Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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Would you buy a new car or a new house without knowing how you’ll pay for it? Of course not. But Washington voters do something similar every time they approve a costly initiative without specifying how it will be paid for. That needs to change. In 2000, voters overwhelmingly approved two initiatives to hire more teachers and provide annual cost of living increases for all K-12 school employees and faculty at community and technical colleges. Even though the measures would increase spending by hundreds of millions of d...
For years, energy experts warned us that regulations and policies that reduce the supply of affordable conventional energy would result in higher prices for American families. Now it is clear the warnings were well founded. The USA Today recently reported that electricity bills have skyrocketed. The newspaper reports that American families paid, on average, a record $1,419 a year for electricity in 2010. Demand for electricity remains high even as energy supplies shrink. In addition, prices are rising due to the cost of... Full story
Washington is one of only 10 states that effectively prohibit low-income parents from choosing where their children go to school. The battle lines over alternatives such as charter public schools or school vouchers have been sharply drawn in our state. Supporters say the issue is choice; that education is the key to a child’s future and parents — particularly low-income parents — should be able to send their children to the best possible schools. Opponents argue that alternatives to traditional public schools drain cruci... Full story
With a bad economy, political bickering in our nation’s capital and daily news coverage of raucous protests here at home, it may seem harder to get into the Christmas spirit this year. But if you look closely, you will see countless examples of generosity, courage and hope. Just a few weeks ago, more than 18,000 motorcycles rumbled down I-5 for the 33rd Annual Olympia Toy Run. A tougher band of softies was hard to find, as the state’s capitol filled with leather-clad motorcyclists carrying toys and stuffed animals for chi...
There is a brighter side to Christmas this year, despite the weak economy and lawmakers bickering over how to patch the $2 billion hole in the state’s budget. The good news comes from Boeing. Boeing and its machinists recently ratified a new four-year contract, which averts a strike through 2016. Even though the plum in the pudding was the accompanying announcement that Boeing would produce its new 737 MAX at its Renton plant, the agreement has much broader significance. Early ratification of a labor agreement is hugely i...
Today, the good news is cars are safer, more fuel-efficient and emit fewer greenhouse gases. The bad news is today’s automobiles burn less gas and cars in the future will be fueled by cleaner electricity and even hydrogen. So how could this be bad news? Two words: gas tax. Since President Dwight Eisenhower modeled our interstate highway system after the German autobahns, our roads have been built and maintained with federal and state gas taxes. In Washington, the 18th amendment to our state constitution dedicates fuel tax r... Full story
The dictionary defines “deadbeat” as someone who deliberately avoids paying their bills. It’s an unflattering label, but for Illinois, it’s now their unofficial new nickname: the Deadbeat State. Wracked by corruption and drowning in debt, the state of Illinois has surpassed California as the national poster child for fiscal mismanagement. In desperation last January, state lawmakers approved a massive increase in the state’s personal and corporate income taxes. Individual income taxes rose by 66 percent while corporate...
In today’s era of $14 trillion budget deficits, $18 billion seems like chump change. But with every penny of federal spending on the chopping block, that amount is eye-catching. NASA needs that money over the next five years to build its new space launch system —a behemoth rocket that would eventually carry our astronauts to Mars. The rocket will be topped with a space capsule similar to Apollo, which carried Americans to the moon and back 40 years ago. The new rocket will be tested in an unmanned flight in 2017, with the fir... Full story
In today’s dog-eat-dog world, change is constant and accelerating. Other countries are stealing our factories and jobs and are hungry for more. That is the new reality. For example, in the 1990s, a California-based company called FormFactor developed a new and faster way to test semiconductors, the heart of today’s computers. Chipmakers needed assurance their products operate efficiently, consistently and have long-term durability. FormFactor was founded by a Ukrainian immigrant named Igor Khandros, who was an IBM eng...
You may have missed it, but amidst the global economic turmoil, riots in London and our volatile stock market, there is some good news. Boeing has completed flight tests on its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner and has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to certify the plane for production. The company is hoping to earn FAA approval in time to start delivering planes in September. Despite the delays, the 787 remains a major source of future income for Boeing. Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Jim Albaugh says they have 830... Full story
At the same time President Obama and Congress were locked in combat over raising the nation’s debt ceiling, leaders of state manufacturing associations from across America were meeting right here in Washington. Despite the 3,000-mile distance, our futures – and their problems – are intertwined. As the debt ceiling debate raged, our nation’s debt climbed to $14.3 trillion, the U.S. Treasury’s cash on hand dwindled to $74 billion and America teetered on the brink of insolvency. Meanwhile, Apple, the world’s second largest corpo...
Lost in the news over the economic crisis in Europe and the debt ceiling debate in the United States was the unceremonious end of NASA’s space shuttle program. When Atlantis touched down in Florida just before dawn on July 21, there were no marching bands or boastful speeches, and the small crowds at the Kennedy and Johnson space centers were composed mainly of NASA workers and their families. In fact, the ending of the shuttle program barely merited a mention on the network news. After 135 flights in 30 years, the space s...
My dad used to say, “Public officials should never borrow money, except in an emergency, like a war.” As the mayor of a small town in Montana, he put that principle into practice. Buying a new dump truck was not an emergency. If the city didn’t have the money to buy it, the answer was no. Even if state or federal funds were available to make the down payment, if the city couldn’t come up with the rest of the money, the answer was still no. Most vendors feel the same way when it comes to political campaigns. Candida... Full story
Later this month, state legislators will begin discussions about designing and implementing a health-care exchange. If experience is a guide – and it is – Washington lawmakers should tread very carefully because recent events have shown how perilous such efforts can be. State health-care exchanges, authorized under the federal health-reform law, were originally characterized as virtual open-air markets where health-insurance providers would compete side-by-side so consumers could easily compare coverage and cost. Some sta...