Sorted by date Results 1961 - 1985 of 3216
The third National Climate Assessment report, due to be released this month, confirms both the role of human activities in causing climate change and the broad range of adverse health consequences that climate change brings. The federal government’s multi-agency U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), established by Presidential initiative in 1989, produced the report. The effects of climate change on human health are of particular concern to the physician and scientist members of the American Thoracic Society. Our p...
The editorial board piece in the March 20 Cheney Free Press said that we should proceed with caution and open minds when it comes to climate change. That’s good advice if we’re debating how to deal with climate change, but not if we’re still debating cause and effect. As detailed in the IPCC’s 5th Assessment Report, human activities are warming the planet, and the impacts will be dramatic and dramatically unpleasant. Don’t be fooled by the well-orchestrated, well-funded campaign to cast doubt on the facts. For example,...
As a parent, and now grandparent, my heart aches, my eyes roll and I had to shake my head over two recent news stories. They both involved families doing family things. Each had different outcomes. One ended in tragedy while the other, luckily, happily, if not drowning in waves of controversy. The tales are those of the Kolves family from not far away in the Columbia Basin, and the Kaufmans from California. The Kolves were thrust into the headlines March 30, when what was...
During the last legislative session the state passed House Bill 1129, which requires vehicle owners who register online or at a county auditor’s office to pay $5 for registration renewal and $12 for transferring a certificate of title. Money from these fees will pay for ferry replacement throughout the state. The bill applies to vehicle registrations that are due on or after Jan. 1, 2015, and certificate of title transactions processed on or after the same day. Owners who register through private license agents will not p...
In a historic bipartisan 68-32 vote, last June the U.S. Senate passed an immigration reform bill that included a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants, an innovative temporary worker program, and increased visa numbers for skilled foreign workers, as well as a nationwide employment eligibility verification system and stricter border control. This was a result of bipartisan cooperation among lawmakers, business groups, labor unions, agricultural interests and immigration advocates. Although many predict that...
This spring seems will be a big one for superhero movies. Next month, we have the theatrical releases of "The Amazing Spider-man 2," and "X-Men: Days of Future Past," which will be the fifth film to feature Marvel Comics' band of merry mutants. Tomorrow will be the premiere of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," which chronicles the life and adventures of Steve Rogers two years after the events of "The Avengers." As someone whose interests include comic book and...
The digital age has put a difficult debate on the table for parents. Smartphones and tablets have become the next big frontier for child entertainment, learning and engagement. Today’s younger generation is being raised to be connected at all times — from their GPS navigation to text communication with friends. According to a 2013 survey conducted by GfK for Common Sense Media, three out of four kids have access to mobile devices at home. Since 2011, children’s use of mobile devices has gone from 38 to 72 percent. It’s...
We live in a nation rich with energy resources. Just look to our own backyard — the hydroelectric dams on the Snake and Columbia River systems fuel the Pacific Northwest with some of the cleanest and most affordable electricity around. But today, we see a world ripe with complex relationships entangled by the Obama administration’s own resistance to develop American-made energy. With recent events in Ukraine, it is clear that now, more than ever, America must look to become the world’s energy leader. Oil and gas trade make...
I’ve been enjoying the new version of the popular 1980s series “Cosmos.” It’s wonderful to watch a science show that presents discovery and provides historical context at the same time, keeping things in perspective. Science’s advances and discoveries impact us each day, each hour and each second of our lives. They cannot be ignored. It’s also nice to watch a science show that actually attempts to explain science. Not what science has revealed, but the process it went through to reveal it. That was one of the things I appreci...
There are going to be several changes happening throughout the West Plains in the next several years and one of them revolves around the matter of solid waste. The city of Spokane has transferred control of the regional solid waste system and transfer stations to Spokane County, who will take the reins starting in November. The county wants to get into the business of solid waste because as the regional government, they feel qualified to run it, and they sent out requests for proposals (RFP) for businesses to oversee the...
Growing up in Kettle Falls, I enjoyed a skyline of Colville National Forest evergreens, which could be seen from just about anywhere in town. I was raised to appreciate their beauty and still do — but today, I see the forest’s potential to be a loud, roaring engine — an economic engine. In Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille counties, the Colville National Forest provides jobs, energy, and recreational opportunities for our communities in Northeastern Washington. Over the years I have walked the forest and met with the Fores...
Our nation spent nearly $7 billion responding to extreme weather in 2013. Events that endanger livelihoods nationally, and especially in rural and small town America. These destructive storms, devastating droughts, dangerous flooding and paralyzing winter weather highlight the need for action. We must confront threats that climate shifts pose to rural communities, and the nation. The new year provides an opportunity to take commonsense steps to address carbon pollution, a major contributing factor to these threats....
In the last few days, I have witnessed a new kind of strength that not many of my favorite superheroes could perform. I was originally scheduled to spend part of my Saturday with my younger sister Crystal — or Boo as we call her. She earned the nickname when she was 2, after she received a pair of boots that she refused to take off. The original plan was to see her in the morning, practice some driving and then have a quick lunch before I made the trip back to Cheney. I did get to see my sister this weekend, but not in the w...
