Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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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... Full story
“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... Full story
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... Full story
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...
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...
Dusty paperwork, half a dozen ball caps, a few miscellaneous tools, a discarded sweatshirt or three, not to mention some baling twine, equipment parts, and six pounds of dirt in the bed of the pickup. This could be any number of farm or ranch pickups in Washington state. Some might be six months old; others might be 15 years old. When it is time to replace them, based on price and weight, the next one might well be considered a luxury. The Washington State Department of... Full story
When Oregon enacted the nation’s first bottle bill in 1971, it was intended to reduce litter on beaches, along roads and in parks. It has! Oregon’s redemption rate on empty bottles and cans is 85% compared to 30% in Washington. Over the years, the states took vastly different approaches to litter cleanup and recycling. A large part of the Oregon program’s recent success is that lawmakers in Salem doubled the payout to 10-cent a container in 2017. People, not always Orego... Full story
Unfortunately, the wildfire situation in Eastern Washington has gone from bad to worse in the past week. Last Saturday, the Old Trails Fire ignited and burned more than 900 structures in northwest Spokane. A few days ago, law enforcement arrested a former convict who is suspected of starting that wildfire. It is one of three wildfires in Spokane County that have burned a combined total of over 10,000 acres. With so many people suddenly left homeless by recent wildfires in...
Data centers use a lot of energy. So, it isn't surprising that people believe they are resource hogs that drive up energy costs. This sentiment has driven communities, such as Spokane, Seattle and Tacoma, to enact data center moratoriums, either temporarily or permanently.But for all the furor over electricity cost increases, the numbers tell a different story. Both nationally and in Washington state, data center development has correlated with slower electricity-price... Full story
The primary duty of any government is to protect its citizens. Yet Olympia's current leaders aren't meeting that basic standard, by failing to secure our data systems and enforce our laws. Intelligence reports recently declassified by the federal government show Chinese cyber-actors have targeted and stolen the voter-registration data of up to 220 million Americans. Although national-security experts say this theft has not altered actual votes, the threat is still very real....
Millions of people across America and Canada are choking from wildfire smoke. Unfortunately, it has become an annual occurrence. Currently, thick smoke from hundreds of active Canadian wildfires has triggered widespread air quality alerts across at least 20 northern states. Wildfires are a natural part of forests – of which Canada (and U.S.) have vast swathes. Those massive infernos have worsened in recent years. For example, in Canada in 2023 fires razed 37 million acres– an... Full story
Washington state boasts one of the strongest credit profiles in the nation, but the warning lights are flashing. Moody’s recently affirmed the state’s AAA rating while slapping it with a negative outlook indicating the organizations lack of faith in the Olympia leadership to right the ship. Fitch rates the state AA+ ( a good but lower rating) with a negative outlook. S&P holds it at AA+ with a stable outlook. In plain English — the golden AAA status that has kept Washington’s...
A new Washington Small Business Economic Trends report delivers sobering news for the state’s small business community. The data reveals that small businesses are underperforming the national average on nearly every key measure of economic health, with state policies on taxes, regulations and labor costs emerging as primary culprits. The report’s Small Business Optimism Index for Washington sits at 94.5, 4 points below the U.S. at 98.5 and 3.5 points below the long-term nation...
As we celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, soccer fans from around the globe are flocking to the USA for the World Cup. They marvel at what our America has to offer. Meanwhile, socialists focused on government control have hijacked the Democrat Party and are gaining a foothold in national and local elections. It is like America has trains heading in opposite directions on the same track racing toward a head-on collision. Today, people who risk their homes, savings and reputations are viewed by critics as the “evil inc...
Imagine being told you have to leave your home, perhaps forever. You only have a couple of hours to pack, and you can only take what fits in your car. Calista Christiansen, a seventh-grader from the Columbia River Gorge community of Lyle, didn't have to imagine. That's what happened to her, her family and her neighbors last summer when the Burdoin Fire burned through the community, destroying 14 homes and threatening more than 250 others, including her own. Christiansen spoke... Full story
Our Christian Heritage Should Not Be Forgotten As we approach the 250th anniversary of the United States, our communities are entering a historic season of reflection. Puyallup will host "Voices of Valor," a program exploring the diverse stories of those who built and shaped our early nation. Simultaneously, across the Cascades in Walla Walla, citizens will gather to honor that region's legacy as the "Cradle of the Northwest." From the shores of Puget Sound to the rolling hills of the Palouse, I encourage all Washingtonians t... Full story
Summer in Eastern Washington is a beautiful thing. The sun is shining. The lakes are calling. Campers are dusting off trailers. Kids are riding bikes until dark. Someone, somewhere, is already standing in line for ice cream. It’s a season we’ve all been waiting for. It’s also the season when common sense quietly packs its bags and takes a vacation. Every year, it happens. A person who wouldn’t dream of jumping off their roof decides it’s perfectly reasonable to ride an inner... Full story
In Washington, this year we will again deal with water shortages because of insufficient mountain snowpack while escaping the historic droughts plaguing other parts of the world. The Columbia River system has not flowed at normal levels in recent years, which is problematic for agriculture, hydropower generation, barging, local water supplies, fish and wildlife. However, 20 years ago we faced the same severe drought. That water scarcity forced factories to close, farmland to...
The tassels have been flipped, the diplomas handed out and another class of graduates has crossed the stage. Over the coming weeks, many of these young adults will leave home for college, enroll in trade schools or step directly into the workforce. For the first time, they will begin making decisions with real consequences. They will sign leases they are legally bound to honor. They will open credit cards. Some will take on tens of thousands of dollars in debt before they are...
A messy redistricting battle is breaking out all across the country. In states like Mississippi, Virginia, and Missouri, political maps are trapped in an endless loop of court fights and mid-cycle changes. Political parties are treating voting boundaries like a game of tug-of-war. They adjust the lines constantly to guarantee a specific political outcome, leaving voters feeling disconnected and ignored. For decades, Washington state avoided this kind of chaos. Our state... Full story
This year's legislative session featured proposals to "modernize" agriculture through the forced creation of collective bargaining units. Many activists and legislative advocates persistently implied farmers and ranchers were backward and uneducated, going so far as to cast food producers as "plantation owners." These aspersions are beneath the open-minded, liberated state Washington believes itself to be. Home to tree fruit orchards, grain growing operations, hop farms,...
It's time to think about potential summer hazards for our livestock and pets. It is quite common for me to get inquiries about algae poisoning during the warmer months. Here's some practical guidance for keeping animals safe: Summer risk and causes Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) thrive when water is warm, calm, and high in nitrogen and phosphorus - conditions common in late spring through early fall. Hot weather, longer stratified seasons and inputs from fertilizer, manure... Full story
Retired Washington firefighters and police officers are suing the state to stop one of the most dangerous pension raids in American history. They should win, and the courts should not have to work hard to get there. House Bill 2034, passed during the 2026 legislative session, strips billions of dollars out of the Law Enforcement Officers’ and Fire Fighters’ Plan 1 (LEOFF 1) pension fund and redirects that money to unrelated state spending. The state calls the maneuver a “te... Full story
More than six years ago, the world came to a standstill. Schools closed. Churches went quiet. Restaurants darkened their dining rooms. Streets emptied. Families stayed home and waited for life to return to normal. At the time, Americans were told the sacrifices would be temporary. Flatten the curve. Wait a few weeks. Give it time. But somewhere along the way, temporary changes became permanent realities. Even now, half a decade later, it still feels as though much of the... Full story
