Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Sorted by date Results 520 - 544 of 1893
The last week has not been good for small businesses in our part of the state. The U.S. Postal Service began slowing “snail mail” services. Stores were ordered to stop using plastic bags and required to make their paying customers pay for a paper bag. And the state announced the minimum wage would jump to $14.49 per hour Jan. 1. If you don’t own or manage a business, this may seem overly dramatic. Who cares if it takes an extra day for your mail to arrive, right? It’s only 8...
Food security is often thought of as a national topic, but food security starts locally. Washington state is part of what the U.S. Department of Agriculture has dubbed the “Fruitful Rim.” Yet, we are also home to numerous “food deserts” where food is hard to come by. The USDA defines a food desert as a “low-income tract where a substantial number or substantial share of residents does not have easy access to a supermarket or grocery store.” More specifically, food deserts are...
Last week, the WIAA unveiled its state tournament allocations for fall sports. These allocations determine how many teams each district gets to send to the state playoffs in these sports, which around here, include football, soccer and volleyball. No changes were seen in soccer and volleyball. District 7, which includes Davenport and Reardan, was given one berth in girls soccer and three in volleyball for the 2B state playoffs. A fair allocation, as the number of 2B girls...
Poland and America are like two trains passing each other in opposite directions. That is becoming increasingly clear as President Biden rolls out his progressive agenda. The key question looking forward: “Will government or consumers drive our economy?” Poland broke the shackles of Soviet communist domination three decades ago. Free for the first time since World War II, Poland cast off its yoke of government control and central planning in favor of an American-style free enterprise system where consumers, not elected offici...
Earlier in September, Davenport Lions Club secretary Jim Reinbold extended an invitation to have me come speak and answer questions about my experience as editor of The Times thus far at the Lions’ Sept. 21 meeting. I gladly accepted on the draw of sharing some thoughts and receiving free food and beer as an exchange, and thought I’d share some of those thoughts in this week’s paper as well. After enjoying a meal of Salisbury steaks and mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans...
For the entire year, the Columbia Basin Development League has been pushing to ensure the White House infrastructure plan would include water infrastructure for agriculture. Drinking water infrastructure was a given, but funding for aging reservoirs, dams, canals, and pipes that deliver irrigation for crops was more elusive. So was funding for new infrastructure desperately needed by the Odessa Ground Water Replacement Program (OGWRP) that will replace water coming from a declining aquifer with reliable Columbia Basin...
There is an old humorous saying that goes something like, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” The expression certainly still applies to urban policymakers and commentators who seek to set agricultural policy in Washington state. The hard work of approximately 164,000 men and women in our agricultural industries produces more than 300 agricultural commodities. Our state’s agricultural industry ranks among the state’s top three economic engines. Yet un...
Sept. 11, 2001 – a day that no American who lived to see will ever forget. I was recently asked about where I was that day, and I remember it keenly, deeply. I think it's a question every American has an answer to-a moment engraved in time. Since it was early September, it was right in the middle of hop harvest. My cousin and I were working to unplug the picking machine, a more-than-common occurrence for hop farmers, when his wife called, crying. Those first moments that morning were ones of disbelief. Then, justification-it...
It is not surprising that COVID-19, which ravaged the world, was disastrous for our country’s economy. Millions died from COVID complications; offices, stores and factories closed; and people were forced to quarantine at home. The good news this Labor Day is vaccines are working and readily available. As a result, our job market has dramatically improved. People are eating out, shopping and traveling. Our economy is healing. Vaccines were developed and deployed at “warp speed” under President Donald Trump. Having Ameri...
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics were billed as the “Hydrogen Olympics” Then along came COVID and sporting events worldwide were put on hold. The summer games were delayed until 2021. Postponing the games cost Japan billions and thwarted its efforts to showcase the Japanese “Green Growth” strategies. Japan, like the U.S., plans to become carbon-neutral by 2050. While countries like China are betting on lithium batteries, Japan’s centerpiece is hydrogen. As Japanese researchers develop new technology using renewable electrici...
It’s clear: Parents in Washington are sick of their children being used as pawns by radicals in power who wish to destroy family, children and faith. Widespread protests against mask mandates at school and vaccine mandates at work have erupted statewide, with many calling out Gov. Jay Inslee for his aggressive misuses and abuses of emergency powers. This has largely been a fight for religious freedom and individual liberty, but it is creeping onto another deeply disturbing frontier — the fight for parental rights. The see...
The masking at schools and inside public places, regardless of vaccination status, is very questionable. The “one-size-fits-all” approach (typical government) should not apply to us in rural, sparsely populated areas, especially those with small numbers of students, small class sizes. Again, the medical people (CDC, National Institutes of Health, etc. are being overly cautious and unrealistic. Supposedly, some 600,000 have died from Covid in the U.S. With some 320 million people, this is only 0.18 percent of the pop...
