Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 310
The train’s horns going through Ritzville have been an issue with our citizens for years. We at the city have seen a renewed interest in addressing this issue. In the past, support or objection by the community has been split on reducing train noise. Considerations include economic development, property values and safety. You will have an opportunity to voice your opinion about this issue on Thursday, Feb. 6 beginning at 5 p.m. at city hall. This will be a public meeting so the city can receive input on moving forward on p...
Government leaders, doctors, and medical researchers worldwide are working feverishly to stop the spread of the coronavirus and keep it from becoming a global pandemic. Wuhan, one of China’s major transportation hubs whose population approaches 11 million, is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak that is spreading like wildfire. Wuhan was put on lockdown. The fear is widespread prompting China’s government leaders to build a 1,000 bed hospital within a week. Professor Shen...
A year ago, much of America's heartland was inundated by Missouri River flood waters. At least 1 million acres of U.S. farmland in nine major grain producing states were under water. More than 14 million people were impacted. Damage exceeded $1 billion. With 11 dams on the Missouri, why was the flooding so severe? Why didn't the dams absorb the excess waters? Its dams are above the flooded areas. The last impoundment is at Gavins Point Dams in South Dakota and heavy rainfall...
Everyone at the City of Ritzville works to keep you informed of our policies and decisions. Except for rare executive sessions by the city council, our meetings are public. This includes not only city council meetings, but committee meetings as well. The city sent out an extensive survey last fall seeking input on how we can better serve your community. We mailed hundreds of hard copies and made an electronic form available on the city website. Mailings were sent to each city...
Imagine getting to hold the future in your hands. As the main purchaser for the library, that’s the way I feel every month as I look through catalogs and reviews of upcoming books that won’t be released for months. Should we try a new author like husband and wife team Ambrose Parry? Do we branch into a new genre field (Escapist Fiction maybe?). Or do we stick with a tried and true author (ahem, Patterson) or finish up a series (who else is sad that the alphabet now ends at Y? RIP Sue Grafton). Or does the book just jump out...
Under our Constitution, anyone accused of a crime has right to see all the evidence against them, to face their accusers, and to call witnesses in their defense. I have been falsely accused of being a “domestic terrorist” by a private investigator who never spoke to the principals involved in the incidents she described and relied instead on anonymous sources. Based solely on this investigator’s dossier, the Speaker of the House said I “engaged in an act of domestic terrorism.” This is a lie. The Speaker also said she forwa...
The minimum age to purchase tobacco is now 21, a move that has been applauded on both sides of the aisle as a means to prevent hundreds of thousands of premature deaths. Yet the same people implementing the new law don’t seem to mind sending another wave of 18-year-old men and women to war, some of whom will die as a result. Seem contradictory? It is. As a country we have yet to get on the same page as to what constitutes adulthood. Yes, raising the age to purchase tobacco mak...
With the new decade comes an international air pollution regulation which hastens the switch from high sulfur fuel oil to either diesel or LNG in ocean-going ships. The mandate drops the sulfur content from 3.5 to .5%. While that number sounds trivial, it is applied to 62,000 vessels worldwide. Ship owners and environmental regulators battled over the sulfur limit for years; however, starting on January 1, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) implemented it as...
It’s a new year and a new decade! The older we get, the more places and things we want to see but it may seem like we have less time, energy, and money to do these things. The Washington State Library has loaned us a virtual reality (VR) kit through this March that will make checking things off your bucket list a little easier –and best of all it’s free and available right here at the library! If you just want a taste of VR, we have a program with a few short vignettes. You’ll meet a dinosaur face to face, see a larger...
As we launch into 2020 and the ensuing decade, Boeing faces very strong head winds which are major concerns for those of us living in the Pacific Northwest. Things are vastly different now. In my first column of 2019, I wrote that Boeing was poised to have its best year ever. It had strong tail winds propelling it. It would build upon a very successful 2018. Its 737 Max was selling like hot cakes to hungry airlines and plans were in the works to expand production at the...
As we wrap up a year and, indeed, a decade, it’s a good idea to take a little inventory. As to things done, there’s a lot of good news. We have more primary-care providers, enough so that prompt appointments, even same-day appointments, are now not an issue. We are, with the assistance of specialized experts, making major inroads into the backlog of billings, and into assuring timely and accurate billings to patients. We have a fine physical facility. We have a first-class dentist with appointments available and dental ful...
At Christmas, millions watch the 1946 movie classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” While it is labeled “fantasy drama”, the show gives us a glimpse of reality and reminds us of the importance of caring local business owners. The setting is mythical Bedford Falls, NY, on Christmas Eve. George Bailey, a family man with a wife and four children, was dogged by a greedy banker, Henry Potter, who wanted to shut Bailey Building and Loan Association down. (George inherited the strugglin...
