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In early June, the financial website WalletHub released its rankings of “Best and Worse State Economies” and Washington led the field of 51 as best by a healthy margin. WalletHub economists viewed the states from three key dimensions — economic activity, economic health and innovation potential. Then the analysts from Dartmouth and Carthage colleges and the University of Texas-Austin looked a 28 key indicators of economic performance and strength when comparing all 50 state...
Having spent some time perusing social media in the last few weeks, I am appalled at the words some will haphazardly sling at those with whom they disagree. There are many racist, sexist and homophobic terms that should simple be removed from our vocabularies. Here, I wish to discuss a variation of an insult that is hurled at those who have a liberal point of view. “Libtard.” Clearly derived from “retard” and intended to imply that liberals are mentally deficient. I have seen this term used from “friends” on Facebook an...
Are government agencies and big tech tracking your every move via your smartphone? The answer is maybe. Gov. Jay Inslee has repeatedly said the state is using smartphone data to track interactions and travel as it may relate to coronavirus exposure and spread. That data may include time, date, location and even a “marker” for each mobile device. Indeed, anytime your cellphone is turned on, it connects to towers for telephone calls or texting. Using three tower con...
Renewed interest in Ulysses S. Grant’s entire career, as evidenced by the recent documentary “Grant” and books (e.g. “The Man Who Saved the Union” by H.W. Brands; “Grant” by Ron Chernow), adds perspective to the current protests. Grant’s primary purpose during his presidency — to save the Union and grant former slaves full citizenship — was to justify the terrible loss of lives he witnessed as Union general. He engineered passage of the 15th Amendment establishing African-American suffrage and sent troops to eradicate the Ku...
While the coronavirus pandemic and civil unrest are front page news, China’s unrelenting push to leap over our country in critical technology and hoarding of strategic metals should alarm us. Since the coronavirus pandemic broke out, there has been an unprecedented worldwide demand for personal protective equipment (PPE). Tensions between our countries fueled the widespread fear that Chinese imports would disappear. China provided 48 percent of our PPE imports in 2018, but C...
For the past several weeks, I have been watching the protests and subsequent riots hitting our urban areas throughout the county sparked by the senseless killing of George Floyd. Like you, when I viewed the video of the Minneapolis police officer atop Mr. Floyd’s neck, I found myself yelling at the TV screen – “let him up for heaven’s sake.” As a police chief with nearly four decades of experience in public safety, I condemn the force that was used to arrest Mr. Floyd in the strongest possible terms. More important...
I’m glad to see Paul Delaney is back at the Cheney Free Press after a year and a couple months hiatus. I hope his “failed retirement” wasn’t because of those “half-dozen citations” from me to which he’s laid claim (CFP, 5/21/20). Paul has decided that among the many and varied issues it’s important he address — the coronavirus pandemic, the exploding national debt, cancer causing chemicals in Airway Heights water, Eastern Washington rural hospitals nearing financial collapse — defending his publisher, Roger Harnack from...
Scientists across America are working hard to develop treatments for and vaccines against COVID-19. Unfortunately, several activist groups are making their jobs harder. Doctors Without Borders is urging governments to seize the patents on any coronavirus therapies that benefited from taxpayer-funded research. Universities Allied for Essential Medicines is making a similar push. These groups claim that such steps are necessary to prevent industry price gouging. Their efforts are misguided. Confiscating patents would damage...
In several past columns I’ve written about the need to preserve history. I’ve editorialized to preserve history, it’s often necessary to maintain that which we find offensive so we may remember and learn from the experience, hopefully not repeating the errors of our ancestors. As part of that, I’ve defended preserving symbols of the former Confederacy such as statues and flags. I’ve argued that, while painful, those elements remind us of periods of our national formation and psyche that we hope to not repeat. I’ve chan...
Gov. Jay Inslee had to know a showdown was coming with Eastern Washington. State law allocated him 30 days in which to operate under emergency authority, unless the Legislature convenes and passes a concurrent resolution. That didn’t happen. And with his initial stay-home quarantine issued Feb. 29 due to the coronavirus outbreak, many east of the Cascades have been anxiously awaiting the governor’s nod to return to work, to recreate and to shop. Without even a cautious nod...
Whether it is a crop, milk or livestock, no one involved in agriculture wants their products to go anywhere other than to consumers. That is what makes the COVID-19 crisis particularly difficult for agriculture – food continues to be produced but, in many cases, it is not reaching its intended destination. In April, the president of Tyson meats warned of a nationwide meat shortage. Milk producers are working to find the middle ground between keeping their cattle healthy and maintaining their income. Produce growers are a...
Solar power is getting a lot of attention these days as our country strives to reduce greenhouse gases. Sunny cities like Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Antonio have ramped-up solar power production; however, in cloudy coastal municipalities such as Seattle, investments in “sun power” have been lagging. One reason is Washington is blessed with an abundance of low-cost and carbon-free hydropower which accounts for three-fourths of our electricity generation. Electricity fro...
