Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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The first order of business when Washington state’s Legislature convenes in Olympia is replacing the state’s new long-term care law. It is fatally flawed. Gov. Jay Inslee and Democrats who control the state legislature wisely postponed implementing the sweeping “Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Program,” but it is beyond repair. It is time to find a better alternative. The new law, also known as the Washington Cares Act, is a mandatory, public, state-run long-te...
Farmworkers will be the first to know how much their incomes will change now that agricultural overtime rules have taken effect. During the 2021 legislative session, ESSB 5172 ended the exemption for agricultural overtime, effectively forcing all farms in our state to begin paying overtime wages to farmworkers Jan. 1, 2022. The bill adopted a phased-in approach to overtime wages, with the overtime threshold set at 55 hours a week for 2022 before being decreased to 48 in 2023...
Increasing river flows to wash young salmon to sea works; however, once water goes down stream, it is gone. What if we could recycle it in key parts of the Columbia River system allowing us to increase electricity generation as well? The Columbia River and its tributaries offer enormous potential for innovation. Power planners are looking for new ways to increase electricity output while providing sufficient water for migrating salmon and steelhead. The good news is we are...
My first session was way back in 1993, and as a freshman state representative, I was very humbled and excited about being elected to serve the people of the 9th District in the House. Now, almost 30 years later, I’m still humbled and excited to serve you and other 9th District residents, even if I’m now considered to be a Senate veteran. This year’s legislative session started Monday and is scheduled (by our state constitution) to last 60 days, finishing on March 10. This...
Public school student enrollment has nosedived as parental disgust with school COVID-19 policies, student learning losses and controversial curricula has gone through the roof. In the wake of this enrollment implosion, homeschooling has boomed across the country. At the beginning of the current school year, the U.S. Department of Education estimated that 1.5 million students had left the public schools since the COVID-19 pandemic began. If students are not enrolling in public schools, where are they going? The numbers show...
Widespread and irresponsible claims you may have heard that Critical Race Theory (CRT) and race discrimination are not taught in public schools are false. Last month voters elected many new members to local school boards based, at least in part, on those candidates’ announced opposition to teaching CRT in local schools. On what basis then do CRT-deniers say the race-based ideology is not being taught in schools? They argue CRT is an academic theory only taught in college a...
Earlier this year, state legislative leaders said they wanted to reduce institutional racism in the public schools by enacting Senate Bill 5044 and similar bills to require that school and university employees attend mandatory Critical Race Theory sessions. This flawed political ideology teaches that white people in all situations are oppressors and other groups are automatically oppressed. These leading lawmakers, who ironically control the very power structure they condemn,...
With Christmas coming up, I’ve been out shopping for gifts for family members. During these busy times, I’m sure all of you have noticed (like I have) that many items in stores – especially groceries – have increased quite a bit in recent months due to inflation. Now, you’d think Gov. Jay Inslee would be well aware of the financial hardship that this historic inflation — we’re talking the worst inflation since the early 1970s — is causing families and individuals sta...
After multiple fraud issues, including internal staff stealing taxpayer dollars, the Employment Security Department (ESD) is again coming under criticism from the State Auditors office for not having sufficient fraud protection measures and controls in place. A new report, published December 6, 2021, by the State Auditor indicates that ESD’s “internal controls were inadequate to detect and prevent occupational misappropriation and safeguard public resources. We found the Dep...
Due to the federal government changing the unemployment benefit eligibility rules mid-pandemic, some Washington residents, who have been receiving unemployment benefits, will now have repay the benefits despite being approved to receive benefits initially. The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, launched shortly after the pandemic started, did not fully verify that a benefit claimant was eligible for program benefits. Claimants that applied under the rules of the...
Remember the television ad where the auto mechanic looks viewers straight in the eye and says: “You can pay me now or pay me later!” The message: if you change your car’s oil and filter every 5,000 miles, you can avoid a disastrous engine replacement later? The same principle applies to our national debt. Congress can either take steps to control spending and debt now, or watch interest payments swallow up our hard-earned tax dollars and starve needed programs. Ignoring massi...
The more people hear about Washington’s coming long-term-care law and payroll tax, the less people like it — and for good reason. A class-action lawsuit has been filed against it, an initiative is being pursued, and Idaho sent the state a cease-and-desist order concerning the law that even impacts workers who live in other states. Starting in January, the unpopular law imposes a stiff new tax of 58 cents per $100 earned for every W2 worker in the state, with no income cap...
Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota was never a darling of conservatives; however, in his later years he shocked fellow Democrats by his outspoken backing for streamlining government regulations and eliminating frivolous lawsuits — positions championed mostly by Republicans. McGovern, a decorated World War II B-24 pilot who flew 35 combat missions over North Africa and Europe, was an unabashed self-professed liberal. He won the Democrat presidential nomination in 1972 but l...
