Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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President George W. Bush’s eulogy of Dick Cheney, his vice president, brought back memories of a kinder, gentler America—a time when those elected to office did what was best for our country not their political party. Bush reassuring words came after an unthinkable government shutdown (39 days) which paralyzed essential functions and threatened to stop flights during our country’s busiest travel time—Thanksgiving. The shutdown underscored how angry and bitterly divided...
“The U.S. market-based economic system where people, not government, decide what is produce and marketed is still the world’s “beacon of hope!” Poland and the United States are like two trains passing each other heading in opposite directions. Poland embraced our market-based economic system while America is drifting toward socialism and more government control which tend to stifle job growth, business opportunities, and prosperity. It comes down to affordability. Policies and government decisions impact peoples’ ability t...
During his first year, President Trump has been globetrotting attempting ink trade deals, repair tattered relationships, and attract manufacturing back to America. However, no mission has been more crucial than his recent trip to South Korea, Japan and China. Behind the bluster of new “reciprocal” tariffs was the simple fact that China is not only a manufacturing, trading and military challenge but it is our primary supplier of strategic metals. Not only is America short of RARE minerals, but metals such as iron, copper and...
The mood of the nation is ugly and getting worse. Deadly violence from guns, knives, fire-bombings and vehicles is rising. Social media is toxic. Things have to change for all of our sake. The tone of the discourse is hateful. For those of us who started as journalists in the late 1960s, we are left wondering if public trust can be restored and civility is again possible. Over the last 40 years our family has vacationed at the same place on the beach. While the buildings have been refurbished, the complex is still largely...
Water engines and sand batteries are novel ways to cut CO2 emissions and reduce China and Russia’s grip on vital energy materials. China, the world’s top miner and refiner of 17 rare earth metals (RARE), can chock off our supply whenever it feels it can leverage our country and allies around the world. It did so last June. Meanwhile, Russia cutoff natural gas and oil to the European Union (EU) when its army invaded Ukraine. To combat those embargos, Japanese automakers are devising ways to reduce the dependence on lit...
Hopefully, American and Chinese leaders' meetings to resolve trade differences will not breakdown and result in a new rift over reciprocal tariffs and export restrictions. Central to those discussions is China's worldwide dominance of rare earth minerals markets. China currently controls over 60 percent of global rare earth minerals mining and more than 80 percent of refining. Rare earths are important for their unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties,...
As salmon restoration ramps up on the Columbia River above Chief Joseph Dam, it is important to establish balances between those fish already in reservoirs behind dams and salmon being introduced. Completed in 1942, Grand Coulee Dam became the largest U.S. hydropower plant. It generates enough power to supply about 2 million households with electricity for one year. Water stored in Lake Roosevelt, which is 150 miles long and as deep as 375 feet, reduced downstream flooding....
With high school and college commencements over, employers now worry about the graduates’ preparedness to enter the work world. This year, 3.9 million students graduated from our high schools, marking the largest class on record. An additional 4.6 million scholars earned college degrees. Their expertise was graded from A to F. Grades are supposed to indicate accurate achievement, competence and knowledge. Employers are losing confidence in education assessments. Dumbing d...
The Polish people are perplexed by some Americans lack of appreciation for our market-based economic system where consumers, not government bureaucrats, decide what to buy, manufacture and consume. For example, they do not understand why New York City voters would elect Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old socialist, as mayor when he advocates a network of government stores to replace the wide variety of retailers from supermarkets to corner grocers. One trip to the Poland's...
Although President Donald Trump and Harvard’s recent spats make headlines, key issues in question affect all higher education. Harvard, our nation’s first college (1636), is a center of current civil disruption and antisemitic behavior. The timing is bad because high school graduates are finalizing their college choices or deciding to forego college altogether. Last year, Boston Magazine’s Jon Keller described Harvard as suffering from “A crushing cancel culture, accusat...
Too often, elected officials overlook the cumulative costs of regulations, taxes, and fees on taxpayers. However, those added costs come back to bite them hard when people pack up and move, businesses close, or take matters into their own hands and pass an initiative or referendum. Consider what has happened in high tax and cost of living states, such as California, New York, Illinois, and Connecticut. In 2023, the National Association of Realtors broke down migration data...
Before the Columbia River flood control system, spring blooms often coincided with large muddy floods inundating communities and farms. While the Midwest still faces threats from swollen rivers due to heavy rain and rapid snowmelt, the Columbia River basin does not. Our abatement efforts started with the completion of Grand Coulee Dam in 1942. Although flood control was its primary purpose, Grand Coulee Dam also provides water to irrigate 670,000 acres of farmland....
