Birch Bay News

Starting Aug. 1, garbage collection fees in the Blaine area could increase anywhere from 5 to 20 percent, according to a letter from Sanitary Service Company.

A visit to CJ Wijns in Birch Bay might best be summed up as a great place with a baffling name.

Crews are putting up 950 bright-green traps in Whatcom County as part of an annual effort to keep a non-native pest from taking hold in Washington state, where it could destroy hundreds of thousands of acres of trees.

As this recession drags on, it's creating significant change in the Whatcom County business community.

Seattle-born Lynda Bylsma says she always dreamed of living on a farm. After several life changes, she now co-owns and lives at Lost River Alpacas near Nooksack with her husband Alan, who grew up on the dairy farm he inherited.

Tickets are on sale for the Wine and Food Fest by the Bay, which will take place Saturday, July 11, at CJ Wijns in Birch Bay.

The Washington Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court ruling that appeared to give county fire districts significant new authority to regulate growth.

A throng of penny-pinching shoppers searching for the best deals on Whidbey Island will venture to Coupeville Elementary School this weekend.

Tom Fields was hired as the chief of North Whatcom Fire and Rescue in April 2005 and took over a dysfunctional organization, an assistant chief wrote in a letter to the Washington Fire Chiefs' Association.

All of the county's seven cities have proposed visions for their growth over the next two decades, and now they'll present their ideas to the County Council and county Planning Commission.

A fire devoured a garage and caused more than $100,000 damage to a home in the 8000 block of Surf Place, but no one was injured.

Homestead Northwest CEO James Wynstra says he's working with investors, banks, contractors and suppliers to get his company back to financial health without a reorganization in federal bankruptcy court.

A ceremony Monday, May 25, will celebrate the official opening of Point Whitehorn Marine Reserve near Birch Bay.

Birch Bay area residents patiently waiting for their new grocery store may be intrigued by the new features they will find next week.

With construction of the grocery store nearly complete, the owners of Birch Bay Square can now focus on leasing the newly remodeled spaces.

People interested in getting a community park in Birch Bay will have a chance to get their ideas heard Saturday, May 9. The area in question is Bay Horizon Park, a 68-acre space owned by the Whatcom County Parks and Recreation Department and located off Alderson Road between Birch Bay Drive and Blaine Road.

Facing an uncertain future, mainstream media sources must be more engaging and interactive with their audiences, the president of CNN/U.S. said Saturday, May 2, at the Semiahmoo Resort in Birch Bay.

Researchers who tried to snag a dead gray whale yesterday floating in the middle of Saratoga Passage had to cut it loose after their boat had trouble towing the 30-ton creature.

A gray whale has been found dead in Birch Bay; it's the second gray whale to be found dead in Puget Sound since Sunday.

Researchers studying a dead gray whale on a Whidbey Island beach think a large ship may have struck and killed the animal.