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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...
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...
One of the positives to come out of the current coronavirus crisis is that people are realizing what the most important and essential things are. When you only have time or resources for the top priorities, those priorities have to be more defined. As the model for schooling has drastically changed, the curriculum has been stripped bare, reminding us the true purpose of schools — teaching the so-callled “3 Rs” reading, writing and arithmetic. Remember the uproar over the state’s mandated new “inclusive” sex education c...
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...
Remember way back when in the 1960s when, upon returning to the classroom in the after summer break that your teacher might have asked you to pen a few paragraphs on “How I spent my summer vacation?” The past few weeks got me thinking about a hybrid version of that assignment I call “How I spent my COVIDcation, subtitled “Things I did NOT and did do while sheltering in place.” Turns out there’s a pretty sizeable list with some good and other activities not so much. Where...
The Cheney Food Bank – your community food bank to help those in need – is open on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. the first four Wednesdays of the month. During the months of January-March, we served 316 households totaling 681 people. Currently, there is need for high protein foods such as peanut butter, canned tuna, and chili. We are grateful for those who call us (235-2325) to ask about donations (dry goods and/or monetary). Monetary donations are most appreciated since they allow us to purchase needed food. If you...
The governor has just extended the stay at home orders. Since hospitals, doctors, nurses, first responders, care givers, school and others will never say they have enough supplies, then the order will be extended again and again. They can always say that more people will die if we do not stay confined at home. All humans die eventually of something as you can see from the obits. COVID 19 is just another way. I have seen many die from the flu, vehicles accidents, disease, wars etc. Let’s shut down everything to be c...
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and shutdown of businesses and activities, Free Press Publishing is having to cut back page count and staff hours, hopefully just temporarily. It’s not a decision we made lightly; it’s a decision out of necessity. Newspaper companies are already shutting down around the nation, including multiple papers in the Puget Sound region, in the Columbia River Gorge and elsewhere. But we’re here to stay. Please bear with us a few weeks as we ride out this economic tidal wave. We’ll be back be...
Some years back, in the biggest town in a small county outside our 9th District, there was a clothing store. Upstairs was the office of the area’s weekly newspaper. Week after week, year after year, the clothing store published the same advertisement in the newspaper, displaying its name, address and a drawing of a coat rack, to signal what people could buy there. No brand names, no sale prices, nothing else. The message this ad sent was clear and reassuring: “We’re still here.” It’s a complete understatement to say the f...
