Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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OLYMPIA— Proposed legislation focusing on e-cigarettes and other vapor inhalation products would tighten the state’s control over the legal smoking age, labeling and advertising requirements and retailer licensing. House Bill 1645 takes a holistic approach to vapor-product regulation, according to prime sponsor Rep. Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle, who says this is the first comprehensive e-cigarettes bill in the United States. “We are facing a burgeoning public health crisis with e-cigarettes and we need to approach it as a public health issue and p...
I really do hate to use this column for promotional purposes, but I’d like to take this opportunity to put in a plug for an upcoming event. If you’ve read my column for a while, you know that I don’t do this for most “upcoming events.” But the following upcoming event is special. It helps to support local music. And to keep an important piece of American folk culture alive. And to teach adorable little kids how to play banjos twice their size. And to give cranky, rebellious teenagers the ability...
First of all, if I were coach of the Seattle Seahawks, I might very well have called for a pass on second and goal from the one, with 26 seconds left on the clock and only one timeout remaining. An incomplete pass would have stopped the clock, where a failed run would not. If the Hawks had had two timeouts left, they probably would have run the ball on that play. So the lesson to be learned is this: timeouts are precious – like coconuts on a desert island. If you waste them you might die in a...
I got a bit of a bonus on my last case. For a minute, I fantasized about relocating to a part of town where one didn’t have to look both ways before stepping onto the sidewalk, then about hiring an assistant to help out with my workload. Then I realized that what I’d thought were two zeroes was actually the sorriest excuse for an eight I’ve ever laid eyes on. From now on, I’m not accepting doctors as new clients. Perhaps I should’ve hired an archaeologist to figure out whether there’s a...
OLYMPIA - After two days of hearings that drew hundreds to the state capitol, Gov. Jay Inslee’s carbon reduction proposal has the full attention of Washington lawmakers. In an effort to curb climate change while raising money for transportation and education, Inslee is proposing a statewide cap on carbon emissions that would require polluters to buy credits to continue polluting at today’s levels. Carbon prices would start at $12 a ton and would bring in an estimated $1 billion in the program’s first year. The main idea behind cap-a...
1. According to a fan poll by the web site Reddit.com, the Seattle Seahawks are the most hated NFL team in the state of California. We’ll take that as a compliment. (The most hated team in the Pacific Northwest is the San Francisco 49ers.) 9. The Seahawks’ all-time regular season record against the 49ers is 16-15. 8. In high school, Seahawk cornerback Richard Sherman scored 1,400 on his SAT test (that’s very good). He graduated high school with a 4.2 GPA and graduated from Stanford Unive...
“So, Mom,” I said. “Yeah?” “So here we are. We’re strolling down the street in Leavenworth, in America, looking at German buildings. We’re eating gelato, the Italian equivalent of ice cream. I’m carrying the set of Russian dolls that I just bought, plus a hair clip and some candles from an Asian boutique. You’ve got a sack of stuff from a fair-trade shop that carries products from Africa and South America, and you’re thinking about whether to let Chris buy that sword from the Australian impo...
OLYMPIA—Farmers, private businesses and neighboring communities could have more access to water if legislators succeed in requiring state agencies to lease surplus water rights on public land. In prior sessions, some lawmakers have tried to push through legislation allowing local communities to tap into state-held water rights. Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, prime sponsor of House Bill 1000, said his proposal is an effort to have a conversation with the agencies about potential revenue from leasing unused water rights managed by the state D...
In the 23 trading sessions following Dec. 18, 2014, the Chicago March wheat futures contract dropped $1.22 per bushel. The average bid for Pacific Northwest white wheat in Portland also declined by about 90 cents (approximately 73% of the Chicago move). The primary drivers for this move down were simple; a large crop of wheat in the northern hemisphere last fall, and a very powerful upward move in the cost of U.S. Dollars to foreign buyers. A jump from near 89 to more than 95 in the Dollar Index represents as much as a 6.7% increase in the...
