Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 4111
It’s not a private hospital. Apparently, Whitman Hospital and Medical Clinics employees and commissioners need to be reminded that they work for the taxpayers. But, from the way the Whitman County Public Hospital District No. 3 Commission meeting was conducted March 20, it appears they’ve gotten too big for their britches. From our perspective, the leadership at the hospital may have violated several provisions of the state Open Public Meetings Act at last week’s meeting. Let’s start with th...
There is a vast misunderstanding regarding the purpose and application of “separation of church and state.” The moment a politician mentions their Christian beliefs, such as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, outrage ensues. Johnson was called a “religious fanatic” and “Christian nationalist” and deemed unfit for office by the radical Left, all due to his Christianity and a violation of “separation of church and state.” The Left was baffled why he would “bring Jesus to work with him” and not leave his Christianity at the door. This is nothi...
Most likely, very few Washington state residents have ever seen a starving child. While living in three African countries for 17 years, I saw a few children with kwashiorkor (a protein deficiency evidenced by extended stomachs and sparse reddish hair), but only once at the JFK Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, did I see a child on the brink of starvation. Believe me, it was traumatic. I wanted the medical personnel to hurry, do something, rush right away to treat this emergency. Today, we learn of countless children starving in Gaza and Sudan....
Close your eyes for a moment and allow your mind to envision Palouse Falls, one of the most scenic locations in our region. Now, alter this vision to include the construction of several 500-700-foot high wind generators, each located on private land, but placed adjacent to, and on opposite sides of the Palouse River as it cascades over the falls. For those of us living in Pullman, we might similarly envision one such generator placed conspicuously atop the Physical Sciences Building on the Washington State University campus. Now apply those sam...
Pullman might be significantly improved it turned into a golf cart community, where electric-powered golf carts would be allowed on all city streets. By having a maximum speed limit of 15 mph and speed bumps on all streets, Pullman would be a community where golf carts could safely mix with larger vehicles on the same roadways. Residents could set up solar battery charging stations for thier carts without having to use the 60-cycle, 110-volte electricity available from Avista. A community using a substantial amount of power from independent...
I am writing to those that have signed up for this travesty of windmills in our beautiful Palouse area. I implore you to think this through. Do you care about your future generations? Do you care about the destruction of wildlife? Do you care that your neighbors property will be devalued greatly? Would you like your property to be devalued which it will be? Out-of-area corporations are looking to make big money in our area. You won’t. Do you care about prime farmland being taken out of production forever? Do you think these companies will c...
The legislative session is over, and it had the potential to be very positive for salmon recovery. There was bipartisan support for habitat restoration. Legislators also had a huge amount of money to allocate because the tax on CO2 emissions generated far more money than anticipated. Despite that, the Legislature failed to make significant progress on salmon. It is one more wasted opportunity to protect an iconic state species. The most glaring example of the failure is in the supplemental...
Don’t you fact-check opinion columns? After reading State Sen. Shelley Short’s bizarre, March 8 pack of lies about Washington House Bill 1589, I see that truth is optional at Free Press Publishing. This bill simply removes Puget Sound Energy’s obligation to hook up gas lines to new construction. It does not, as Short says, “force 900,000 Puget Sound Energy natural gas customers in Western Washington to junk their gas furnaces, water heaters and stoves.” Nor does it make owners of old homes replace wiring, or force restaurants to refit old...
Among Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers’s negative legacies she leaves, her most impactful may be on immigration. However, she still has time to improve that. Donald Trump cares nothing about our country, just his election. Accordingly, he recently ordered all Republicans to scuttle the bipartisan, long-negotiated Senate deal supporting Ukraine and limiting immigration that would be a victory for President Joe Biden. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, an election-denier, obeyed Trump by withholding a full House vote despite enough b...
In the latest sign of declining public confidence in the education system, voters in February turned down two-thirds of proposed local school bond measures, rejecting 14 out of 21 proposals. The failed bonds range from $34 million in the Hood Canal School District to $242 million in the North Kitsap School District. School construction bonds impose long term debt on homeowners for 25 to 30 years. The bonds are structures as public debt, so brokers add millions of dollars in interest and fees to...
The 2024 legislative session is now in the history books. After 60 days, in which 201 House bills and 180 Senate bills passed the Legislature, we can report a mix of great successes and disappointments. We fought hard for public hearings on all six citizens' initiatives to the Legislature. Closer to the end of the session, Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate reluctantly agreed to hear three of the measures but sent the other three initiatives to the November ballot. Public hearings...
