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Thinning public woodlands to remove millions of dead trees is a way to generate much needed cash to reduce wildfire risks, improve forest health, and protect rural homeowners and farms. It is money the U.S. Forest Service and Washington’s Dept. of Natural Resources don’t have because the bulk of their funds are tied up fighting fires. Our state’s wildfire severity has worsened in recent years. The 2020 fire season was particularly destructive. Over 1,250 square miles burne...
Wood buildings are making a comeback in the Pacific Northwest thanks to new laminated timber products. Even very large buildings are now constructed with laminated beams and are successfully competing with steel and concrete building materials. For example, the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, is home to one of the world’s tallest “cross laminated timber” buildings. Brock Commons, a student residence, is 174 feet high. The 18-story dorm houses more than 400 students....
In recent years, environmentalists have targeted natural gas, even though it is an affordable energy source for so many. Their efforts have failed in the Legislature. But, apparently, Gov. Inslee and his environmental allies found another way to restrict natural gas use. Last Friday, the State Building Code Council, whose members are appointed by the governor, voted 11-3 to change state energy rules by requiring new businesses and apartments to mostly use heat pumps to warm air and water beginning in July 2023. With few...
Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair was awe-inspiring. It previewed developments that would improve our daily lives in the next millennium. While “Century 21” memories have faded, three of its landmarks remain as reminders of the innovations it inspired: The Seattle Center, the Space Needle, and the monorail. One thing many remember is “The Bubble-ator,” a glass ball-shaped elevator in the coliseum (now Climate Pledge Arena) which gradually climbed to the middle of a contoured map of...
I would like to than and recognize Cheney businesses that assisted us in making the loss of Mary Daugharty easier. First is the Cheney Funeral Chapel. These people were efficient at their work. The kindness and advice they offered we survivors was most valuable. The Marketplace catered the luncheon food which again surpassed our needs by supplying excellent sandwiches, salads and punch. The Holiday Inn and Express held 10 rooms for our out of town guests. The Town and Country Floral red carnations would have pleased Mary....
The news that President Biden plans to resume leasing of federal land for oil exploration maybe good five years from now, but that action alone won’t bring down record gas prices at the pump in the months ahead. According to American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline was $4.07 on Good Friday (April 15); down from $4.31 a gallon a month ago. That’s still 70 percent higher than when he took office. The Interior Department ann...
Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-5th District, delivered the following remarks at the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Hearing on legislation to support mental health and the well-being of people in America. The following are excerpts from her prepared remarks. By Cathy McMorris Rodgers “Our children are in crisis. More high schoolers are unhappy and depressed. Mental health emergencies are increasing. Last year, there was a two-and-a-half fold increase in emergency department visits for suicidal ideation and s...
Sunflowers are to Ukraine what tulips are to western Washington. During the blooming season, both are spectacular and represent the best in the people who cultivate and visit those fields. In late 1945, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands presented the Canadian government with 100,000 tulip bulbs as a gift for providing Holland’s royal family exile during World War II. Since then, the tulip became known as a “Peace Flower” in North America. Her pilgrimage inspired Dutch tulip...
The state wolf population saw significant increase, growing by 16% in 2021 according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. The number of packs grew to 23 from 29 in 2020, and the number of breeding pairs increased from 16 to 19. The consistent growth of the wolf population is good news and is the result of hard work of staff, the Wolf Advisory Group and Northeast Washington ranchers, who have taken steps to reduce wolf attacks. These good numbers contradict the...
With COVID-19 vaccines widely dispensed and masking requirements mostly lifted, will “work from home” end? Will workers return to downtown offices at pre-pandemic levels? Probably Not! One big reason it is expensive to drive and the waste of time and fuel idling in traffic jams. Another is safety. Gas prices continue to skyrocket. Last year, the average cost at the pump was $2.62 per gallon. By the end of March, Seattle’s gasoline increased to $4.88 per gallon, according to Ga...
The Northeast Washington Wildlife Group is very concerned about the whitetail deer in District 1 of Region 1 in Northeast Washington. The harvest numbers for the area in 2019 and 2020 set record lows and the blue tongue outbreak in 2020 was worse than the very bad outbreak of 2015. The city of Colville removed over 160 carcasses from within city limits last year, in 2015 they removed 80. When asked if the state Department of Fish and Wildlife had any plans to help deer numbers rebound, the department replied: “Indeed, d...
The cult of social justice is perpetuating racism in the Clover Park School District with a new student discipline policy requiring staff to consider a student’s race and background before determining their punishment. Instead of disciplining students consistently based on conduct, as justice would require, it is mandating discrimination based on race. In other words, skin color determines whether one receives easy or harsh punishment for the same offense. Isn’t this the textbook definition of racism? This is happening in sch...
With so much rhetoric about moving the state away from gas-powered vehicles to reduce CO2 emissions, one of the strangest claims made during the legislative session was that there was no increase in “gas taxes.” Various versions of this claim appeared. At best, it is misleading, but in many cases it is false. The transportation package specifically relies on an increase in taxes on gasoline as legislative documents and the Department of Ecology admit. The $17 billion transportation package has several funding sources. The...
