Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Sorted by date Results 382 - 406 of 1893
Oh those caravans of invaders coming across the Southern Border. We must deal with them by sending them back to fix their countries of origin; leaving them to suffer and be harassed at the border; and/or transporting them to Democratically-run cities in the north where it is freezing cold, and they know no one. What an absurd way to “welcome the stranger”. Meanwhile, there is a labor shortage – older people are not working to full retirement age of 70; others are not interested in jobs that are not suitable because of hours...
Coupled with rapid growth of data centers we rely upon for internet service and information storage is an increased demand for electricity to power millions of computers and cool the mammoth buildings in which they operate. Data center computers are integral to our everyday life and store everything from cooking recipes to complex engineering blueprints. They are heavy power users consuming 10-50 times the energy per floor space of a typical commercial office. Energy...
It is time to change the way things are done in our nation’s capital---the “Other Washington!” The year-end Christmas dash to pass a $1.7 trillion spending monstrosity is the straw breaking the camel’s back. It is a 4,000-page document which lawmakers freely admit they did not read. To put the problem into perspective that one bill contains 17 times more money than the entire two-year state budget for Washington. It’s an unfathomable sum of money and its vast scope has not g...
The Washington State Auditor has completed a performance audit of the Employment Security Department and has found the agency still has not corrected its systemic performance and fraud problems uncovered during the COVID-19 pandemic. After the complete failure of the agency to handle pandemic unemployment claims, which culminated in the resignation of Commissioner Suzi LeVine in 2021, state lawmakers passed several key pieces of legislation to require the agency to reform...
Since becoming an adult and moving from Western Washington to Eastern Washington, I have a short history of traveling over the New Years holiday. Whether it was a sunny getaway with friends, a short visit to visit family or a bit of both, rarely have I rung in the New Year from where I was residing at the time since adulthood began. One year, it was a trip to St. George's, Utah with a rendezvous in Las Vegas with friends. Sounds like a dream, except none of us were 21 yet....
A strong mind and body are crucial to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I learned that while recently completing basic training for the U.S. Army at Fort Sill, Okla. I was never a stranger to the gym. In fact, I spent every morning working out at FIT gym in downtown Colfax prior to leaving for the military. As a regular there, I always focused on strength training and cardio. Afterward, I would get my morning cappuccino and find myself at my desk in the bullpen at The Whitman...
As a youngster, I looked forward to Christmas. I loved the food, the traditions and especially the presents - what kid doesn't? In high school and college, the luster subsided. As a wrestler, Christmas was a time for fasting so I didn't have to move up a weight class. I dreaded running extra bleachers, doing additional up-downs and all the "fat man" jokes from teammates. Christmas would become just one of those "OK" holidays for me after college. As a journalist, I would be...
What have we learned since the 2020 election? No matter how ill-founded the lie, if continually repeated for two years--the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen--many people will believe it. Repeating lies has been utilized, sometimes successfully, by presidential candidates before. But previously it’s been used before election, not continually repeated for two years thereafter, never to subvert our democracy, and terminated with electoral results accepted. Besides promoting the Big Lie, Cathy McMorris Rodge...
The Holiday Season is an especially difficult time for anyone grieving lost loved ones. Evergreen wreaths placed on veterans’ graves across America help to ease that pain. More than 2.5 million red-ribboned wreaths were placed by thousands of volunteers, including many family members, on December 17. Those wreaths are made from clippings of balsam firs dedicated to deceased veterans. Each tree growing in Maine has the “dog tags” identifying the fallen service member. The t...
Former state senator and current state Director of Commerce Lisa Brown rightly describes the difficulties a small business startup faces in Washington. Brown says the state Department of Commerce is helping small business owners navigate the complicated array of regulations and mandates that the very same government agency had previously imposed. But Brown completely glosses over the underlying problem small businesses face when they first start; that is, over complex...
Question Just out of curiosity, why do people concerned about the quality of care at the clinic or anywhere in the OMHC run to Facebook 411? Instead of taking this concern, where the issue can be discussed with the board of directors at OMHC? I assume it has much to do with convenience or laziness. All this does is further drive down public confidence in the OMHC. This in my opinion, is one of the bigger reasons for our excellent facilities’ decline in patient usage. After all, we are one of only two towns in Lincoln C...
Question: What is meant by the term protein degradability and what does it mean for beef cows? Protein degradability is a term used in ruminant nutrition and therefore applies only to ruminant animals like cattle, sheep, and goats, etc. To get a handle on this concept let’s define crude protein (CP), and how it is measured, and then relate it to ruminant nutrition. The CP content of feed is measured by analyzing for the total nitrogen (N) in the feed and multiplying by 6.25 (...
