Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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While state lawmakers work to bridge major differences in the budget, they agreed our distractive driving laws need stiffening. Companion bills sponsored by Sen. Ann Rivers (R-La Center) and Rep. Jessyn Farrell (D-Seattle) cleared the legislature. They update current statue which allows law enforcement officers to stop motorists when they see them driving while using handheld devices. The new legislation bans using handheld cell phone and electronic tablets even while waiting for a stoplight to change. The bill takes effect...
American entrepreneurs’ ability to invent, create and bring products and services to market makes our nation great. Their success generates the tax revenue that funds our schools and puts people to work. Many “big businesses” started in the imaginations of immigrants who came to our country – a place of boundless possibilities. America is a land where your station in life doesn’t matter and where hard work, innovation and perseverance are the keys to success. The story of M&Ms is a good example. Today, the Mars Company i... Full story
Driving east along SR 14 these days, you see water pouring out of Columbia River dams. It is already a high water year with much of the runoff from our heavy mountain snowpack yet to come. It is part of our “feast or famine” weather cycle. As you pop over the hilltop near the historic Maryhill Museum, you look down to see John Day Dam with its floodgates open spilling massive amounts of water. Then you see remains of the razed Goldendale Aluminum Co. smelter next to the dam. That plant once accounted for 1,300 jobs, $40 mil...
A major hurdle for lawmakers in Olympia working to finish the next two-year state budget and adjourn is the so-called “carbon tax.” However, Gov. Jay Inslee wants a first-ever levy on CO2 emissions. While it targets coal and natural gas power plants and manufacturing facilities, everyone will pay more. His proposal is part of a grand plan to raise $5.5 billion in higher taxes. That scheme also includes imposing a new tax on investor’s income and increases existing business and occupation (B&O) tax rates on services. Highe...
PACCAR’s recent announcement it is teaming with computer chipmaker Nvidia to build driver-less trucks is good for Washington. PACCAR, the century-old Bellevue-based truck builder, plans to manufacture new Kenworth, Peterbuilt and DAF computer-guided trucks capable of delivering freight over our nation’s roadways. Hopefully, many of them will be assembled at its Renton plant. Self-driving cars already exist. Google has been testing them since 2009. They have logged over two million miles. The company reports of the 11 acc... Full story
In 2003, Gov. Gary Locke (D) faced a 10 percent revenue hole in the state’s budget. He also stared at a sluggish economy still reeling from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. People were reluctant to fly and airlines stopped buying Boeing jets. Locke faced either recommending substantial tax increases or finding a new way to allocate state tax revenues. He turned to Minnesota’s former commissioner of finance, Peter Hutchinson, who helped his governor balance the budget by cutting waste, tightening efficiencies and pri... Full story
As lawmakers in Olympia inch toward adjournment, they must keep in mind the total added costs of new taxes on our state’s economy. It is not just about the taxes and fees they impose. They are working against an April 23 deadline to enact a two-year financial plan and find sufficient funding for it. Unlike Congress, states must balance their budgets. While the funding decisions are generally contentious, this year legislative tension is high because Gov. Jay Inslee (D) and lawmakers must find ways to pay for our K-12 p...
Remember the old saying: Hindsight is 20-20? If only Washington voters had followed Gov. Albert Rosellini’s tolling plan to build, maintain and replace our state’s major bridges, we would have replacement funds today. Now, lawmakers in Olympia are scrambling to find the billions needed for the new I-5 bridge connecting Vancouver and Portland. Predictably, tolling needs to be included in the funding scheme, but it is still a political hot button. Rosellini, the Seattle Democrat elected governor in 1956, staked his pol...
When President Trump spoke to Boeing workers at its South Carolina production facility, he reiterated his campaign promise to bring jobs back to America. It is a goal we collectively desire, but it is much more complicated than his campaign slogan would have us believe. If it is not carefully implemented, it could hurt the very workers and communities the president intends to help. Unlike America in the 1950s, today it is rare to find a product that is made exclusively in one country, especially complicated machines and...
Recently, some of America’s most respected statesmen announced a different strategy to reducing carbon pollution, one that is based on incentives as opposed to penalties. Believing that carrots work better than sticks, the Climate Leadership Council (CLC) announced a new plan to enact a federal tax on carbon emissions with an accompanying payment program to U.S. citizens. The centerpiece is a “carbon dividend” which, as they put it, would increase the disposable income for the majority of Americans while dispr... Full story
In 1993, President Bill Clinton was pictured holding a Washington state apple while promoting the virtues of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). That photo only underscored the importance of the agreement and our trade with Mexico and Canada. Washington is the most trade dependent state in the nation. The Puget Sound Business Journal (PSBJ) reported last November, Washington state exported at least $134.5 billion worth of goods to Canada and Mexico since the agreement was signed. The dust up over NAFTA focuses...
Keys to fulfilling President Donald Trump’s pledge to “Make America Great Again” are well-prepared people who employers can hire to run our factories and businesses. Jean Floten, who is retiring as chancellor of WGU Washington at the end of January, is one of those trailblazing leaders who has been an innovative educator with vision, drive and tenacity. People like her are vital to accomplishing the president’s aspiration. Floten has been an accomplished education leader for 53 years. Most of her career has been in Washing... Full story
The late Yogi Berra coined the phrase “it’s déjà vu all over again!” It is used extensively to describe political miscues. Case in point: ObamaCare. Recently, Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel wrote a column describing President Obama’s failure with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). “The vision of the president calling on his party members to—yet again—lay down their political lives for his ‘signature’ law was a reminder of how this disaster began.” Unfortunately, Republicans, who now control Congress and the White...
