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There are at least 216 gray wolves in 37 packs in our state. Thirty-one of those gray wolf packs are in North-Central and Northeastern Washington. Senate Bill 5939 – relating to protecting livestock from wolf predation – seeks to give affected livestock raisers a chance to mitigate the confirmed and probable predation deaths of their animals. The bill would allow owners of livestock to monitor a depredation and kill the first gray wolf that returns. The bill lays out the livestock protection plan as a 3-year pilot with a rep...
The $33 billion secret Snake River Dam plan that President Biden and friends cooked up in the White House basement needs to be exposed to the light of day and thoroughly aired by all. It is time to assess how it might work in the real world rather than wait and see what happens once it is implemented. While $33 billion may seem like “walking around” money to a President who tosses around trillion-dollar programs like horseshoes at the church picnic, the amount is equal to the yearly operating budget of the entire State of Was...
Vote ‘Yes’ and support Cheney schools Feb. 13 During the February election, the Cheney School District is asking voters to consider three ballot measures, including replacement Education Programs and Operations and Capital levies, and a much-needed bond to address facility needs and growth within the district. The replacement EP&O levy is a critical local funding source that supports a significant number of staff positions not funded by the state and provides funding for performing arts, athletics, and extra-curricular act...
Monday featured opening-day ceremonies in the Senate and House chambers, followed by a joint legislative session in the House chamber on Tuesday for Gov. (Jay) Inslee’s final state of the state address. Because this is considered a “short session,” fewer bills will be introduced and considered than in last year’s 105-day session. The main objectives for legislators this year will be to create and pass supplemental operating, capital and transportation budgets. For me and my 9th District seatmates – Reps. Joe Schmick a...
Breaching dams isn’t the answer Monumental Dam has a concrete fish ladder. Its lock works for barge. Rather than breach the dam – or others on the Lower Snake River – how about using a tunnel-boring machine to notch an on the side an additional zig-zag fish ladder? The answer is cooperation or compromise – not contempt or hard-headed, extremism on breaching. Sen. Murray, Gov. Jay Inslee and President Joe Biden need to step back and look at the whole picture. Errol Kramer Odessa/Ritzville Reintroduce bill to ban dwarf-t...
Aesop’s fable warns against killing the goose laying golden eggs. The tale’s origins date to 600 B.C. and tells of the greedy farmer who foolishly killed the prized goose to get to the gold’s source and ended up with nothing. Skeptics in our nation’s capital today quip that politicians are greedy, self-serving and tone deaf and are cooking their own geese and all of us too. Those controlling the “other Washington” have us drowning in debt. According to the U.S. Treasury, w...
In the 1990s, “things go better with Coca Cola” was the catchy slogan dairy farmers dreaded. At the time, milk producers were in a head-to-head battle with soft drink giants and losing. Milk consumption had steadily declined over the previous two decades. One key reason was aggressive advertising by bottlers of iced tea, water and pop. In 1993, nationwide milk consumption declined 20% and was down to less than one cup per person per day. So, in 1993 California’s dairy indus...
Washington’s new tax on CO2 emissions ended up adding about 43 cents per gallon of gas for 2023. The final price was reduced by several market interventions by Department of Ecology staff, but prices are likely to increase next year. Ecology staff released the results from the fourth-quarter auction of CO2 emission allowances. The settlement price was $51.89, a significant drop from the previous auction price of $63.03. The average tax on CO2 in 2023 ended up at $54.74 per m...
The Christmas tree is decorated. The gifts are wrapped. There may not be snow outside, yet, but it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And I, for one, am looking forward to our family traditions. Every family has its own traditions; our starts with cutting down a tree, something we did a week or two ago. With the tree up and the lights already on, we’ve moved onto music and movies. Oh, the Christmas movies … Break out the classics – “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Miracle on 34th Street,” “Charlie Brown Christmas,” “The Gr...
With shopping behind us, it is time o turn to Santa for those final Christmas presents on our wish list. After comparing the options, here are five of the high-demand policy gifts sure to delight users of all ages. 1. A Sherlock Holmes tax transparency bundle kit. Enjoy hours of sleuthing and tax mystery-solving with your favorite detective’s personal kit for understanding taxes. Included in the easy-carry leather bag are a magnifying glass and directions to a tax transparency website, taxpayer receipt, Truth in Taxation p...
Cover Hudson’s presidential bid I am writing to express my concern regarding the lack of attention given to non-partisan candidate Anthony Hudson in your coverage of the presidential race. As a blue-collar man with a message that has resonated with over 60 million people, Hudson represents a significant portion of the American population that deserves to be heard. It is disheartening to witness the prevalence of media bias in the current political landscape. While the media plays a crucial role in informing the public and s...
It is that time of year when people put up their outside holiday lights and displays. Judging from our neighborhood they are decorating more than usual. In our country 90 percent of individuals say they plan to celebrate the holidays this year. Total retail sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas are projected to reach $957 billion. The setting for the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is reminiscent of bedecked suburban communities. Clark Griswold decorates every foot o...