As we look forward to the holidays and the inevitable tick into 2020, I can’t help but look back at our local history and how it’s been preserved and reported by our newspapers and their reporters for six generations. The Ritzville Adams County Journal’s own lede is “Eastern Adams County’s Only Independent Voice since 1887” making it 133 years old and one of the oldest businesses (besides our farming families) in the county. The first paper to print in the county was the Adams County News in 1885 of which we have a few of th...
Bridges shouldn’t have to sink to be replaced. However, at times that’s what it takes. Too often new projects succumb to years of fighting among interest groups and endless political bickering. In 2013, opposition killed Columbia Crossings project which was formed to construct a replacement I-5 bridge across the Columbia River connecting Vancouver and Portland. We all want more roads and bridges as long as they are in the other persons’ neighborhood and someone else pays....
Earlier this month, state Department of Fish and Wildlife Director officials said they needed an additional $26 million to effectively manage its existing lands and programs. They said that if they didn’t receive additional money from the Legislature this coming session, they will have to reduce staffing and services. Agency Director Kelley Susewind himself said it would be “pretty catastrophic” if his agency doesn’t get more money. Why then is the agency simultaneously pushin...
In the coming decade, investors are betting that hydrogen will become a prominent fuel which can eliminate CO2 discharges from the vehicles it energizes. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) the transportation sector has dominated the growth in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions since 1990, accounting for 69 percent of the total increase. It is important that hydrogen technology advances rapidly because cars, trucks and buses are a growing contributor to gr...
Science, technology, engineering, and math – more commonly known as STEM – have become some of the most highly demanded careers in our nation’s economy. Schools across the country and in Central Washington have emphasized education programs to help prepare students for future careers in fields from chemistry and earth sciences to computer engineering and physics. Quality STEM education programs are essential to train the next generation of American minds. Central Washington’s students are bright, and many of them are interes...
December is always a time to reflect on our accomplishments in the past year, and East Adams Library District has much to celebrate this year! Since January, we’ve had 15,029 people visit one of our library branches -- whether that’s to borrow a book, movie or magazine (we’ve checked out over 31,000 items in the past year), attend a program (2,755 kids, teens, and adults have attended 235 programs at one of our branches), use a computer or the free wifi (3,158 computer users so far this year!), ask us a question (we’v...
Preliminary sales trends from Small Business Saturday show a continuing increase in smartphone purchases even among shoppers patronizing local merchants. According to the Associated Press (AP), Adobe Analytics said smartphone income made up over 40 percent of all e-commerce revenue on Nov. 30. That is up 22 percent from a year ago. Shoppers spent $3.6 billion buying online from small businesses that day. Small Business Saturday was started in 2010 by American Express to...
Each Thanksgiving, I am reminded that in Central Washington, we have a lot to be thankful for. We are blessed with gorgeous national forests and public lands, powerful rivers and dams, and bountiful farm land. As we gather with our families and friends to reflect on our gratitude, let us not forget to thank the farmers and ranchers who produce food to feed the United States and the world. We are fortunate to be surrounded by a diverse agriculture industry, with over 300 unique commodities being grown in Washington state....
The grounding of the 737 MAX is testing Boeing’s resiliency. It has turned the company upside down in just six months. Boeing executives and engineers have been under duress since the two fatal crashes killing 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia and that is likely to extend well into 2020. What started as a continuation of a most successful 2018 for Boeing has turned into prolonged migraine. Hopefully, the world’s most successful aerospace company will weather the storm and...
The students of Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers were recently given a second chance. Earlier this year, the future of these programs was threatened when the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposed closing 9 of the 25 Civilian Conservation Center (CCC) programs and transferring the operations of the remaining Centers to the Department of Labor (DOL). This transfer to the DOL would have been contrary to the very mission of the Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers, which aims to train the next generation of...
Just before Veterans Day, the last known survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor died at age 98. With the passing of George Hursey of Massachusetts, it closed that chapter of World War II, the world’s most deadly conflict in which over 60 million people perished. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called Dec. 7, 1941, “the date which will live in infamy.” During the surprise attack, 350 Japanese aircraft descended on Pearl Harbor and nearby Hawaiian military installations...
I have never met a veteran who did not inspire me. From the hundreds of veterans who receive assistance from my office seeking lost medals or help with VA benefits to the veterans and their families I meet at community events and pinning ceremonies throughout Central Washington, each of them has a unique story. I have met men who served together and became family, traveling across the country every year for a reunion. I have met women who, after being told that they should stay home and become a housewife, packed up their bag...
Access. It takes just 6 letters to sum up the true reason for a public library to exist. And this isn’t just access to the most recent best seller or the latest action blockbuster, though those play their own integral part in the foundation of a library. What I’m talking about is access in both tangible and intangible ways. Access to knowledge, self-expression, a safe space, imagination, liberation, education, information and services, broadband and wifi, exposure to places, cultures, and ideas patrons might not oth...