Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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In a U.S. Chamber of Commerce poll released in early December, the findings spell trouble for America’s employers – both private and public. It found that more than 60% of the respondents are in no hurry to return to work and over a third of the unemployed are not actively going after a job or looking at all. The problem is growing worse. A large number of respondents feel they can get by for at least another six months before they have to find employment. The survey dis...
Under the guise of water conservation, the state Department of Ecology is once again moving to take water rights from farmers, ranchers and other private holders. Last month, the agency announced plans to fund creation of local “water banks,” in addition to the state “water bank” already in existence. The agency says the program helps municipalities buy water rights from private owners. It has set $14 million aside for the program. The goal, agency spokesman Jimmy Norris...
Due to the federal government changing the unemployment benefit eligibility rules mid-pandemic, some Washington residents, who have been receiving unemployment benefits, will now have repay the benefits despite being approved to receive benefits initially. The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, launched shortly after the pandemic started, did not fully verify that a benefit claimant was eligible for program benefits. Claimants that applied under the rules of the...
Thanksgiving has passed, which means Christmas season is officially here. Read that first sentence again, and hinge on the importance of the initial phrase. “Thanksgiving has passed” is what truly signifies that the Christmas season has arrived. Now, officially, is when it becomes appropriate to begin preparing for December 25. We’re getting a little too out of hand with all the Christmas themed items hitting the aisles, soundwaves and minds the minute children come home...
Remember the television ad where the auto mechanic looks viewers straight in the eye and says: “You can pay me now or pay me later!” The message: if you change your car’s oil and filter every 5,000 miles, you can avoid a disastrous engine replacement later? The same principle applies to our national debt. Congress can either take steps to control spending and debt now, or watch interest payments swallow up our hard-earned tax dollars and starve needed programs. Ignoring massi...
The more people hear about Washington’s coming long-term-care law and payroll tax, the less people like it — and for good reason. A class-action lawsuit has been filed against it, an initiative is being pursued, and Idaho sent the state a cease-and-desist order concerning the law that even impacts workers who live in other states. Starting in January, the unpopular law imposes a stiff new tax of 58 cents per $100 earned for every W2 worker in the state, with no income cap...
Dear Editor: Each Thanksgiving it is important to pause and reflect on all that we have to be grateful for. Especially over the last nearly two years of COVID, we at the UW School of Medicine-Gonzaga University Health Partnership appreciate and are very thankful for the physicians and healthcare workers in Odessa and Davenport, who, despite unprecedented stress and hardship, continued to train our medical students. We desperately need more high-quality, well-trained physicians and we simply could not achieve that goal without...
The last 20 months have been exceedingly difficult for most Americans. Across the country there have been coronavirus mandates, riots, increasing taxes, job losses and more. The crime rate in many areas is skyrocketing. Many stores have empty shelves. And mental health problems are out of control. The stress we feel is exacerbated by television news and social media. But rather than dwell on the negatives we are bombarded with daily, take this week to focus on the positives....
Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota was never a darling of conservatives; however, in his later years he shocked fellow Democrats by his outspoken backing for streamlining government regulations and eliminating frivolous lawsuits — positions championed mostly by Republicans. McGovern, a decorated World War II B-24 pilot who flew 35 combat missions over North Africa and Europe, was an unabashed self-professed liberal. He won the Democrat presidential nomination in 1972 but l...
In a 7-2 ruling this morning, the State Supreme Court said the partial vetoes the Governor made in the 2019 transportation budget were unconstitutional. When issuing those vetoes the Governor said: “While my veto authority is generally limited to subsections or appropriation items in an appropriation bill, in this very rare and unusual circumstance I have no choice but to veto a single sentence in several subsections to prevent a constitutional violation and to prevent a f...
There’s an old saying that oil and water don’t mix. That may be true, but apparently they coexist quite well. Traveling through Sweetwater in west Texas, you see an interesting mix of irrigated farming, cattle ranching, oil production and wind energy. Farmers draw water from wells to irrigate fields and provide drinking water for people and livestock. Scattered across those same fields are traditional oil wells that have been pumping crude since 1921. Less than 10 miles fro...
Return to a rational normal Everyone contact elected representatives (about mandates, masks, vaccines, education, big spending). We must return to normal. Wake up! Too many politicians, appointed officials, news media and some of the general public are too impulsive, over reactive, hysterical, illogical. Examples: “Fire the coach,” “Remove them from office,” panic buying, jumping to conclusions, thinking “government to the rescue,” got to have more social programs, got to be taken care of from birth to death by an all-seei...
Lowering our flags to half-staff seems to be an all too familiar sight these days. It is a solemn act that recognizes our fallen heroes, whether they be men and women in our armed forces or a Vancouver police officer 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....
It’s no secret that Gov. Jay Inslee wants the removal of the four federal dams on the lower Snake River between Clarkston and the Tri-Cities. Back in December 2018, his proposed 2019-21 operating budget included $750,000 for a state study on breaching Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams. U.S. Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan Newhouse, officials from electric utilities, ports and groups representing agriculture and economic development all oppo...
Regarding lawsuit claiming Johnston is negligent I was gobsmacked when I read a newspaper article that reported that a lawsuit has been filed against Lincoln County based on election supervision duties performed by former Auditor Shelley Johnston in the last election(s). The suit apparently alleges “vote flipping, ballot box stuffing, lax signature verification, etc.” I worked in the courthouse as a prosecutor and judge from 1989 until 2015. I have extensive involvement with Shelley as a fellow dept. head and as an att...
Big brother is always watching I see you had a mostly maskless Deutsches Fest. I have a friend whose relative went home from the Fest infected with Covid. Real men or women don’t wear masks? More deaths from Covid are happening in Lincoln County. Death is apparently less scary than losing a sense of power (control). Looking from the outside in, I grudgingly acknowledge not one chink of doubt in your “suits of armor” has changed your white conservative beliefs. I remember a night in the 1980s when my partner Chuck and I entere...
The Biden Administration’s massive welfare give away, “Build Back Better,” is currently being negotiated in Congress. One of the original funding mechanisms was raising taxes on the rich to the point where they pay their “fair share.” In spite of the political left obsessing over the issue, no one has clearly defined exactly what the term means. Let’s look at actual numbers and see who pays what in income taxes in the United States. Those organizations that follow taxation in...
Medical freedom is more than women deciding if they are going to abort a pregnancy. It is a person’s decision if they want to waive resuscitation. It’s ending untreatable painful suffering. It’s choosing to take a riskier healing path than what’s recommended. It’s deciding what drugs to take. It’s deciding on vaccinations. The trio of COVID vaccinations was not welcomed by everyone. Some people decline to receive them. It used to be we had a right in Washington to decline medical aid. I guess that doesn’t count if a lot of pe...
It is often argued that managed health care can provide better clinical outcomes while holding down health care costs. Over the years, managed care has taken on many different names including health maintenance organizations, accountable care organizations, and medical homes for instance. The structure of managed care is based on a primary care provider who serves as a “gatekeeper” and coordinates the care of an individual patient with multiple specialists. The idea is tha...
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...
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...