I’ll soon be hopping into the pickup for the long drive from Olympia back home to Ritzville. These past few days were spent in our state capital for Senate Assembly Days, which has included several committee, caucus and individual meetings. Things got busy even before I reached Olympia. On my way west last Tuesday, I stopped in Ellensburg to meet with the new president of Central Washington University, Jim Wohlpart, over a cup of coffee. We had a good chat about a number of t...
In June, Gov. Jay Inslee dictated there would be a permanent COVID-19 vaccine mandate that extended beyond the reach of his emergency powers. When the Legislature convenes in the new year, our other elected representatives need to take that unfair requirement away. I was told it might be possible with a budget proviso. For now, rules have been written — effective Nov. 4 — and a COVID-19 vaccine is now required for taxpayer-funded employment in state executive and small cab...
I was surprised to learn that Republicans are starting to use Ranked Choice voting to choose their candidates in their internal primaries. I thought Ranked Choice Voting appealed only to Left wing types. One reason I’ve read that many people like Ranked Choice Voting is because it allows everyone to vote for their favorite candidate without worrying their vote will be wasted if their first choice does not win, since if their favorite candidate gets tossed out, then their second choice gets counted as their vote. Another r...
Despite higher prices, inflation and safety concerns, more Christmas shoppers are browsing on-line but making in-store purchases. The National Retail Federation reported an estimated 166.3 million people visited stores from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year — an 8 million increase from last year. The good news extends to on-line sales. E-commerce retail revenues this year are projected to grow to $554 billion compared to $360 billion in 2019—the first year of...
Thanksgiving was my favorite time of year growing up, and in many ways, it still is. Of course, some of that magic has disappeared as I get older, but the meaning remains the same. For me, Thanksgiving at its core is about family and spending time together. Unfortunately, as the years have passed, I have lost much of my family due to cancer or other ailments. As we all get older, our friends can sometimes become more like our family when our own is missing. As a result, we...
Dr. Don Llewellyn Livestock Extension Specialist Director, WSU Lincoln County Extension, Davenport, WA Myth: The mystique of "water belly". Here's one that is especially relevant for our youth producers and their animals for the fair. I think most cattle producers who have been around the business for a good while will agree that when you think you have about seen it all, eventually you will get a big surprise. Such is the case with "water belly." First, let's point out here...
Give President Joe Biden some credit for mid-term election Democratic successes when most everyone, including the media, predicted otherwise. Instead of focusing on himself, he quietly avoided states where he’s unpopular and helped Democrats win Pennsylvania where he grew up and is still popular. He presented us with our country’s greatest challenge: to save our democracy from autocratic ambitions of the MAGA faction that dominates the Republican party. He inherited a mess and time spent cleaning it up detracted from tim...
If you read the headline of this column and first thought, “what in the world are they talking about,” we don’t blame you. Let us explain. A good chunk of our staff was born in the dreaded millennial era, and sadly, many from this era have made the hit TV show “The Office” their entire personality. While we don’t claim to have suffered this setback, sometimes, a Michael Scott quote or two creeps into our minds in rather unhelpful situations. Take, for instance, the 2022 general election. (Michael Scott, for those unaware, is...
Forest health, climate change, and a plan that got almost no input before being announced is at the heart of the "carbon project" announced by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources last week. The project, developed by Finite Carbon, proposes to set aside 10,000 acres of forest in Western Washington, once set aside for marbled murrelet habitat and then cleared for logging, for carbon offsets that can be purchased by large companies in trade for their greenhouse...
Editor's note: Byrne Bennett is a reporter for the Lincoln County Record-Times. Any opinion expressed in this column is his own and not necessarily that of The Record-Times or Free Press Publishing. President Ronald Reagan once said, "America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere." The members of our Armed Forces are the keepers of that beacon. If not for them, that light would have been snuffed out decades ago. Veterans Day...
Lowering our flags to half-staff is a solemn act that recognizes our fallen heroes, whether they be men and women in our armed forces or police officers killed in the line of duty. It is a vivid reminder of the ultimate sacrifice made by those who serve us. Unfortunately, after those flags return to the top of the pole and time passes, we tend to forget that the suffering for the friends and families continues. The loneliness, financial stress, and emotional strain lives on....
One recent October day, I looked around and suddenly realized things had changed. No, it wasn’t the fact that since my recent marriage, I can’t seem to find where anything is located in the kitchen. It was newspaper-related, and it was an excellent change: We had a staff, a staff that is doing an exceptional job at their vocation. As a result, our advertising has grown (please keep it this way and keep buying ads, Lincoln County businesses, please and thank you), our sto...
It's no secret that crime has worsened throughout Washington in recent years, thanks to laws passed by the Democrat-controlled Legislature and a decrease in the number of law-enforcement officers in many communities. While we've seen a spike in many areas of crime, retail theft and other retail crimes are especially a problem. Retail crimes hurt not only stores and shops, but also consumers because these crimes force retailers to raise prices. The Legislature, the governor...