Antidiabetic medications have been given a lot of attention lately. In the Age of Information, some subjects take over every screen, while others gather dust in the basement. The Human Genome Project got plenty of attention in the 1990s. It captured our imagination - the thought of unveiling the blueprints for life. Unwinding the DNA. Hope for humanity and our many ailments seemed within reach. Born with bad genes? We’ll be able to fix that soon. So far, the Project yielded few answers and left us with many new questions. M...
‘BIG WIRES’ Act provides power benefits The Building Integrated Grids With Inter-Regional Energy Supply (BIG WIRES) Act is a promising bipartisan bill in Congress that offers a wide range of benefits: reducing the risk of electrical power outages, lowering carbon emissions and energy costs, and increasing national security. The recent gas pipeline rupture in our region gave many of us a taste of how a blackout in winter would feel. Extreme weather events damaging power stations and overloading the grid are on the rise. The bi...
By As soon as the turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes are put away on Thanksgiving, it’s officially time to turn the holiday calendar to Christmas. Notice I didn’t mention mashed potatoes in the list of Thanksgiving foods. That’s because mashed potatoes are the worst dish served in a classic Thanksgiving meal. Think that’s a controversial opinion? Good. That was just a setup for this column that leans into the Christmas spirit by sharing the 10 best and 10 worst Christmas songs. You may think I, a true Christmas lover, took t...
We had a great crop of apples this year and more pumpkins than we could give away. Blackberries from the Westside and home canned cherries from early summer and have we got our pies! America is a land of plenty and we love to eat at ball games, movie theaters and other community gatherings. For some, this lifestyle is catching up to us and we’re dealing with extra pounds, which is leading to health problems. We have to find a way to help people stay healthy and avoid terrible chronic diseases associated with obesity. I...
As we prepare for the upcoming holidays, we must be grateful for what we have and focus on our needs rather than fixate on what we want and crave. Being thankful starts with an appreciation of why our families came to America in the first place---our freedoms and opportunities. Legendary singer-song writer Neil Diamond hit single; “America” was performed in 1981 to help welcome home 52 American hostages that Iranian militants held for 444 days at the U.S. Embassy in Teh...
Last month, I attended joint meetings for the National Association of State Conservation Agencies and the National Watershed Coalition in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the request of Washington state conservationist, Roylene Comes-At-Night. Just as in previous annual meeting in Spokane two year ago, this was an opportunity to build relationships with national U.S. Department of Agriculture leadership, understand programs and funding opportunities better, and to work together for...
Aren’t you sick and tired of hearing Gov. Jay Inslee and his ilk routinely blame Columbia and Snake River dams for the decline in Puget Sound salmon and orca populations? Despite voluminous information to the contrary, Inslee, Sen. Patty Murray and other extremist environmental politicians continue to push a narrative on salmon decline that is patently false. There should be penalties for being so disingenuous. While there isn’t a penalty for false statements made to app...
While the last veterans who survived the “surprise” Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are dwindling rapidly, we cannot let their sacrifices and the memories of that horrific day which propelled America into World War II fade into history. On December 7, 1941, 350 Japanese aircraft descended on Honolulu’s military installations in two shocking waves. More than 2,400 Americans were killed, and 21 ships were sunk or damaged. Our Veterans who fought and won WWII are now 90 or older...
In 1992, a single male sockeye salmon managed to swim 900 miles from the mouth of the Columbia River to Redfish Lake located deep in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains---the end of his migratory journey. Biologists dubbed the sole survivor, “Lonesome Larry.” By 2010, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council happily reported record-setting runs for sockeye —387,000 had climbed the fish ladders at Bonneville Dam. Last year, 751 sockeye were trapped at Redfish Lake Creek and taken t...
What’s the hourly wage of a Paid Family and Medical Leave recipient in Washington state? It’s higher than I’m comfortable with. Lawmakers should explain to all workers why they think it is good policy to take money from low-income workers and give their money to people with ample resources. Using hourly wage estimates from the state Employment Security Department, here are the earnings of people who took the program’s tax dollars in the past fiscal year (July 2022 through June 2023): • Up to $18/hour: 12% • Between $18...
Thirty-five attorneys general throughout the nation, including Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, have banded together in opposition to a proposal by the American Law Institute that would put an end to sex offender registries, notifying communities of a sex offender’s presence, and restricting their places of residence. You read that right: the American Law Institute wants to do away with sex offender registries. Although a proposal of this nature has yet to pass through the Legislature here, several attempts have a...
The Interstate 405 and state Highway 167 toll lane experiment is losing money. Now, the state Transportation Commission is considering increasing tolls by up to 80% to $18 each way on I-405. The increase will cost an I-405 commuter, using the lanes at peak toll periods, around $720 per month or $8,640 per year. If you travel the entire Highway 167 and I-405 corridor you could see a toll of up to $54. The state Department of Transportation fiscal report for the tolling project shows a loss of $1.4 million in 2022 and is...
President Biden’s $65 billion infrastructure bill contains $8 billion for regional hubs to develop ways to produce and distribute hydrogen fuel. One is planned for the Pacific Northwest and should help haulers and truck manufacturers in Renton and Portland in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, long-distance haulers need a network of hydrogen fueling stations (like today’s truck stops) along with affordable trucks and fuel. Hub researchers’ added...
