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Do good military commanders make good education leaders? That is a question which Montana’s Higher Education Commission will answer in the coming years. However, if the new University of Montana president follows the pattern set by former Seattle Public School Superintendent John Stanford and Clark College President Bob Knight, the answer will be a resounding yes. Seth Bodnar, 38, is the youngest UM president since World War II. He started in January. He doesn’t have the cov...
Have you carefully checked your utility bills lately? Most people don’t unless they are monsters like the ones for garbage in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Los Angeles. In Vancouver, Washington our garbage and recycling bill now has an added 3.6 percent refuse tax. It costs us $1.29 more every two months. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, in Scranton, residents started receiving a $300 annual trash collection fee which is a 68 percent increase since 2014. In Los A...
By DON BRUNELL Contributor Curbside recycling bins are packed with cardboard shipping boxes from Christmas online shopping. The uptick in consumer shipments is not only good news for the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx and UPS, but our nation’s papermakers. According to Mastercard Spending Pulse, U.S. year-end holiday retail sales rose nearly 5 percent compared to the same period last year while online purchases shot up more than 18 percent. USA Today reported “despite thousands of...
While the investigation continues into the deadly Amtrak derailment near DuPont, Wash., the clock continues to tick on the implementation of Positive Track Control (PTC). The deadline is Dec. 31, 2018. PTC integrates new satellite tracking (GPS) and trackside technology for passenger, freight and commuter rail service. It is designed to instantly feed mountains of detailed and complex information to control centers and moving locomotives to automatically stop speeding trains...
Christmas is an especially difficult time for anyone grieving for lost loved ones. It is especially painful for America’s military families whose son, daughter, spouse or parent was killed while serving in uniform. Normally, the fallen are remembered on Memorial Day, but thanks to a Maine family and over hundreds of thousand donors and volunteers, more than 1.5 million wreaths were laid on the tombstones of our fallen soldiers, sailors and airmen on Dec. 16. The panoramic v...
Recently, the Institute for Justice determined state licensing barriers for lower-income workers and aspiring entrepreneurs not only hurts people trying to establish themselves in a profession, but annually drives consumer prices up by $203 billion. Washington requires people in 77 jobs, including driving school buses, well-drilling and operating cranes, to be licensed. That means applicants must successfully complete education and training, pass their exams, and pay...
Twenty-five years ago, business took a beating in Olympia. The swing to the left in the 1992 general election was swift and potent. It drove higher costs to employers and more government regulations. Warning: Today’s political winds are blowing in that same direction. In the 1992 election, Democrats across America scored big wins promising a new health care system and bigger government. Bill Clinton upset George H.W. Bush for president and Congressman Mike Lowry knocked off R...
Since last Veteran’s Day, Ken Burns’ in-depth documentary on the Vietnam War has aired. It is a powerful reminder of an unpopular war in which many “baby boomers” fought and died. It also prompts memories of the brutal treatment of American POWs and 1,350 who were listed as missing in action after the war ended. Some remain lost today. Among the 571 American prisoners released in the winter of 1973 was U.S Army Maj. Ed Carlson, whose last assignment was senior Army advisor...
While Seattle is growing rapidly, our rural areas continue to struggle. They don’t have the corporate giants such as Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing creating jobs and economic opportunities. Farms are predominantly family-owned. Today, there is a rejuvenated effort to bring prosperity to Washington’s rural communities. While agriculture is the largest sector, timber, manufacturing, high tech and energy provide opportunities as well. Rural jobs and economic revitalization are nat...
Last year, Seattle Times aerospace reporter Dominic Gates wrote about the similarities and differences between Boeing’s corporate office move to Chicago and Amazon’s plan for a second headquarters. Boeing wanted to leave Seattle in an effort to separate its corporate leadership from manufacturing sites while Amazon, with an unusual strategy, plans to keep its headquarters here but set up a parallel operation elsewhere. Boeing hoped to find a more conservative business cli...
The $5.4 billion spent to expand the Panama Canal is paying off for East Coast and Gulf of Mexico seaports; however, it is putting more pressure on the Northwest to remain competitive. The enlarged waterway opened in June 2016 allowing much larger container ships and tankers to transit between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Ships carrying up to 14,800 containers can now bypass Washington ports. Shippers have a cost-effective alternative to reach midwestern markets from south...
There is a new machine being tested in Montana which could decontaminate toxic mine tailings while recovering valuable precious minerals for everyday use. Gold, silver and other metals are essential for our cellphones, computers and electronic devices and their sale could offset the processor’s purchase and operational costs. If pilot tests are successful, the inventors envision building them in the United States. The potential market is worldwide because there are over 3...
Key tax policies emanating from the east and west coasts are like passenger trains passing one another heading in opposite directions. One train is loaded with elected officials proposing changes to reduce taxes while the other is packed with those pushing for new and higher taxes. The cumulative effect of those modifications will impact all of us and our economy, jobs and ability to compete as a state and nation. The adjustments will determine whether we grow, limp along or...
