Cascadia Daily News
We are a locally owned online and print newspaper created in a Bellingham newsroom by local journos. We publish news, sports and lifestyle content, with a focus on Whatcom and Skagit counties.
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- Friday, Feb. 6, 2026 edition of Cascadia Daily News. Read online at replica.cascadiadaily.com/cascadia-dai... or pick up a print copy.
- Here are some of the measures that won’t become law in Washington this year.
- Bellingham Public Schools admitted liability for negligence in response to a 2024 lawsuit filed by a family whose son was sexually assaulted on a school bus.
- Employees of a global consulting firm are inside PeaceHealth St. Joseph conducting a "comprehensive review" of workflows. Caregivers worry more layoffs are ahead.
- Make no mistake, parents: Your children are watching the same reels about civic upheaval in America that you are, a Whatcom County fifth grade teacher writes in a Cascadia Daily News guest commentary. Kids have valid questions, Laura Boynton says, and the answers really matter.
- Skagit Valley's men's basketball had only five winning seasons from 2000–2020. Things changed when Carl Howell took over as head coach of his alma mater during the 2019-20 season with his "tough love" and defensive mentality. The Cardinals now sit 20-2 and are the favorites for an NWAC championship.
- Shirley Murray, a former Bellingham resident whose dogged persistence helped lead to the creation of a nonprofit that supports homeless women and children, died on Jan. 31.
- Bellingham's newest cafe opens Saturday, Feb. 14, and every cup goes towards a good cause.
- The Bellingham man accused of shooting two National Guard members in November in Washington, D.C., pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, firearm possession and assault charges in federal court Wednesday.
- Sedro-Woolley Mayor Julia Johnson is resigning effective April 3.
- Letters to the editor: New, (un)improved TSA, immigration, insane cost of living
- Include a hike to Norvan Falls in your weekend plans this winter. It's a meandering hike through the trees of North Vancouver, with a spectacular reward.
- Students are organizing protests against ICE across Whatcom and Skagit Counties. Here's how some local schools are addressing student walkouts.
- Smith Gardens, a family business that sells flower plants to home improvement stores, has a new majority owner in equity firm Hoffmann Family of Companies.
- Since karaoke happens on a near-daily basis around Bellingham, the hardest part is choosing a venue.
- The Mount Vernon Floodwall passed its second major test in December, when it held back floodwaters from inundating downtown. Here's how the floodwall came to be, and its role in the future of Mount Vernon.
- Bellingham police arrested a 42-year-old woman early Monday morning in connection to a child rape and trafficking case from 2024.
- Cascadia Daily News is looking for a multi-skilled assistant editor/producer to manage copy flow from a team-oriented newsroom to a daily digital website and weekly print edition!
- Ahead of a big Grateful Dead tribute show this February, Jesse Stanton checks in on the local musicians keeping their music going.
- U.S. speedskater Cooper McLeod is going to his first Olympics, and bringing about 30 family and friends of Skagit and Whatcom counties with him.
- Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson headed into this year’s legislative session endorsing the idea of an income tax on higher earners. But he’s not on board with the framework for that tax that Democratic legislators are unveiling on Tuesday, the Washington State Standard reports.
- Anticipating a nearly year-long closure of the Bellingham Central Library starting in late 2026, the City of Bellingham is planning on expanding other library branch offerings — and looking at how to offer an alternative day shelter for the people who have nowhere else to go.
- The Bellingham driver licensing office will close from Feb. 13 through March 4 for maintenance.
- December's devastating floods were an unwelcome reminder of a disaster that hit the region just four years earlier. In interviews, mayors who have been in office since then reflected on what has changed.
- Liam Kapeikis, 21, beat some 2026 Olympic qualifiers with a score of 226.75 at one of the biggest figure skating competitions in the world.
- Hannah Green's recipe for cured salmon roe uses local seafood.
- This Labor Day weekend music festival will halt operations in 2026.
- In January, you may have seen hair ice, a unique ice formation that only happens at a specific temperature, on a certain kind of wood, within a particular latitude range, and in the presence of a certain kind of fungus.
- A researcher at Indiana University says recording is often protected speech. But recording and sharing creates data that can be searched, linked, purchased and reused.
- After three decades, Erin Baker’s Bellingham-based business has shown it has staying power in the homespun-on-the-outside, viciously competitive inside world of big-time baked goods manufacturing.
- Hundreds of Bellingham cyclists braved the rain Saturday to ride in memory of Alex Pretti, a Minneapolis cyclist who was killed by federal agents earlier this month.
- Brought to you by the owners of Il Granaio, Jessamyn Tuttle believes Cask & Cleaver has a bright future in downtown Mount Vernon.
- Environmental groups are appealing Whatcom County's determination that 33 projects at Ferndale's energy terminal would have insignificant environmental impacts if owner AltaGas undertook certain mitigation measures.
- In Skagit County, more than 100 Burlington-Edison High School students left class around 1 p.m. Friday to protest ICE actions in Minneapolis and across the country. Around the same time, hundreds more Western Washington University students in Whatcom County did the same.
- A man was arrested on suspicion of harassment and cyber stalking of Lummi Nation leadership by Bellingham Police Department officers on Thursday.
- Mom and daughter duo Lynn and Emily Zimmerman own Bellingham ART. Lynn founded the art school in 2000 and Emily took over 20 years later. Kids and adults alike are welcomed at the space to learn how to paint, draw and craft.
- The Blaine City Council on Monday, Jan. 26 approved the next steps for a large residential development on Birch Point south of Semiahmoo Parkway, to the dismay of some residents who had appealed the project.
- The Oversight Project, a spinoff of the Heritage Foundation, filed sweeping records requests to Western Washington University, asking for course materials related to diversity, equity and inclusion. The project, which intends to target higher education institutions, has worried professors nationwide
- Safety net providers say millions in reimbursements are at stake right now in Olympia.
- Friday, Jan. 30, 2026 edition of Cascadia Daily News. Read online at replica.cascadiadaily.com/cascadia-dai... or pick up a print copy.
- Several businesses in Bellingham will close Friday, Jan. 30 as part of a nationwide shutdown to protest ICE.
- The state — not individual communities — is responsible for funding the basic education for every student in the state of Washington, writes Bellingham Public Schools' Board of Directors in a guest commentary.
- Higher education had a tough 2025, Western Washington University included. But President Sabah Randhawa remains stubbornly positive about Western's future, as he sets his sights on enrollment growth in a time when many institutions are seeing a declining student population.
- At the Jansen's new Center for Lens Art, former photography professor Tommy Gibson is returning to the darkroom for the first time since 2007.
- Dozens of people huddled together on a wet and windy Wednesday night at Skagit Riverwalk Park to hold a vigil for those killed by ICE or who died in their custody.
- A glitch in Whatcom County’s email archiver has resulted in an unknown number of records requests being inadequately filled since September.
