Sorted by date Results 1335 - 1359 of 3198
As lawmakers in Olympia inch toward adjournment, they must keep in mind the total added costs of new taxes on our state’s economy. It is not just about the taxes and fees they impose. They are working against an April 23 deadline to enact a two-year financial plan and find sufficient funding for it. Unlike Congress, states must balance their budgets. While the funding decisions are generally contentious, this year legislative tension is high because Gov. Jay Inslee (D) and l...
I appreciate that the paper published an article about the change in the snow plowing ordinance, evidently in quick order. I appreciate the fact that this winter was not normal, seeing we’ve had more snow than usual and the coldest temperatures in nearly 40 years. I also appreciate that the (Cheney) City Council and Police Department want the streets as clear as possible for the safety of vehicles on the road. However, I seriously wonder if the new ordinance won’t lead directly to greater non-compliance of the ordinance. Thi...
I found the recent article describing changes that the Cheney police department has proposed in order to enhance future snow removal (“Cheney changes plowing ordinance,” 2/16) to be interesting as it suggests that safe pedestrian travel is a priority. My experience as a pedestrian during the winter in Cheney has been quite the opposite. If there is an ordinance that compels homeowners to clear their sidewalks, it is not enforced. Many sidewalks have just thawed, having been snow covered since early December, and some of tho...
There’s a concise, straight forward answer to Mr. Delaney’s 2/23/17 op-ed question, “Is freedom of the press really the issue here?” The answer is yes! Mr. Delaney obfuscates the issue with tired conservative arguments and laments, but when the President of the United States says that the nation’s news media is the “enemy of the American people,” then you’re darned right freedom of the press, and the First Amendment broadly is the issue. I agree with what Will McRaven, a retired Navy admiral and University of Texas system ch...
We are an angry society. Not all of us, but a lot of us sure seem to be upset at something or someone or both at some point in time for some reason or reasons. I don’t understand why we have so much vehemence towards people, places and things that likely haven’t really done anything to harm us, but we do. This isn’t a recent phenomena. It’s been building for years, it’s just that now this anger seems to have permeated much of our culture. A florist in Pasco gets angry about being asked to sell flowers to a gay couple fo...
Remember the old saying: Hindsight is 20-20? If only Washington voters had followed Gov. Albert Rosellini’s tolling plan to build, maintain and replace our state’s major bridges, we would have replacement funds today. Now, lawmakers in Olympia are scrambling to find the billions needed for the new I-5 bridge connecting Vancouver and Portland. Predictably, tolling needs to be included in the funding scheme, but it is still a political hot button. Rosellini, the Seattle Dem...
Last week Rose Kline reminded me of her earlier rants against President Trump going back at least to August 2016. Norm Luther also reminded me of his past efforts. I do not know either of these two, but do know that Norm is a longtime Democrat operative who routinely mails multiple copies of his efforts to local Eastern Washington newspapers. In Rose’s letter, I noted 17 slurs, opinions and charges made against the president. Of those, at least three are demonstratively incorrect (Muslim ban, Israel, Australia) and at l...
As thanks is given to voters for the successful passage of the Cheney School District $52 million bond for schools (Feb. 14), I hope gratitude will extend to Bill and Sue Johns who passionately expressed — at their own expense — cost saving ideas regarding this bond and its predecessor in 2015. The Johns were not the only voices offering different opinions but they were faithful to highlight cost considerations. Cheney taxpayers are now responsible for $131 million ($79 million in 2010, $52 million in 2017) in school bon...
Do you value your public lands? Our public lands are a part of our American identity. They provide vital sustenance for fish and wildlife and for people. Do you remember your first visit to Mount Rainier? How awesome was that? How about to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge? I remember both. My first trip to Turnbull was in the fall when flocks of tundra swan were flying over, whooping and circling to come in for a landing on the Pine Lakes. The image is in my head as if it were yesterday, though 43 years have passed. You...
A “friend’s” Facebook post recently made a plea to “Hug a journalist today! There’s a reason Freedom of the Press is the FIRST Amendment to our Constitution. Stand up for that freedom and don’t let anyone try to take it away from us!” It was accompanied by a graphic to “Stand for press freedom,” an obvious hint that somehow recently — after Jan. 20 I’m guessing — the media in this country is being persecuted or censored and fears losing its First Amendment rights. Seems...
Some thoughts, now that the Cheney School District’s $52 million capital facilities bond has passed. As of Feb. 21, the bond had received 61.08 percent approval, needing just 60 percent to pass. According to the Spokane County Elections website, just 25 ballots remained to be counted, with the next count coming Feb. 23. It would take roughly 71 no votes to turn that 60 percent approval into 59.99 percent, thus failing the bond. Not likely to happen. So, what has happened? The good news for students, parents and district s...
It is with deep appreciation that I recognize receipt of a generous donation to the Cheney Depot Society from the estate of Yvonne Chatburn. The donation will go to support the goal of the Society to relocate, restore and repurpose Cheney’s 1929 Northern Pacific Railway Station. Ms. Chatburn’s gift will be matched by an equal donation from our major benefactor, Peter O. Hansen, M.D., currently practicing in Kenai, Alaska. The society welcomes all to contribute to the cost of relocating and restoring our historic depot. All...
