Sorted by date Results 140 - 164 of 3214
Just as memories of COVID lockdowns and mask mandates were fading to the back of our collective minds, the hysteria is returning, and many are wondering how to react. The two new strains responsible for the surge in cases are known as EG.5, or “Eris,” and BA.2.86, or “Pirola.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers show COVID hospitalizations have increased by almost 15.7% in one week, and deaths have increased by 10.5%, although these numbers greatly fluctuate day by day. Director Mandy Cohen said up to 10,000...
Gov. Jay Inslee inappropriately used our state’s building codes to ban natural gas in new homes and commercial buildings. Now, the Biden Administration is going a step further issuing rules that drastically clamp down on natural gas used in heating and air conditioning units. Inslee’s regulations phase out fossil fuels used for heating water and cooking in new buildings by 2030. They were the first steps to eliminating natural gas in and around the house. Biden’s Dept. of Energy (DOE) proposes overly restrictive effic...
While media focus was on Joe Biden’s decree putting a tiny plot of land within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge off limits to oil and gas exploration, reporters ignored the bigger story. Biden’s other proclamation forbids tapping more than 10 million acres within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, a 23-million-acre area on Alaska’s North Slope. That is the area which should replenish the crude oil drawdown stemming from Biden’s oil withdrawal from strategic wells established in case of war. Allowing new Alaska explo...
Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. His dream turned into one of the most famous speeches to address inequality in our country. His speech represented how optimistic he was. I, however, am not such an optimist … I have nightmares. I had a nightmare that our community gave up on our schools. In my nightmare, people were so frustrated with government and taxes they were no longer willing to support their local governments and school districts. As a result, parents began to put their children into private schools or ...
Our problem is not that there is too much “fake news.” Our problem is that too many people believe it. Fortunately, there is an “antidope” — epistemology , the theory of knowledge or “how we know what we know.” Epistemology is a good solution because it has validity tests to distinguish between justified belief and opinion. And this distinction is central to most disagreements. Epistemology has simple and clarifying definitions, e.g., Truth has the property that corresponds with facts and reality. Can you imagine how m...
It’s been a pretty nice season to go to the fairs around the region—in most cases not too hot and not too cool. Always nice to be able to connect with both our adult and youth producers. The fairs are certainly an American tradition and it’s great to see that people are out supporting them. When I talk with producers, I’m always happy when topics of conversation come up that lend themselves to an article. A recent conversation highlighted that concerns about mRNA vaccines and their use in cattle are circulating among the ind...
There is an axiom: 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 climate activists want to banish all fossil fuels to control greenhouse gas, it is not possible today without epic disruption to our economy, supply chains, jobs, and quality of life. Simply, getting to “zero emission” cannot happen by government edicts. It takes innovation driven by the private sector. For example, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) ruled trucking...
I was born in Spokane and raised on a small ranch west of the city. My parents were lifelong Democrats. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Democrats had a much different party. Let’s look at today. If you vote for Democrats every selection, here are a few things you should know and consider: In 2015, I paid $1.87 for a gallon of gasoline. Today, I filled up at $4.86 per gallon. You voted for that. Our cowardly president surrendered in Afghanistan, killing 13 fine young marines and abandoning thousands of Americans. You voted for tha...
The phrase “first-world problems” has become a punch line – a throwaway statement because it is uttered by people with plenty of gadgets, a reliable food supply and a secure roof over their heads. It has also dulled our experience of a world in which seasonal food is the reality and some products are hard to get. When everything is available, regardless of season or effort, it is easy to voice shallow moral judgments when it comes to food production and consumption. Animal rights policies have begun to circulate more freely a...
There is an axiom: 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 climate activists want to banish all fossil fuels to control greenhouse gas (GHG), it is not possible today without epic disruption to our economy, supply chains, jobs, and quality of life. Simply, getting to “zero emission” cannot happen by government edicts. It takes innovation driven by the private sector. For example, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) ruled trucking...
Pullman Washington-based Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories recently published its 2023 Index of Freedom report. The report ranks all 50 states based on government efficiency, regulatory freedom and energy resiliency. The top-performing states for 2023 are Utah, South Dakota, North Dakota, Idaho and Nevada. New Jersey, California, Maine, Vermont and New York are the worst-performing states, according to the report. Washington came in at 32 on the list (an improvement from 36 in 2022). The report’s methodology for g...
Do you feel safer? Over the past few years, our state has witnessed a steady rise in several types of crime. This has caused serious harm in many communities on both sides of the state, and many Washingtonians continue to live in fear that their families and homes and businesses will be touched by crime at some point. One key reason for the crime hike is the state’s low number of law-enforcement officers per capita. Washington ranks dead last among all 50 states and the District of Columbia. But another likely reason for t...
For several months, drivers and businesses have had to endure the sharp increase in fuel prices since the state’s cap-and-trade program – or “cap-and-tax,” as I like to call it – went into effect Jan. 1. But consumers, especially those who rely on natural-gas furnaces for heat, soon will feel pain in their wallets thanks to cap-and-tax. The state Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission recently approved a request by Puget Sound Energy to increase its natural gas rates to cover the costs of the state’s cap-and-tra...
