Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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Last January, Boeing was poised for another record year. The company’s order book burst at the seams. Things seem to be going Boeing’s way. In 2019, Boeing planned to step up deliveries of KC46 aerial refueling jets to the U.S. Air Force and the new 777 composite-wing jumbo jet was entering its critical test phases with plans to begin deliveries within the next two years. Boeing’s contracts for new aircraft climbed to 1,500 Dreamliners (787) and over 5,000 Max (737) jets. The company is capable...
Memorial Day has passed. It is the nation’s time to reflect on those we have lost. The focus of the holiday is on the many who serve this country in time of conflict, particularly those who died in combat. It also honors those who stood ready to protect the the country in times of peace. Memorial Day is not only for those missing, but for those in conflict now and those who make up the rest of the military and are ready to step up when the call comes. America has a long history of combat. The country was born in war and has been engaged in c...
Pet Peeves The big, UGLY stumps are still on Main Street. Okeydokes New people signed to run for positions, mayor and council in Colfax. Volunteers who so lovingly take care of Dusty cemetery. The proposed mural designs for around town....
They say that even a broken clock is right twice a day. Like that broken clock, when President Donald Trump complained recently about social media censorship, he was onto something. We should be very concerned when Facebook executives decide to kick somebody off their social media site just because the offender is anti-social. Actually, the term they use is "dangerous individuals," and arguably what these expelled guys regularly spew out is dangerously crazy. Alex Jones was given the boot, along with removal of links to his Infowars site,...
The Joe Biden polling surge has raised the frightful specter of Democratic rationality. What if Donald Trump hasn't driven Democrats insane, sending them into a spiral of self-defeating radicalism, but instead made them shockingly pragmatic? Biden's early strength suggests it may be the latter, that the reaction to Trump is so intense that it has crossed some sort of event horizon from fevered fantasy of his leaving office early via resignation or impeachment to a cold-eyed, win-at-any-cost practicality. If this is true, one of the exogenous...
On April 21, 1962, the Seattle World’s Fair opened. The “Century 21 Exhibition” ran for six months, drew 11 million visitors, turned a profit and left the Northwest with a wonderful Seattle Center. Well over a half century later, many of the fair’s landmarks remain and the Center’s 73-acres is a gathering place for people from all walks of life. It is Seattle’s Central Park. The Space Needle has become Seattle’s landmark. Conceived in an architect’s notebook, it was constructed in eight months...
It was a pretty normal day at my house for old retirees. I was trying to decide whether to go to bed early or watch another nighttime drama series. Not wanting to rush a big decision, I closed one eye and leaned back in my recliner. Thus, I was only half watching the show as they portrayed an island nation being washed away due to global warming. I came fully awake when the show indicated America was solely responsible for the demise of this small, fictional principality. I ignored the rest of the show and focused on what I knew and had heard a...
Student debt is a national problem. Students find themselves leaving college with massive loans and the daunting challenge of how to pursue career goals and pay off those loans. A college degree remains important for future earnings and choice of careers, but the load of debt many college graduates face entering the job market drives decisions that may not be the best in the long run. The situation has attracted the attention of politicians and others. Student loan debt surpasses $1.53 trillion and takes an average of 19.7 years to pay off....
Okeydokes Staff member at Ticks who read to children while father shopped for cards...
May 1, 2003: Then-President George W. Bush landed in a jet on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to announce that just a few weeks after his Iraq invasion, all major combat operations would end. It was a made-for-television event. Dominating the picture was a huge sign declaring "Mission Accomplished." Thousands of combat deaths later, the banner has been so scornfully ridiculed that even Bush admitted he wished it hadn't been used. May 7, 2019: Majority Leader Mitch McConnell takes to the Senate floor. He derided Democrats'...
The surprise about the big New York Times story on Donald Trump's tax returns is that there are no real surprises. Trump's taxes have been an obsession of the left since he, in violation of a long-standing norm, reneged on his promise to release his returns during the 2016 campaign. Democrats counted as one of the advantages of taking the House that they could demand Trump's returns. The dispute resulting from the administration's refusal to turn them over is now probably headed to the Supreme Court. All the while, the expectation, or at least...
Thank you, for Frank Watson's well-written article. If ever the time was right, after our "Leftist Legislature" thinks they have had an "Epic Year" this is a reasonable time to respond. The Washington legislature needs to know they have not served us well. The question of a "divided state" is only accentuated by last-minute action passed in the darkness of night, low press coverage and more taxes. This is time to remind them that taxes are not the road to wealth or prosperity. "Head taxes" on H2-A labor is one, small example. Abraham Lincoln...
There are dams that should come down and those that shouldn’t. Hopefully, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts its review of the 14 federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers, that will become abundantly clear. That review is expected to be ready for public comment in late 2020. Here is the difference. Demolishing the two dams on the Elwha River west of Port Angeles was a good thing. They were built in the early 1900s to bring electricity to the Olympic Peninsula at a time when s...
