Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 137 - 161 of 3750
Gas can issues resolved by high gasoline prices I can’t believe it. The government bureaucracy has actually fixed a problem of its own creation. I’m talking portable gasoline containers here. As you are probably aware, the federally mandated gas containers are a mess. Literally a mess. A highly flammable mess. If you have used one of the new gas cans, you know what I mean. You cannot get gasoline into the things without spilling and you cannot get any out without three hands. When I was a kid in the 1950s, gas cans were simple and they wor...
I was happy to learn the San Francisco-based company Eat Just is planning to build the world’s biggest cultivated-meat factory in the U.S. For those who don’t know, cultivated meat is grown from animal cells, without slaughter. The planned facility will have ten 250,000-liter bioreactors, capable of producing 30 million pounds of protein every year. Despite such amazing progress in the private sector, more federal funding for cellular-agriculture research is necessary to help make cultivated-meat competitive with the price of its sla...
For the people living in the Lewis-Clark Valley on the Snake River, Gov. Jay Inslee’s report on destroying four dams tries to offer some solace. After a “thorough review of relevant economic reports and conversations with experts,” the report’s authors have some ideas about how to offset the serious harm that would be done to the community. Reading the vague assurances from the report reminded me of another community hit by the harmful economic impacts of environmental policy: Grays Harbor...
“But the Constitution does not authorize agencies to use pen-and-phone regulations as substitutes for laws…” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch wrote that and more in his 19-page concurring opinion in the West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (Case No. 20-1530). The Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, that the EPA cannot create over-reaching “laws” that bound entire industries; the ruling was released Thursday morning, June 30. The leftwing champions of so-called “climate change” reg...
Like the old Olympia beer commercials used to say, “I seen ‘em.” No, I’m not talking about “them there artesians” brewing beer in Washington state. I’m talking about “Squatch,” Sasquatch, Bigfoot. He was alive and well in Metaline Falls this past weekend at the annual Bigfoot Festival. The region’s most ardent Bigfoot believers headed to up the Pend Oreille River to investigate Sasquatch evidence, meet the “experts” and hobnob with likeminded individuals. I tagged along for a day. I was sure I...
Gov. Jay Inslee has repeatedly made it clear that he believes his spending priorities exceed any need to provide tax relief to help families deal with the impact of record inflation. On the same day Inslee declined President Biden’s call for states to provide some type of tax relief, the Democratic Governor of Minnesota was instead begging his Legislature to act. As reported by the Minnesota Reformer: “Gov. Tim Walz called on Republicans to return to the Capitol to sign off on sending $1,...
Regenerating millions of western forested acres scorched by wildfires is a Herculean task costing hundreds of billions. However, healthy growing woodlands are essential to reducing atmospheric CO2 and providing abundant clean air and fresh water for people, crops, fish and wildlife. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, nearly 3 million acres have already burned this year in the U.S. mostly in Arizona, New Mexico and Alaska. By year’s end, that total may exceed 2019, when over 5 mil...
On Saturday the 18th, I set out from my Main Street apartment in Colfax at 7 a.m. to the train depot for a speeder I would be riding to Hooper. I grew up in Lamont. As a kid, I would play around the old abandoned railroad tracks outside town. So, I've always held a fascination with the railroad. I reminisced as I walked, thinking about what it was like in college to ride the train to Chicago from the small railroad town my college was located in. I often miss the whistle of the train. As I appro...
Gov. Jay Inslee and Sen. Patty Murray, both Democrats, issued a draft report which estimates that breaching the four lower Snake River dams and replacing their electricity and other benefits would cost between $10 and $27 billion. Meanwhile, the lone Idaho Republican, Congressman Mike Simpson, supporting dam removal — impoundments located in a neighboring state — is willing to pony up $33 billion tax dollars. That’s a lot of taxpayer money even today when President Biden and Congress toss around...
The message from voters was crystal clear, but elected officials apparently don’t want to hear it. In 2019, nearly 80% of voters in the city of Spokane approved an amendment to the city charter – in essence, a local constitutional amendment – requiring collective bargaining talks between the city government and unions be open and transparent. It’s a simple concept – since the salaries of government workers make up such a large portion of the city’s budget, taxpayers have a right to know how the...
Carbon tax may help alleviate climate change We just had one of our wettest Aprils on record. Yet, more than half of our state is abnormally or moderately dry and almost one-fourth in the grip of severe drought. Drought is expected here in Eastern Washington again this summer. What does it take to break the pattern of seasonal drought and wildfires in our state—and the northwest? In the face of climate change, we need a tool with teeth and plenty of punch, but also ready-to-hand and user friendly. Carbon pricing — charging fossil fuel com...
Jockeying up for the opportunity to ride with the John Wayne Pioneer Riders and Wagons last week excited me. I left home early in the morning, encountering the sweet smell of stables, wet fur and dirt. It was a drastic change from what I was used to smelling while in college in the "Motor City." The rain, however heavy, didn't phase me. That is, until the ground began to flood and I realized I could no longer tell if my Michael Kors rain boots were now filling with water or a mixture of water...
