As the city moves closer to adopting its 2010 budget, Blaine City Council members are grappling with how to balance across the board cuts in funding.

The Blaine Community Theater may be out of space but that doesn’t mean it’s out of commission.

Those wanting an affordable, eco-friendly way to head up to the slopes this season are in luck.

Anyone who has looked up at Mount Baker from a distance may have wondered what it might be like to summit the smoldering, snow-covered giant or ski down its pristine backcountry slopes.

Blaine’s annual winter art festival continues this weekend and the next downtown in the old Goff’s store with a mind-boggling variety of hand-made creations ranging from socks to photos, pottery to hand-made brooms, acrylic art to molten glass and goat’s milk soap.

After five years working on commercial fishing boats, Dick Vander Yacht began a 48-year career as a customs broker working at Border Brokerage Company, a pioneer Blaine business formed in 1927.

The year is 2012 and the economy has crashed, bringing the state of Washington back to the times of the wild west. With the snowboarding industry non-existent, a group of outlaws and renegades still find their will to live through their passion for riding.