Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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America is where liberty and freedom are guarded by jealously, which is required by a “patriot” that defends it with their last breath. In today’s America, very few people think this way. But the few that do are painted as extremists, simply because mainstream America has fallen away from the understanding on why this country was founded by patriotic free men and women who fought and died for what we have today. Not only did they die, they spent their last coin to fund the American Revolution that was never repaid by the n...
If we are to meet our soaring demand for electricity and produce it without coal and natural gas, we must double down on nuclear power. Today, U.S. nuclear plants generated enough electricity to power more than 70 million homes. It’s the most reliable source of electricity operating at full capacity over 90 percent of the time. It is “greenhouse gas” free, yet many activists are pushing to close, not build, nuclear power plants. If President Biden and Gov. Inslee conti...
With avian flu spreading among mammals and experts concerned it could make the jump to humans, our political leaders should support increased federal funding for cultivated-meat research. For those who don’t know, cultivated meat is grown from livestock cells, without slaughter. Since animals are removed from the process, this new protein would dramatically reduce our pandemic risk. Though the Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first cultivated-meat product, and it should hit the market soon, more g...
Last week, the state Supreme Court heard oral arguments concerning the capital gains income tax. I attended the hearing in person. It is unclear when the court will issue its opinion. The capital gains income tax is first owed on April 18, 2023. There are three possible rulings the court could issue. One possible outcome is for the state Supreme Court to catch the Hail Mary pass thrown by income tax advocates and by judicial fiat now allow a graduated income tax without a...
Three years after crooks stole billions in unemployment insurance funds, federal and state officials are scrambling to retrieve the money which was directed to the jobless and plug leaks in their systems. According to a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, the General Accounting Office estimates taxpayers underwrote $60 billion in fraudulent payments from an “unprecedented infusion of federal Covid-19 relief funds into UI programs during the pandemic.” It gave villains and...
Washington State House Bill 1110 and Senate Bill 5190 are identical and are on track for approval. They will destroy city residential zoning codes statewide. This appears to cancel out planning authority and resident input at the city and county level. It’s not necessary to read all 15 pages of the bills. Begin with New Section 3 — Pages 9 and 10 will explain proposed statewide zoning regulations. On Page 14, New Section 7 makes it clear these changes are not subject to administrative or judicial appeals. Both bills essential...
Odessa Memorial Healthcare Center are proud of the care we provide this Community and proud of how the Community supports us. This year has been a tough year for all health care providers including us. We continue to watch government and insurance agencies continue to whittle away at the reimbursement of care. Many of our government healthcare programs have not increased their rates in several years, but out suppliers of needed equipment, continue to increase their costs. We...
Various surveys over the last year continue to show public safety is high on the list of concerns for the average Washingtonian. It doesn't matter if it's someone living in Bellevue or s the 9th Legislative District. People are feeling less safe and less secure. According to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, crime numbers support the feeling of unease. Violent crime increased by 12.3% in 2021, murder by 6%, and aggravated assaults by nearly 17%. I...
For the fifth straight year, I've introduced a bill that aims to help school districts in Washington address their building-maintenance needs. Senate Bill 5403 would allow school districts to create a "depreciation subfund" that can receive a transfer of up to 2% of a school district's general fund each fiscal year. This bill would provide another path for school districts to handle building- or facility-maintenance needs. Sometimes it can be better for a school district to pa...
Washington state has high tax rates — gas, property, you name it. Government agencies billions of tax dollars annually from residents and businesses here. So why then are government agencies taking Washington taxpayer dollars and buying goods and services out-of-state, goods and services that are readily abundant in Washington? Those agencies are penalizing state taxpayers (residents and businesses) for paying the high taxes the agencies collected under burdensome r...
You’ve heard it said in the Pacific Northwest that, during the winter, we see a long stretch of bleak weather followed by a temporary rise in temperatures around mid-January, a “false winter” as it is sometimes called. Well, according to the Farmer’s Almanac for 2022-2023, the unusually warm weather we’ve been experiencing the past few weeks may just be the herald of real, honest-to-goodness spring. Granted, meteorological predictions aren’t perfect, but Farmer’s Almanac’s pre...
By Sen. Mark Schoesler, Rep. Joe Schmick and Rep. Mary Dye We are back at the state Capitol for the 2023 legislative session, which began Jan. 9 and is set to last 105 days, ending April 23. After being forced to endure a virtual legislative session in 2021 and last year due to restrictions caused by COVID-19, we’re encouraged that the Legislature has returned to near-normal in terms of how committee meetings and floor sessions are conducted. In the two previous legislative sessions, citizens weren’t allowed to attend com...
