Sorted by date Results 1643 - 1667 of 3216
Do what I say and not what I do is the mantra of Cathy McMorris Rodgers. When asked how to solve our political problems, her canned answer is we must have lots of committee meetings. She doesn’t talk about resolutions, just convening meeting after meeting and asking questions and more questions. How ironic for Cathy to say meetings are important, as Cathy missed 92 percent of the committee meetings she was to attend. This figure is based on 1,000 committee and subcommittee hearing minutes that were analyzed for congressional...
Permit some random, somewhat related thoughts on today’s political class. Hillary Clinton, while a U.S. senator, voted for the Defense Of Marriage act, and against same sex marriage. Now that she’s in favor of same sex marriage, she says she voted for this law because she was afraid that if it failed as a Senate bill, it would come back and pass as a constitutional amendment. After several years of negotiations, some tax benefits and a drop in gas prices, Ford decides to move a plant from Mexico to Ohio. Now Donald Trump, who...
You did it again, Cheney. It will be a warmer winter for many thanks to the hard work and generosity of the Cheney community. A total of 236 coats were donated to this year’s coat drive and 213 were given away at three separate distributions. Special thanks to the Cheney Kiwanis without whose work this event could not happen, Big Wash for laundering many of the coats and Copy Junction for printing the publicity fliers. Thanks, also, to all of the schools, businesses and churches that had collection boxes and to church m...
The Center for Rural Affairs has worked to support and assist beginning farmers and ranchers for over 25 years. And increasingly, beginning farmer and rancher inquiries come from military veterans. They have the same needs as other new farmers: access to land, financing and information. But they also bring new issues: disabilities, returning to civilian life, a drive to help fellow veterans, a powerful sense of wanting to be of service to their country. The Center’s “Veteran Farmers Project” was launched to provide infor...
Thank you for the great open house on Saturday Oct. 24. It was very interesting to see how a newspaper is put together. I was very impressed with the CFP staff and their commitment to a quality product. How a paper gets put together was very interesting and I was quite surprised by how the paper gets from a computer screen to the printed page. Kudos to the Cheney Free Press for helping to keep our small towns connected and relevant for our citizens. Shirley Maike Medical Lake...
The Cheney Outreach Center opened its doors Feb. 1, 1990 to begin providing basic emergency assistance for the low-income residents of Cheney and the surrounding area. Residential boundaries extend to North of the 1-90 freeway; south of Hallett Road on the North; Sherman Road on the East and the Whitman County line on the south. The population served includes families, individuals, elderly, ill, disabled and/or homeless. Assistance includes help with utility bills, limited rent assistance, vouchers for food/household/personal...
The PACE character trait for November is citizenship. Citizenship is often thought of in two ways. The first way people may think of citizenship is one’s legal status of being a citizen of a country. In looking at citizenship in this way, the mere fact that you live in a country and have sworn or affirmed your allegiance to the country makes you a member of that country’s society. In this respect citizenship is belonging to the collective community or society. However, citizenship is much more than just living in and bel...
Rarely is it a good idea when more government is seen as a positive change, but in the case of Spokane County Proposition 1, the Cheney Free Press editorial board thinks it is a good idea to expand the board of Spokane County Commissioners from its present three members to five. We probably never want to think that our public servants work too hard, but in the case of commissioners, they have many long days. They attend numerous meetings in a week and are likely to serve on just as many boards, which means there is little...
StageWest would like to give thanks to the Emmanuel Lutheran Church family for generously allowing us the use of their building for our auditions, rehearsals and performances of our latest play, “Anne of Green Gables.” We are truly grateful to you. We would also like to thank the members of StageWest who gave their time and effort as cast members, crewmembers and volunteers in making this production the success that it was. A great big thanks for the wonderful dinner catered by Mike Hartman from Eagle’s Pub, to John from...
Football is a dangerous game — fans and athletes know that. It’s been that way since its inception in 1869. Recently, the sport has been under a microscope due to the number of injuries at the high school level. Even Medical Lake High School had two players who were injured during games. Nationally, six high school players have died due to injuries related to the game. I have heard some friends talk about not letting their sons play football, at least until they are older. Some writers and critics have advocated their sch...
Our society has become far too dangerous and complex to rely upon one police officer per shift to sort through the labyrinth of issues that arise each day. Not to mention confronting those citizens that will not cooperate or those that must be taken into custody for breaking the law. In the city of Cheney police officers routinely work alone and this practice is no longer acceptable. Moreover, there are times when a Cheney police officer has multiple calls to respond to at the same time. How then can one or even two officers...
We generally don’t give public safety much thought, until we need it. Public safety is nothing that should be taken for granted. Its quality and quantity can determine whether you are safe or at risk, whether you live or you die. But it is something that must be paid for, and that is why we are encouraging Cheney voters to say yes on the city’s Proposition 1. Proposition 1, would, if passed, increase the property tax levy by 70 cents from its current $2.40 per $1,000 of assessed value to $3.10 per $1,000 of assessed val...
By Contributor Few people would select the first option. It doesn’t take Russia launching air strikes in Syria (to cite only one recent example) for most to admit that tensions are rising. So why in the world are we cutting defense spending? And not by small amounts. The U.S. military — which is smaller today than it was on 9/11 — has had to contend with cuts amounting to more than $180 billion over the last four years. And there’s no relief in sight. In fact, President Obama is preparing to veto a bipartisan bill that would...
