Year 20 No. 1 $2
JANUARY 2012
Redlight Wine Bar, Page 3
Jobless claims in 2011 lowest in two years
Mover & Shaker | Patricia McKeown
BY ISAAC BONNELL ibonnell@bbjtoday.com
SEE STORY ON PAGE 8: Patricia McKeown took over as president of Bellingham Technical College during a tough time; in the span of three years, the college has lost 38 percent of its state funding. Isaac Bonnell | BBJ
NWIC opens new $1.3 million building BY ISAAC BONNELL ibonnell@bbjtoday.com Northwest Indian College opened a new Cooperative Extension Building Dec. 2, it’s seventh addition to the campus since 2005. The $1.3 million building will house community classes on harvesting, cooking and preserving traditional and other local
foods, financial skills for families, homebuyer education, basket weaving, tribal food sovereignty and developing medicinal gardens. “Through the college’s extension services, we connect the value of taking care of ourselves and each other with our knowledge of wellness, cultural arts and family,” NWIC President Cheryl Crazy Bull said in a press
release. “Extension services reach out to bring people together to share stories, skills and relationships.” The 2,800-square-foot building includes sustainable features such as radiant floor heating, a green roof above the entrance and wiring for solar panels. The new facility was made possible by contributions from regional tribes, including a
$25,000 donation from the Siletz Tribe of Oregon, and from local organizations such as the St. Luke’s Foundation, which also donated $25,000. So far, NWIC has raised about $36 million as part of an ongoing $44 million capital campaign, with plans for three more buildings. NWIC is a nonprofit educational institution headquartered on the Lummi Reservation.
After two record-setting years, the number of people in Washington receiving unemployment benefits and the amount they received shrank in 2011. An estimated 440,000 people received benefits in 2011, a 12 percent drop from the all-time record of 503,000 in 2010 and fewer than the 470,231 individuals in 2009. Benefit payouts totaled about $3.2 billion for the year, compared to $4.6 billion in 2010 and $4 billion in 2009. More than 54 percent of the 2011 payouts were covered by federal funds, with the rest coming from the state’s benefits fund. The average length of time Washington workers collected unemployment benefits also declined from 42.2 weeks in 2010 to about 36.2 weeks near the end of 2011. “Some of the decline is due to an improved economy, and some of it is due to unemployed workers simply running out of benefits,” Employment Security
SEE JOBLESS | PAGE 2
Space reserved for mailing label
Presents The ‘2012 Book of Lists’ Business Professionals Directory Advertising Deadline is January 13th. Mention Code “BOL2012” for up to a
25% DISCOUNT!
Hurry for Best Placement! 360-647-8805 esavoy@bbjtoday.com