Whitman County Gazette - Serving Whitman County since 1877

To the average American, China’s control of the world production, processing technology and stockpile of critical metals is not their concern. However, to our military and high-tech leaders, it is a very big deal. Our government has a list...

Like other nations, China is struggling with the deadly Covid-19 virus and suffocating under mountains of trash its residents generate each day. Wuhan hospitals generated six times as much medical waste at the peak of the outbreak as they did before...

Not only is the world in the grasp of the COVID-19 pandemic, but America’s western wildlands are burning up as well. Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters California has a dual crises: the massive wildfire complexes and the ongoing coronavirus...

Sunny summer weather helped restaurant owners and workers recover after they were broadsided by the coronavirus pandemic last March. However, as fall morphs into winter and diners are forced back inside, the big question will be: Are there enough...

If Americans are to receive all of their electricity without coal and natural gas by 2035, they will need nuclear power. Even if Washingtonians, who already procure over 70 percent of their electricity from the hydro, are to be completely devoid of...

Our environmental quality strategy must be encompassing and not just focus on climate change. Since Democrats announced their Green New Deal, the emphasis is reducing greenhouse gases, particularly CO2, which contribute to global warming. Their goal...

On July 4, 1975, America proudly celebrated its Bicentennial as the world’s greatest nation while Poland was a suppressed Soviet satellite state. Poles had no right to free speech, were hungry and impoverished. If you wanted a job, you played ball...

Solar power is getting a lot of attention these days as our country strives to reduce greenhouse gases. Sunny cities like Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Antonio have ramped-up solar power production; however, in cloudy coastal municipalities such as...

Solar power is getting a lot of attention these days as our country strives to reduce greenhouse gases. Sunny cities like Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Antonio have ramped-up solar power production; however, in cloudy coastal municipalities such as...

In recent years, papermakers in Pacific Northwest have been losing ground. However, today there is a ray of hope. Surprisingly, that optimism results from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first days of the pandemic, grocers couldn’t keep toilet paper...

America’s unemployment rate is suddenly approaching historic levels. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began almost two months ago, roughly 30.3 million people have filed for jobless benefits. “That is more people than live in the New York and Chicago...

As we get deeper into the COVID-19 pandemic, we are finding more Americans to thank. Until recently, truckers have been behind the scenes just doing their jobs, but as shoppers learn how groceries and necessities reappeared on shelves, they join the...

If you think the run on toilet paper is just an American thing, think again. On March 10, Business Insider (BI) reported: “The spread of the coronavirus has brought with it panic-buying of food and household essentials, despite the attempts of...

Nobody knows how deep the impact of the coronavirus will be, but one thing that it is destined to test is how effectively people will work from home. Washington is at the point of the spear. Of the 22 U.S. deaths attributed to COVID-19, there are 19...

Last week, we visited the Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona. It is part of our National Parks “bucket list.” The trip was a real eye-opener. The Canyon is spectacular. It is hard to believe over a billion years ago it was flat ground...

The 2020 race for the White House is heating. It’s shaping up to be a referendum on America’s market-based economic system. The central question is government or the private sector going to provide our basic products and services? Last May, a...

While wind farms generate “greenhouse gas free” electricity, there is increasing concern over the rapidly growing number of worn out blades ending up in landfills. Those blades, housed on giant towers reaching over 200-feet in the sky, are...

Keeping hospitals and health workers healthy is key to fighting diseases. With new and more deadly viruses, the job is more challenging. Although the coronavirus has captured the world’s attention, it is important to note the Center for Disease...

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...

A year ago, much of America’s heartland was inundated by Missouri River flood waters. At least 1 million acres of US farmland in nine major grain producing states were under water. More than 14 million people were impacted. Damage exceeded $1 billi...

Employers are looking at additional benefits to help workers who are stressed out over paying rent, transportation and food, and student loans. Even though job numbers and wages have increased, too often there just isn’t enough money to make ends...

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 percent to .5. While that number sounds...

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...

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...

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 US Energy Information Administration (EIA) the transportation sector has...