The number of police officers shot and killed last year rose dramatically. So did the number of assaults on cops and the stress under which they work. That trend ought to concern every American because violence impacts our neighborhoods, schools and where we work and shop. Ask any realtor and they will tell you that safe streets and good schools are top of mind among renters and homebuyers. Officers Down, the group sponsoring the national law enforcement memorial, reported that 140 officers died in the line of duty in 2016. G...
This year’s good news is Washington apple production is the second best ever. The better news is shipments to Asian markets are returning to normal. Let me explain. In 2014, our state had its best apple crop in history, but prospects to deliver cases of apples across the ocean were dampened by a labor dispute at West Coast seaports. That dispute led to a prolonged slowdown (and eventual shutdown) in loading ships carrying thousands of agriculture and manufactured products. According to a report issued jointly by the National...
Christmas is a difficult time for anyone grieving for lost loved ones. It is especially painful for America’s military families whose son, daughter, spouse or parent was killed while serving in uniform. Normally, the fallen are remembered on Memorial Day, but thanks to a Maine family and over 800,000 donors and volunteers, more than a million wreaths will be laid on the tombstones of our fallen soldiers, sailors and airmen on Dec. 17. The panoramic view of Arlington National Cemetery’s rolling hills with its white grave mar... Full story
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. Here is the difference. Demolishing the two dams on the Elwha River west of Port Angeles was a good thing. The dams were built in the early 1900’s to bring electricity to the Olympic Peninsula at a time when salmon and steelhead were plentiful in other Pacific Northwest rivers. Neither dam had fish ladders.... Full story
For some, Thanksgiving is a time to gather with family and friends and give thanks for the blessings we enjoy. For others, it’s a time to volunteer at soup kitchens to help the less fortunate. For still others, it’s simply a chance to eat a huge meal and watch football. This year is different. Americans are healing after a historic, tumultuous presidential election. Therefore, it is easy to get sidetracked on what is wrong with our country. In reality, most Americans have no idea how fortunate we are. With the exception of...
The message is clear. President-elect Donald Trump’s “Job One” is to put people back to work. Lack of jobs and employment opportunities exacerbated the plight of American workers since the Great Recession began in 2008. That deepening anxiety is a primary reason for this year’s political upheaval. On Nov. 4, the U.S. Dept. of Labor reported the market continues to show signs of gradual strengthening, but analysts cautioned that the gains exclude some workers, including manufacturing and service workers who have lost jobs be... Full story
American elections traditionally have been cantankerous. Some early political feuds were so bitter they were settled with pistols in duels. The most famous of which occurred between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton in 1804. Hamilton was killed. Thankfully, dueling is outlawed because this presidential election has been so vicious that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump may have been tempted to consider one. The nastiness of 2016 has been malignant. It has voters wondering if our nation can be re-united and governed, or will...
It’s D-Day for American voters. With Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump carrying unusually low approval ratings and having a deep antipathy for one another, no matter which one ultimately is elected, the nation will be bitterly polarized. Hopefully, each has a plan to bring us back together after Nov. 8. America thrives on a peaceful transfer of power. It is one of the important traditions, which has been handed down since John Adams succeeded George Washington on March 4, 1797. For guidance, Clinton and Trump ought to look t... Full story
Uncoupling state timber sales revenue from public school construction funding doesn’t make sense. It is akin to killing the goose laying the golden eggs. That idea came up during this year’s campaign for public lands commissioner. Democrat Hilary Franz, a Seattle environmental attorney, and Republican Steve McLaughlin, a retired Navy Commander, are the finalists. Franz stated her position in a candidate questionnaire, according to the business publication, Lens. She wrote the state mandate to use revenue from timber sal... Full story
The costs to fight wildfires has risen so high that a pair of Montana’s senator suggest the U.S. Forest Service should be renamed “U.S. Fire Service.” Senators Jon Tester (D) and Steve Daines (R) told the Billings Gazette in late August the rising costs are crippling the agency’s essential non-fire related work. Fire suppression costs now consumes over half of the Forest Service budget compares with 16 percent 20 years ago. The lawmakers introduced legislation to appropriate $1.4 billion more to fight forest and range f... Full story
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce looked at the cost of regulations in America and found that excessive regulations are undercutting our economy and costing us jobs. Federal rules alone in the past few years have exploded and the Chamber finds it cost our nation $1.7 trillion. State labor and employment law resulted in the loss of U.S. 700,000 jobs. On the other hand, paring back state regulations that exceed federal standards alone would spawn 50,000 new businesses each year. The Chamber report is not an indictment on government...
The $15 minimum wage is an example of elected officials with tunnel vision passing sweeping legislation while ignoring the cumulative impacts of all of the other government mandates on employers. They only zero-in on the costs and benefits of a single issue, such as the $15 an hour wage, when they ought to focus on all of the taxes, fees, regulations and laws. Seattle’s ordinance took effect on April 1, 2015. It directs businesses with fewer than 500 employees to pay the $15 an hour wage starting in 2021. Employers with 5...