Eleven years ago, when we started debating the climate agenda in Olympia, I sat on a study committee we called the Climate Legislative Executive Workgroup and asked an unpopular question: How much good will these policies do and how much will they cost? How dare I ask a question like that? The fate of Mother Earth was at stake. No expense was too great. Today, we are starting to get an idea of the cost. How would you like to pay $20,000? How about $50,000 or more? This is how much individual...
Dear Whitman County families, This has been a challenging few weeks for our community, our hospital and our practice. In light of the recent turmoil and announcement of closure of the Whitman Hospital Family Birth Unit, we felt that you should hear from us directly. You have trusted us to care for you, to protect you and to help bring your children into the world, and we want you to know that we are dedicated to continue to do so. For a number of reasons, many of which have been presented untruthfully or incompletely, the decision was made to...
As climate change concerns grow, researchers are turning to family tree farmers for assistance. They have been helping for a century, but their efforts have gone unrecognized. The American Tree Farm program has emphasized sustainability and managing lands for water quality, wildlife, wood, and recreation. In recent years, it has included climate change. According to the American Forest Foundation, families and individuals collectively care for the largest portion of forests in the U.S., more...
Public records must remain open and accessible A special report urges the mobilization of civic leaders, organizations, businesses and all residents to work together to save the state’s Public Records Act. The report is available online for viewing and downloading at washcog.org. State lawmakers and the courts continue to whittle away at the landmark public records law, which was adopted overwhelmingly with a citizens’ initiative in 1972. Since then, state legislators have passed more than 650 exceptions and have tried repeatedly to exempt them...
House Bill 2114 (HB 2114), otherwise known as rent control, that passed the Washington State House of Representatives February 13 on a party line vote, appears to have died in the Senate and failed to pass out of committee. HB 2114 would have limited rent and fee increases to 7% and would have increased the notification period to 180 days for increases over 3%. The tenant would have been able to terminate a lease within 20 days and if the increase is over 7%, the tenant would have received damag...
It is with a mix of encouragement and disappointment that the Senate majority leader says four of the six citizen initiatives to the Legislature “might” have public hearings scheduled before the end of the 2024 session. But don’t hold your breath. We are now nearly two-thirds into a 60-day session, with only a handful of committee meetings remaining before adjournment March 8. Despite repeated efforts by Republicans asking for majority Democrats to hold hearings on the initiatives, we’ve...
Let’s take a few words that should be on the minds of all Eastern Washingtonians concerned over efforts to breach Snake River dams — agreement, restoration and sovereign, to name a few. Last Thursday in the White House, President Joe Biden signed onto the “Commitments in Support of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative and in Partnership with the Six Sovereigns” agreement. The so-called “sovereigns” refers to the states of Washington and Oregon, and four tribes — the Yakama in Washington, W...
While driving down the road to I-90 from Cheney, I saw F-135 refueling planes circling around Fairchild Airforce Base. It occurred to me that there are many military airplanes waiting to be deployed. These airplanes could be used to avoid further starvation and death in Gaza by airlifting food, water and medicine in this war-torn region. And, to help Americans to honor our value for human life, we could send hospital ships like Mercy Corp, to the Mediterranean Sea to treat injured women and children, and of course men. Involving the military...
President Joe Biden’s accomplishments have been remarkable, especially considering the cult-like devotion to Donald Trump of most congressional Republicans, including Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Trump opposes everything Biden proposes, completely disregarding our country’s welfare, caring only about his election. A prime example is Trump’s recent edict that all Republicans scuttle the bipartisan, long-negotiated Senate deal that supported Ukraine and limited immigration. House Speaker Mike Johnson had already complied by withholding a full House...
Like approximately 200 million other folks, I watched the Super Bowl ad “Jesus gets us”. Like most things on TV, it wasn’t showing the complete truth. “Jesus gets us” is true. But, He doesn’t wash our feet and leave us in our sin. The point of “the washing of feet” is the continual cleaning FROM sin—not the acceptance of it. Jesus doesn’t endorse, accommodate, coddle, nor tolerate sin. He loves us sinners enough to transform us out of our sin. He doesn’t wash our feet so we can continue to walk in it. And, He has paid the bloody price to break...