I have been blessed to have friends from many countries throughout the years, and believe it would be great for our country and the world for others to have those opportunities as well. Being immersed in university environments since the age of 18, and living overseas for 17 years, I have gradually accepted the belief that we are all brothers and sisters. Since Muslims seem to be on the radar right now, I remember with great fondness the graciousness of Muslim families — from Pakistan, Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Libya, Palest...
It’s a dream come true for terrorists. Without any effort of their own, they have been given the best recruiting tool possible: the U.S. president. One constant of Donald Trump’s ego-maniacal, unstable behavior is his belief that he can intimidate anyone to follow his directives. Obviously it has the opposite effect on terrorists. Even before he was the presumptive Republican nominee for president, ISIS recruited terrorists using videos featuring his call to ban Muslims from the U.S. How much more effective this rec...
As long as Mr. Donald Trump is in office, all people’s lives are at stake worldwide because he has no idea what he is doing. He has congressmen raising their eyebrows and other people on the hill, they are not sure how to deal with him and all his craziness. The Muslim ban, and it is a ban, Israel and now Australia, who have been there for us. There is no strategy in anything he does, he is so erratic, so very wishy-washy. There are more people worldwide who are completely confused than not. His words and actions are t...
Recently, some of America’s most respected statesmen announced a different strategy to reducing carbon pollution — one which is based on incentives as opposed to penalties. Believing that carrots work better than sticks, the Climate Leadership Council (CLC) announced a new plan to enact a federal tax on carbon emissions with an accompanying payment program to U.S. citizens. The centerpiece is a “carbon dividend” which, as they put it, would increase the disposable income...
Sometimes a trial balloon on an idea should be floated, and this is one of those from the Cheney Free Press editorial board. This balloon is labeled as follows: What would happen if the eligibility age for Medicare was dropped from 65 to 60? Granted there are many factors to Medicare eligibility, not just age, and there are four different parts. But just for the sake of discussion, what if it was just a blanket reduction in age to 60, with all else remaining the same? And what about moving the retirement age up too, making...
I’ve probably voted for all of two tax increases in my lifetime and I’ve certainly not always been pleased with public education, but now is the right time to approve the Cheney school bond. The high school portion of the bond has been reduced. The overall bond is higher than last time as the district wisely included small expansions and safety upgrades to each of the five elementary schools. I encourage Airway Heights residents to get on board with this bond. A second high school should not be built until there are eno...
Dear Cheney School District patrons, what an awesome opportunity you have — you have the power to impact the safety, security and learning space for our area students for years to come. You hold in your hand a ballot for a bond issue that provides much needed classrooms as well as secure entries at multiple schools. The bond also addresses the continued growth projected for our district by including funds to buy property for future school sites. Not all area school districts are growing. Cheney is growing and I believe one r...
I find it odd that there are some who want to waste time debating the pros and cons of the upcoming Cheney School District bond. I have attended several bond meetings, asked questions and listened to different opinions. Each meeting has been productive with subsequent meetings building off of questions and concerns brought up in previous meetings. To me an open honest discussion is far more beneficial than a debate. I have come away from each meeting feeling like the district has really honed this bond into what the needs of...
So, let me get this straight. We just sold a school building for around a million dollars, but we want over $50 million to replace roughly the same number of classrooms we just sold. Idea: school district A has a 1A student body in a 2A school based on a base housing closure. School district B has a 2A student body bursting at the seams with the potential to become 3A. Simple algebra: 1A + 3A = 2A + 2A. Why not change the 108-year-old boundary between school district A and school district B to accommodate demographic...
I recently learned that there are no private schools in Finland. The rich and poor alike send their kids to the same public school, thus all are motivated to build, support, and provide the best possible school system in their neighborhood. Many of you might already know that Finnish students consistently rank No. 1 in the world for reading, mathematics and science. In comparison, America ranks 21st out of 34 countries represented in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in those same academic areas....
The effort to get rid of the death penalty in Washington state appears to be gaining some momentum. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee introduced Senate Bill 5353 in the current legislative session. If passed, the bill would repeal the death penalty and instead require life imprisonment without the release or parole for criminals convicted of aggravated first-degree murder. This is the latest movement to abolish capital punishment in Washington. In 2014, Inslee put a moratorium on executions in the...
The Airway Heights area only has one school. Sunset Elementary was built in 1951, belongs to Cheney School District and is the oldest school in the district. There is not a middle school or high school in this community. Not one school has been added to this area for 66 years! For the third time CSD has placed a bond on the ballot to expand Cheney High School while ignoring requests to build a high school closer to the Airway Heights area. Generations of children have been negatively affected by this indifference. Re-write...
Is this a hostage situation? In the previous bonds Cheney School District asked only for money to fund renovation to our high school. The latest bond proposal adds classrooms and security measures to our elementary schools. Why weren’t these included on the two previous bonds? At what point did the district have an “ah-ha” moment? Imagine it. “Hey, there aren’t secure entrances to the older elementary schools and look they are using portables!” These needs appeared to be hiding in plain sight. Using the elementary...
