Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 422 - 446 of 3750
OLYMPIA – Imagine paying off the mortgage to your home in full and on time. Then, a month later, receiving a letter from the bank outlining an additional three years of payments owed because the bank decided your interest rate changed after you’d paid your mortgage off. That is the discussion playing out in agriculture during this legislative session. Instead of mortgage it is farmworker wages, and instead of interest rates, it is the seeking of additional wages related to a court case. Substitute Senate Bill 5172 would require all agr...
OLYMPIA – In the past 22 years, by working together with our thousands of heroic supporters, we've qualified 17 statewide initiatives for a public vote. They all limited the governments' power over us and have saved taxpayers $46.9 billion. And our four 2/3-vote-to-raise-taxes initiatives have saved taxpayers billions more by stopping and deterring tax increases. While other initiatives spend $1.2 million to qualify, we averaged $672,000 because we run a tight ship and I often risked my own money. After two decades of effort, vehicle tabs a...
Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson’s $33 billion plan to remove the lower Snake River dams is unwise. However, if he pushes it, he needs include the impact of breaching dams in his home state which completely shutoff salmon and steelhead migration. Simpson, a Republican representing eastern Idaho, announced he wants to rupture the four lower Snake River dams— Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Lower Granite—-all in southeast Washington. Those impoundments have fish passage systems to allow adult anadromous fish to continue upstr...
As children, we hear many insightful stories that are simple, but often full of meaning. The one mentioned above seems to resonate with what is happening in our country today. Right before our eyes, we are seeing over and over the truth. Even though videos and pictures can be altered, it would have been an almost impossible undertaking to make fake videos of what happened that led up to and included the infamous events that took place on Jan. 6. Can we assume that most of the Republicans in the Senate and House are seeing what you and I have...
We are fast approaching the halfway point of the 2021 legislative session. There have been some challenges conducting business as usual for the Legislature during this unusual time in our lives. The governor's decision to close off a large portion of the Capitol grounds to the public is concerning, as are his ever-changing metrics and policies when it comes to reopening our state. I'm very pleased that all parts of our state have been able to move to Phase 2 of the latest reopening plan. I and my 13th District seatmates had been critical of...
I recently read your opinion piece, “History Under Fire,” in the Feb. 4 edition of the paper and wholeheartedly disagree with your premise. House Bill 1372 is a bill to replace Marcus Whitman’s statue in the National Statuary Hall collection in Washington D. C. with a statue of another distinguished Washington state citizen, Billy Frank Jr. Marcus Whitman’s statue would be returned to the state of Washington to be displayed at a future location. It is not uncommon for states to replace statues in the hall with other statues; after all, our his...
People are manipulated through fear. •Fear of terrorism •Fear of climate change •Fear of the corona virus The politicians and media, with the help of academia and other recipients of money from the government, fan the flames of fear. People react to fear by doing what so-called “experts” tell them to: •Destroy Iraq, bombing them and killing hundreds of thousands of people •Hang humanity on a “Cross of Iron” by spending trillions of dollars on the military-industrial complex •Support alternative energy production that harms the environment wit...
Why would any company spend $5.5 million for a 30-second Super Bowl ad that leaves viewers perplexed as some glitzy and abstract commercials did? After production costs are tacked on, you’d think advertisers would want their messages clearly understood especially in difficult times. Some prominent advertisers, such as Coca Cola, Budweiser and Pepsi, traditional large buyers, skipped Super Bowl LV; however, WeatherTech did not. After game, the list of best and worst ads was released. It did n...
A new proposed law smells like tyranny. House Bill 1283 would make it illegal for three people or more to open-carry firearms if someone else “feels threatened.” It would be a gross misdemeanor. If a person in “any way participates” in threats or the use of “such force” against a person or property while open-carrying a gun in a group of three or more, then they face a Class C felony. That means the state strips them of their right to own firearms as a convicted felon. The bill seems to be targeting the groups of legal firearm users prote...
MOSES LAKE — It is currently against the law in Washington to sell, trade, or give away meat that has not been certified by a federal inspector, even if it was prepared in a licensed facility and buyers know the rancher or producer. The relationship between the states and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding inspection of meat processing facilities is complicated. Any meat that is going to be sold across state lines must be inspected by the USDA. Meat processed by custom slaughter facilities, absent a USDA inspection, is c...
The culture, heritage and history of Eastern Washington — indeed all of Washington and Oregon history — is under fire again in Olympia. I’m talking about an effort this year in the House to erase Marcus Whitman’s significance from the halls of the Capitol building in Olympia and the national statuary in Washington, D.C. Pushed by lawmakers, who obviously lack a full understanding of Whitman’s significance, House Bill 1372 seeks to replace the bronze Marcus Whitman statues with a new statue of...
As much as we would love to see an end to impaired driving and with it, the need to keep sponsoring DUI legislation, we unfortunately know there is still much work to be done. Last week the Senate Law and Justice Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 5054, a measure I introduced with the support of Sen. David Frockt, D-Seattle, to strengthen the state’s felony-DUI law and reduce the number of people who become victims of impaired drivers. Washington law now makes the fourth DUI conviction a...
It is my opinion that Chris Skidmore remain as our county health director. He already knows what is required to fill the position; no training needed. And most importantly, he knows the needs of this community. He will continue to do an upstanding job as health director. Kelley Messinger, Rosalia...
I understand the need for ethical policing but I must agree with policy director James McMahan - the bill is very vaguely written and does not acknowledge officer safety. This bill restricts the use of necessary tools our officers have to work with to de-escalate situations and keep themselves and the community safe. Across the board, whether it is the use of a S.W.A.T vehicle, a police K9 or other defensive tactics - our officers need the options and the time and distance to utilize them in order to do their job efficiently and ethically. If...
British historian Thomas Macaulay famously said, “The best government is one that desires to make the people happy, and knows how to make them happy.” That standard is clearly not what people are experiencing in Washington state. For years, leaders in state government have been increasing the tax burden and imposing ever-tighter regulations that limit personal opportunity, lower household incomes and fall hardest on working people, middle-class families and small business owners. On top of tha...
As I sit here in my home in Spokane, hoping for a timely return to school and activities, it’s hard to maintain a positive attitude about where we have been and where we are going as a state. Businesses such as restaurants and gyms have been shut down, most schools are in virtual learning mode, and the extracurricular programs attached to the schools are on hold. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has been working incredibly hard trying to paint a positive picture of season revisions that are supposed to take place, s...
The COVID-19 crisis and related economic shutdown has highlighted a number of failures of the state Employment Security Department. These failures in unemployment systems and department procedures resulted in managers being unable to meet basic levels of service and failing to pay benefits in a timely fashion when the number of claims increased. ESD systems were overwhelmed, allowing Nigerian scammers and other individuals to steal at least $350 million in benefits from state taxpayers....
There’s an old story about Elizabeth Willing Powel, the wife of a Philadelphia mayor, asking Benjamin Franklin, as he left the Constitutional Convention, “Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?” To which Ben Franklin supposedly answered: “A republic, if you can keep it.” This legislative session, which started Jan. 11, will require you as a resident to work harder than ever to keep our representative democracy…well…representative. Access to democracy is a major topic at the start...
I read with dismay about Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers’ flip flop on challenging the certification of the Electoral College. But apparently the protest on Jan. 6 made her change her mind. I’m sorry, but that is (using the biblical phrase from the Apostle Paul) “barnyard refuse.” If a representative was “concerned” that there was fraud or other illegitimate factors regarding an election in any state, then, by their oath to the Constitution they are obligated to object. There is no nexus to the protest and the legitimacy of the election. I...