The City of Dayton is asking the city’s voters next month to approve a sales tax increase within the city of 0.2%. The funds will be used to help improve the city’s streets and sidewalks. If the February 10 measure is approved by at least 50% of voters, Dayton will set up a new “Transportation Benefit District” (TBD – get it?) which will collect the new funds and can use them only for transportation improvements. So the future of potential projects to improve the city’s ailing streets is...
Inspiration for this column is a bit like wind power. When the wind blows, you get power. When the wind blows too hard, you can’t use all the power. And when the wind isn’t blowing, you’re in a considerable pickle, as there’s no way to save the surplus power from the days the wind blows too hard. On relatively uneventful weeks (like this one), you’re sometimes reduced to blowing really, really hard in the general direction of your metaphorical wind turbines, and possibly enlisting a few frien...
OLYMPIA — Lawmakers are considering legislation to allow university students between ages 18 and 21 to taste alcohol in the classroom. But don’t plan a celebratory high-five unless you’re an aspiring winemaker. “It’s imperative that someone learning to make wine has the requisite palate to recognize the nuances that are inherent in the product that they are making,” said Rep. Larry Springer, D-Kirkland, wine merchant and co-sponsor of House Bill 1004. “This is a product that you don’t just talk about: you smell it and you taste it. It would be...
OLYMPIA - Would your legislator ever consider decriminalizing heroin possession? Or maybe turning the Supreme Court justices’ elections partisan? What about allowing teenagers to taste alcohol? The 2015 legislative session is just getting started, but already some proposed bills are likely to turn a few heads. Sixteen Republicans and three Democrats have sponsored House Bill 1051, which would require Supreme Court justices — but no other judicial officer in the state — to declare a partisan affiliation when running for election. One spons...
Every once in a while some adult in my family will tell a hilarious joke about my being able to pay my way through college. I laugh. They look confused. And I find out that it wasn’t supposed to be a joke in the first place. As far as I can tell, paying one’s own way through college is all but impossible nowadays. Depending on which way you lean politically, this is either the inevitable result of Socialist-style financial aid distribution or a conspiracy of the wealthy establishment to rem...
OLYMPIA--Two years after Washington voters ended pot prohibition lawmakers are wading through a thicket of proposed reforms that aim to stabilize an industry struggling to get off the ground. “Right now I call it the wild, wild west,” Senate Democratic Leader Sharon Nelson, D-Maury Island, said during Thursday’s annual Associated Press Legislative Preview. “We’ve got incongruities in this law that we need to solve.” With seven new cannabis-related bills pre-filed so far come seven new opportunities to shape Washington’s unprecedented...
About four years ago, when I was publisher of the Blue Mountain News, I interviewed State Representative Terry Nealey as he was preparing to start the 2011 legislative session. The economy was in the dumps then, and the state government was facing a reduction of more than $1 billion in tax revenues compared to the year before, along with a huge budget deficit. Here’s what Nealey had to say about that in December 2010: “In 2007 the state had a $2 billion surplus, and the Democrats passed a bun...
It’s been one of those days. After wasting two cups of good pecans on a batch of gritty pralines, I discovered that one of my college applications is missing some components – in other words, that it is still bound and determined to kill me with a stress-induced apoplexy. It’s days like these, remarkably, when I make the most progress on my recreational writing projects. Anyone who has ever had more than two undertakings go sour within forty-five minutes of each other can appreciate the appea...
DAYTON – Republicans are in a stronger position in the Washington state legislature this year, and the state's economy is stronger as well. Those are two factors that State Representative Terry Nealey, Republican from Dayton, will look forward to as he heads to Olympia this month for his sixth legislative session. The 2015 session of the Washington State legislature opens Monday. This year's regular 105-day session will last until early May. The state house and senate must agree on a two-year bu...
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; The children were nestled all snug in their beds; While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore...
I t's almost Christmas, and if any of you are anything like me you'll still be trying to get some last-minute shopping in - in order, of course, to ensure that all of your loved ones get the perfect gift. When it doesn't quite work out like that, however, the results can be faintly amusing. So here's my gift to all of you: A list of the worst gift-giving predicaments I've ever been in. (But I put the entire list in the second person, just to lessen the personal shame I feel.) At the end of a long day of shopping, you find the perfect present...