Sorry to break the news, Washingtonians, but Year 3 of living under emergency orders by the governor will continue without meaningful legislative oversight. The House officially killed Senate Bill 5909 before adjourning. Although that bill as passed by the Senate was essentially fake reform, several amendments were introduced for the House floor debate to bring the policy back in line with what exists in the rest of the country by requiring affirmative legislative approval...
RITZVILLE – With the close of the 2022 legislative session, Sen. Mark Schoesler is getting re-acquainted with constituents in-person back home in Eastern Washington. Last week, the Ritzville Republican hit the road, traveling to Pasco, Moses Lake and Pullman. “After spending most of 2022 in Olympia for the recently ended legislative session, it’s been great to be back home in Ritzville, where I’m focusing on farming and catching up with friends and others around town and the 9th District,” Schoesler said. On Monday, March 14,...
SPOKANE VALLEY — Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers will be visiting several communities over the next couple months to talk to constituents in public sessions. She will open her tour at 10 a.m. Friday, March 25, in the Southeast Washington Economic Development Agency Office, 1013 Bridge St., Clarkston. In April, the Spokane Republican representing Washington’s 5th Congressional District will be in Republic, Spokane Valley, Pomeroy, Dayton, Davenport and Newport. Her April schedule is as follows: April 4 —10 a.m., Northern...
Return Alaska to Russia? A month ago, such lunacy wasn’t news worthy, but after Russia shockingly invaded Ukraine, anything is possible. The assault on Ukraine has been massive and brutal. Civilians continue to be targeted and thousands have been killed. Apartment complexes, stores, and nuclear power plants are being bombed and hospitals, orphanages and children’s theaters are being shelled. Just as worrisome is Vladimir Putin threatens to use nuclear weapons. The game changer...
As predicted, there was a whirlwind of activity in the first few weeks of the legislative session related to the WA Cares Fund. That’s the name of a new social program the state’s legislative majority created in 2019 — and that voters said “no” to in an advisory vote. It will soon bring workers in our state a new payroll tax of 58 cents for every $100 of wages. A delay of the long-term-care law that mandates the program and its tax was secured in the passage of House Bill 1732. Gov. Jay Inslee and other Democratic leaders r...
There is an old saying: Don’t let the “perfect” be the “enemy” of the good! That is important to remember as we work our way out of the energy crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While the Russians are razing the country and killing thousands of innocent people, many world leaders are slapping Moscow with heavy economic sanctions. Embargoing Russian oil and natural gas are examples. With the prohibition of Russian oil imports, there is a crude shortage in...
It’s not often that we see an athlete at the top of his (her) game walk away from a multi-million dollar payday to go home and fight for his (her) country. However, that is exactly what world heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk did after Russia invaded Ukraine. Usky postponed his championship rematch with Britain’s Anthony Joshua and returned to war-torn Ukraine. He enlisted in the homeland defense force; however, he’s not alone. Fellow boxers Vasiliy Lomachenko and K...
Washingtonians now pay nearly $17,000 per student, per year, for K-12 public education, more than tuition at most private schools. That is more than $400,000 for a classroom of 25 students. What are the results? The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction reports most schools fail to meet the standard in teaching math (70% of students failed) and fail to meet the standard in teaching English (52% of students failed.) More than 41,000 Washington students have left public education since the COVID-19 lockdown orders...
I am so glad that the state mask mandate will be lifted soon. No, I am not against masks. I am actually very grateful for the caution and care our state and in turn Cheney School District has exercised during COVID. I am glad it will be lifted because maybe now our school board can get back to the critical work entrusted to them of overseeing the education of our children. Maybe they won’t have to be subjected to disrespectful disruptions to their work. I am a glad the mandate will be lifted because now maybe the Free P...
Washington’s Board of Natural Resources is considering banning timber harvesting on state lands. That is extremely unwise. Instead, the Board must insure its healthy forest policies incorporate all management tools including planting, thinning and logging. The board, established in 1957, sets policies to manage Washington’s 5.6 million acres granted by Congress in 1889. More than 3 million acres were designated as trust lands to support various public institutions of whi...
Freedom requires the politicians “to be dependent on the people alone,” (Federalist Paper No. 52, ¶2). When politicians are dependent on political parties, which are controlled by “a handful of tyrannical nobles,” government becomes the servant of the billionaire class, (Federalist Paper No. 39, ¶4). Lately, the state has laid claim to having the authority to control every aspect of an individual’s life. On any trumped-up pretext, the state has assumed the power to place the people under house arrest, to close the church...
By The United States has a unique health care delivery system. Unlike other industrialized countries which all have some form of top-down, government-run system, the structure of medical care in the U.S. has evolved organically over the past 80 years. Half of all Americans receive their health insurance from their employer or their spouse’s employer. Over 40 percent of Americans receive their health insurance from the government through Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare. Advocates of a single-payer system in the U.S. b...