At last count firefighters were battling 82 major wildfires in 10 western states. The fires have already scorched 2,300 square miles of forests and range lands, dislocated thousands of people, and burned hundreds of homes and buildings. This has been the third worst forest fire season on record prompting western congressional members to add billions to emergency hurricane relief legislation It isn’t over yet. The cost of fighting fires already broke this year’s U.S. For...
All of the things that went wrong in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina in 2005, appear to have been corrected with Houston’s recent Hurricane Harvey. Chalk it up to a series of important lessons learned. By now everyone knows that Harvey came ashore from the Gulf of Mexico, dumped a record 51 inches of rain on 22 million people from Corpus Christi to Port Arthur, TX, and sent thousands to shelters. The hurricane hit Houston, America’s fourth largest city and an urban are...
By DON C. BRUNELL Contributor Last February, the European Parliament rejected a tax on robots, but took the first steps to regulate their development and deployment. The legislation also aims to establish liability for the actions of robots, including self-driving vehicles. Europe’s governing body, while rejecting the tax to be dedicated to worker training, overwhelmingly passed a resolution to study regulating robots. In an interview with Quartz.com, Microsoft co-founder Bill...
So far this year, a trio of unexpected deaths has shocked Washington business and agriculture. Melanie Dressel, Ron Reimann and Jeff Brotman leave behind large shoes to fill. They came from vastly different backgrounds and political perspectives, yet it was their diversity, ingenuity and drive which makes our state and nation great. Last February, Melanie Dressel, president and CEO of Tacoma-based Columbia Bank, suddenly died of heart disease. She was 64. She was born and...
In 2014, President Barrack Obama opened the door for states to collect tolls on interstate highways. This year Oregon lawmakers, much to the chagrin of Washington drivers and truckers, unilaterally took advantage of the new funding opportunity. Before adjourning in July, Oregon’s legislature passed an ambitious $5.3 billion comprehensive transportation plan. To fund it, legislators raised fuel taxes, increased registration and title fees, created a new payroll tax, added t...
There is an old saying: Don’t let the perfect get in the way of the good. That is important to remember when it comes to improving our air quality. While some activists want to eliminate all fossil fuels used on the waterfront, it is not possible without major disruption to our quality of life, jobs and economy. That is not the perfect. It is a recipe for disaster. The better way is to recognize the major environmental improvements we have accomplished and find ways to c...
We can all use a dose of good news these days and there is some flowing from our state’s boatyards. When we think of maritime industries, we often focus on the mammoth ocean-going ships loaded with containers docking in Seattle, Tacoma and Portland; or, the U.S. Navy shipyard in Bremerton. While Vigor’s Seattle and Portland dockyards repair Navy and Coast Guard vessels, our warships primarily are built on the East Coast. Giant oceangoing freighters are constructed, and mos...
In the last decade, there has been a highway construction boom in Texas. On the other hand, lawmakers in Olympia still scramble to fund road maintenance. Texas, a state with a population of 27 million, is flush with cash thanks partly to a 10-year voter approved initiative which will pump $2 billion a year into highways. Then recently, that state’s legislature added $9 billion to further help relieve traffic congestion. What’s Texas doing that we aren’t? The answer is priva...
There was nothing pretentious about Mike Lowry. What you saw is what you got! Lowry was one of Washington’s most colorful governors. He served one term from 1993 to 1997. He died on May 1 at age 78. There was nothing subtle about Lowry. He was not afraid to mix it up publicly nor put his political future on the line when he believed in a cause. For example, in 1993 Lowry pushed legislation dramatically reforming our state’s health care laws. He and his Democrat colleagues jam...
Last month, a Wall Street Journal editorial hit the nail on the head recommending Amtrak focus its limited funds on shorter more heavily traveled routes between Washington, D.C., and Boston. The money is needed to prevent more derailments. The situation will only worsen unless Amtrak plows additional funds into rebuilding its dilapidated northeast railroad infrastructure. It must quit subsidizing runs greater than 750 miles. One is the Empire Builder, the passenger train...
American entrepreneurs’ ability to invent, create and bring products and services to market makes our nation great. Their success generates the tax revenue which fund our schools and puts people to work. Many “big businesses” started in the imaginations of immigrants who came to our country – a place of boundless possibilities. America is a land where your station in life doesn’t matter and where hard work, innovation and perseverance are the keys to success. The story of...
Driving east along State Route 14 these days, you see water pouring out of Columbia River dams. It is already a high water year with much of the runoff from our heavy mountain snowpack yet to come. It is part of our “feast or famine” weather cycle. As you pop over the hilltop near the historic Maryhill Museum, you look down to see John Day Dam with its floodgates open spilling massive amounts of water. Then you see remains of the razed Goldendale Aluminum Company smelter nex...
