Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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Our state Legislature's march toward secrecy is speeding up, despite lawsuits, massive public outcry and even a ruling that was largely against them from the state Supreme Court. In the latest move against government transparency, the public records officer of the Washington House of Representatives sent an internal email in July to members outlining a restart of a 30-day email auto-deletion system and a guide on how to get rid of other emails even faster. This action will...
In a shocking 8-1 ruling, the state Supreme Court has given its official blessing to a secretive process that allows the offers and counteroffers leading to more than a billion dollars in taxpayer-funded compensation to remain secret until after the state budget is signed into law. By failing to uphold the clear intent of Washington’s robust public records law, expect more labor unrest, not less, as a result of this ruling. For example, Washington state employees walked off t...
During summer, it isn't a surprise to see higher gas prices. But Washington drivers face a burden not experienced in other states. That burden is the added cost to fuel created by the Climate Commitment Act, a law passed by the majority party in the Legislature in 2021. (I voted with other Republicans against that bill.) The CCA is an environmental law that has turned greenhouse-gas emissions – carbon dioxide – into an expensive commodity by allowing the state to create and...
As salmon restoration ramps up on the Columbia River above Chief Joseph Dam, it is important to establish balances between those fish already in reservoirs behind dams and salmon being introduced. Completed in 1942, Grand Coulee Dam became the largest U.S. hydropower plant. It generates enough power to supply about 2 million households with electricity for one year. Water stored in Lake Roosevelt, which is 150 miles long and as deep as 375 feet, reduced downstream flooding....
Last week those of us who live in North-Central and Northeastern Washington were reminded of the devastation wildfire can bring. As several thousand acres burned in scattered fires across our part of the state, the smoke hung over Stevens County, where I live, almost like it was 2020 again. Except it wasn’t. It was a pale reminder of the agony we faced several summers ago, as wildfires dozens of times larger raged across the state, and smoke filled our skies through August a...
If you listen to the beneficiaries of the spending and political supporters, they claim that virtually all of it goes to "community projects." A look at the state's 2025-27 operating budget, however, shows that most of the money ends up in the hands of government. We analyzed how the state is spending the $174 million in the current biennial operating budget funded by the CO2 tax, to see how much was being used to cut CO2 emissions, fund environmental restoration and provide...
Prop 12 made headlines when it was implemented nationwide in 2022. The animal housing law was anticipated to have significant effects on the cost of pork. The initial passage of Prop 12, and its potential implementation across the U.S., sparked a legal battle ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Championed by supporters as an animal welfare ballot measure, Prop 12 changed animal housing not just in California but across the U.S. Under the law, farmers raising pigs, veal calves and laying hens are required to meet...
There’s a lot of confusion and anxiety about the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and its impact on Medicaid. Some say it will slash coverage, force hospitals to close and leave vulnerable families without care. But let’s separate fact from fiction. Medicaid is critical here. More than 259,000 people in Eastern Washington rely on it. But the program as it exists is riddled with inefficiencies, outdated financing, and waste. The One Big Beautiful Bill isn’t about cutting Medicaid. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office projects...
The recent Western Pines Fire may sadly be the worst fire in the modern history of Lincoln County in terms of the number of structures that were lost. Needless to say, this event has negatively impacted many people in our communities. While our thoughts and prayers remain with everyone affected by the fire, I felt the need to tell you about the side of the fire many of you will never see. First, I’d like to start out by giving credit where credit is due and acknowledge all of our fire resources who worked day and night t...
When I was elected to represent Central Washington, I came to Olympia to advocate for families and kids who too often get overlooked by policies written with only Puget Sound in mind. I may be a newer voice in the Senate, but I've already seen how quickly political agendas can outrun common sense. Nowhere is that more clear than in the effort to shift school funding back onto the backs of local taxpayers. This year's Legislature gave local school districts authority to ask...
With high school and college commencements over, employers now worry about the graduates’ preparedness to enter the work world. This year, 3.9 million students graduated from our high schools, marking the largest class on record. An additional 4.6 million scholars earned college degrees. Their expertise was graded from A to F. Grades are supposed to indicate accurate achievement, competence and knowledge. Employers are losing confidence in education assessments. Dumbing d...
The Polish people are perplexed by some Americans lack of appreciation for our market-based economic system where consumers, not government bureaucrats, decide what to buy, manufacture and consume. For example, they do not understand why New York City voters would elect Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old socialist, as mayor when he advocates a network of government stores to replace the wide variety of retailers from supermarkets to corner grocers. One trip to the Poland's...
