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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...
The community should be commended for its support of our propositions to improve library and fire services in Airway Heights in the Aug. 1 primary election. Because of residents, we will be able to keep our local library open, maintain funding for four full-time firefighters to respond to higher call volumes and renovate a facility to include a fire station. We’re grateful our community sees the value of supporting our library and public safety. We will continue to report back to you as we make progress on the projects we p...
Today, Aug. 3, we had a fire on Jennings Road (cause unknown at this point). I personally give commendations to Fire District No. 3, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and the planes that spread fire retardant. This was relatively close to us, but the professional action of all people involved was heartwarming. Here are people I don’t know risking their lives on my behalf. Fortunately, we did not have to evacuate as they contained the fire professionally. This is my tax money at work, and I am proud of it. Gordon and Sharon You...
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...
There’s no question the governor misled the people last year when claiming his cap-and-tax scheme would add “pennies” to the cost of gas once it took full effect in 2023. Gov. Jay Inslee has a degree in economics, as he reminded everyone at a news conference last week. And, yet, he assumed oil companies would simply absorb the added cost of complying with cap-and-tax? Inslee came up with a new lie at that news conference, as part of a feeble effort to claim his scheme has nothing to do with state gas prices being so high...
By virtually all key metrics, Washington’s environmental policies are failing. And yet, when was the last time politicians, environmental activists or the media expressed concern about policy failures? Speeches and news stories are filled with demands that we save the planet, describing threats to salmon, orca, forests and the climate. And yet, there is a remarkable lack of curiosity when real-world efforts fail to address those problems. One common thread is that environmental policy generally, and climate policy in p...
The fact that the Cheney Police Department lost its accreditation in 2018, during Mayor Grover’s tenure, and is only now starting to discuss re-accreditation five years later, is an outrage and a disgrace. According to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, “the purpose of law enforcement agency accreditation is to professionalize the law enforcement industry by providing a review process for agencies to be certified as operating under industry best practices and standards.” Given the severity and scope...
Rep. Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy, and ranking Republican on the House Environment and Energy Committee, issued the following statement in response to a news conference held by Gov. Jay Inslee today where he blamed the oil industry for sky-high fuel prices in Washington state. “Washington state has the highest gas prices in the nation because of the governor’s cap-and-trade program that took effect in January. Governor Inslee’s new climate mandate, which is the most expensive of its kind in the nation, has forced fuel prices to rise...
As many struggle to make ends meet because of inflation and our state having the most expensive gas in the nation, the last thing they want is to pay a big new tax. Yet, that is exactly what Washington workers now face. A payroll tax, which went into effect on July 1, is being taken out of most employees’ paychecks. This tax is currently equal to $58 annually for every $10,000 in pay. It supports a government-run long-term care program called WA Cares, created by majority Democrats in the Legislature in 2019. The long-term c...
For some time now, many Washington workers have been upset about an upcoming payroll tax to fund the new long-term care program called “WA Cares”, created by Democrat majorities in the Legislature in 2019. That payroll tax finally went into effect July 1. Unless you applied for and received an exemption from this tax, you’ll see less money in your paycheck. The payroll tax is currently equal to $58 annually for every $10,000 in pay. The WA Cares program offers a lifetime payout of no more than $36,500, subject to infla...
Solomon Asch performed some exceptional psychology experiments in the 1950s. His experiments showed the power of conformity when people sometimes agree with a group’s opinion, even when shown evidence the group is wrong. In the 1950s, Asch could not determine whether his subjects consciously changed their views or whether social cues unconsciously skewed their perception. In 2005, Gregory Berns answered this question by repeating Asch’s experiment with brain scans. Berns found the brain’s visual center changed what it perce...
The good news is this state’s cherry crop looks good—a marked improvement over 2022. It is sweetening our farm economy especially for cherry growers who have struggled over the last five years. “Last year’s cold, wet April brought down the cherry crop,” Wenatchee World writer Gabriel Garcia recently reported. “But this year, the Washington state cherry harvest is in full swing, and the industry is optimistic about it.” Washington’s cherry growers expect to pick 21 million...
Let’s Go Washington is taking aim at the WA Cares Fund and a payroll tax that workers started paying this month with an initiative campaign. Initiative 2124, an Initiative to the Legislature, would make participation in WA Cares optional instead of mandatory and allow workers a way out of the state-imposed, insurance-like program at any time. That would be welcome news to many people who have other life needs that demand the attention of their monthly incomes. This should be interesting. I like the idea of giving lawmakers an...
Like most Americans, I enjoy watching – and lighting – fireworks on Independence Day. America’s “birthday” should stand out among all national holidays. And the colorful, aerial explosions showcase the freedom and independence for which the U.S. stands. But why then do only tribes have the ability to sell the “good” fireworks – you know: firecrackers, bottle rockets, Roman candles, mortars and more. There’s nothing magical about the imaginary line on a map suggesting firewo...
Until President Biden signed the Chips and Science Act (CSA) last year, companies, such as Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), looked elsewhere to build plants costing well over $20 billion each. Biden’s pitch to taxpayers was ultramodern manufacturers of miniature computer chips used in our sophisticated weapons, advanced manufacturing, cars and trucks, and high-tech equipment needed to move back to the U.S A. Congress responded and passed CSA s...
School choice is on the rise across the nation. Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, just announced his support for Lifeline scholarships, a state voucher program that will allow students to use public funds to attend a private school of their choice. If enacted, his bill will help families assigned by local officials to the lowest-performing public schools because these families will be able to choose a better alternative for their children. Governor S...
In 1922, the Columbia Basin Irrigation League was formed. Just a year later, Congress passed a bill allowing an investigation of the irrigation project with appropriations of $100,000. This was the very beginning of the process that led to construction of the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest dam in the world at the time, to help provide irrigation to the Columbia Basin, and power to the Pacific Northwest and beyond. It was also the beginning of one of the largest irrigation efforts in the nation, the Columbia Basin Project. The...
A short three years ago, motorists in Eastern Washington could buy regular unleaded gasoline for as little as $1.97 per gallon in several areas – George, Pasco, Quincy, to name a few. Diesel didn’t cost much more. Farmers could afford to fill their fuel tanks and shipping companies could keep their trucks moving at a reasonable price. And you and I could afford to drive personal vehicles – a necessity when you live and work in Eastern Washington. As a result, rural resid...
The federal debt ceiling crisis was averted, but tax cheats benefited. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 contained $79 billion for the Internal Revenue Service, $45 billion of it was to audit individuals or businesses making over $400,000 annually to catch those not paying their taxes. Funding cuts for many years rendered the IRSlargely unable to audit the wealthy. Currently, the amount in taxes owed but not paid totals nearly $7 trillion over a decade; three-fifths is held by top 10% of taxpayers, more than one-quarter by...