Washingtonians recall Ralph Munro’s distinctive political advertisements, which featured 30 seconds of bagpipe music followed by a brief tagline stating, “This interlude brought to you by the Munro campaign.” As unusual and refreshing as the ads were, they worked. They spared voters from the merciless pounding dished out by sparing politicians and their band of campaign hacks. As usual and refreshing as they were, they worked! They spared voters from the unmerciful candi...
As lawmakers meeting in Olympia wind up the 2025 session, they face a whopping $15 billion budget deficit—a situation they must address before adjourning and going home. Unlike Congress, state legislators and Gov. Bob Ferguson cannot authorize deficit spending or borrowing to the fund state government. They either raise taxes and fees; or cut costs programs and people. Washington is primarily funded by sales, property, specialized taxes (such as unemployment, workers compensat...
Dusts ups with our North American trading partners pop up periodically especially when there is global financial trouble. They can be acrimonious and strain relationships as President Donald Trump is learning. Trump, faced with excessive federal spending and our skyrocketing national debt ($36.6 trillion), re-launched his “Make America Great Again” initiative. It is a blueprint to stimulate job creation in America’s private sector and government efficiency. He wants inves...
In August 2002 during one of the worst fire seasons to that point in recent history, President George W. Bush launched the Healthy Forests Initiative aimed at reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires. It was a solid, common-sense plan intended to remove wood debris which fuels infernos and rehabilitate diseased, dying, and dead forests. It would generate revenue from wood sales which would be used to pay for healthier timberlands. The impetus came from the severe wildland...
Any battle over tariffs between the United States and Canada, China, and Mexico is worrisome, but if it escalates, it will hit Washington farmers particularly hard. Avoiding that possibility should be a primary goal. Tariffs could trigger new trade wars. The last retaliation in tariffs eight years ago hurt agriculture. "A trade war with economic partners is the last thing our farmers and ranchers need," said Congressman Dan Newhouse (R-WA4), whose family owns and operates an 8...
In his first month as President, Donald Trump has shaken our federal government to the core. Many argue that his “meat ax” approach to cutting government waste, abuse and spending is as harmful to our country as the current “runaway “spending and borrowing. Regardless, America needs a strong wakeup call. The question is where to go from here. Is there a better way? In short, we need good comprehensive audits of current programs to determine how and where our tax dollars...
During the 1992 presidential campaign, then-candidate Bill Clinton famously intoned, “I feel your pain,” reassuring voters he understood what they were going through. Since then, similar statements of empathy have become a staple for politicians; however, it does not always ring true with every constituent. Take small business owners, for example. Most elected officials have no idea what it is like to risk everything you have or to struggle to meet payroll for your emp...
In 2025, big investment money is going to nuclear power to offset the loss of reliable electricity from coal and natural gas-fired power plants. Those plants are closing to curb "greenhouse gas" emissions at a time when demand is skyrocketing. The Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee cites the rapid expansion of data centers as a driver in increased electricity use. Large data centers, an increase in high-tech manufacturing and growing electrification in homes, bui...
In the aftermath of the catastrophic fire which gutted Paris’ Cathedral of Notre Dame in 2019, President Emmanuel Macron announced it would be rebuilt within five years and promised it would be “more beautiful than before!” Macron, who remains head of a divided French government, saw restoration of the 13th Century church as a way to restore national pride and unite fellow French citizens. When interviewed just before Notre Dame’s massive doors re-opened on Dec. 7, Macron...
After years of odious political behavior, it is time for elected officials to focus on governing with civility and respect. It is time to go back to acting for the common good. Our country needs leaders, irrespective of party affiliation, to set aside differences and unite. America is weakened by the continual onslaught of character assassinations, false accusations, misinformation and bitterness, which has been pervasive over the last dozen years. We do not know who to trust...
Washington’s agriculture is a $12.8 billion business with 33,000 farms — and it runs on gasoline, diesel, and natural gas. The hundreds of big rigs hauling crops and food products are not electric. Even though new trucks have reduced CO2 and other pollutants, some politicians are hastily charging ahead to replace fossil-fueled trucks with unproven technology. According to 2021 Environmental Protection Agency data, transportation was responsible for 30 percent of gre...
When President Biden warned FEMA does not have enough money to finish the hurricane season let alone the entire year, it was surprising. Suddenly, we discovered federal disaster relief money may be insufficient for future hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes relief. The frequency of major hurricanes and massive wildfires is draining federal accounts, and replacement funds only add to our soaring national debt. That debt is weighing on our ability to operate our national...
America needs a statesperson of the stature, capability, and perspective of Daniel J. Evans as our next President. Dan Evans died on September 20 at the age of 98 after serving as our state’s three term governor, two term U.S. Senator, a state legislator and in many prominent civic and public positions beginning in the late 1950s. He was political and partisan, but Evans was pragmatic, tough and a problem-solver. He was a visionary who was not afraid to take a risk even if it...
