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With the Christmas tree and decorations taken down and 2025 here, my focus is now on the upcoming legislative session, which starts Jan. 13 and is scheduled to last 105 days. I’ll make the drive west to Olympia next week to get ready for opening day and to meet with other legislators, staff and others. Here are some important dates for the upcoming session: Jan. 13 – Opening day Feb. 21 – Senate policy committee cutoff for Senate bills Feb. 28 – Senate fiscal committee cutoff for Senate bills March 12 – Senate floor cut...
With the Christmas tree and decorations taken down and 2025 here, my focus is now on the upcoming legislative session, which starts Jan. 13 and is scheduled to last 105 days. I’ll make the drive west to Olympia next week to get ready for opening day and to meet with other legislators, staff and others. Here are some important dates for the upcoming session: Jan. 13 – Opening day Feb. 21 – Senate policy committee cutoff for Senate bills Feb. 28 – Senate fiscal committee cutoff for Senate bills March 12 – Senate floor cut...
President-elect Donald Trump is claiming a special mandate by winning the popular vote, though only by a little over 2 million (1.5%; and getting below 50% of total popular vote) compared to President Joe Biden’s winning margin of about 7 million (4%; 51%) over Trump in 2020. If the electoral college had already been scrapped, would the popular vote have been significantly changed by the candidates campaigning in all states, not just battleground ones? Why did Washington state have its’ lowest turnout in 28 years? Why was...
President-elect Donald Trump is claiming a special mandate by winning the popular vote, though only by a little over 2 million (1.5%; and getting below 50% of total popular vote) compared to President Joe Biden’s winning margin of about 7 million (4%; 51%) over Trump in 2020. If the electoral college had already been scrapped, would the popular vote have been significantly changed by the candidates campaigning in all states, not just battleground ones? Why did Washington state have its’ lowest turnout in 28 years? Why was...
Chris Cargill says a national popular vote would result in Washington state’s electoral votes going to Donald Trump in the last election. The whole point of a national popular vote is to eliminate the electoral college, so there would be no electoral votes. Washington would be on record as not having a majority of voters who chose Donald Trump, but he would not be granted our electoral votes since there wouldn’t be any. Kate Blake Tacoma...
Chris Cargill says a national popular vote would result in Washington state’s electoral votes going to Donald Trump in the last election. The whole point of a national popular vote is to eliminate the electoral college, so there would be no electoral votes. Washington would be on record as not having a majority of voters who chose Donald Trump, but he would not be granted our electoral votes since there wouldn’t be any. Kate Blake Tacoma...
Suicide has rocked my family. In memory of my child, Katie Thew, who battled chronic pain and died by suicide on Oct. 6, 2022, I offer this article to help other families avoid this grief. Rampant mental health challenges including depression, with more and more communities recognizing they lack adequate resources to help, inspired the creation of a month (September) devoted to suicide prevention which recently passed. Now our family is mourning another milestone, the two-year anniversary of Katie’s death. Each of us can l...
The 2024 election is the most consequential election in our lifetime. It will, starting with the next 4 years, determine the path America will take nationally and globally. We vote for politicians, who’s agendas are conflicted, and we think/hope they are working in the best interest of the people. Many are not. Nationally, we’ve lost many of our freedoms, privacy and are being overrun with people who are not American and will over time change our culture, values and way of life. Whether you live in the city or county, it...
The 2024 election is the most consequential election in our lifetime. It will, starting with the next 4 years, determine the path America will take nationally and globally. We vote for politicians, who’s agendas are conflicted, and we think/hope they are working in the best interest of the people. Many are not. Nationally, we’ve lost many of our freedoms, privacy and are being overrun with people who are not American and will over time change our culture, values and way of life. Whether you live in the city or county, it...
A vote for Harris is a vote for communism We know President Trump’s four-year track record — no wars, secure borders, energy independence (selling oil instead of buying from our enemies), lowest unemployment in decades, highest employment of black persons, fulfilled promise to bring U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, built up our military, initiated Space Force to help protect America and still fighting for America despite getting shot and a second attempt on his life by Democrat operatives. And that’s only a partial list. We also...
Airport, Spokane need to step up As you know the city of Spokane is 50% owner of the Spokane International Airport and President Wilkerson sits on the Spokane Airport Board. As such, they are just as liable and responsible for the PFOA water contamination that has contaminated hundreds of private water wells out here on the West Plains. I find it strange that the city of Spokane has been very quiet about all this? Yes, this is also a county problem, but as 50% owners, it is also your problem. Why did it take a whistleblower...
The demise of the Olympic Games The Olympic Games is the mountain top of the athletic realm. After all, when you consider the thousands of young people who dedicate their lives to become a participant in those games and the millions of spectators who eagerly wait every four years to watch these wonderful athletes perform, it must be a world event. Then came Paris. In the opening ceremony, when then mockery of the “Lord’s Supper” — which in my mind had nothing to do with the Olympics — it avalanched the entire ceremony...
I’ve read many letters about windmills recently, but I’ve missed hearing the views of some of the key players. I’d like to hear more from the farmers considering installing windmills. We need to hear more from farmers because they play a vital role in the Palouse economy but face escalating challenges. The unpredictable weather exacerbated by climate change means farmers must explore all options to sustain themselves financially. Wind power income would help. My nightmare scenario is not windmills but bankrupt farmers, no fo...
In a recent op-ed, state Sen. Mark Schoesler, alluded to a new “bad law” that prevents law enforcement from pursuing criminal suspects in most situations. He cherry-picks a paragraph from an op-ed in a Seattle newspaper written by one of his senate colleagues, Marka Dhingra, who happens to be the first Sikh elected to a public office anywhere in the U.S.. (The Sikhs are a persecuted religious sect in India.) Also, she has been a deputy prosecuting attorney for King County for 20 years. I looked up her guest editorial and it...