There’s an old saying that oil and water don’t mix. That may be true, but apparently they coexist quite well. Traveling through Sweetwater in west Texas, you see an interesting mix of irrigated farming, cattle ranching, oil production and wind energy. Farmers draw water from wells to irrigate fields and provide drinking water for people and livestock. Scattered across those same fields are traditional oil wells that have been pumping crude since 1921. Less than 10 miles fro...
TVW recently held a Q&A event between students and the Gov. Jay Inslee discussing various topics, which included dam breaching, homelessness, climate policy, police reform and vaccine mandates. One question was about the governance structure of the state and whether there should be more statewide elected officials to help improve bipartisanship. The governor replied instead that there should be fewer statewide elected officials to improve accountability. At present, the...
Lowering our flags to half-staff seems to be an all too familiar sight these days. It is a solemn act that recognizes our fallen heroes, whether they be men and women in our armed forces or a Vancouver police officer killed in the line of duty. It is a vivid reminder of the ultimate sacrifice made by those who serve us. Unfortunately, after those flags return to the top of the pole and time passes, we tend to forget that the suffering for the friends and families continues....
It’s no secret that Gov. Jay Inslee wants the removal of the four federal dams on the lower Snake River between Clarkston and the Tri-Cities. Back in December 2018, his proposed 2019-21 operating budget included $750,000 for a state study on breaching Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams. U.S. Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan Newhouse, officials from electric utilities, ports and groups representing agriculture and economic development all oppo...
Earlier this month, the National School Boards Association sent a letter to President Biden complaining about the increased involvement of passionate parents at school board meetings. “The National School Boards Association (NSBA) respectfully asks for federal law enforcement and other assistance to deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation,” the letter stated. Later in the letter, the co-signers linked par...
The Biden Administration's massive welfare give away, "Build Back Better," is currently being negotiated in Congress. One of the original funding mechanisms was raising taxes on the rich to the point where they pay their "fair share." In spite of the political left obsessing over the issue, no one has clearly defined exactly what the term means. Let's look at actual numbers and see who pays what in income taxes in the United States. Those organizations that follow taxation in...
Unfortunately, what happens in Taiwan doesn’t just stay in Taiwan, it impacts us. So, when President Xi Jinping announced China’s plan to step up “unification “efforts, it gets our attention. “U.S. ties with Taiwan, a Cold War ally, are a lightning rod in the testy relations between Washington and Beijing, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province and vows to use military force if needed to annex the island,” the Wall Street Journal reported recently. Xi’s words are not idle...
It is often argued that managed health care can provide better clinical outcomes while holding down health care costs. Over the years, managed care has taken on many different names including health maintenance organizations, accountable care organizations, and medical homes for instance. The structure of managed care is based on a primary care provider who serves as a “gatekeeper” and coordinates the care of an individual patient with multiple specialists. The idea is tha...
Food security is often thought of as a national topic, but food security starts locally. Washington state is part of what the U.S. Department of Agriculture has dubbed the “Fruitful Rim.” Yet, we are also home to numerous “food deserts” where food is hard to come by. The USDA defines a food desert as a “low-income tract where a substantial number or substantial share of residents does not have easy access to a supermarket or grocery store.” More specifically, food deserts are...
Poland and America are like two trains passing each other in opposite directions. That is becoming increasingly clear as President Biden rolls out his progressive agenda. The key question looking forward: “Will government or consumers drive our economy?” Poland broke the shackles of Soviet communist domination three decades ago. Free for the first time since World War II, Poland cast off its yoke of government control and central planning in favor of an American-style free enterprise system where consumers, not elected offici...
Arrogance is running wild in Olympia. It has consumed the State Legislature and the office of governor. This article addresses only the arrogance, not the specific policies, of these institutions. It is time for Uncommon Sense. In 1776, Thomas Paine published a 47-page pamphlet that, as much as any other factor at work in the American colonies, emboldened the populace to rise up against the monarchy of Great Britain. The pamphlet was called Common Sense. It was a runaway bestseller in its time, ubiquitous from pulpits to...
Sept. 11, 2001 – a day that no American who lived to see will ever forget. I was recently asked about where I was that day, and I remember it keenly, deeply. I think it’s a question every American has an answer to—a moment engraved in time. Since it was early September, it was right in the middle of hop harvest. My cousin and I were working to unplug the picking machine, a more-than-common occurrence for hop farmers, when his wife called, crying. Those first moments that morning were ones of disbelief. Then, justification—it...
