Community Voices
Loss of palliative care is a community’s loss
May 19, 2023
Commentary: More than 100 current patients and all possible future eligible patients stand to lose palliative care when PeaceHealth closes its outpatient palliative program.
Margaret Jacobson
Community Voices
Outpatient palliative care program unfortunately unsustainable
May 19, 2023
Commentary: Insurance reimbursement levels and rising costs across all service lines led to PeaceHealth’s decision to end its comprehensive outpatient palliative program and restructure to continue to “provide the essential components of the program.”
Bryan Stewart
Community Voices
Earth Day 2023: A frank look at where we are
April 21, 2023
Commentary: Just as in 1970, we are at another major reckoning point in our relationship to our home planet.
Kathy Fletcher
Community Voices
Affordable Whatcom broadband is on the way
April 21, 2023
Commentary: Whatcom agencies are moving forward on affordable fiber-optic broadband for all.
Jamie Douglass
Community Voices
Can we prevent homelessness?
March 31, 2023
Commentary: There are many reasons people become homeless — can it be prevented? Unequivocally, yes, says one close observer. Housing and income play into the complex causes.
John Dunne
Community Voices
Donating a kidney is a life-affirming experience
March 24, 2023
Commentary: Kidney donation was simply “the right thing to do”: a donor tells her story.
Helene Fellows
Community Voices
An unfortunate change of plans
March 15, 2023
Commentary: Jo Ann, who with her dog, Mouse, moved from her RV to a tiny-home village, suffered a massive stroke which paralyzed her entire left side.
John Dunne
Community Voices
Southeast Alaska troll fishery has deep local ties
March 7, 2023
Commentary:
Shutting down Southeast Alaska’s troll fishery will not stave off the decline of local orca and salmon populations — but it will have devastating effects on hundreds of fishing families and businesses.
Pete Granger and Norman Pillen
Community Voices
Donut Hole win can guide transboundary strategy
March 2, 2023
Commentary: There are many good reasons for protecting the Skagit River headwaters; high on the list is the ongoing health of the larger Skagit watershed, a defining element of the region’s geography and cultural heritage.
Derek Moscato
Community Voices
Ongoing racial reckoning in the post-George Floyd era
February 9, 2023
Commentary: Three years after the Summer of Racial Reckoning, a divided populace still grapples with damaging and sometimes deadly effects of racism, and with how to talk about the issues.
Vernon Damani Johnson
Community Voices
Ocean-to-table journey of uniquely tasty oysters takes work
January 31, 2023
Commentary: It takes a community to raise and harvest an oyster.
Alexi Guddal
Community Voices
Hope has arrived
December 14, 2022
Commentary: Constant worries about being attacked or robbed are in the past for a woman who has found housing — for now — in a tiny home village.
John Dunne
Community Voices
Composting as a climate solution
December 8, 2022
Commentary: Proper disposal of food waste is something every household can do to limit climate change, advise teens engaged in climate action.
YEP! of Skagit County
Community Voices
Addressing priorities in public safety
December 2, 2022
Commentary: Bellingham’s challenges are in recruiting and retaining police officers, not lack of funding.
Bellingham City Council Public Safety Committee 2022
Community Voices
A most interesting job
November 22, 2022
Commentary: Meet Sandy Hart, who may have one of the most interesting jobs in Bellingham.
John Dunne
Community Voices
Listen, and support Indigenous voices
November 16, 2022
Commentary: Knowledge and awareness of the challenges Indigenous peoples face are good; what matters is action.
Terri Thayer