Whatcom County Budget Shell Game
Not surprising to most readers is the fact that Whatcom County has a relatively large general fund budget hole to plug. I wrote about this in July, and commented on [...]
Closed Account • Member since Jan 21, 2008
Tom Pratum is a native Whatcom County resident, having arrived at St Josephs Hospital, and having attended Lowell, Fairhaven, and Sehome High Schools. He later obtained a PhD in Physical Chemistry at UC-Berkeley and worked as a research scientist at UW for 15 years. In 2000 he returned and now lives just outside the city limits with his wife Peggy and their two cats and two dogs. He has been a board member of North Cascades Audubon since 2001, and has taught part time in the WWU Chemistry Department since 2004.
Not surprising to most readers is the fact that Whatcom County has a relatively large general fund budget hole to plug. I wrote about this in July, and commented on [...]
We have heard for years about how our county has been prudent in its expenditures and exhibited only the best in financial stewardship. The only proof - as far as [...]
This past winter, during torrential rains to the South of us, there were some very serious slides on Weyerhaeuser land in Lewis County adjacent to Stillman Creek (a tributary of [...]
"Gosh John, I seem to have offended you - I didn’t mean to do that. I certainly respect your opinion, and wouldn’t mean to imply that you don’[...]
"As a scientist myself, I agree almost completely with what David M. has said. Yes, the temperature of the earth does appear to have changed significantly up and down in [...]
"Of all of the things going on around here to attack - a park facility that could actually increase public interest in the wildlife and shoreline in Bellingham. Are there [...]
"Dave- Thanks for adding your voice to these pages. I am guessing the raid of the Conservation Futures levy and Flood Fund will go down with nary a whimper from [...]
"I think there are some good comments here, and Tip’s article is on the money. I don’t know enough about the right-of-way issue to make any guess there, [...]
To be so manifestly unqualified and yet not be deeply aware of that speaks exactly to the very point of not being qualified.
6 comments, most recent 1 week agoChaos likely to ensue. Catastrophe cannot be ruled out.
15 comments, most recent 1 week agoThere is no escape from the deep-throated roar and the clouds of filth produced by these machines.
3 comments, most recent 3 weeks agoA perspective from a very old liberal political junkie.
19 comments, most recent 2 weeks agoDeeds, not talk, count on Veterans Day
2 comments, most recent 1 month agoPhasing in of Veterans Administration (VA) health care under the Pact Act has been eliminated. All eligible veterans can enroll in VA health care…NOW!
An off-budget $5 Trillion National Infrastructure Bank (NIB), along the lines of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) that operated between 1932-1957, means low-cost loans and no additions to the deficit.
Medicare Advantage is NOT Medicare. Medicare is there to provide health care. Medicare Advantage is a business, there to make money.
1 comment, most recent 1 month agoDavid Swanson verifies what Jon Humphrey has said for years: good internet access benefits people, cities, counties, and states.
10 comments, most recent 1 month agoOr perhaps tragic farce or farcical tragedy might be more apt descriptors. Pick one, or both.
13 comments, most recent 1 month agoAfter nearly 30 years online, and literally being one of the oldest blogs on the internet, Northwest Citizen needs a major programming overhaul. To do so, we need your help.
1 comment, most recent 1 month agoThe top 20% of commercial banks in the United States control 95% of our total banking assets. Remember “Too-Big-to-Fail”?
3 comments, most recent 2 months agoThe City has created another useless document ensuring nothing changes and mediocre communication services are protected.
13 comments, most recent 2 months agoWhy a vote for Jason Call for Congress is a good vote for conservatives, liberals, Democrats and Republicans. Yes, an unusual idea.
Heaven forbid our reps should attack the main problem, Medicare Advantage, head on. But no. They must nibble around the edges to give the appearance of doing something.
1 comment, most recent 4 months agoMorally significant double binds force doctors and combat soldiers into identical life and death quandaries, damaging their moral centers. To these two groups we can also add law enforcement officers.