The coronavirus has roiled global commerce. How will this pandemic influence trade policy? The upcoming US-UK negotiations will serve as a test. A U.S.-UK trade deal has been in the works for years. It gets outsized attention because Britain’s “Brexit” from Europe presents both sides with a “greenfield” opportunity to get things right. In the face of the coronavirus, this will be challenging. The United States and Britain enjoy deep economic ties. The UK is America’s single largest source of foreign direct investment,...
In recent years, papermakers in Pacific Northwest have been losing ground. However, today there is a ray of hope. Surprisingly, that optimism results from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first days of the pandemic, grocers couldn’t keep toilet paper on store shelves even though paper mills were running 20 percent higher than normal capacity. Cardboard plants also were operating full bore making shipping boxes for medical supplies and personal protective gear. As Amazon and onlin...
Monday is Memorial Day. By tradition, it’s the 152nd anniversary of the day set aside to remember those who lost their lives serving our country. I say by tradition because the first incarnation of this observance, Decoration Day, started on May 30, 1868. According to History.com, there were other, smaller observances prior, many marking the end of the Civil War. There are three days we have set aside as official days to commemorate and recognize those who have served, and are now serving in our armed forces. Memorial Day, V...
Reading the May 7 Cheney Free Press, I see that publisher Roger Harnack has arrived. By that I mean he’s earned “certification” and his first scolding from serial letter writer Richard Badalamente. I call it the “Badalamente Badge.” And in 12 years as a staff member at the CFP, I proudly lay claim to earning at least a half-dozen such citations from Richard for improper thoughts laid to paper. It is of course interesting — and ironic — that Badalamente points out Harnack’s failing in his story to have cited “statistics on...
In the mid-1980s I had great health care for my young family. I worked in construction and as long as there was work, I had wonderful healthcare because I was in a strong union. During a slow period when work dried up, I used COBRA to buy health care by the month but it seemed very expensive and I eventually had to stop making payments and lost our insurance. Luckily, we had no major health needs during this period but I was worried. Now with lots of people losing their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic I imagine lots of...
Roger Harnack’s front-page article in the 4/30/2020 CFP, “Local business owners attend Spokane protest against quarantine,” starts by stating that Governor Inslee’s coronavirus-related rules, “shuttered businesses, hospitals and other aspects of life in Eastern Washington.” That’s at best misleading. Inslee’s rule banned elective surgeries and other non-essential procedures. Many businesses were permitted to operate under revised procedures. Harnack goes on to say that, “Inslee has not yet given a date for when he’d allow ...
Meatpacking plants across the country have become COVID-19 hotspots, and the struggles faced by the people working inside are apparent and alarming. Our friends and neighbors are being asked to risk their health, safety, and lives without vital protections on the job which, in turn, is endangering our food supply and our entire communities. People working in meat and poultry plants continue to be asked to work shoulder to shoulder without critical protections and they are getting sicker and sicker as a result. The spread of C...
So, what is this thing called Mother’s Day? For me, it was a reminder of several things, one of which a fact my mom never let me forget that I was supposed to be born on that day, but came into this world a day later. So much for being a Mother’s Day gift. Mom also liked to tell me that I was supposed to be a girl. Oh, well. This Sunday, which is Mother’s Day by the way, has an interesting history, harking back to celebrations of mothers and motherhood by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Closer to our timeframe, “Moth...
Since college days, I have always been in touch with the U.S. immigrant community, starting with my position as major chairman of International Forums at University of Illinois. So, it has been a great surprise and revelation to me, and maybe to most of the readers, that we have so many, many articulate doctors — both medical and academic — living and working in the United States. Either they themselves were born in other countries, or they are children of immigrants, as usually identified by their names. So many are on the...
When I was born 70 years ago there was no Earth Day. That only started 50 years ago. Before Earth Day the U.S. military used to pollute. A local newspaper in Utah reported that several sites in that state, mostly military, including Hill Air Force base, have groundwater that is permanently contaminated with “forever chemicals” that, as the name implies never break down and are health hazards. The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported that the Pentagon hustled a stockpile of the PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or forev...
As we get deeper into the COVID-19 pandemic, we are finding more Americans to thank. Until recently, truckers have been behind the scenes just doing their jobs, but as shoppers learn how groceries and necessities reappeared on shelves, they join the list of unsung heroes. Business Insider (BI) reported truckers are the reason America’s grocery stores, online retailers, hospitals, gas stations, and even ATMs have remained stocked. They number 1.9 million. It’s estimated tha...
This morning (April 13) I looked at the statistics of Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. The United States population is approximately about a third the size of China’s population. Yet we now have more than seven times the deaths as China from Covid-19. In spite of China trying to muzzle and arrest the physician who tried to raise the alarm about the virus spreading, China took quick action to shut down the epicenter and surrounding areas of Covid-19 epidemic which saved lives. The White house’s leadership was given several ear...
By JOHN McCALLUM Managing Editor As we begin to see some signs of leveling off in the number of cases and deaths, talk has turned to what things will look like in a post-COVID-19 world. That is coming and it will be soon, although it may not seem like it. Many of us have spent the past 3-4 weeks jammed in our homes with limited ability for recreation and socialization, and we’re just not that sort of species. We need both, even if the socialization involves going to work. I’ve been one of those who has spent this time wor...
