GLP-1 Treatments, Semaglutide or Tirzepatide Medical Weight Loss in Bellingham, WA

BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Over 1,000 unionized workers at PeaceHealth are going on strike.

The Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will hold a five-day, joint picket starting Monday, May 12.

The two unions represent physicians, advanced practice clinicians, service workers, lab assistants and imaging technicians at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham.

Bargaining representatives for both unions say wages, understaffing and limited time with patients are their critical concerns.

“Our clinicians have repeatedly raised concerns about patient safety and working conditions for months, but PeaceHealth continues to make these decisions and implement changes without clinician input,” said Joe Crane, UAPD Washington State Organizing Coordinator. “After multiple failed attempts to resolve these issues through negotiations, the decision to strike was made.”

SEIU 1199NW says contract negotiations have stalled, while UAPD claims PeaceHealth has refused to recognize or bargain with the group.

PeaceHealth spokesperson Amy Drury sent the following statement to My Bellingham Now:

“During the planned strike that involves our Service, Technical and Laboratory caregivers at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center and Advanced Practice Clinicians at PeaceHealth Medical Group clinics, St. Joseph Medical Center, and United General Medical Center, our community can continue to count on the safe, high-quality care it has come to expect. PeaceHealth has secured the services of highly qualified, experienced temporary replacement caregivers from a staffing agency, as well as existing care partners, to ensure patient care remains uninterrupted during the strike. This is a standard practice in the healthcare industry. Nursing, represented by WSNA, is not impacted nor part of this strike.

PeaceHealth respects the rights of our caregivers to participate in these strikes and other lawful activities. However, we are deeply disappointed the unions have chosen to strike. PeaceHealth remains committed to good faith bargaining to reach agreements that are competitive and fair.

We had been eager to get to resume bargaining with both SEIU 1199NW and UAPD to focus on reaching an agreement. Considering their decision to initiate a work stoppage, our full attention will turn to ensuring smooth and continuing operations in caring for our community and prioritizing excellent patient care. We will be glad to reengage and continue bargaining at the conclusion of the work stoppage.

We value our caregivers, their professionalism and commitment to our patients. A planned action will not change that.”

It comes days after a third union representing nurses at PeaceHealth held an informational picket, though that union is scheduled to resume contract negotiations with management on May 16.

WHATCOM COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The sun finally decided to bless our neck of the woods and this weekend there are tons of opportunities to enjoy the spectacular spring weather. This week’s Lifestyle Lookout features hikes, art walks, beer gardens and some great live music. Let’s get to it.

While the North Cascades are still snow-covered, there are hiking options abound in the lowlands. From Sumas Mountain to Lake Whatcom Park and the Chuckanuts, western Whatcom County is your oyster.

Larrabee State Park is easily accessible from Bellingham, and while you want to avoid Chuckanut Drive’s southern reaches because of a rockslide, you can still access Oyster Dome and the rest of the hikes on Blanchard Mountain from Samish Overlook.

AllTrails and Washington Trails Association both offer great apps and websites to guide you on your way.

If a stroll around downtown Bellingham is more your pace, Friday, May 2 is First Friday, offering some great opportunities to wander the streets enjoying local art.

Paper Whale is hosting The Immersive Art Project. Starting Friday, four vacant storefronts will be “activated” with temporary galleries showcasing immersive works that interact with the spaces they occupy.

All the galleries are in spaces that are currently for lease, so perspective business owners can pop in to see how to best use the space. Art lovers, meanwhile, can just pop in and get lost in the expertly curated exhibits.

For all the details go to Paper Whale’s website.

Whatcom County is home to many talented youngsters. Allied Arts wants to show you what they can do.

The Bellingham Children’s Art Walk runs from Friday, May 2 to Friday, May 16. Over 50 downtown businesses will feature artwork created in schools throughout the county.

Find all the details at alliedarts.org or stop by the Allied Arts Gallery at 1213 Cornwall Ave to grab an art walk map and get information on all the live music and other events happening for First Friday.

It is the first weekend of May which means it is opening weekend at Kulshan Brewing Company’s Trackside on Bellingham’s Waterfront.

Stroll down to enjoy live music at their 25,000 square foot beer garden. Grab yourself one of the 20 beers on tap while you are there. Wine, cider and non-alcoholic beverages are also available at this all-ages space. The Trackside location will be open all summer.

For all the details, go to kulshanbrewing.com and be sure to read this week’s We Are Whatcom featuring Dave Vitt, the founder of Kulshan Brewing Company.

Cinco de Mayo is on Monday. That means the good folks at El Sueñito Brewing Company will be celebrating all weekend. They will have food and drink specials, a painting party on Saturday and a dance performance from Chicas Reinas y Chicos de Oro on Monday.

El Sueñito Brewing Company is located in Bellingham’s Sunnyland neighborhood at 1926 Humboldt St.

