Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Sorted by date Results 2 - 26 of 1962
When Washington's tax on CO2 emissions dropped significantly last month, I predicted that gas prices would decline compared to neighboring states. I tweeted: "Well, with such a large decline - 20 cents per gallon - we can see if the gap between Washington and neighboring states like Oregon and Idaho, gets smaller over the next month. It will take some time for prices to filter through the system, so let's all meet back here in a month and see what happened." It is one month...
As with most general elections, there are important races on the Nov. 3 ballot. And with congressional, legislative and county races, it's easy to overlook the significance of the state Supreme Court contests. But this year, more than others, voters have a chance to upend the chronic cronyism on the state's highest court. This year, voters have a chance to put some balance back into a court that's all too often sided with government over the voters. Over the last few decades,...
Carmela Conroy has all the values, experience and diplomacy needed to pass legislation that will correct the shameful voting record of congressional Republican incumbent Michael Baumgarnter in the Nov. 3 election. From his first day in office, Baumgartner has been out-of-touch and a rubberstamp for reckless military conflicts, devastating trade policies, an increasing national debt and a Trump agenda that has made life unaffordable for Washingtonians. We need an effective U.S. District No. 5 representative for Eastern...
Over the years, there have been several occasions when a judge or the state Supreme Court has issued a ruling that was unpopular with many Washingtonians. The recent ruling by the state Supreme Court overturning the initiative protecting natural gas comes to mind. However, sometimes a court decision turns out well, at least from my perspective. Here is a case in point: Last Friday, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Schaller permanently blocked the most controversial parts of the new state law passed earlier this...
Protecting children from abusers is a no-brainer. Current state and federal laws protect student records from parents and legal guardians who are defendants in criminal investigations into abuse of their own children. IL26-001 would remove that protection, forcing schools to release confidential information to these defendants. Current laws protect student records from abusive parents and legal guardians. Why change what works? Transgender girls playing sports is a complex issue. That’s why Washington’s policy, since 2007, ha...
We are in campaign season leading up to the November elections. It is disheartening so many eligible voters don’t vote, letting other voices determine their future. What kind of country do we want? If you don’t vote, you are stuck with how others think – and obviously you don’t agree with a lot of ideas appearing on TV, online, or in the newspapers. Winning candidates can decide everything from gas prices to medical care, to housing affordability, to location of data centers, to treatment of immigrants and refugees, to how...
I read Roger Harnack’s column about I-645 and wish you could get this info out to a larger audience. What really frustrates me is the scare tactics used to encourage a no vote on this initiative. They go on and on about all the money that would be lost to schools, etc. But these are moneys that do not exist – they are amounts that could be raised by this income tax. Please do what you can to get this column and its vital information out where more people can read it. I had already decided on a no vote, but others I speak wit...
Saturday night, I had an opportunity to listen to Brian Heywood of Let’s Go Washington talk about the measures he propelled to the Nov. 3 general election ballot in our state. He spent extra time discussing Initiative 645, the measure that would repeal the state’s so-called “millionaire tax.” In listening, I learned something new about the income tax that will go into effect in 2028, unless repealed. Let’s step back a minute for a quick explanation. The new income tax was e...
The U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service released proposed regulations Oct. 1 on governing the new Education Free Tax Credit, giving states, taxpayers and scholarship organizations a detailed roadmap ahead of the program's Jan. 1 launch. The new federal program provides taxpayers with a dollar-for-dollar, nonrefundable federal income tax credit of up to $1,700 for qualifying cash donations to approved scholarship-granting organizations. One of the most...
On Nov. 3, Washington voters will decide whether to enact Initiative 645. The proposal would repeal a new 9.9% income tax, with a current statutory exemption of $1 million, that is scheduled to take effect in 2028. Despite the Washington State Supreme Court repeatedly ruling this type of income tax unconstitutional, the Legislature imposed it this year anyway while attaching an emergency clause to prevent a voter referendum. Unable to pursue a referendum, opponents qualified I...
The newest numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show Washington’s farmers and ranchers went from last in earned income in 2024 to 30th in 2025. The data offers some hints about how the rebound happened and why it might not last long. In 2024, the USDA numbers looked grim for our agricultural future with earned income recorded at -$238 million. The 2025 numbers show a remarkable rebound of about $1.27 billion in earned income for the year. That kind of recovery s...
Data Center siting and community tradeoffs What is a data center? The definition, according to the artificial intelligence responding to my ChatGPT query: "A data center is essentially a specialized building-or group of buildings-filled with computers and the equipment needed to keep those computers operating continuously and reliably. At its simplest, you can think of it as a large industrial facility whose product is computing rather than a physical good." "The cloud" lives...