Our court system is out of control. I was watching a Mariner’s game the other day when the network filled a break in the action with a half dozen commercials. My drink and chip bowl were both full, so I sat back in my recliner and day-dreamed. I came fully awake when a law firm announced they had won a $289 million settlement against the makers of Roundup and requested I call the number on the screen to see if I could share in the bounty. I have used Roundup in my garden for several years, so, after the ball game, I retired to my computer to r...
The deepest solo ocean dive ever made was to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. It was made in a titanium-hulled submersible on May 1. The depth of the dive was more than 35,800 feet. Four new deep sea species were discovered. Also, discovered on the sea floor was a plastic bag and what may have been candy wrappers. In the Philippines, a juvenile whale was found dying of what scientists thought was dehydration and starvation. After its death, it was discovered that the whale had ingested 88 pounds of single use plastic bags....
Pet Peeves People who walk their dogs down Main Street and do not pick up after them. Okeydokes People that support the Rotary baseball breakfast ticket sales and all the extra money donated! Colfax pride!...
Back when I was a TV local newspup, I met Muhammad Ali to do an interview. This was during his boxing days. While my video person set up, I discovered, to my utter surprise, during our chat that he was friendly but soft-spoken and cordial, the exact opposite of his loud, brash shtick. Then it was time for the camera to roll. Ali immediately accelerated into his high-volume, "I am the greatest!" manic patter. When we finished, it was back to normal conversation till we parted. Thousands, if not millions, of people experienced his gracious side,...
The last thing the world needs is more of Robert Mueller's commentary, but Congress is determined to have him hold forth at a public hearing. It's not as though we don't already have the special counsel's version of events. He mustered enormous investigate resources and took two years to write a 400-page report that is available to the public and presumably carefully written (although not necessarily carefully thought through). That should be enough for Mueller to stand on, and enough for Congress to make a decision to impeach or not impeach,...
With the dust settling from the 2019 legislative session, the focus is assessing the impacts on taxpayers and our economy. Our state’s budget grew by a whopping 17.5 percent, which is one of the largest increases ever. Gov. Jay Inslee and his Democrat colleagues who controlled the legislature came to Olympia last January set on raising taxes despite higher than projected revenue collections. “Rather than looking for cost savings, lawmakers chose to raise more than $1 billion in new taxes ove...
I was headed into the grocery store the other day for bread, eggs, and milk when I noticed a line outside the door. I thought it might be some free samples, so I went over to see what they had. It was a line to sign a petition for a ballot initiative to create Liberty State. I had heard a little about the proposal, and had dismissed it as the rumblings of anarchists and the ultra-right. I was more concerned with my bread, eggs, and milk, so I bypassed the gathering and proceeded to get my shopping cart. After securing my purchases and barely...
More than one million species of plants and animals are facing imminent extinction. This is the crux of a just released United Nations report on biodiversity. Climate change has a part to play in this alarming prediction, but the real reason, the report concludes, is human activity. About half a million of these species may survive for just a few decades more. According to the report, these have “insufficient habitat for long-term survival.” Robert Watson, the study’s chief, told the Associated Press “we are threatening the potential food se...
Pet Peeves People moving to a farming community and complaining about farming activities. Rumble strips, four head-ons on 195, four people died. Rumble strips did not make a difference, cannot even pull over on shoulder....
Is Donald Trump slipping? In his endless quest to give everyone a derogatory nickname, he's now calling Joe Biden "Sleepy Joe." It's not clear why he's calling him "Sleepy," but it might be a typo. Perhaps, he meant "Sloppy Joe." That would be spicier. Then again, maybe that's Trump's subtle way of mocking Biden's age. Or maybe not, since one thing we've learned about The Donald is that he's not subtle. The problem for him is he's nearly as old as Biden. Neither of them matches Bernie Sanders, who is so crotchety that he's in a geriatric class...
No one enjoys getting impeached, and if it happens to him, Donald J. Trump will be no exception. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine any potential target of impeachment in Anglo-American history relishing the fight more than Trump. He'd rather be done with the Mueller investigation in all its permutations, but there's no one better suited to being at the center of a harshly partisan, deeply personal political and legal donnybrook that will ultimately be just for show. Trump famously told top aides at the beginning of his administration...
Montana’s legislature took the unusual step of exempting older, less-valued mobile homes from property tax as a way to stem homelessness. The bipartisan legislation, which Gov. Steve Bullock signed into law last week, aims to keep people in their homes. It exempts mobile and manufactured homes worth less than $10,000 and at least 28 years old from taxation starting next year. In Montana, a state with just over a million people, there are more than 22,000 residences where owners are in danger o...
