Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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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...
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...
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...
Last week, the largest teacher’s union in the country announced that it will conduct opposition research with regard to the growing grassroots campaign to stop Critical Race Theory from being forced on schoolchildren. This very demographically diverse group of angry activists, mostly composed of concerned parents, showed up vocally, passionately and totally unexpected at local school boards nationwide. They shocked the professional liberal elite and National Education Association leaders all across the nation. Clearly, p...
Last month, South Kitsap School Board member John Berg introduced a resolution to prohibit classroom teaching of theories that promote racial hatred. For that he was called a nut. District officials said they won’t be teaching critical race theory in Kitsap schools. The teachers’ union said the poor fellow must be watching too much TV news. The Tacoma newspaper made him out to be a conspiracy theorist, allowing its reporter to make the astonishing assertion that “no K-12 district in the country has critical race theory in th...
A friend of mine, let’s call her Mary, began college at the University of Washington in 1967 and graduated with an undergraduate degree in 1971. According to the university’s records, she paid $3,160 (in 2020 dollars) for her final year of in-state tuition. Mary’s granddaughter, Emma, graduated after four years from the University of Washington in 2020 and paid $10,630 for her final year of in-state tuition. Essentially, school administrators more than tripled tuition at the s...
Congress will soon have an opportunity to vote on the INVEST in America Act, a $547 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, led by Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio. One of the major elements of the bill is a substantial increase in the percentage of money dedicated to public transit. For the last 40 years, the Highway Trust Fund, funded by an 18.4 cent/gallon gas tax and 24.4 cent/gallon diesel fuel tax, spent 80 percent of the funding on roads, and...
Washington Policy Center and the League of Women Voters of Washington want to thank the Washington State House and Senate’s bipartisan leadership for the remote testimony processes they established in the challenging legislative session that ended in April. That session was historic in its approach to conducting meetings — the COVID pandemic and need for distancing caused the Legislature to build on the prior remote testimony process and add new virtual participation options, with great benefits to both legislators and the...
Contrary to recent claims that Snake River Spring Chinook runs are on the path to extinction, returns increased for the second year in a row, continuing the recovery from the recent low point in the population cycle. The Spring Chinook salmon run for the Snake River concluded yesterday, with more than 29,634 salmon passing the Lower Granite Dam. This is a 27 percent increase from 2020 levels and 55 percent larger than 2019 returns. That number is also only 495 Chinook short...
In our zest to quickly switch from gas-powered to battery-operated vehicles and to convert our power grid to wind and solar generated electricity, the impacts of CO2 released from rivers, lakes and streams has been ignored. President Biden wants to transition America to renewable electricity by 2035 and have every car CO2 emission free by 2050. In the world of nature, the focus is carbon gases releases from forest and rangeland fires. In California last year, wildfires...
“Stay tuned” was one of the biggest takeaways from a meeting last week where members of a state commission discussed the status of a new, long-term-care entitlement program run by the state and funded by a new payroll tax on workers. The law’s rules are still being drafted by theEmployment Security Department, and a new eligibility committee was approved to address some of the more controversial aspects of the program, which is now called WA Cares Fund. That move is welco...
Shortly after President Biden took office, he issued the sweeping executive order to transition America to TOTAL—-100 percent—-renewable electricity by 2035—-15 short years from now. Translated that means no more power from coal and natural gas ——quite a challenge considering 60 percent of the 4.12 trillion kilowatt hours (kwh) of electricity we generated in 2020 came from burning fossil fuels while 20 percent came from renewables including hydro. Land is the wild card. In...
New COVID workplace restrictions, issued by Washington State Labor and Industries (L&I) late last Friday, May 21st, require employers to check employee vaccine documents before allowing relaxation of social distancing and mask requirements in the workplace. The new state rules require an employer to confirm, and have employees prove their vaccine medical status. The process used to verify vaccination, and the medical status of the employee’s vaccination record, including t...
When Congress established the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) in 1935, it was intended to provide temporary and partial income replacement for workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. It was supposed to be a “bridge” to a new job and not “in lieu of compensation” to remain jobless. The coronavirus pandemic produced massive layoffs. The resulting economic downturn swelled the ranks of unemployed Americans by more than 14 million — from 6.2 million i...
When COVID-19 came ashore, glaring gaps in the government's pandemic preparedness became painfully obvious. Everything from inadequate stockpiles of personal protective equipment to confusing and uncoordinated guidance regarding closures hampered our early response. But, while the government floundered, America's research scientists sprang into action. Moderna actually invented its vaccine mere weeks after the virus was genetically sequenced in January — though of course, it took months of clinical trials to prove the v...
Sometimes being first isn’t good. Such is the case with legislation making Washington the only state to ban natural gas in new homes and commercial buildings. Thankfully, the legislators ended their session in Olympia and left that bad idea on the table. However, it is destined to come back next year. The issue is complicated and expensive. Earlier this year, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) unveiled it as part of a package to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It included a phase out of nat...
In 2012, state voters decided to go where no other state ever had — they legalized adult-use marijuana, reversing 70 years of policy that by most measures was a waste of time and money. The prohibition against marijuana consumption had virtually no effect on its price, avail-ability, or use. And yet, in that same time period, we taxpayers had to foot the bill for enforcement and incarceration. For many — like me the vote to legalize marijuana was not a vote to endorse its use. It was a vote to act in a pragmatic manner. Sim...
It isn’t often we hear good news from Hanford, but the Deptartment of Energy recently announced nation’s first commercial advanced nuclear power reactor would be developed on the massive federal reservation north of Richland. Much of the news from Hanford focuses on radioactive waste cleanup and storing it safely. It has accumulated since the 1940s when nuclear reactors enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. While that tedious work will continue for years to come, Hanford sci...
The 2021 legislative session, which is scheduled to end April 25, will be remembered for several things – some good, some bad. The candidates for the “bad” column may include a variety of new or increased taxes and fees that will hit your pocketbook in different ways. For instance, a higher state gas tax and a new “cap and trade” tax that would hit motorists hard, and a higher cellphone tax. Also, before the Legislature wraps up its 105-day session, it’s likely to pass Senate...
The world is beginning to unfreeze after more than a year of physical and economic lockdowns. Many states have ended mask mandates, citing increasing vaccinations and decreasing cases. Others are allowing normal activities to resume. By and large, it seems as though America is ready to turn a corner and return to normal life. That is unless you’re in Washington. As our state Legislature moves closer and closer towards the conclusion of its 2021 session, the Capitol in Olympia still sits in total lockdown, surrounded by a f...
