News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

Opinion


Sorted by date  Results 725 - 749 of 3471

Page Up

  • International medical graduates ease the U.S. doctor shortage

    Dr. G. Richard Olds|Apr 27, 2022

    Thousands of young doctors recently learned where they’ll be spending the next few years of their lives in residency. A significant number of them will be U.S. citizens who completed medical school abroad. This corps of internationally educated doctors has become increasingly important to the U.S. healthcare system -- and is tackling a disproportionate share of America’s biggest healthcare challenges. The United States desperately needs doctors. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, we could face a deficit of up to 124...

  • For Earth Day, look past the hyped-up rhetoric

    Scott Hunter|Apr 20, 2022

    As our politics degrade, so does our ability to deal with the most urgent issue we all face. Climate change is so very hard to wrap your head around, especially for people like us who live in an area where a river runs through it and powers our homes and businesses with green, hydro-electric energy. It’s easy to be complacent here, until August anyway. That’s when, over the last few years, we’ve come to expect “smoke season” if we’re lucky, “fire season” if conditions push the nature around us to kindling levels and something, anything, causes...

  • Weather a great talking point

    Roger Lucas|Apr 20, 2022

    Why am I cold all the time? Doesn’t the weatherman know it’s supposed to be spring? But I’ve seen much colder days. I endured 46 below when working for Potlatch Forest shortly after I got out of high school. Work area layout was a cement slab with a tin roof and the sides all open. Three planer machines filled the interior of the huge shed. One person fed the boards into the machine, and two graders marked the planed boards according to their value. Two more pulled the boards off the chains and put them in appropriate piles. The winter had b...

  • Look north to increase gas supplies

    Don Brunell|Apr 20, 2022

    The news that President Biden plans to resume leasing of federal land for oil exploration maybe good five years from now, but that action alone won’t bring down record gas prices at the pump in the months ahead. According to American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline was $4.07 on Good Friday (April 15); down from $4.31 a gallon a month ago. That’s still 70 percent higher than when he took office. The Interior Department announced it will put up...

  • With risk increasing, small businesses can protect themselves from cybercriminals 

    Jessica Campos Center for Rural Affairs|Apr 20, 2022

    Many small business owners wonder how cybersecurity pertains to their business, or think they could never fall victim to cybercriminals. But, according to the Small Business Administration (SBA), cyber-attacks are a growing threat for entrepreneurs and the U.S. economy. In 2020 alone, the FBI reported that the cost of cybercrimes reached $2.7 billion. While some small businesses have little to no financial resources to devote to professional information technology solutions, tools are available to help understand the risks and where improvement...

  • Serving Our Nation's Finest

    Dan Newhouse|Apr 20, 2022

    Currently, a little over 1.3 million people are serving on active duty in our nation’s military—that is less than half of one percent of the U.S. population. Securing our national defense and protecting our interests is a heavy burden to rest on these men and women, and that is why continuing to care for our servicemembers and veterans is such a solemn duty for the federal government. I’m honored to represent over 39,000 veterans in Central Washington and consider it one of my highest priorities to ensure they receive the high-quality care and...

  • What Does It Take to Be Important in America?

    Lee Hamilton|Apr 13, 2022

    aMaybe it’s the perspective a long life brings, but I find myself eyeing with some skepticism the glut of “personal brands” that assault us every day on television, in print, and through social media. Entertainers, celebrities, politicians striving for acclaim, artists and writers who’ve mastered the public-relations game, journalists and media stars who are building their national profiles — all are “important” in terms of the attention they garner. But are they actually important? In some ways, of course, the question is impossible to...

  • Inflation is devastating to our family farms

    Dan Newhouse|Apr 13, 2022

    Farming season is here, and unfortunately, due to supply-chain issues and rising energy costs exacerbated by President Biden’s policies, input costs are at a record-high. This has placed a huge burden on Central Washington farmers and will have a massive impact on this year’s harvest. A poor harvest does not just hurt a farmer’s bottom line, it hurts everyone up and down the supply chain, from the local community to the end consumer who faces higher food prices and even food shortages. Farmers from across Central Washington are concerned becau...

