Culture

With the number of gun deaths in Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan counties on the rise and outpacing statewide trends, policy and law makers are stressing public health-focused solutions that could be more effective in prevention than legal tactics.

Theater producers, actors and audiences are bringing new perspectives to the question of what play content may be inappropriate, offensive or even harmful. Responses to a recent choice by Western Washington University’s theater department prompted a debate of those questions among the local theater community.

Nonprofit local news organization Salish Current is celebrating its one-year anniversary of incorporation on June 5, and continuing on its mission to fill gaps in covering vital news and provide a forum for civil discourse in Whatcom, San Juan and Skagit counties.

Several hundred people in Bellingham visited a totem pole created by Lummi carvers from a 400-year-old cedar log — the latest stop in the Red Road to D.C. tour of the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere across the U.S. toward its final destination in Washington, D.C.

A historic inn on Lummi Island made national news lately when a story focused world attention on problematic operations. Locally, the report stirred mixed reactions from island residents

America continues to struggle to recognize the contributions of all to the building of this nation. In May — Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month — we have an opportunity to celebrate and recognize the resilience and voices of these communities.

The main thoroughfare through Sumas on its way to the Canadian border isn’t seeing much traffic since the COVID-19 pandemic forced closure of the border crossing to all but essential traffic. Although the town is home to 1,700 people and still growing, closed gas stations, empty storefronts and a lack of grocery stores give the impression of a town in decline.

In a time of massive reevaluation of once widely accepted tropes, celebrities have been called out for past insensitivities and much worse, schools renamed and statues toppled. But what does it mean when books are brought into the discussion?

To help stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, young adults are making choices that range from the hard decision to curtail visits home to see family, to feeling safely unmasked with family or select friends.

The northern harrier is a regular presence along the outer fields, sloughs and dikes bordering the Salish Sea.

The study and knowledge of Black history bring understanding to race and racism in the United States.

Journalism that embraces a larger vision of the international corridor will best serve the Cascadia bioregion’s constituents by setting up the region up to tackle the big challenges of the next century.

A combination of potent social and political turmoil made many people eager to close the book on 2020 and emerge into a fresh year.

During the social distancing and isolation of this year’s pandemic, many people have sought the companionship, unconditional love and friendship that comes from adopting a dog — and now, more than ever, people are having trouble finding the “right” dog because so many others are doing the same.

Readers were invited to share their ideal locations for marking December’s Solstice this year … if it weren’t for COVID-19. Read on, for a travelogue of cherished spots around the globe.

The one thousand unique and fragile acres of the San Juan Islands National Monument wait for a plan to outline the next 20 years of protection and recreation.