Having lived in three developing countries for 17 years, I met very fine Americans, as well as arrogant and ignorant Americans. Representatives from the U.S. Embassy, USAID, Peace Corps, U.S. Military, UNICEf and UNESCO and missionaries are among those I encountered. Many stayed briefly, never getting to know the culture. Not fitting into any of those categories gave me special insight – into others and myself. Most Americans, including me, travel with American glasses on and don’t often see what is happening right bef...
On the evening of Aug. 29, several people smelled what they thought must be a natural-gas leak at the corner of First Avenue and Division Street in downtown Odessa. As calls went out to various Odessa governmental and emergency responders, as well as Avista, the natural-gas supplier for Odessa, the only immediate agency response came from Odessa Police Chief Les Jimerson. He came with lights flashing, cleared and blocked off the immediate area and then waited. And waited. And waited. Three hours or so later, an Avista truck a...
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics were billed as the “Hydrogen Olympics” Then along came COVID and sporting events worldwide were put on hold. The summer games were delayed until 2021. Postponing the games cost Japan billions and thwarted its efforts to showcase the Japanese “Green Growth” strategies. Japan, like the U.S., plans to become carbon-neutral by 2050. While countries like China are betting on lithium batteries, Japan’s centerpiece is hydrogen. As Japanese researche...
It’s clear: Parents in Washington are sick of their children being used as pawns by radicals in power who wish to destroy family, children and faith. Widespread protests against mask mandates at school and vaccine mandates at work have erupted statewide, with many calling out Gov. Jay Inslee for his aggressive misuses and abuses of emergency powers. This has largely been a fight for religious freedom and individual liberty, but it is creeping onto another deeply disturbing frontier — the fight for parental rights. The see...
Some of you will know me for my mediocre skills on the volleyball/cheer/softball teams, or as the girl driving combine on the family farm or as the kid rolling her eyes in the grocery store because her dad won’t stop talking to everyone. But this is who I am today—a third year medical student, who is shocked at how her community has handled the pandemic. I grew up in Davenport and while applying to medical school, one of the things I emphasized during the admission process was how proud I was to come from a rural com...
Rodgers issues statement on vaccine approval and political cartoon, pg 3 1. Representative Rodgers should have been correct as per, “this approval will build more confidence and trust in the vaccines” but der fuhrer Inslee’s dictate requiring vaccinated citizens to wear a mask just tells us that the vaccines do not work. They do, just our governor being an idiot sends the wrong message.. 2. The political cartoon on pg 3 made little sense since not smoking in the presence of others saves lives while study after study by top u...
On Monday, the governor announced COVID vaccine mandates for most state employees and health care workers or they could lose their jobs. While employees will be able to apply for religious or medical exemptions, I believe this is heavy-handed and unnecessary. Many of you know I contracted COVID, but I have since been vaccinated, given experience I had and the seriousness of this virus. I would add, the most important part of my job as your state representative is being able...
Liberals in Congress are actively campaigning to force price controls on drug manufacturers. The House has already passed bills that would limit the amount of money pharmaceutical companies can charge for drugs. The fate of this proposed legislation is uncertain in the U.S. Senate. At the same time, the Biden Administration and others on the political left are attacking the companies that have made the COVID-19 vaccines. They seek a waiver to the 1994 TRIPS Act, which was...
Parents of public school students in the 9th Legislative district have had enough of coronavirus-related mandates from Olympia. Shutter schools, curtail sports, wear masks, limit field trips and restrict access to graduation. Those actions have not been embraced here. And neither has Gov. Jay Inslee’s renewed call for all public school students to remain masked for the upcoming 2021-22 school year. Area parents are pushing back. This week, led by a group from Fairfield, many p...
Massive forest fires in western parts of our country are not only choking us with layers of thick smoke but are leaving behind millions of acres of scorched hillsides, ridges, and valleys. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, record wildfire seasons in recent years have destroyed millions of trees. Many forests have burned so severely that natural regeneration isn’t possible, making replanting necessary. Unfortunately, much of the U.S. Forest Service budget is diverted to f...
There was some good news recently coming out of a meeting concerning a 2019 law creating a state-run, long-term-care program to be funded through workers’ paychecks starting in January. In case you’re not in the loop, a payroll tax of 58 cents per $100, with no income cap, begins Jan. 1 to fund the Washington Cares Fund. Statutory employees earning $50,000 a year will pay $290 annually, those who make $100,000 will contribute $580 each year, and so on. Some workers who pay...
Response to a Trump presidency In response to “If Trump is president again, then what” (see letter to editor in July 15, 2021 issue of The Record), first of all he would make our country energy independent again by: 1. Completing the Keystone pipeline (lowering gas prices for the lower-income, hard-working American citizens). 2. Bringing the natural-gas pipeline from Alaska through Canada to millions of American citizens’ homes (cutting their utility bills and dealing with some of the concerns about “clean green energy...
Massive forest fires in the western parts of our country are not only choking us with layers of thick smoke, but are leaving behind millions of acres of scorched hillsides, ridges and valleys. Simply, there are not enough trees to absorb CO2 and prevent erosion. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, record wildfire seasons in recent years have destroyed millions of trees. Many forests have burned so severely that natural regeneration is not possible, which makes replanting...
