Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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BASIN CITY - Thousands of rodeo fans turned out Friday and Saturday, June 25 and 26, to watch the second Freedom Rodeo. Temperatures neared 100 degrees at performance time Friday night and topped 105 at the start of Saturday's rodeo. To keep cool, several fans put on canopies on the rim of the arena, while at least one family brought a toddler wading pool and filled it with water. The event got underway Friday morning with slack competition and a vendor area, compete with...
This Sunday, our nation celebrates Independence Day. And on this 245th birthday of our United States, it’s important to take time to remember why we mark July 4. Sure we celebrate the holiday with barbecues and fireworks, parades and apple pie. But that’s not what it is about. Independence Day is about freedom from tyranny. It’s about being able to own property, speak your mind, worship how you want, gather together, be protected from government corruption and overreach and, when necessary, defend yourself not just from...
SPOKANE – It's going to be a record-setting day, in terms of high temperatures that is. According to National Weather Service meteorologist Laurie Nisbet in Spokane, the region should set all-time record high temperatures this afternoon. Nisbet this morning went through decades of weather data for several small towns within the Free Press Publishing readership area from Spokane to Pasco and Odessa to Colfax. In Colfax, today's recorded record high is 100 degrees, set in 1...
OLYMPIA – Gov. Jay Inslee announced a new eviction “bridge” program this morning, June 24, but landlords will not likely see rent payments any time soon. Inslee said the existing coronavirus-related eviction moratorium will expire June 30. However, under his new mandate, landlords are still generally prohibited from evicting tenants that owe past-due rent and even future rent, if a tenant has attempted to negotiate a lower rate or is seeking rental assistance money. That money will be available through county agencies once...
There’s a lot of talk about endangered species. But the most important endangered species in America, may not be a plant or a wild animal. The most endangered species may actually be in your home, a friend’s home or next door. The endangered species I’m talking about is the American Dad. This coming Sunday is Father’s Day, the one day set aside each year to honor the American Dad. Honoring and thanking the fathers in your life should be your highest priority this weekend...
PASCO — Most of Eastern Washington will remain under a heat advisory through 8 p.m. Thursday night, June 3, as temperatures break into the 100s for the first time this summer. According to the National Weather Service, the Lower Columbia Valley can expect temperatures to remain at or above 100 degrees. The temperature already hit 104 degrees in the Pasco area today, June 2, officials said. "Hot temperatures may cause heat illnesses," the National Weather Service advisory said,...
OLYMPIA – The state Department of Labor and Industries is requiring business owners to verify employees have been vaccinated. Under the new May 21 mandate, the agency is also requiring employers to create a “log of workers who have verified they’ve been vaccinated and the date of verification. “I believe they are crossing the line,” farmer Sen. Mark Schoessler, R-Ritzville, said Tuesday, May 25, reacting to the new mandate. The rule also requires employers to check vaccinati...
Masks are coming off. Most residents wanting a coronavirus vaccination have gotten one. Sports are on and students are back in the classroom. It’s not a coronavirus emergency that’s keeping Washingtonians from going back to work. Over the past several weeks, I’ve had numerous conversations with owners and managers trying to get their small businesses back on solid financial ground. Given residents’ frustration of being pent up for more than 14 months, you’d think that woul...
PASCO – Five voters led by a Pasco City Councilman have filed a petition to recall Gov. Jay Inslee from office for abusing the powers of his office during the coronavirus pandemic last year. The recall petition was filed with the Secretary of State’s Office in Olympia on Monday, May 17. Gov. Inslee has yet to respond to the recall petition. Under the state Constitution, any elected official in the state can be removed from office for misfeasance, malfeasance and violating an...
Masks are coming off. Most residents wanting a coronavirus vaccination have gotten one. Sports are on and students are back in the classroom. It’s not a coronavirus emergency that’s keeping Washingtonians from going back to work. Over the past several weeks, I’ve had numerous conversations with owners and managers trying to get their small businesses back on solid financial ground. Given residents’ frustration of being pent up for more than 14 months, you’d think that woul...
Davenport seventh-grader Chloe Hammond is tagged at the plate after scoring on a grand slam homerun Monday evening, April 26, during a middle school fast pitch softball game in Tekoa. The Gorillas fell, 22-20, to the Tekoa-Rosalia Timberwolves....
OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to sign a bill today that would begin the process of removing statues of perhaps the state's most prominent figure from the Capitol building and the National Statuary in Washington, D.C. The governor has called an 11:30 a.m. signing ceremony, where he will sign House Bill 1372 into law. The bill would replace the statues of Pacific Northwest pioneer, teacher and missionary Marcus Whitman. They will be replaced with statues of Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually tribal fishing rights activist. T...
OLYMPIA – Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday, April 8, that moving a county backwards for at least three weeks in his phased reopening plan may provide the impetus to improve vaccination rates. During his press conference, the governor said there has been a recent increase in coronavirus cases in some counties. And as a result, he’ll be looking at the “numbers” Monday to determine which counties should be bounced backward toward closure. “This is not judgment day Monday,” he said. “The score is the score… The numbers will be...