The hypocrisy surrounding state mail-in voting is astounding. While Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs is cheering the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Sept. 14 that effectively halted the federal government from accessing and auditing voter rolls prior to the Nov. 3 election, his office has been giving the same information away to a not-for-profit group — the Electronic Registration Information Center — for years. And it’s not just Hobbs; 21 other states and the city of...
If you're like many this weekend, you're heading down to Odessa to help celebrate its 55th annual Deutschesfest. It's a time honored celebration that honors the early German Russian settlers of the area complete with traditional German music and cuisine. While there's always plenty to see and eat, you might give yourself a little extra time and visit their wonderful museum to learn a bit more about the area's history. On that note, I thought it might be fun to revisit an enter...
This year's fires have been devastating with an unprecedented scale of destruction. Seeing so many people evacuated, lives disrupted and homes lost has been heartbreaking. Yet, it has also been inspiring to see our community rally and react with courage, starting with our first responders, firefighters, law enforcement officers, and continuing with so many people who have stepped forward to help their neighbors. If I could list each church, state, city and county agency, all...
For years, Seattle's environmental establishment has delivered a remarkably consistent message about fish: No sacrifice is too great. Tear down dams. Replace billions of dollars in infrastructure. Find replacement electricity. Replace barge transportation. Figure out what happens to agriculture and irrigation. Spend billions more doing all of the above. Why? Because salmon are sacred and dramatic action is not only justified but morally necessary. Unless, apparently, the...
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It has to be fought for and defended by each generation.” On July 6, 1987, President Ronald Reagan addressed the Kiwanis International Convention and warned that America’s way of life based on freedom is fragile. “It is the mind of man -- free to invent, free to experiment, free to dream -- that will shape the economy and the world of the future,” Reagan added. Our system of government of the people with a co...
The recent news that our national debt has swollen to $40 trillion should be the “bucket of ice water” America needs to finally address our financial woes. Our nation is on an unsustainable borrowing trajectory, and it is getting much worse! If left unattended, we will drown in red ink. The federal debt is larger than the entire value of the goods and services produced in our country. Our economy, as measured by gross domestic product, was valued at over $32 trillion in the se...
When striking workers receive unemployment insurance benefits in Washington state, they are now expected to search for work. Imagine that! This makes perfect sense to me, and luckily it does to the feds, too. The United States Department of Labor has warned the state Employment Security Department that its current work-search rule is "out of conformity with federal law and must be immediately remedied." If it isn't, it could lose federal funding for administration of the...
Why do people vote against their best interests? This age-old question is relevant for many Michael Baumgartner voters. My father many years ago opined that people so dreamt of joining the rich that they closely related to them and voted with them. But economic mobility has greatly diminished, including by the billionaire-friendly “One Big Beautiful Bill” championed by Baumgartner, so those dreams should be rudely awakened by reality. Hard work now may not ensure economic security. Vowing to make Democrat Barack Obama a one...
Thankfully, more Americans are saying “Thank You” again and more frequently. It is the best way to offer your sincere appreciation. A 2026 StudyFinds.com national survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that the average American says “thank you” more than 2,200 times a year, equating to about six times per day studyfinds.com. Importantly, 57% of respondents reported saying “thank you” more frequently than the year before.” The survey also determined that Americans are feeling more...
When I'm not working as the 9th Legislative District's state senator, I focus my time and energy on my other job as a wheat farmer. Many farmers in Eastern Washington are finishing their harvest for the year. In fact, my crew and I wrapped up our wheat harvest just a couple of days ago. It was a good harvest this summer. The long hours and hot days were worth it. Wheat is just one of many crops that our state's farmers and orchardists grow each year. Other crops include apples...
I have discussed in previous articles about how risk insurance in the State of Washington is out of control. But how did we get here? In the 1960's, Washington lawmakers waived something called sovereign immunity for the state, counties, cities, and other local governments. Sovereign immunity is legal protection that generally keeps government from being sued. Back then, Washington lawmakers chose to remove that protection so people harmed by government negligence could seek...
There are plenty of things I expected to sacrifice during my deployment to D.C. Quiet country roads? Obviously. Having my own car? I knew that was coming. But I was not prepared to discover that grocery shopping would become an endurance sport. After months of living in hotels, I finally moved into an apartment with a full kitchen. A stove! A microwave! Actual counter space! I was ready to cook real meals again and stop treating DoorDash like a food group. There was just one...
