Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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The late great philosopher Yogi Berra once proclaimed: “The future ain’t what it used to be.” It sure ain’t! Lots has changed over the last 60 years since Yogi was the catcher for the legendary New York Yankees. Hopefully, in the years ahead, we will experience a return of respect for one another and our way of life, which has been a beacon of hope for the rest of the world. Today, there is too little civility and the public discourse consists of subtle and not-so-subtle personal barbs aimed at piercing opponent’s dignity a...
Millions of college graduates find themselves saddled with crushing debt and more than a third of them won’t be working in their chosen profession. Many will be working for low wages. Meanwhile, there are millions of high-paid jobs are available in the skilled trades, electricians, plumbers, manufacturing workers, pipefitters, mechanics, appliance repair, computer techs, medical assistants and welders. Known as blue-collar jobs, they routinely pay $45,000 to $65,000 a year or more. According to Salary.com, the average h... Full story
President Donald Trump campaigned on cutting taxes, streamlining regulations and improving infrastructure. He also vowed to renegotiate our trade agreements calling the North American Free Trade Agreement “the worst deal ever made.” On his first day in office, he signed an executive order aimed at reducing regulations and controlling regulatory costs. However, revamping our vast web of federal rules is much easier said than done. It is even more difficult when state and local rules are considered. The cost of regulations is...
Any trade war between the United States and China is worrisome, but if it escalated and tariffs are imposed, it will hit Washington particularly hard. Avoiding that possibility should be our primary goal. Our state is our nation’s third largest exporter with more than half of the containers leaving the Puget Sound heading to China. The Port of Seattle estimated that China trade alone accounted for $18 billion last year and 40 percent of our state’s jobs are now tied to trade. President Trump has proposed tariffs as a bar... Full story
As we deal with our population growth, we must address sufficient supplies of drinkable fresh water for residential, commercial, agriculture, fisheries and industrial needs. Not only will our numbers continue to climb, but so will competing pressures for fresh water. While demographers can project population growth fairly accurately and planners are good at assessing future needs, nature controls the supply of rainfall and mountain snowpack; and, when it occurs. Too often precipitation is “feast or famine.” For example, pre...
Most of the 2.5 million annual Alamo visitors focus on the epic 1836 battle in which a small band of brave Texans was eventually overrun by the Mexican army. Folk heroes like Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Travis were among the Texans killed while fighting for independence from Mexico. However, the Alamo is more than a small Spanish-style church depicted on tourism brochures, which barely withstood a 13-day pummeling from Mexican cannons. It is a large complex built nearly a century before the seize where irrigated... Full story
In the 1950s, America’s “Big Three” automakers (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) were the pacesetters for our industrial dominance. They had the skilled workers, financing, mass production technology, sales networks, supply chains and customer base. In short, they had it all. President’s Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy even tapped their CEO’s to be Secretary of Defense. “As General Motors goes, so goes the nation” was the commonly heard across our land. However, in the last 25 years, our country’s manufacturing p...
This St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, the Irish have lots to celebrate. Ireland is cleaner, greener and more prosperous. Ireland is an island nation roughly one-third the size of Washington with 4.7 million people. It is no longer the agrarian country, which its patron saint converted to Christianity in the early Fifth Century. Today’s Ireland attracts tourists, high tech companies and manufacturers from around the world. One of the keys to its economic growth is its low corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent, which is nine poi... Full story
It now looks like Boeing will add at least two more aircraft to the U.S. Air Force fleet, which flies our country’s leaders around the world. They are the most recognizable, the 747s traditionally called Air Force One. The recent news that President Trump’s Administration now approves replacing the current presidential jets with larger and more modern 747s cements the deal. It means the new Air Force One, a 747-8, could be flying presidents within five years. That’s good news for the more than 70,000 Boeing workers in the P... Full story
It was hard to get excited about the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, but give the South Koreans credit for overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles to pull the games off, and pull them off exceptionally well. The odds were stacked against them. Few people know where Pyeongchang is and the Korean mountains lack the ambiance of Europe’s Alps and North America’s Rockies. The northern coastal range is known for its frigid Siberian winds and subzero temperatures. Both arrived in the first week of competition and disrupted ski...
Have you carefully checked your utility bills lately? Most people don’t unless they are monsters like the ones for garbage in Scranton and Los Angeles. In Vancouver, Washington, our garbage and recycling bill now has an added 3.6 percent refuse tax. It costs us $1.29 more every two months. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, in Scranton, residents started receiving a $300 annual trash collection fee, which is a 68 percent increase since 2014. In LA, an assisted-living operator’s bill was less than $500 a mon... Full story
In Olympia, Gov. Jay Inslee is pushing lawmakers to enact a new tax on carbon gas emissions before the legislature adjourns on March 8. Inslee wants Democrats, who now control the legislature, to approve a $20 metric ton levy. He says it is necessary to combat the effects of climate change and would start in 2019. There would be no corresponding tax offsets as provided in British Columbia and under I-732 which is the ballot measure Washington voters rejected in 2016. Nor is there a cap on future tax increases. The additional...