The legislative session is in full swing, which means a lot of lawmakers are interested in picking winners and losers. Instead of creating equal opportunities, an equality of outcome is being sought. The Washington Future Fund, proposed in Senate Bill 5125 and House Bill 1094, is being heard this morning and later this week. Senate Democrats write that the bill “seeks to break the cycle of generational poverty by making a one-time deposit of $4,000 into an account for each b...
Oh those caravans of invaders coming across the Southern Border. We must deal with them by sending them back to fix their countries of origin; leaving them to suffer and be harassed at the border; and/or transporting them to Democratically-run cities in the north where it is freezing cold, and they know no one. What an absurd way to “welcome the stranger”. Meanwhile, there is a labor shortage – older people are not working to full retirement age of 70; others are not interested in jobs that are not suitable because of hours...
Coupled with rapid growth of data centers we rely upon for internet service and information storage is an increased demand for electricity to power millions of computers and cool the mammoth buildings in which they operate. Data center computers are integral to our everyday life and store everything from cooking recipes to complex engineering blueprints. They are heavy power users consuming 10-50 times the energy per floor space of a typical commercial office. Energy...
Question: If cows eat pine needles, will it hurt them or cause a problem? In general, yes pine needles can be a problem if cows consume them. Pine needles occur across much of the cow country in the western United States. However, there are some things that producers can do to protect their herds. Pine needle toxins fall in the category of what is referred to as abortifacient and reproductive toxins. This means that they can cause abortions and upset the reproductive cycle of...
It is time to change the way things are done in our nation’s capital---the “Other Washington!” The year-end Christmas dash to pass a $1.7 trillion spending monstrosity is the straw breaking the camel’s back. It is a 4,000-page document which lawmakers freely admit they did not read. To put the problem into perspective that one bill contains 17 times more money than the entire two-year state budget for Washington. It’s an unfathomable sum of money and its vast scope has not g...
The Washington State Auditor has completed a performance audit of the Employment Security Department and has found the agency still has not corrected its systemic performance and fraud problems uncovered during the COVID-19 pandemic. After the complete failure of the agency to handle pandemic unemployment claims, which culminated in the resignation of Commissioner Suzi LeVine in 2021, state lawmakers passed several key pieces of legislation to require the agency to reform...
Since becoming an adult and moving from Western Washington to Eastern Washington, I have a short history of traveling over the New Years holiday. Whether it was a sunny getaway with friends, a short visit to visit family or a bit of both, rarely have I rung in the New Year from where I was residing at the time since adulthood began. One year, it was a trip to St. George's, Utah with a rendezvous in Las Vegas with friends. Sounds like a dream, except none of us were 21 yet....
A strong mind and body are crucial to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I learned that while recently completing basic training for the U.S. Army at Fort Sill, Okla. I was never a stranger to the gym. In fact, I spent every morning working out at FIT gym in downtown Colfax prior to leaving for the military. As a regular there, I always focused on strength training and cardio. Afterward, I would get my morning cappuccino and find myself at my desk in the bullpen at The Whitman...
As a youngster, I looked forward to Christmas. I loved the food, the traditions and especially the presents - what kid doesn't? In high school and college, the luster subsided. As a wrestler, Christmas was a time for fasting so I didn't have to move up a weight class. I dreaded running extra bleachers, doing additional up-downs and all the "fat man" jokes from teammates. Christmas would become just one of those "OK" holidays for me after college. As a journalist, I would be...
What have we learned since the 2020 election? No matter how ill-founded the lie, if continually repeated for two years--the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen--many people will believe it. Repeating lies has been utilized, sometimes successfully, by presidential candidates before. But previously it’s been used before election, not continually repeated for two years thereafter, never to subvert our democracy, and terminated with electoral results accepted. Besides promoting the Big Lie, Cathy McMorris Rodge...
The Holiday Season is an especially difficult time for anyone grieving lost loved ones. Evergreen wreaths placed on veterans’ graves across America help to ease that pain. More than 2.5 million red-ribboned wreaths were placed by thousands of volunteers, including many family members, on December 17. Those wreaths are made from clippings of balsam firs dedicated to deceased veterans. Each tree growing in Maine has the “dog tags” identifying the fallen service member. The t...
Former state senator and current state Director of Commerce Lisa Brown rightly describes the difficulties a small business startup faces in Washington. Brown says the state Department of Commerce is helping small business owners navigate the complicated array of regulations and mandates that the very same government agency had previously imposed. But Brown completely glosses over the underlying problem small businesses face when they first start; that is, over complex...
Question: What is meant by the term protein degradability and what does it mean for beef cows? Protein degradability is a term used in ruminant nutrition and therefore applies only to ruminant animals like cattle, sheep, and goats, etc. To get a handle on this concept let’s define crude protein (CP), and how it is measured, and then relate it to ruminant nutrition. The CP content of feed is measured by analyzing for the total nitrogen (N) in the feed and multiplying by 6.25 (...