Prior to the corona virus outbreak, economies in the industrial world were moving along fairly smoothly-— reliable supply chains with “just in time” component arrivals, predictable product deliveries, low interest rates, little inflation, abundant reasonably priced energy, and an adequate workforce in seemingly peaceful world. It was a set up for a perfect storm! That cataclysmic eruption two years ago slammed countries worldwide just like what happened with World War I and the Spanish Flu m...
Following the recent tragedies, we have been hearing a lot of screeds against guns. But, the truth is, America doesn’t have a gun problem. It has a morality problem. It has a corruption problem. It has a cultural problem. Imposing more gun restrictions on law-abiding citizens doesn’t fix the problem. It is akin to placing a band-aid on a gangrene-infected limb. It makes it appear that something is being done but it doesn’t hide the stink. The sixth Commandment in the 10 Commandments is, “Thou shalt not murder.” Yet, if anyone should be so bol...
Progress. Sustainability. Resiliency. Growth. Recovery. Those were among the buzz words tossed about Tuesday morning during the Live Local Palouse Program at The Center in downtown Colfax. The program brought together a handful of business leaders, non-profit organization volunteers and employees and representatives of the state Department of Commerce and other organizations to discuss what the future of Colfax looks like. It was a good program that too many local business and community leaders...
Many of you are aware that public safety in our state took a major hit last year when Democrats in the Legislature passed a “police reform” law that prevented law enforcement officers from pursuing criminal suspects in most situations. Since this bad law went into effect, police and other law enforcement officers typically have had to watch suspects drive off, sometimes in vehicles that they had stolen, instead of giving chase in hopes of apprehending and arresting them. One of the Senate Dem...
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell let the unbridled monster out of the barn and may never get him back in. Early in Barack Obama’s presidency, McConnell announced his most important achievement would be to make Obama a one-term president. Ever since, McConnell has opposed anything Obama and Democrats have introduced, even if originally Republican-proposed (Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts health plan predating Obamacare). This includes blocking legislation Obama and subsequent Democrats continually put forward to rescue the lower and mid...
Since 2017, Sound Transit’s full system expansion went from costing taxpayers $92 billion to an incredible $142 billion, and project completion was stretched from 2041 to 2046. That’s $50 billion in unanticipated expenses to deliver a project later than expected. For perspective, that’s like adding a second Sound Transit 3 (ST3) tax to the plan. In 2016, voters were told ST3 would cost $54 billion but now it has become clear that the actual costs are far greater. Anticipated tax revenue (which includes sales and use tax, motor vehicle excise ta...
Before the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the world, factory workers were humming along assembling products just after components were delivered. It was called “just-in-time” production. It was efficient, predictable and cost effective. Today, companies are scrambling just to find parts, lock in purchases (and hopefully prices) and work around estimated delivery schedules. It is a vastly different world. For example, three years ago people touring the Boeing 737 plant in Renton saw 737s creeping down long assembly lines where wings, engines and tai...
Gov. Jay Inslee and Senator Patty Murray have their priorities backward when it comes to rebuilding Snake River salmon and steelhead runs. Instead of focusing on ripping out dams with fish passages and navigation locks, they should find ways to reopen traditional spawning areas up river which are blocked by dams without fish ladders. Breaching Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams is costly and counterproductive. Over the last 30 years, northwest electric ratepayers...
As a young lady in her infancy of writing news here in Colfax, and who is in the process of enlisting in the U.S. Army, my experience while flying with the Thunderbirds last Thursday in advance of Skyfest was unimaginable. A caravan of press arrived at Fairchild Air Force Base on Thursday, May 12. The 0700 - that's 7 a.m. in military time - arrival riddled me with excitement, despite the lack of coffee fueling my usual caffeine addiction. I shook with excitement and chill as the wind blew past a...
Last year, the NCAA approved student-athletes being able to earn money for their name, image and likeness or NIL. I think that a lot of fans thought it was a good idea since colleges and the NCAA were making huge amounts of money from the big time athletes showing off their talent in playing arenas and stadiums. So, if an athlete makes a few bucks doing a commercial, good for them. With the transfer portal in place — certainly an offshoot of the COVID-19 pandemic — there have been a fair amo...
Thinning public woodlands to remove millions of dead trees is a way to generate much-needed cash to reduce wildfire risks, improve forest health, and protect rural homeowners and farms. It is money the U.S. Forest Service and Washington’s Dept. of Natural Resources don’t have because the bulk of their funds are tied up fighting fires. Our state’s wildfire severity has worsened in recent years. The 2020 fire season was particularly destructive. Over 1,250 square miles burned in more than 1,600 fires, killing an infant, and destroying 298 homes...
Proponents of the unconstitutional capital gains income tax are working overtime to prevent voters from weighing in. First, there was the game last year with the emergency clause to prevent a referendum. Now capital gains income tax supporters are gearing up to counter a potential I-1929 signature gathering campaign by setting up a surveillance system to report any ballot petition signing locations. As reported by the Everett Herald: “Should I-1929 petitions get circulated, opponents won’t be...
