News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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The Oregonian characterized the 2019 wildfire season as the “season that wasn’t!” That’s good news for West Coast states; however, it doesn’t mean we are permanently “out of the woods!” Worldwide, wildfires are down, as well. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there were 6,000 fewer wildfires this year compared with 2018, and about 4.4 million acres were burned compared with roughly 10 million acres in 2017. The previous two years featured bad fire seasons in Washington, O...
Too often, elected officials overlook the cumulative costs of regulations, taxes and fees on taxpayers; however, it comes back to bite them hard when people move or take matters into their own hands by initiative. Consider what is happening in high-tax and -cost-of-living states, such as California, New York and Connecticut. Florida recorded the highest level of net domestic migration in 2018 and added 1.2 million people from other states since 2010. “Many Florida transplants are retirees and t...
Drones planting trees in burned wildlands While drones are coming of age in firefighting, they are also establishing a foothold in restoring fire-scorched forests. Firefighting drones grabbed the spotlight last April 15 as viewers around the world watched Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris go up in flames. It has stood for over 850 years, through wars, natural disasters, and everything in between, including the fire. At first, it appeared the iconic building would be completely destroyed; however, French firefighters used thermal vision drones to di...
In oil rich West Texas, shale producers and pipeline owner Williams Co. are fighting over whether new “burning off of natural gas” permits should be approved. It is a battle between companies which are usually aligned. Flaring happens primarily when there is insufficient pipeline capacity to carry natural gas from wellheads to natural gas markets. Allowing the gas to build up at the derrick is a serious safety risk. Even though Williams already has an extensive pipeline network in western Tex...
What happens in China, doesn’t always stay in China. In fact, when it comes to tough new garbage and recycling restrictions, they may migrate elsewhere sooner than you might think. For example, Shanghai is one of the world’s largest cities with 26.9 million people. It is suffocating under mountains of trash its residents generate daily. It lacks an effective recycling and disposal system. “Instead, it has trash pickers to sift through the waste, plucking out whatever can be reused,” The Economi...
Hopefully, when American and Chinese leaders meet to resolve trade differences, talks won’t break down and result in a new round of tariffs or product restrictions. It is in both nations’ interests for presidents Trump and Xi Jinping to find common ground. Our state has lots riding on those negotiations. The Brookings Institute points out that Washington would be “the worst off” of any state, because 154,000 people are employed in industries that would be affected by new Chinese counter...
There are dams that should come down and those that shouldn’t. Hopefully, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts its review of the 14 federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers, that will become abundantly clear. That review is expected to be ready for public comment in late 2020. Here is the difference. Demolishing the two dams on the Elwha River west of Port Angeles was a good thing. They were built in the early 1900s to bring electricity to the Olympic Peninsula at a time when s...
Before lawmakers wrap up their work in Olympia, they should re-examine their hefty new state spending plan. The budget may not be sustainable, even with a substantial increase in taxes. It may force legislators to return to the State Capitol to cut workers, programs and services; or, even hike taxes yet again. It has happened in the past. For example, in the early 1980s, Gov. John Spellman (R) and a Republican legislature were forced to meet in special session continuously to deal with rapidly d...
The good news is Washington’s cherry crop is projected to be as good as 2018; however, absent tariff relief from the ongoing U.S.-China trade tiff, a key market will remain limited. When China’s tariff went from 10 percent to 50 percent last July, right in the middle of the harvest, exports to China went from the most profitable to the pits, Fox News reported. “Growers in Washington State, by far the largest producer of sweet cherries in the U.S., saw their bumper crop lose $86 million in value...
When Congress convenes next year, lawmakers must focus on the cost and quality of health care. In November, voters made it clear health care was on top of their minds. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a third of voters said it was the “most important” issue. It ranked higher than the economy and jobs. What is driving Americans is their fear of losing health insurance, their home, and savings to battle cancer or other life-threatening conditions. According to the Washington Post, our...
While both sides argue over the merits of Seattle’s escalating minimum wage, there are other issues, such as the total cost per worker, which enter into hiring equations. When employers look to add or retain workers, they must not only consider wages, but the added required benefits which they must pay for each individual they employ. They must keep costs on par with their competitors, because employees are a big part of their operating costs. According to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (...
In the 1960s, there was a popular movie called “The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming.” The plot was that a Soviet naval commander runs his sub aground off a Massachusetts coastal island and sends two English-speaking crewmen ashore to procure a boat with enough power to pull them free. The Russian sailors didn’t exactly blend in and chaos ensued. That was fiction, but today American farmers face the hard facts that the Russians are invading our wheat markets worldwide. Many of us re...
When one approaches the Tri-Cities, it is impossible to ignore Lampson International’s monstrous cranes in its Pasco assembly yard. Those gantries stand out like the Space Needle in Seattle and reach over 560 feet into the sky. Like the Space Needle, Lampson is built on a solid footing. Last month, Construction Review Online (CRO) ranked Lampson as the world’s third-largest crane company. “Lampson International has been a world leader in the Heavy Lift and Transport industry for over 65 years. Initially started as a small drayage company, they...
