Online

by Hope Rasa
There’s more plastic pollution in Whatcom County’s beaches than meets the eye. Beachgoers have probably noticed plastic litter in their favorite parks, but there’s more than that. The sand, ocean and almost everything else that meets the eye contain microplastics. These microplastics are a sort of hidden pollution: often too small to see, but harmful nonetheless.
Eight million tons of plastic enter Earth’s oceans each year. That’s equivalent to a garbage truck per minute (1). Plasti...
OPINION: Crisis care offers help before hospitaliz •

OPINION: Crisis care offers help before hospitalization

There’s a narrow idea of what “help” looks like for those experiencing behavioral health issues. Too many people have decided not to seek help because they believe hospitalization is the only option. Hospitalization is long-term care in a large, highly institutional environment like Western State Hospital or Smokey Point Behavioral Hospital. 
JanRose Ottaway Martin is the executive director of North Sound Behavioral Health-Administrative Services Organization (BH-ASO). BH-ASO contracts publicly-...
OPINION: New Whatcom County jail and Behavioral He •

OPINION: New Whatcom County jail and Behavioral Health Center pursues pro-mental health design

Whatcom County’s new jail and Behavioral Care Center (BCC) may include design elements intended to improve incarcerated people’s mental health. Design planning for the project is expected to begin in August 2025. 
The county hopes to have a final cost estimate by late 2026, and the facility could open in 2028 at the earliest. Whatcom County Chief Corrections Deputy Caleb Erickson, in collaboration with corrections, behavioral health and medical staff, has put together a wishlist of desired featu...
OPINION: Western inhales Amazon packages, exhales •

OPINION: Western inhales Amazon packages, exhales waste

Amazon has delivered 21,680 packages to Western Washington University since September, Jeff Rogerson, mail processing manager with Western’s Mail Services, said over email. That’s 30% of all packages delivered to campus. 
Most of the 51,934 packages from other carriers also contain goods from Amazon since Amazon uses other delivery services besides itself, Rogerson said. 

What makes these figures especially staggering is that Western has a 4,145 residence capacit...
OPINION: Where did all our Canadians go? - The Fro •

OPINION: Where did all our Canadians go?

Bellingham stores and restaurants once bustled with Canadian customers. Now, they look like ghost towns, comparatively. President Trump’s blitz of outrageous tariffs and scandalous comments toward Canada have Bellingham’s Canadian regulars staying home. Canadians are justified in giving the U.S. the cold shoulder. Americans, be warned; this isn’t temporary, and it’s going to leave a mark. 
Many Canadians regularly cross the border for cheaper goods — or at least they used to....
State Individual Assistance program opens for vict •

State Individual Assistance program opens for victims of bomb cyclone

Whatcom, Snohomish and King County residents affected by November’s bomb cyclone can now qualify to receive financial aid. Former Gov. Jay Inslee unlocked $1 million in Washington State Disaster Individual Assistance (IA) Program funds with an emergency proclamation on Jan. 7.
IA funds can be used for home repairs, temporary housing and other unmet needs. To check if you qualify, complete this survey or call 360-676-6681. Funds must be distributed to qualifying residents by June 30, 2025....
BRIEF: Port of Bellingham receives $1.5 million gr •

BRIEF: Port of Bellingham receives $1.5 million grant

The Port of Bellingham received a $1.5 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency in October 2024, which it will use to fulfill the goals of its 2023 Climate Action Strategy. 
The Clean Ports Climate and Air Quality Planning Program grant will primarily support evaluations and data collection to support sustainable practices for the port.

This will not be the first time the Port has endeavored to improve local sustainability, with projects like solar...
Drayton Harbor emergency shellfish harvesting clos •

Drayton Harbor emergency shellfish harvesting closure ends

The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) issued an emergency closure of commercial and recreational shellfishing in Drayton Harbor on Jan. 7. The closure applied to all species of molluscan shellfish and lasted until Jan. 27. 
The DOH is still investigating the issue. The closure was in response to reports of Norovirus-like symptoms after eating raw oysters harvested from Drayton Harbor between Dec. 28–30, 2024. 

Drayton Harbor Oyster Co., which farms its...
Northwest Maritime Apprenticeship works to fill ma •

Northwest Maritime Apprenticeship works to fill marine service technician shortage

The Whatcom Working Waterfront Foundation’s Northwest Maritime Apprenticeship is helping to fill a hole in the maritime industry. 
Marine service technicians are tradespeople who maintain, repair and install vessels that are under 150 feet long. In October 2022, the Waterfront Foundation launched the apprenticeship to reinvigorate the maritime industry with a new generation of marine service technicians. 

The four-year apprenticeship has three levels, each costin...
Bellingham purchases 116 acres for park and trail •

Bellingham purchases 116 acres for park and trail development

The City of Bellingham purchased 116 acres of land from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources for a new park. The land, which comes in parcels, contains a portion of the Bellingham Bay to Baker Trail and a chunk of Squalicum Creek. 
The City has been considering buying the land since 2009. The purchase was exciting not just because of how long it’s been in the making, but because of the habitat within the property and the opportunity to develop the Bay to Baker Trail, said Sarah G...
Whatcom County celebrates Orca Recovery Day with a •

Whatcom County celebrates Orca Recovery Day with a volunteer work party

Volunteers will gather on Saturday, Oct. 19 to plant a goal of 1,600 native trees and shrubs along California Creek, a habitat for Chinook salmon in Blaine, Wash. for the annual Orca Recovery Day, hosted by Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, Whatcom Land Trust and the Whatcom Conservation District.
Orca Recovery Day is a day of action in Washington State dedicated to supporting Southern Resident Orcas, which are endangered under the Endangered Species Act and depleted under the Marine Mamm...
Worn Again Thrift’s 2024 Fall Drop yields massive •

Worn Again Thrift’s 2024 Fall Drop yields massive crowd

Drop Day
Worn Again Thrift in downtown Bellingham held its annual Fall Drop event on Saturday, Oct. 5. A crowd mostly of people in their late teens and early twenties – overwhelmingly Western Washington University students – were stationed in a line outside the store, stretching a full block down Champion Street before Worn Again opened their doors at 11 a.m.  

Every fall and spring, Worn Again Thrift hosts a Black Friday-esque event where they unveil their new i...