What’s happening in Whatcom County for Oct. 21
Outta Time
October 21, 2015, is the day Marty McFly and Doc Brown arrived in the future in the second Back to the Future film. Bellingham-area residents can check out the Back to the Future party from 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, outside the Pickford Film Center, which will be showing the 1989 movie “Back to the Future Part II” at 6:30 and 9 p.m.
Chief Futurist Dr. Allison Druin saw the movie as a grad student at MIT, and it changed her future. As a futurist, she now studies how to prepare for whatever the future holds. (Video by Ali Rizvi / McClatchy)
Amtrak celebration
In a real travel-centered anniversary but without a DeLorean, Amtrak Cascades will celebrate 20 years of passenger train service to Canada on Wednesday. U.S and Canadian officials along with Amtrak partners will mark the occasion with a ceremony at Pacific Central Station in Vancouver, B.C.
An analysis by the Washington State Department of Transportation shows Amtrak Cascades passengers spend $11 million annually in B.C., and a combined $110 million in all the station cities along the Portland, Ore., to Vancouver run.
Help for wildfire damage
Whatcom County will get federal assistance repairing or replacing facilities that were damaged by wildfires from Aug. 9 to Sept. 10, 2015. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Tuesday that federal disaster aid has been made available to Washington.
Wildfires known collectively as the Upper Skagit Complex Fire burned through areas of Whatcom County from mid-August through September.
Coal interests
Were you asked to participate in a phone survey about this year’s Whatcom County elections? Some of that polling was paid for by the company that would build a coal terminal at Cherry Point. SSA Marine gave more than $42,500 this year to the Republican Party, which conducted some of the polls. The terminal operator also formed its own Political Action Committee, Clear Ballot Choices, which did more surveys. The proposed coal terminal spent more than $80,000 on this year’s ballot, according to Public Disclosure Commission filings, more than any other group.
Canned seafood recall expands
Northwest Wild out of Astoria, Ore., became the latest company selling canned seafood to issue a recall over botulism concerns. It joins Fish Peddler, the Garibaldi cannery, and Ecola Seafoods, all out of Oregon, in recalling various canned products. All of those trace back to another Oregon company, Skipanon Brands, where a lack of documentation and possible underprocessing raised concerns of botulism.
This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 11:14 AM with the headline "What’s happening in Whatcom County for Oct. 21."