It’s not good to be a North Korean guest worker these days. As part of stepped up sanctions against the rouge nation’s accelerated nuclear and ballistic missile development programs, countries around the world are expelling North Koreans. They are being sent back to an impoverished country, which continues to spend the bulk of its money on sophisticated weapons systems. North Korea is a nation where over 70 percent of its citizens have no electricity, over 125,000 are imprisoned, and food and jobs are scarce. Its dic...
Too often, virtues and accomplishments of quiet leaders go unsung. Such is the case with John Spellman, former Washington governor and King County executive, who died on Jan. 16 at the age of 91. Now many friends, colleagues and adversaries from both political parties extol Spellman’s courage, integrity, leadership, humility, tenacity, wisdom, inclusiveness, helpfulness and civility: all values of a strong and effective leader. Spellman was the right person for our state during some of the most difficult times we faced s... Full story
Earlier this month, China launched its “national sword” policy, which bans many recyclable materials it traditionally imported. Meanwhile, its upcoming March edict imposing a lower limit on contaminants, is having global reverberations. Since the 1990s, the world has shipped the bulk of its used paper, plastics and metals to China. In 2016, its imported value was $18 billion. Nearly one-third of North America’s recyclables were processed in China, much of it from West Coast states. China was hungry for scrap and toler...
Our parents drilled into our heads that saying “please” and “thank you” were not only part of everyday life, but were essential to operating a successful business. They are the basic ingredients of “Good Manners.” For more than 30 years, our family owned and operated the garbage collection business for Walkerville; a small, incorporated Montana city north of Butte. It was a part-time operation, which required about eight hours a week. In the early 1950s, our family posted a $100 bond and took it over. Previous owners thou...
Curbside recycling bins are packed with cardboard shipping boxes from Christmas online shopping. The uptick in consumer shipments is not only good news for the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx and UPS, but our nation’s papermakers. According to Mastercard Spending Pulse, U.S. year-end holiday retail sales rose nearly five percent compared to the same period last year while online purchases shot up more than 18 percent. USA Today reported “despite thousands of store closings this year, Americans supplied a final flurry of spe...
While the investigation continues into the deadly AMTRAK derailment near Dupont, the clock continues to tick on the implementation of Positive Track Control (PTC). The deadline is Dec. 31, 2018. PTC integrates new satellite tracking (GPS) and trackside technology for passenger, freight and commuter rail service. It is designed to instantly feed mountains of detailed and complex information to control centers and moving locomotives to automatically stop speeding trains from going off the track and colliding. Neither the track...
Christmas is an especially 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 hundreds of thousand donors and volunteers, more than 1.5 million wreaths were laid on the tombstones of our fallen soldiers, sailors and airmen on Dec. 16. The panoramic view of Arlington National Cemetery’s rolling hil...
During the holidays, our thoughts naturally turn to giving, not just giving gifts, but donating our time and money to charities, disasters and community programs. We’re reminded that, with all our frailties, we, Americans, are a pretty generous lot. According to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, 88 percent of our households donate to charity. In 2015, our total was more than $375 billion in cash to non-profit organizations. Cash contributions are only part of the story. Many businesses and those they e...
For the last two decades, federal legislation allowing oil and gas exploration in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has been stymied. Now, it is part of federal tax reform, which Congress is likely to approve. Allowing new oil and gas leases would greatly help Washington refineries, workers and state and local economies. Current crude supplies from Alaska’s North Slope are declining and refiners have looked elsewhere for replacement stocks; i.e., oil-by-rail from North Dakota. ANWR is not the picturesque landscape y...
Recently, the Institute for Justice (Institute) determined state licensing barriers for lower-income workers and aspiring entrepreneurs not only hurts people trying to establish themselves in a profession, but annually drives consumer prices up by $203 billion. Washington requires people in 77 jobs, including driving school bus, well drilling and operating cranes, to be licensed. That means applicants must successfully complete education and training, pass their exams, and pay licensing fees. Just as technology changes, so... Full story
Twenty-five years ago, Business took a beating in Olympia. The swing to the left in the 1992 general election was swift and potent. It drove higher costs to employers and more government regulations. Warning: Today’s political winds are blowing in that same direction. In the 1992 election, Democrats across America scored big wins promising a new health care system and bigger government. Bill Clinton upset George H.W. Bush for president and Congressman Mike Lowry knocked off Republican Attorney General Ken Eikenberry for gover...
Since last Veterans Day, Ken Burns’ in-depth documentary on the Vietnam War has aired. It is a powerful reminder of an unpopular war in which many “baby boomers” fought and died. It also prompts memories of the brutal treatment of American POWs and 1,350 who were listed as missing in action after the war ended. Some remain lost today. Among the 571 American prisoners released in the winter of 1973 was U.S Army Maj. Ed Carlson, whose last assignment was senior Army advisor to the Washington National Guard. Carlson, a 29-year v...
While Seattle is growing rapidly, our rural areas continue to struggle. They don’t have the corporate giants such as Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing creating jobs and economic opportunities. Farms are predominantly family-owned. Today, there is a rejuvenated effort to bring prosperity to Washington’s rural communities. While agriculture is the largest sector, timber, manufacturing, high tech and energy provide opportunities as well. Rural jobs and economic revitalization are national in scope. Writing in The Daily Yonder, Bil...