  • Weather and our mood

    Bob Valen|Apr 13, 2022

    Spring has arrived! We all are feeling the relief from the overcast, damp, and cold winter weather; it’s behind us once again. Spring is here and summer is fast approaching. Some of you may recall this movie quote. A contestant is asked to describe her perfect date. “That’s a tough one. I’d have to say April 25. Because it’s not too hot, not too cold. All you need is a light jacket.” Our mood is affected by the weather. In the field of human psychology, some studies address the association...

  • Postcard brings friends together

    Roger Lucas|Apr 13, 2022

    In my column I have often mentioned what good neighbors I have. I particularly mention Dave and Dorothy Stiegelmeyer, who frequently are doing little things to make life easier for me. I received a postcard recently from an old friend asking if he was a good neighbor when living next to us in Nampa, Idaho when we were both attending college. That was in or about 1957. I assured him that he was. Earl Tromburg and his wife Velma lived right next to us in the Vetville apartment complex made up of about a dozen apartments for students attending sch...

  • It takes a family

    Roger S Lucas|Apr 6, 2022

    My wife Dorothy has suffered from dementia for the past several years. We have been able to care for her in our home for these past years until recently all the family agreed that the level of care she needed could no longer be provided by me in the home. It is fortunate that our two grandchildren, Ashley Landeros and Travis Irwin, live here and handled all the details, paperwork, and other needs during this time, always mindful of my feelings and the concurrence of family members who live elsewhere. We sought a place for this care and were...

  • We must fix the nursing shortage

    Tom Purcell|Apr 6, 2022

    Where did all the nurses go? One of my family members ended up in the ER for a week after a bad fall. The hospital we chose and its staff were wonderful in every way, but this time, one important thing was missing: an appropriate number of nurses to deliver superior care. The nurses who were there did their best. They are working long hours and exhausting themselves and, still, the ones we met were cheerful and supportive. There is a special place in Heaven for people in this profession. But where did all the nurses go? We moved our family memb...

  • Biden Administration ignores the facts: Dams are not the problem

    Dan Newhouse Congressman|Apr 6, 2022

    It is completely mind-boggling that amidst an energy and supply chain crisis, President Biden would remove a source of power and transportation for an entire region. Yet, just last week, the White House updated their blog with a post about doing just that: breaching the four Lower Snake River Dams. This “blog post” proves that the Biden Administration is beholden to radical, environmental lobbyists, and is only hearing their side of the argument. They are completely ignoring the devastating impacts that breaching the Lower Snake River Dams wou...

  • Price of gas fuels work from safety of home

    Don Brunell|Apr 6, 2022

    With COVID-19 vaccines widely dispensed and masking requirements mostly lifted, will “work from home” end? Will workers return to downtown offices at pre-pandemic levels? Probably Not! One big reason it is expensive to drive and the waste of time and fuel idling in traffic jams. Another is safety. Gas prices continue to skyrocket. Last year, the average cost at the pump was $2.62 per gallon. By the end of March, Seattle’s gasoline increased to $4.88 per gallon, according to GasBuddy’s latest sur...

  • Legislature approved budget updates before adjourning

    Sen. Brad Hawkins|Mar 30, 2022

    At nearly midnight on March 10, the Legislature adjourned its hybrid session in Olympia on schedule. The 60-day Legislative session consisted primarily of Zoom meetings with some work completed in-person. It was a busy time for me as I continued as the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee’s ranking member. This session was particularly busy for education committee leaders due to continued school issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and school funding issues. I also sponsored a few individual bills and budget requests. In t...

  • Looking for support to honor veterans

    Arnie Marchand|Mar 30, 2022

    The American Legion Hodges Post 84, Oroville Washington, is requesting that the State Department of Transportation honor the Veterans of the Vietnam War by dedicating State Route 20, from the Idaho border to the Skagit County line in Western Washington. Hodges Post 84 hopes to recognize the sacrifices made by Vietnam Veterans to the State of Washington and to the United States of America with this dedication. I will be asking our State representatives in Olympia and from Washington DC to help support this effort. I will be asking all of the...

  • High school students should have more rights

    Norm Luther|Mar 30, 2022

    Recently, Chris Cargill, Eastern Washington director of right-wing Washington Policy Center, advocated for a parents’ bill of rights to improve our educational system. But how would that help? Shouldn’t students themselves, especially at high school level, have at least equal voice to their parents since their education most strongly affects their own lives? Maybe Cargill thinks students and their parents agree on what would improve their education, but is there evidence of that? Polls show considerable disagreement between high school-age stu...