Our featured live show this week is at the Shakedown in downtown Bellingham. Seattle’s Massy Ferguson will bring their brand of country-rock to the stage on Saturday night. It will be a night of “amplified twang and raw, guitar-driven bang.”

Massy Ferguson is playing with ToadMortons and Bellingham’s Salt Pine. Tickets are just $10 and can be purchased at shakedownbellingham.com.

Listen to this week’s Lifestyle Lookout below and every Friday on the KGMI Morning News:

Mountain biking could be getting its answer to the Pacific Crest Trail, and its first leg to be announced is in Washington.

The organizers of Orogenesis, a proposed 5,000-mile trail spanning from British Columbia to Baja California, unveiled the project’s first section, Loowit Tier, on April 23.

The trail, which runs through central and southern Washington, is designed for “bikepacking,” a cross between mountain biking and backpacking where riders complete a trail with supplies to camp overnight on their backs.

“The Loowit Tier really takes in what makes the Gifford Pinchot [National Forest] so special. It’s got some of my favorite forests in the Pacific Northwest,” Gabriel Tiller, Orogenesis’s executive director, told McClatchy in a phone interview.

The 197-mile Loowit Tier spans from Packwood, just south of Mount Rainier, to White Salmon, on the Washington-Oregon border.

The trail, which needs the last bit of remaining snow to melt before opening, weaves through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and towards Mount Saint Helens, before turning south. The second half of the trail takes riders past the Lewis River and before wrapping up at the Columbia River.

“There’s just no comparison for riding through the blast zone of Mount Saint Helens,” Tiller said.

Riders will gain over 33,000 feet of elevation over the course of the trail, with the highest point at just over a mile above sea level. It’s a strenuous trail – the project’s organizers rate it an eight out of ten in physical difficulty and a six out of ten in technical difficulty – and it’s recommended for more experienced mountain bikers.

Loowit Tier, which gets its name from a local Indigenous term for Mount Saint Helens, is estimated to take between six and eight days to complete.

You can get to the trailhead in Packwood by taking Highway 12, or a Lewis County bus from Centralia or Chehalis. The end of the trail in White Salmon is located right off of State Route 14 and State Route 141. Columbia Area Transit operates bus routes in the area as well.

The trail includes some unmarked portions and stretches without cellular reception, so the project’s organizers recommend downloading the Ride With GPS app to help you navigate. Camping spots are widely available along the trail, according to the project’s website.

While freshwater is available along much of the trail and there are some supply stations along the way, organizers say that a water filter or purifier is a must if you plan to complete the trek.

Loowit Tier is the first section of Orogenesis to be unveiled, marking a major milestone for the project, which has been in the works since 2017, according to Tiller.

“I was involved in the Oregon Timber Trail and its creation… and we published that in 2017. At the same time, this other route, the Baja Divide, was published by some other bikepackers, and that goes down the whole length of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico,” Tiller said. “And it was really obvious seeing them both on the map that we were going to have to try to connect the two.”

The group plans to unveil four more sections of the trail over the course of 2025. When the entire trail is complete, it’s expected to consist of 24 tiers over 5,000 miles and 470,000 feet of elevation gain.

“We did the Washington release and then we’ll do four more sections in California in the coming months,” Tiller said.

Tiller said the group doesn’t have an estimate for when the entire trail will be unveiled due to a handful of stretches that have proven difficult to navigate, but plans to unveil the main portions in the coming years before filling in the remaining gaps.

“We’re trying to figure out solutions to those gaps. It’s really unknown how long building those sections of new trail will take,” Tiller said. “But we do plan on releasing new sections of the trail every year going forward until we slowly build it out.”

When complete, Tiller said, Orogenesis will be mountain biking’s answer to the popular backpacking route the Pacific Crest Trail.

“Mountain bikes aren’t allowed on the PCT, so mountain bikers have wanted something similar to the PCT for decades now, and thought that this could become that,” Tiller said.

This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 5:00 AM.

For the third time in just over 12 months, Bellingham will have a new minimum wage.

On Thursday, May 1, the citywide minimum wage will jump to $18.66, which is $2.00 higher than the statewide rate, and $1.00 higher than the city’s current rate of $17.66.

The 2023 ballot measure that established the citywide minimum wage implemented in stages. First, the citywide rate was set at $1.00 above the statewide rate starting on May 1, 2024, before jumping to $2.00 above the statewide rate on May 1, 2025.

Since the citywide rate is determined by the state’s minimum wage, it also changes each Jan. 1, when the Department of Labor and Industries sets its annual adjustment the statewide rate to account for changes to the cost of living. At the start of 2025, Bellingham’s minimum wage went from $17.28 to $17.66.

The citywide rate will remain $2.00 above the statewide rate going forward, and will change along with the state’s minimum wage at the start of every year.