If you didn’t see our ad in last week’s issue of the Cheney Free Press, then consider this your personal invitation to a barbecue we’re throwing Saturday, Oct. 24. If you did see it, well, consider yourself personally invited too. From 1 – 4 p.m. we’re going to throw open our doors, toss some hot dogs on the grill and let everyone come in and see what goes on behind the scenes at your local newspaper which has been reporting the news of the West Plains since April 1, 1896. If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you my copy of the...
Unfortunately, we’d like to extend our congratulations to the candidates winning seats on our local city councils. Congratulations, you ask. But isn’t the election still almost three weeks away? And why unfortunately? Yes, congratulations and yes, the election is still three weeks away. Unfortunately, because of the 12 positions up for “grabs” among Airway Heights, Cheney and Medical Lake, only two — Airway Heights and Medical Lake — have contested races. Ten council candidates face no challengers, three of the five seats...
StageWest Community Theatre did themselves proud with the opening of their current production of “Anne of Green Gables” last weekend. And it’s not just a kids’ story. Hannah Knous is new to StageWest and gave a stunning portrayal of Anne, supported by a strong cast including first-time actress Robin Trout. They were very ably directed by Kay Pacheco and her assistant director Judy Gross, and supported by a dedicated crew. There are five remaining performances, this weekend and next, running through Oct. 17. Questions may be...
I have always believed we humans were either men or women. We knew which we were and never decided on a sudden impulse to change it. Hillary Clinton has changed her mind, and decided for the reason of finding more “Vote for Hilary,” in her pockets, she now has help of the transgenders and says “They are loved and they are us.” True, helping, working, doing without, guiding and putting the other person before you is an effort. Maybe someone can explain this to Hillary. I don’t have the time. Luella Dow Cheney...
A constant complaint about Medicaid is that fewer healthcare providers take patients on public insurance programs, and the resulting quality of care suffers. The facts, however, tell a different story. According to the “Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey” nearly all Medicaid (95 percent) and private coverage patients (94 percent) have a regular source of health care. The quality of care (rated excellent or very good) is higher for Medicaid patients (55 percent) than for those with private insurance (53 per...
The last of a number of dump loads hit the scales at the Valley Transfer Station at a shade over 760 pounds. In large part this was not unlike a hundred other trips to unload a trailer full of junk, but there were some differences, most notably this time my wife was riding “shotgun.” This was not a first I was reminded, but relatively rare. Sexist as it is, I do the dirty work at the dump, she scrubs the toilets at home – neither being either of our favorites but jobs that mus...
When the subject of immigration comes up, the conversation generally revolves around Hispanics — individuals from Mexico, and those in the United States illegally, crossing borders, jumping fences and hiding in vehicles to escape their native country. But there is much, much more to it than that, as an Associated Press story last week revealed. On Sept. 9, the U.S. State Department issued a bulletin detailing which categories of foreign-born individuals could file their green card paperwork to remain in the U.S. legally, f...
Frustrated voters sometimes denounce their representatives as “good for nothing,” but are they being fair? Consider the budget gimmicks some politicians come up with. When it comes to fiscal gymnastics, who can deny their creativity? Case in point: a plan to fund the mismanaged Highway Trust Fund by tapping the dividends that the Federal Reserve pays member banks. Seriously, stick with me here, because this is a doozy. Here we have federal highway spending, operating at a deficit. Duh, it’s run by politicians. Of cours...
A group of doctors has decided to rewrite the Hippocratic Oath. The ancient pledge charges physicians with applying “all measures that are required” to help the sick. The American Society of Clinical Oncology wants to add a caveat —”unless those measures are too expensive. Then let the patient die.” The oncologists’ group has developed a “conceptual framework” that relies on cost-benefit analysis to determine the most “valuable” treatments for different patients. Sounds innocent enough. But healthcare outcomes cannot be...
Planned Parenthood, a non-profit organization that provides reproductive health as well as maternal and child health services, has become a legislative target. Since July, Senate Republicans have made it their mission to take away the organization’s federal funding after an undercover video from anti-abortion groups supposedly revealed Planned Parenthood was profiting from selling fetal parts for medical research. Senate Republicans introduced a spending bill that would strip Planned Parenthood’s funding for the year, whi...
Chances are until notable recent rulings by the Washington state Supreme Court, short of a few political wonks out there, little attention was paid to what the nine justices in Olympia did. But following the McCleary Decision, fining our legislators for inaction on education, and finding charter schools unconstitutional, the nine judges who work to interpret the law now operate with the curtain pulled back just a little. Following their 6-3 charter schools ruling Sept. 4, members of the court all of a sudden went from relativ...
After watching mixed martial arts for many years, I understand why fans follow certain fighters. For instance, former Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz has a large fan following. Diaz is known for his trash talking, anti-authority attitude and willingness to scrap his opponents. He also smokes marijuana. Whatever the reason, Diaz fans rally around their hero through thick and thin. Recently, the Nevada Athletic Commission recently suspended Diaz for failing his UFC 183 post-fight drug test where a sample tested positive for...
