- is out and on racks throughout Bellingham and Whatcom County. Pick it up. Give it a chance. It is actually going to try and report local news - city hall and the court house and the issues that affect us all. It will strive for a balanced perspective but it may take a few issues to get itself settled with an editorial viewpoint that meets that standard.

With our support this paper may succeed where other papers trying to compete against the Gannett Empire's Bellingham Herald have failed. We all complain about the poor news coverage in the Herald. You visit this site to learn some of what the Herald does not report. Well, we all need to support this new paper. If it survives then it will nudge the Herald to do a better job of reporting and we all win. Competition does great things. The Herald needs a little competition. Pick up the Independent.