The Bellingham Herald

Here’s a link to Birch Bay community blog, which received an update from BP officials earlier today (Feb. 29).  The update is the refinery has decided to move forward with its regular spring maintenance activities while also dealing with the downtime from the Feb. 17 fire.

This will mean more traffic along Grandview Road. Spring maintenance should last into April.

Canadian currency is becoming popular with investors again, rising to its highest level since September. Here’s a (link) from a Bloomberg article with some details. The loonie is now at $1.01 compared to the U.S. dollar. It’s been hovering around parity for a few weeks now.

With high gas prices also hitting Canada (it’s $1.49 a liter in some parts of B.C., or $6.77 a gallon), one would expect more Canadians to take advantage of their stronger-than-parity loonie to fill up on fuel in Whatcom County.

Here’s a news release from the Washington State Employment Security Department. Whatcom County’s numbers are expected to be released next week:

Washington’s employment picture brightened in January, as the unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted, estimated rate of 8.3 percent and the state enjoyed an estimated gain of 13,200 jobs, according to the state Employment Security Department.

Employment Security also announced that December’s previous estimate of 11,700 job losses has been reversed to a gain of 100 jobs, and the previously announced unemployment rate of 8.5 percent has been revised to 8.6 percent.

Earlier this week, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics completed its annual benchmarking effort, which uses employers’ wage reports and other data sources to firm up the previously estimated unemployment rates and job numbers for each month of 2011. That research shows Washington gained more jobs last year than previously estimated, and unemployment rates in the latter half of 2011 were slightly better than initially estimated.

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Here’s the latest batch of companies registering to do business in Bellingham. Most are new companies entering the market, while some are existing businesses changing name or address:

Woodland Star Baby, Laura C Sky, 2306 Larrabee Ave., Bellingham

Blue Sky Property Services, 7037 Yukon Way, Ferndale

Robert Brinn Consulting, 2811 Pullman St., Bellingham

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A local bimonthly magazine is getting close to reaching its fundraising goal in order to publish  more often.

Grow Northwest is a free magazine serving Whatcom, Skagit, San Juan, Snohomish and Island counties, focusing on local agricultural and gardening news and features. It was founded in May 2010 by Becca and Brent Cole.

The company plans to change to a monthly publication in March if it can raise $10,000 by March 9 from local pledges. As of Tuesday morning, Feb. 28, the company had about $7,300 in pledges at kickstarter.com.

If the funding goal is reached, the publication will have enough funds to print and circulate three editions, allowing it time to increase advertising sales to a self-sustaining level, according to a release to potential donors.

For more information, visit kickstarter.com and type in “Grow Northwest magazine” in the search link at the top of the page.

Rising gas prices showed no signs of slowing down in Bellingham over the past weekend, according to a report from AAA Washington.

The average price for a gallon of gas in the Bellingham metro area was $4.01 on Monday, Feb. 27, up nine cents from Friday, Feb. 24. It’s also up 24 cents from a week earlier and up 42 cents from a month ago.

Diesel prices in Bellingham also continued its substantial rise, hitting $4.45 a gallon on Monday, up 20 cents from last week.

A variety of factors are leading to the quick rise in prices, said Jennifer Cook of AAA Washington. This is typically the time of year when refiners start switching to a summer blend as well as do some “spring cleaning” and maintenance work. Combine that with the Feb. 17 fire at BP Cherry Point and the global market oil speculation, it has created a situation where prices are rising quickly.

“This sudden rise in Western Washington is tied to specific local problems,” said Cook, who notes that Spokane, which gets its gas from a refinery in Montana, has the least expensive gas in Washington’s major metro areas, averaging $3.44 a gallon.

If nothing else unusual happens, Cook would expect prices to steadily rise until it peaks around June, hitting about $4.50 a gallon in Bellingham.

Bellingham’s gas prices were the highest among Washington’s major metro areas, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report. Olympia had the next highest, at $3.97 a gallon.

The record average high price in Bellingham was set in June 2008, peaking at $4.50 a gallon. Bellingham’s record high for diesel was set in May 2008, hitting $4.98 a gallon.

The tenant makeover continues at Bellis Fair mall. Here’s an update:

Openings: A new clothing store called Instinct opened in the 12,000-square-foot former Safari Golf space in the Sears wing. Instinct offers men’s, women’s and children’s clothing. The women’s clothing store Torrid opened last week in the Macy’s wing.

Movement: Laura’s Alterations & Tailor Express moved into a nearby space in the JCPenney wing; moving into Laura’s old space was the clothing store Word.

Coming soon: Rue 21 (in the Macy’s wing) and Vans shoes (in the former Build-A-Bear space) are expected to open at the end of March. Crazy 8, a children’s clothing store, is expected to open later this spring in the Macy’s wing. Forever 21, which is taking the large space near the food court area of the mall, is expected to open sometime in June. Later this year Teavana, a national tea retailer, is moving into the space Word recently left.

Here’s a Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification from the state:

Company: CenturyLink (Gig Harbor) will lay off 52 employees,

effective April 27, 2012

Date of Notification: February 23, 2012

According to The News Tribune in Tacoma, the company is closing a call center.

Gas prices took a significant one-day jump in Bellingham, according to a report from AAA Washington.

The average price for a gallon of gas in the Bellingham metro area was $3.92 on Friday, Feb. 24, up seven cents from the previous day. It’s also up 22 cents from a week earlier and up 35 cents from a month ago.

Diesel prices in Bellingham also took a big one-day jump, rising six cents to $4.35 a gallon.

Bellingham’s gas prices were the highest among Washington’s major metro areas, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report. The Seattle area had the next highest, at $3.88 a gallon. Spokane had the least expensive, at $3.40 a gallon.

The record average high price in Bellingham was set in June 2008, peaking at $4.50 a gallon. Bellingham’s record high for diesel was set in May 2008, hitting $4.98 a gallon.

Here’s the news release from the company:

Local CPA firm Larson Gross has signed a lease for 14,000 square feet on the fourth floor of the Dorothy Haggen Building in the Barkley District.

“We are currently bursting at the seams in our Bellingham office,” says Marv Tjoelker, Partner and firm CEO.  “We’ve even had to ask some of our team members to double up in offices in order to squeeze everyone in.”

Larson Gross has been in its current Bellingham location on Cornwall Avenue since 1993. Although the firm has been able to reclaim some space over the years by adopting a paperless mode of operation, the revamped space hasn’t kept up with the number of new team members added to meet client demand.

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