4 comments, most recent 5 months agoIt is time to stop the “Real Steal” from Medicare.
3 comments, most recent 5 months agoEric Hirst gives us a brief and clear explanation of the water adjudication process that is beginning now in Whatcom County
3 comments, most recent 4 months agoAggressive citizen involvement carried the day.
5 comments, most recent 5 months agoBuild-for-profit, incarceration-inspired housing is destroying our souls.
11 comments, most recent 2 months agoThe last of the scrap metal is loaded on the ship and it will be gone from our town.
1 comment, most recent 6 months agoA 54-photo tour of the ruptured pipe area of the Whatcom Creek explosion taken in July 1999.
1 comment, most recent 6 months agoBelow is an audio tape of 911 calls, emergency responders’ radio communications, and local radio coverage from June 10, 1999 when Whatcom Creek exploded in Bellingham
2 comments, most recent 6 months agoWhatcom County’s confusing water rights will be defined by court proceedings beginning now
1 comment, most recent 5 months agoIf not killed-in-action, they are still dying from the effects of their service in Vietnam.
7 comments, most recent 6 months agoThe foam of secrecy hides all.
Local presentations scheduled on a reasonable use framework for water resource management
Broadband-Washing: Greenwashing the Internet
6 comments, most recent 7 months agoPacific Northwest organizers join a global campaign to abolish all nukes and push for a city council resolution to start
4 comments, most recent 7 months agoIf the hospitals are smelling a rat, so should Medicare (Dis)Advantage victims (AKA enrollees).
2 comments, most recent 5 months agoWith such a bank in place, we would likely not be scrambling around and asking Congress for rebuild monies, as we are now with the catastrophic event involving the Francis Scott Key bridge on March 26, 2024.
Port of Bellingham commissioners terminate last 13 years of ABC Recycling lease
5 comments, most recent 8 months agoNo public fiber means we can’t compete with big telecom. EVER.
4 comments, most recent 8 months agoCrappier coverage for us, even more money for insurance companies.
3 comments, most recent 9 months agoWho benefits? Palestinians are being slaughtered. Genocide. Gaza is being leveled.
6 comments, most recent 8 months agoThe Port Commission has decreed that Bellingham’s waterfront will remain a toxic, festering sore
6 comments, most recent 10 months agoWe needed a hook, and we think we found it.
13 comments, most recent 10 months ago"Sweet Jesus,” shrieked the thralls of the Sehomus Republic,as ABC the Yochlowitz,successor to GorgoPacificus the Destroyer,...
3 comments, most recent 11 months agoPeoples Bank proposes to tear down the once popular Zane Burger restaurant to build a branch office.
3 comments, most recent 1 year agoBiden administration is asking the public to report on bogus advertising claims of Medicare Advantage providers.
7 comments, most recent 1 year ago15 new townhouses, out-of-town developer, build-and-run, in south side Happy Valley neighborhood of Bellingham.
2 comments, most recent 1 year agoTuesday, Dec, 5, will be the first time ABC Recycling has agreed to answer the public. Don’t miss this meeting. Here are the issues.
6 comments, most recent 1 year agoThe effect of WWU students on Whatcom County’s rental housing market
5 comments, most recent 1 year agoThere seems to be no barrier to the depths to which scammers will go to steal money from the most vulnerable or deserving.
Merely musing about soldiers.
4 comments, most recent 1 year agoThe city comes through on public wi-fi hotspots
1 comment, most recent 1 year agoAn insider’s view of rental inspections in Bellingham as experienced by a long-time renter.
5 comments, most recent 1 year agoIt is time to stop the injustices that have been propagated over the years.
6 comments, most recent 1 year agoGetting a letter that declares, “An exciting new prescription drug benefit for you!” should activate your BS detector.
7 comments, most recent 11 months agoWho benefits?
3 comments, most recent 1 year ago