As a leading advocate for Second Amendment rights, I must tell you the 2025 legislative session illuminated an undeniable truth: Our colleagues in Olympia's majority party do not respect our gun rights and are determined to dismantle them. While we repelled some outrageous attacks, a dangerous precedent has been set. Your constitutional freedoms now hang in the balance. We saw aggressive attempts to expand "gun-free zones" and impose new taxes on responsible firearm owners....
By the time this piece sees print, I certainly hope Travis Decker is behind bars. For the last several weeks, he has been pursued by law enforcement authorities across rugged North-Central Washington in one of the biggest manhunts in state history. On May 30, the divorced father picked up his three daughters for a scheduled three-hour visitation. The girls were found deceased three days later in a campground near Leavenworth, their arms zip-tied and with plastic bags over their heads. What makes this tragedy especially appall...
The recent focus on illegal immigrants in the U.S. has highlighted the ubiquity of their presence in agriculture. As protests rage all over the country, farmers and ranchers juggle the realities of employees not showing up for work out of fear while trying to get crops grown and livestock cared for. According to most recent data, 44%of farmworkers in the U.S. are here illegally. However, it is hard to know with certainty how accurate that percentage is with some estimates hovering around 50% and others as high as 75%. The...
After enabling President Donald Trump for many years, is our recently retired US Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers feeling guilty? She should be, but the proposals she lists in her new initiative (Spokesman-Review, June 4) certainly aren’t adequate to absolve that guilt. Former Wyoming US Representative and Republican House leader Liz Cheney, in her book “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning”, describes long-time Trump-idolater and current Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s actions following the Trump-o...
In this part of Washingtons, we don’t just talk about innovation — we embody it. For generations, Richland, Kennewick, Pasco, and the surrounding communities have stood at the epicenter of American scientific progress. Our region played a vital role in winning World War II, ending the cold war, and continues to spearhead clean-energy research and support for national security through institutions like the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Energy Northwest. Now, as our...
Last Thursday, I was packing my large green duffle bag and brushing sand out of my boots after a week of frolicking-yes, frolicking-in the southern Idaho desert during National Guard duty. I was sunburned, dust-covered, and dreaming of a long shower, when my phone rang. It wasn't a call for R&R, or even to ask if I'd made it out alive. No, it was an editor assignment-one I didn't realize would involve dust, denim, and the wildest bunch of folks this side of the Mississippi...
The question was straightforward: What happened with Senate Bill 5938 this year? The man who submitted the question at our recent legislative “town hall” meeting in Pasco wore a USS Nimitz hat, suggesting he had served our nation in uniform. The fact that SB 5398 is about property-tax relief for veterans with service-connected disabilities pretty much clinched it. As one of the sponsors of the bill, I knew the answer. Let’s get back to that in a moment. The march of techn...
Last year the Washington Legislature passed one of those high-handed virtue-signaling bills so popular with our green friends in the majority party. HB 1589 allows the state's largest private utility to exit the natural gas business and shunt billions of dollars in shutdown costs to its customers. Gas and electricity prices will soar in Puget Sound Energy's service territory, business will be disrupted and homeowners will face enormous costs to replace gas-powered appliances...
Although President Donald Trump and Harvard’s recent spats make headlines, key issues in question affect all higher education. Harvard, our nation’s first college (1636), is a center of current civil disruption and antisemitic behavior. The timing is bad because high school graduates are finalizing their college choices or deciding to forego college altogether. Last year, Boston Magazine’s Jon Keller described Harvard as suffering from “A crushing cancel culture, accusat...
Congress is currently debating Medicaid reform as part of the 2025 budget package. The stated Republican goal is a continuation of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of this year and need offsetting savings somewhere else in the budget. The original proposal was a $880 billion reduction in the projected increase to the Medicaid entitlement over the next 10 years, along with other savings in federal spending. Medicaid began in 1965 as part of President Jo...
Four years ago, during the legislative session, a lawmaker circulated talking points noting farmers could afford more taxes because they earned $250,000 working part-time. This legislative session, during a work session on rural and agricultural mental health, a legislator asked how farmers and people living in urban environments were different. During the same work session, another legislator asked how unions were involved in mental health respite activities in agriculture....
Washingtonians have good reason to be distrustful of the policies coming out of the state Capitol. While the legislation itself matters, how it’s crafted is also important – and, increasingly, there is less transparency, bipartisanship, or accountability. My goal as a state lawmaker is to work together and avoid partisanship, so I am greatly concerned that the new state operating budget was developed with little Republican input. Using the Senate as an example, our budget tea...
This week, we mark National Police Week. It's a time to honor law enforcement officers who gave their lives in the line of duty-and to show our unwavering support for those who continue to serve and protect our communities and country each and every day. From Spokane to Stevens County, the men and women of law enforcement form the backbone of public safety in Eastern Washington. They're the ones who answer the call when our homes, schools, or streets are in danger. They do...