  • Karen is playing the violin again

    Roger S Lucas|Mar 30, 2022

    Karen is married to our son Nathan, and they live in Portland. An injury while riding her bicycle interrupted her play. She worked for Nike at the time and rode her bicycle, rain or shine, to the Nike campus where she worked. She rode about six miles a day and then hauled her bike aboard the transit for the rest of the way. She got clipped by a car one day and injured the fingers on her hand. The injury interrupted her violin playing, so I enjoyed knowing that her fingers had improved to the point where she could play again. A few years ago,...

  • Saying grace

    Scott Hunter|Mar 23, 2022

    It’s hard to calculate the costs of misinformation, even of something as simple as child’s false boast of knowing about a threat to a school. Reportedly, something like that caused school to close to students for two days last week, adding to the list of items already causing tensions, long enough even in normal times, which these are not. Kudos to administrators and police for their professionally cool heads sorting it out. And to everyone else, including any parent and student, who these days chooses to back away from an urge to jump immediat...

  • Dear Coulee Medical Center Community,

    Ramona Hicks|Mar 23, 2022

    This is an open letter of thanks to everyone who advocated for, supported, gave a forum for discussion, or assisted us to get the message out, regarding a piece of legislation that would have had a detrimental impact on rural healthcare in Washington State and especially our communities. Because of your willingness to express your concerns about this bill, the Senate listened, and the bill was not enacted. This bill would have had short and long-term devastating effects, and if enacted, would have forced Coulee Medical Center to consider...

  • Levy nixers shortsighted

    Roger S Lucas|Mar 23, 2022

    Taxpayers, if you think education is expensive, try ignorance. Educators here are going to try again to get our levies passed. You wonder what it takes to convince people that educating young people costs money, and too long this district has operated by scraping the bottom of the barrel for its finances. We ask teachers to come to our communities and prepare our youth for their future endeavors. Then we give all kind of excuses why we don’t want to fund the process. The old excuse that “taxes are too high, or I don’t have any kids in school” d...

  • When is enough, enough?

    Rob Coffman|Mar 23, 2022

    In the United States, a law is presumed to be constitutional until proven otherwise in court. This process can take years, and a lot of money, to wade through the legal system and end up at the Supreme Court. As the challenge proceeds, we are still obligated to obey the law. We are a nation of laws. When a politician doesn’t like something, they seek to make a law prohibiting you from possessing or doing whatever it is that they don’t like. Even if it is blatantly unconstitutional. It’s easy to do when one party has complete control as well...

  • Farmers follow the sun, not the clock

    Congressman Dan Newhouse|Mar 23, 2022

    One of the biggest misconceptions about Daylight Saving Time is that farmers pushed for it, because “they needed daylight hours to work in their fields”. Nothing could be further from the truth. The adoption of daylight saving time in the United States through the Calder Act, also known as the Standard Time Act of 1918, was devised to conserve energy during wartime. Even then, the agriculture industry spoke out against it. Here’s why: Shifting the clocks back and forth is hugely disruptive for our farmers and ranchers, not to mention any lives...

  • Patience is an adaptive skill

    Scott Hunter|Mar 16, 2022

    As the pandemic eases, it looks like no end is in sight for the continuing need for us all to remain flexible in our ideas, schedules, plans and expectations, and that’s a good thing. The human skill at adapting has never been more crucial. Last week, a “Grant County Leadership” online meeting of municipal and health officials, chambers of commerce, journalists, and others, which has been meeting biweekly for months, decided to switch from pandemic mode to recovery mode with a sigh of relief. But even at that, it was noted that switching back...

  • Leaps of abstraction

    John M. Adkins|Mar 16, 2022

    A while back a person told me I’m always fighting for the underdog. I liked Underdog as a kid but was more of a Popeye fan. I was hoping the GCDSD high brass would not feed me more spinach. However, more cans were opened with leaps of abstraction by the GCDSD Board. Blaming the failure of both levies on the pandemic and reminding us that elections have consequences is unbelievable. These disastrous results are due to their poor decision making over the last few years. This is a self-inflicted wound that they’re responsible for. Now they want to...

Page Down