PULLMAN — Washington State University has sold naming rights of the field in Martin Stadium to Tri-Cities-based Gesa Credit Union. The university and financial business have signed a 10-year deal naming the field as Gesa Field. The value of the contract is valued at more than $11 million, officials said. "Washington State University was established 130 years ago to serve the citizens of our state," university President Kirk Schulz said today in announcing the deal. "That commi...
ST. JOHN – The Odessa Tigers (3-0) juggernaut hit the century mark for the first time this season as they dominated the St. John-Endicott-LaCrosse Eagles (0-2) on the gridiron Wedneday night, March 3. "We just had a tough game," Eagles Coach Richard Hallenius said on the field after the blowout. "It's obvious why they're the state champs. They have a lot of kids versus our 11." For the Tigers part, every one of their nearly 30 players took the field for several minutes of t...
It’s a solution in search of a problem. Lawmakers in Olympia appear to be fast-tracking House Bill 1356, which would ban the use of “racially derogatory or discriminatory” American Indian mascots, logos and team names in public schools in the state. Simply put, the bill is political theater, nonsense that kowtows to the politically correct crowd that’s bent on cancelling our culture, heritage and history. The bill is quickly moving through the Legislature even though I think...
Have you bought into Gov. Jay Inslee’s newest coronavirus recovery scheme, his “Healthy Washington-Roadmap to Recovery?” If you haven’t, you’re not alone. In fact, many people around the state are objecting to it. From Whitman County on the Idaho border to Whatcom County in Northwest Washington, county commissioners and local health officials are standing up and objecting to the governor’s attempt to strip local health care authority and give it to those he would appoint in...
UPDATE: Hours after the press conference, the Governor's Office announced that areas moving to "Phase 2" can do so Sunday, Feb. 14, to allow restaurants, bars, taverns and theaters to be open for indoor service on Valentine's Day. ODESSA — Lincoln County will move ahead to Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee's newest coronavirus reopening plan beginning Monday. In a press conference today, Thursday, Feb. 11, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that 92 percent of all residents will be in Phase 2...
ODESSA – At least one athletics organization is ranking the Odessa Tigers as the top 1B football team to beat in Washington state. In a preseason ranking released earlier this week by SBLive.com, Odessa is ranked as the top 8-man football team in the state, followed by league rival Almira/Coulee-Hartline. The Tigers went 13-0 in the fall 2019 season and have been waiting to get on the gridiron to defend their state title. Odessa running back Marcus King graduated, but q...
ODESSA – The local high school principal has taken Gov. Jay Inslee to task for the unfair treatment of local student athletes. Principal Jamie Nelson spelled out local frustrations in a letter on the inequities being imposed on schools in violation of the state Constitution. Nelson sent the letter to the governor, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal and Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Executive Director Mick Hoffman last week. Nelson s...
The culture, heritage and history of Eastern Washington — indeed all of Washington and Oregon history — is under fire again in Olympia. I’m talking about an effort this year in the House to erase Marcus Whitman’s significance from the halls of the Capitol building in Olympia and the national statuary in Washington, D.C. Pushed by lawmakers, who obviously lack a full understanding of Whitman’s significance, House Bill 1372 seeks to replace the bronze Marcus Whitman statues w...
OLYMPIA – Sen. Majority Leader Andy Billig said Wednesday night that Eastern Washington residents will be “glad” about changes in coronavirus edicts relating to business opening expected to be announced today. “There is going to be an announcement by the governor to adjust the metrics,” Billig, D-Spokane, said during a digital meeting broadcast on social media. “There will be some additional flexibility.” Indoor service for restaurants, bars, gyms, theaters, bowling alleys and other businesses have been shuttered sin...
Protests are nothing new in Olympia. Each year, thousands of protesters converge on legislative sessions to rally for special causes, object to government activities and generally just remind lawmakers who they work for. I cannot recall a time that the Capitol Building, other legislative office buildings and the state library weren’t available for public access. Indeed, each year I wander the Capitol campus during session to personally deliver a newspaper to those who r...
Protests are nothing new in Olympia. Each year, thousands of protesters converge on legislative sessions to rally for special causes, object to government activities and generally just remind lawmakers who they work for. I cannot recall a time that the Capitol Building, other legislative office buildings and the state library weren’t available for public access. Indeed, each year I wander the Capitol campus during session to personally deliver a newspaper to those who r...
OLYMPIA -- The Washington National Guard and the Washington State Patrol took up positions around the Capitol today in advance of the opening of the legislative session. Their deployment came as two protests took place in the city. The only damage reported was a broken window smashed when some Black Lives Matter protesters broke off from the main protest downtown and marched to the Capitol campus, where state troopers awaited them. After the window damage, the group retreated...