I want to write to you to hopefully be allowed to show recognition and appreciation to the farmers who saved our homes in the Four Lakes area, specifically around Medifor, Taylor and Medical Lake Four Lakes Roads. If it was not for these 16 men and their water trucks and disks, our homes out here would not be standing today. I don’t know all of these men, but I really would like to share with you the men I do know who put their lives in danger to save our properties in the area: Chris Fitzner, his dad, Lucky Fitzner, and D...
Early in Barack Obama’s presidency, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced his most important achievement would be to make Obama a one-term president. Ever since, McConnell has opposed anything Democrats have introduced, even if originally Republican-proposed (e.g., Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts health plan predating Obamacare). This includes blocking legislation Obama and subsequent Democrats continually propose to rescue lower- and middle-income workers, many unjustly left behind. Lately, McConnell has...
As you shop for back-to-school supplies for your kids, consider this: The clerks, shelf stockers, truck drivers and factory workers who make that possible can all be legally forced to pay money to a union or else be fired. You see, Washington is currently one of the 23 forced-unionism states in America. Why? Since Washington doesn’t have a right-to-work law to guarantee union membership and financial support are strictly voluntary for workers, a union boss can legally have a worker fired for not paying union dues or fees. I...
I remember Dad used to sometimes take my sister and me to the soda fountain in the town where we grew up. I just said "soda fountain"; does that make me a senior citizen? I remember seeing a little boy and his older sister drinking a large milk shake with two straws. The little boy couldn't drink very fast, and he told his sister she was taking too much, and she answered, "I'm using my own straw and so I can take as much as I want!" I thought that wasn't fair because there was only one milk shake between them. I didn't say...
On Friday afternoon, Aug. 18, our spirits were high. I’d just finished work for the day and was planning to grill some brats and cook baked beans for an enjoyable barbecue dinner. Summer weekends were running out, and we wanted to make them count. Little did we know, that naive plan was about to go out the window. After resurfacing from my home office on the north side of Medical Lake, I noticed a massive plume of smoke to the south. I instantly knew it was a wildfire, and my first instinct was to be concerned for the farmers...
A quip on a social media post said it all: “Harrington has never been so busy.” That tongue-in-cheek post was in reference to the diversion of Interstate 90 traffic between Spokane and Sprague through Airway Heights, Reardan, Davenport and Harrington as the Gray Fire encroached on the highway over the weekend. The fire broke out Friday near Eastern State Hospital and Medical Lake. As it grew toward Four Lakes and Cheney, someone decided it was a idea to detour traffic at dif...
Many fingers are again pointed at electric utilities because downed power lines are suspected of starting another horrific wildfire---the one that raced through Lahaina killing hundreds of unsuspecting people. Who would have imagined that one day, the historic Hawaiian capitol on Maui would be a thriving tourist destination and 24-hours later it would be piles of smoldering rubble and ashes which included remains of people? Cellphone video reveals that high winds down live electric lines which ignited bone-dry grass and...
The National Weather Service predicts we will see the hottest temperatures of the summer this week. It’s even gone so far as to declare an “excessive heat warning” until 11 p.m. today. Granted, 100 degrees is hot. But in our neck of the high-plains desert, that’s not excessive. Even if we hit 105 degrees, it’s not excessive here. Eastern Washington has a track record of hot daytime highs in June, July and August. The hottest day on record for most of our readership area was...
Growing up in the 60s, our parents blamed everything on “The Beatles.” According to them, they were “the punks” from Liverpool who caused all the teenagers to go crazy. Lately, there is another group of “Beatles” giving people fits, only their names are spelled differently. These “beetles” are tiny insects that burrow under the bark of mature needle-bearing trees (conifers) and munch on the nutrient layers. In time, they suffocate whole forests and create immense debris...
Washington is home to 65 fairs featuring everything from livestock and horse events to “still life” entries like photography and fresh vegetable displays. The bounty on display is remarkable. August and September are when the bulk of our county and state fairs are hosted. These fairs are an ideal time to consider purchasing locally raised meat. Many consumers are concerned about how their meat is raised and by whom. County and state fairs give consumers a direct conduit to the person who raised the animals that will ultimatel...
It’s been a tough week around the farm with equipment failures that have delayed harvest a few days. I’ll get back on track. But while repairs are underway, I can’t help but think about others who won’t recover so easily from hits to their budgets – setting them back further and further every time they fill up at the gas station or get a paycheck. Many of our friends on the West Side of the state disregard rural folks in communities like ours. We see this every session that the Legislature is controlled by Democrats...
Today, good works are often brushed aside or ignored – especially, if done by one of the world’s largest mining companies. However, Rio Tinto deserves kudos for its half-billion-dollar mine cleanup in Holden., a remote village in the North Cascade mountains just south of Lake Chelan. Rio Tinto did not mine an ounce of copper or other precious metals at Holden. It acquired the site as part of a larger purchase. It gathered interested stakeholders together and ironed sol...