According to the city’s municipal code, the minimum wage applies to “all hours worked by employees within the geographic boundaries of the city of Bellingham,” adopting the state’s definition of employee. Additionally, state law requires that tips are paid on top of an employee’s hourly wage.

The Bellingham municipal code does carve out an exception for city employees, since the city charter prohibits fixing the wages of the city’s workers. However, the city is “encouraged” to adhere to the new minimum wage.

At $16.66, Washington’s minimum wage is the highest of any state in the country (except for Washington, D.C. at $17.50). It is also over twice the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

Bellingham is one of only a few Washington cities to establish its own minimum wage. According to Labor and Industries, Seattle has the highest baseline rate in the state at $20.76 an hour, while Burien, which allows employers with 20 or fewer employees to follow the statewide rate, has the highest minimum wage for businesses with over 500 employees at $21.16 an hour.

The minimum wage in Renton and Tukwila follows a similar structure. Businesses with fewer than 15 employees follow the statewide minimum wage while businesses with between 15 and 500 employees have to pay their workers a higher rate ($18.90 an hour, soon to be $19.90 in Renton, and $20.10 an hour in Tukwila). Businesses with over 500 employees have to pay their workers a higher rate – around $21 in both cities.

Everett’s minimum wage, which goes into effect July 1, will follow that format as well, with the highest bracket paying $20.24 an hour.

Unincorporated King County also has its own minimum wage: $20.29 an hour for large employers, $18.29 an hour for mid-sized businesses and $17.29 an hour for small businesses.

This story was originally published April 30, 2025 at 11:15 AM.

Historic Bellingham boulder to be removed

The fate of an historic landmark in Whatcom County hangs in the balance as a highway project threatens to roll right over it.

The Brief

Bellingham, wash. - The fate of an historic landmark in Whatcom County hangs in the balance as a highway project threatens to roll right over it.

The Bellingham Rock is sitting right in the path of a fish passage improvement project, and it could end up being destroyed if a new home for the massive boulder isn't found.

The backstory:

If you are driving north on I-5 in Whatcom County, the Bellingham Rock is hard to miss.

"You are always kind of looking for the rock," said Keith Cook, Bellingham Rock preservationist and Facebook page moderator.

The brightly painted boulder sifts nestled in the trees, just south of the city.

"This is super-thick paint," said Cook, pointing to paint dripping down the rock.

Cook says the rock has been greeting visitors and locals since the late 60's and early 70's after construction finished on the highway. And it has long been a community canvas for anyone with the gumption to grab a can of spray paint.

"It has that welcome home feel," said Cook. "This thing’s been painted 1,000 times, people obviously enjoy it."

The two inches of paint offer layers of local history, including hundreds of murals of celebration and memorials to loved ones lost.

"There has been that many memories that have been put on this rock, year after year, month after month," said Cook. "It’d be interesting to do archeology, just peel it back and see what it was one at a time."

The rock is so popular it has its own Facebook page and spot on the map.

"It is a landmark, it’s the historic society registry," said Cook.

But, the clock is ticking for the Bellingham Rock of ages.

"It’s in danger," said Cook.

It must be moved ahead of construction of a fish passage along Friday, Lake and Chuckanut Creeks.

While he supports the habitat restoration, Cook wants to make sure the rock is spared.

"It's either going to be exploded or relocated. So, just trying to save some history," said Cook.

WSDOT sent an email in response to some of FOX 13's questions about the project, confirming that the rock must be cleared out ahead of the project.

Some of the statement reads;

"WSDOT has a fish passage project at Friday, Lake and Chuckanut Creeks along I-5. The Bellingham Rock is located within the foot print of this project and it does need to be moved from its current location."

"Once it is moved it cannot be returned. WSDOT and the Federal Highway Administration does not permit it to be returned to I-5 limited access, especially where it could encourage unsafe parking or pedestrian access along a busy interstate."

"Because of where we are in this process, I am unable to answer your questions about whether or not the Rock will be destroyed or where it may be moved too. Determining the Rock’s future is part of the process we are currently undertaking. There are some constraints that we must operate within."

WSDOT says it's working with partners on a solution for the rock. More details are located at WSDOT'S open house page.

"It really just takes someone speaking up and saying, yeah, I’ll take the rock," said Cook.

He is asking anyone with ideas to chip in. He's inviting people to reach out on the Bellingham Rock Facebook page with those thoughts. He's also asking people to post or send in their historical photos of paintings of the rock.

"I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know it’s going to hurt a lot of people’s feelings if it’s not here anymore," said Cook. "This is what, 60 years-ish of history that’s going to be thrown away because people aren’t willing to put in a little extra effort into figuring where it can go? I’m really disappointed in that."

The Source: Information in this story is from the Washington State Department of Transportation, the Bellingham Rock Facebook page, and FOX 13 Seattle reporting and interviews.

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