With today’s tension and rancor, we need a dose of Yogi Berra’s wit and wisdom to put things into perspective. Let’s start with “You can observe a lot by just watching,” because seeing what is happening now is very disconcerting. We need less sarcasm and to alleviate the vilification of one another that we constantly witness in the news and on social media. To quote Yogi: “It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.” Yogi’s humorous way of sizing up a sit...
Last April, Washington wheat, apple and cherry growers hoped U.S. and China trade negotiators would resolve differences and prevent imposition of damaging tariffs on our state’s leading crops. Unfortunately, that did not happen and the costs are adding up. Thousands of Washington farmers now find themselves on the front lines of a battle between the two largest economies in the world. Here’s what has happened so far. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump imposed a 25-percent tariff on $34...
While most of our attention in the Pacific Northwest these days is on trade wars, tariffs and wildfires, there are critical talks underway between the U.S. and Canada over future allocations of the Columbia River system’s water. The two countries are renegotiating the Columbia River Treaty, which went into effect in 1964. It is a 50-year agreement under which both nations can redo, providing there is a 10-year advanced warning. That occurred, and negotiators are now busy meeting. A new a...
Last month, General Electric lost its place among our nation’s top 30 performing corporations. It was the last member of the original companies which composed the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Since 1896, American investors have looked to the Dow to judge how the top performing companies’ stocks are trading each session. The Dow favors companies with excellent reputations for sustained growth and which have broad investor interest. GE, once the world’s most valuable company, was replaced by Wa...
The Jetsons television series about a space-age family featuring “Rosey the Robot” gave us a preview of life with robots, kiosks and interactive television. In 1962, it was a fictitious cartoon; however, in 2018, many of the Jetsons’ conveniences are a reality. Take fast-food restaurants, for example. Faced with a growing shortage of workers and increased costs, some are turning to robots to flip hamburgers and clean grills — mundane, unpleasant and hard-to-fill jobs. Wendy’s installed self-clea...
Here’s a switch! Rather than closing another pulp and paper mill, a new one is under construction right here in Washington. Columbia Pulp’s plant on the Snake River will use a new technology that pulls cellulose out of the abundant straw left over from wheat and alfalfa harvests. The $184 million plant near Dayton is scheduled to open later this year. Traditionally, pulp comes from wood either grown specifically for paper making or as byproducts from sawmills. When fully operational, it wil...
Over the last 35 years our family has vacationed at the same place on the beach. While the buildings have been refurbished, the complex remains largely unchanged. However, our entertainment has changed a lot. We still swim, jump the waves and build sand castles, but our board games, puzzles and playing cards have been replaced with kids’ electronic tablets, smart phones and movies downloaded from the internet. We still take lots of pictures, but rather than taking them to film processing centers, we use cellphone cameras to instantly text a...
In the presidential campaign leading up to the November elections, hopefully we will hear about ways to “Make America Great Again!” One of the most effective strategies is to entice U.S. companies with foreign factories to relocate back home. Another is to encourage those who remained in America to reinvest here. Discussions about bolstering domestic production of goods and services did not start this year. They are largely rooted in our nation’s anemic job creation over the last decade. A “Reshoring Institute” launched in 2014 at the Unive...
Today, more millennials are moving back home, even though the economy is improving and wages are inching upward. Recently, Pew Research Center revealed that a third of young adults today are more likely to live with their parents than they were before the Great Recession. Unemployment among young adults has been dropping since 2010, as has the number of millennials living independently. In 2007, prior to the recession, about 42.7 million individuals in that age group lived on their own. In the years in between, the population of 18- to...
The good news this Memorial Day weekend is more than 38 million Americans are expected to travel, making the unofficial kickoff to summer this year the second busiest on record. AAA reports nearly 34 million people across the nation will be driving, which is up by 2.1 percent over last year. Air travel is expected to increase as well, with 2.6 million Americans taking to the skies. AAA finds stable or lower costs for airfares, rental cars and hotels. Compared with 2015, gas prices average up to 50 cents a gallon lower. So what’s the bad n...
Kirk Adams has earned the reputation as a visionary leader who gets things done for people with disabilities. Those qualities, coupled with hard work and determination, rewarded him with the nation’s top job advocating for the blind. In May, Adams, who grew up in Snohomish, becomes only the sixth American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) president since the non-profit was formed in 1921. It is the organization where the legendary Helen Keller’s archives reside. Carl R. Augusto, retiring AFB pre...
Even though President Barack Obama has less than a year remaining in office, his administration is cranking out new government regulations at a record pace. The rush reflects the President’s plan to use his final months to cement his domestic-policy legacy. Unfortunately, that process circumvents Congress, which is constitutionally charged with writing our laws. The new rules are sweeping and cut across labor, health, finance and the environment. They range from setting overtime pay for white-collar workers to more obscure matters, such as r...