Cheney is a tight-knit, friendly town, home to many families and college students. Our secluded town, however, lacks one large component of a thriving community: A recycling system for residents and students living in Cheney apartment complexes. Each day the community throws away tons of garbage that ends up in landfills. A good majority of that trash is recyclable material. Currently, most apartment complexes are equipped with dumpsters, but not with recycling bins. It is up to the property owners of these complexes to help...
For the first time in nearly 14 years there will be a new pilot flying the plane in the Medical Lake School District, when school starts in the fall. Current superintendent Pam Veltri informed staff in a March 5 email that she would resign in order to take a new job, July 1, as an assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction with the Mead School District. She will submit her official letter of resignation at the March 25 school board meeting. Veltri will leave Medical Lake after 18 years on the job, first as an...
Well, well, well, news flash, former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Terry Yonkers has come out and stated that the Spokane Tribe Economic Project has a “low and insignificant disruption to the Fairchild flying mission.” This along with the Federal Aviation Administration report found no encroachment other than from the trailer parks in the crash and approach zones. Just take part of a day and park at Spoko Fuel gas station and watch the Fairchild planes fly over. If you notice, they fly further north of the planned loca...
With the coming of the New Year our local post, the A. and T. Mautausch Post 11326 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, began our twenty-first year of service to the city of Cheney and the surrounding area. Our mission is to serve veterans of our armed services and to support activities of our local community. One service we accomplished in 2007 was the refurbishing of the veterans monument in the city park (which was later renamed Veteran’s Park) by installing lighted stone benches and placing a lighted flagpole next to the m...
The semi-annual Spokane Regional Council of Governments meeting, known as COG (to everything there is an acronym) proved entertaining and informative last Friday. Particularly when it came to Fairchild Air Force Base and the surrounding environs. Spokane County Commissioner Al French’s presentation “Protecting Fairchild AFB — Helping Families,” revisited Proposition 1, a ballot measure imposing a levy on county residents the proceeds of which would be used to purchase seven mobile home parks in the city of Airway Heights...
Cheney and Medical Lake school districts have been promoting character education at all grade levels since the start of the current school year, using a list of monthly traits developed by the Spokane Valley organization PACE — Partners Advancing Character Education. The trait for the month of the March is diligence, which PACE describes as “persistence, dedication and hard work.” It is important we teach children that through diligence, they can develop a work ethic that will not only take them far into the future, but a...
After a large snowfall overnight, a person’s worst nightmare is to drive alongside traffic on the snow-covered streets on their way to work or school in the early morning. I propose the streets be plowed and cleared before 8 a.m., which is when most people are preparing to commute to work, and venture out on to the roads of the Cheney and Spokane area. Many people are very nervous and inexperienced driving in the snow, especially people who are not from this area, which is a large population of people who attend the c...
Listen up; there is a great alternative to Cathy McMorris Rodgers. He is Joseph (Joe) Pakootas (puh-KOE-tuss). Many newspaper letters voice disappointment with Rodgers’ votes on food stamps, unemployment benefits, corporate welfare, and more. She consistently represents the wealthy top 10 percent, leaving out important interests of 90 percent of the public. With those voting numbers, we can change this picture. Pakootas would be the state’s first Native American Congressman. He is a proven leader in Eastern Washington, as...
It’s important for a community’s residents to be involved in determining what takes place around them. An example is the current discussion surrounding a parcel of land on Clay Street. Property owner Randall Gillingham has applied for a rezone of his one-third acre property from multifamily (R-3) to high-density multifamily (R-3H) in order to possibly construct a 14-unit apartment building on the site. Gillingham has no firm plans to do this right now, and is simply testing the waters — as it were — at the request of the cit...
It was just intended to be a road trip, an extended weekend winter getaway with my wife and some friends. But last week’s trek to attend the Montana Pond Hockey Classic in sunny one moment, and sideways snowy the next Kalispell, Mont., was also like time spent in Mr. Peabody’s 1960s Wayback Machine. As readers may know hockey and I are somewhat surgically — and I guess genetically — attached at the hip. My grandfather played the game over 100 years ago in Rossland, British Col...
This past week at a press conference, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that Washington state would not be putting any prisoners to death as long as he is in office. This came as a surprise to many, including myself, as Inslee had never brought up the issue of the death penalty since he became govenor. At the news conference, he mentioned he was previously in favor of executions for prisoners, but recently “had a change of heart.” He also said that there are “too many flaws” in the system.” Growing up, I was a fan of crime shows and...
Amidst the fiery community debate currently swirling in Cheney over a zoning ordinance that would allow a marijuana growing facility, it appears the smoke is clouding, perhaps, a bigger problem. That’s the illegal smoking of tobacco by those under the age of 18 and some of the problems associated with the activity. According to the Revised Code of Washington, Chapter 70.155, “A person under the age of 18 who purchases or attempts to purchase, possesses, or obtains or attempts to obtain cigarettes or tobacco products com...
