By Sandy Robson

December 15, 2021

Screengrab showing a September 12, 2021 Instagram post made by Fatima Muñoz from El Salvador featuring PacRim Bridges, LLC branding examples. This photo shows the PacRim Bridges, LLC logo and name (navy background, white graphics)

On November 12, 2021, numerous news media outlets reported that Washington state senator representing the 42nd Legislative District, Doug Ericksen (R-Ferndale), was sick and stranded in El Salvador after testing positive for COVID-19 shortly after traveling there. He reportedly had sent a November 11 email to Senate and House Republican legislators, seeking their potential help in obtaining advanced treatment (monoclonal antibodies — Regeneron) to send to him in El Salvador. 

Still frame from YouTube video recording showing Jim McKinney at the December 5, 2020, Santa Rebellion rally in Lynden, Washington

By Sandy Robson

December 12, 2020

Despite the alarming news being reported recently about the significant rising COVID-19 case numbers and death numbers in our nation, along with the warnings from health experts about the critical stage of the pandemic we are in presently, a potential COVID-19 superspreader event was held last week on December 5 in Lynden, Washington.

The event was the “Santa Rebellion” rally, after which, a lighted Christmas Parade on Front St. in Lynden, followed on that same evening.

Click the graphic to access a PDF copy of The Searchlight Review’s full, December 2019, “A Report on the Reports – Examining public records relating to the Center for Economic and Business Research’s 2014 and 2019 ‘Employment at Cherry Point’ reports”

By Sandy Robson

December 10, 2019

Editor’s note: The Searchlight Review assembled “A Report on the Reports” based primarily on public records related to Western Washington University’s Center for Economic and Business Research’s 2014 and 2019 “Employment at Cherry Point” reports sponsored by the Whatcom Business Alliance. Readers can view a pdf copy of The Searchlight Review’s full report, released on December 10, 2019, here. The Introduction, Executive Summary, and Conclusion sections of Searchlight Review’s report are provided below, along with an interactive slideshow containing screenshots of email records which are included in the report. 

Photo of Rader Farms sign taken in Lynden, WA on August 5, 2018

By Sandy Robson

April 12, 2019

A forum featuring a panel of individuals representing local farming interests was held on March 6, 2019, at the Meridian High School auditorium, in Bellingham, Washington.

The forum, “Whatcom Agriculture – Is There A Future for Farming in Whatcom County?” was hosted by Common Threads Northwest, a local conservative organization that was created in early 2015. Common Threads Northwest essentially assumed the role of the Whatcom Tea Party after it became defunct in March of 2017.

Screenshot photo of WBA President Tony Larson’s “Leading Off” column featured in the Fall 2017 issue of Business Pulse Magazine. Click the graphic to access the Fall 2017 issue of Business Pulse, and the page 10 article

By Sandy Robson

February 24, 2018

The Fall 2017 issue of Whatcom Business Alliance’s support publication, Business Pulse Magazine, featured WBA President Tony Larson’s “Leading Off” column, titled “Apparently doing the right thing is just not enough: How to protect your business against, [sic] unwanted, uninformed demonstrators.”