News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 157
July 11, 1804, personal enemies and political antagonists, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton met to settle their long-standing differences with dual. This extreme event reflected the hostility provoked by the developments of the nation’s political party system. As the two faced off, their pistols fired in close succession. Burr’s shot struck its target. Fatally wounded Hamilton, who died the following day. Both men were political leaders in New York. Burr, a prominent Republican. Hamilton was...
They are inescapable, these words. They are present everywhere, down the street, and all the way to Washington, D.C. They have become prominent in our society and its politics over the past decades; truly the agony of our nation. Ignorance, intolerance, indifference, irresponsible, ineptitude and ineffectual. Let me share the definition of each of these words according to The American Heritage Dictionary. Ig.no.rance -- The condition of being uneducated, unaware or uninformed. In.tol.er.ance --...
June 24, 1912, The Bull Moose Party is formed. President Theodore Roosevelt asked his supporters to leave the floor of the Republican National Convention in Chicago. Republican progressives reconvened in Chicago’s Orchestra Hall and endorsed the formation of a National Progressive Party. Roosevelt’s support of government regulation, his groundbreaking efforts in conservation and consumer protection, and his willingness to work with organized labor alienated pro-business Republican Party mem...
This Saturday, June 14, is Flag Day here in the United States. The day commemorates the date in 1777 when the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution stating, “the flag of the Unites States shall be 13 stripes, alternating red and white, the union be 13 stars, white on blue field, representing a new constellation.” That union of 13 stars has grown to 50, a union of states. Bernard Cigrand, a teacher in Wisconsin in 1885, originated the idea for an annual flag day to be celebrated acr...
June 8, 1861, Citizens of Tennessee voted in favor of secession from the United States. In the Eastern mountainous part if the state, voters opposed secession by a large margin. There were few slave owners in that region. Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s Vice President in his second term as president, was from Eastern Tennessee. Tennessee was a border state between the southern and northern states. Some Tennesseeians fought with the Confederate Army, while others fought with the Union Army. Notable C...
On Sunday, May 30, 1937, Chicago striking Republic Steel Mill workers, family members and their allies attempted to set up a picket line in an open field in front of the steel mill. Tensions were high between labor and capitalists stemming from the economic depression, Chicago Police, alerted to what was planned by the mill management, were also armed with weapons and teargas provided by Republic Steel. It turned violent ending with over one hundred strikers injured, many men were shot and ten...
President Trump made a recent four-day trip to a few countries in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Several deals were made. Boeing scored some big sales, there were billions of dollars in U.S.-made weapons sales, and some deals regarding oil. While in Qatar, the president was gifted a Boeing 747-8 by the royal family. The aircraft has been for sale by the royal family for five years. It was registered as A7-HBJ. Today, it appears to be registered as PH-HBJ. It was...
President Trump stated Sunday, May 4 that he is directing, “…the Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.” Alcatraz Island is not an unknown place to me. When I was just starting my career with the National Park Service back in the early 1970s, I was part of the first crew of park ranger tour guides assigned to Alcatraz Island. I’ve been back a ha...
President Trump stated Sunday, May 4 that he is directing, “…the Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.” Alcatraz Island is not an unknown place to me. When I was just starting my career with the National Park Service back in the early 1970s, I was part of the first crew of park ranger tour guides assigned to Alcatraz Island. I’ve been back a ha...
We all want to believe that a newly elected federal administration begins by working on the really critical stuff from their campaign. We are less than four months into the current administration. Evidently, there was a war on showers and water pressure, and it is high priority for the Trump Administration. On April 9th President Trump signed an executive order that will end the war on water pressure and create great showers. The executive order “…will end the Obama-Biden war on water pressure a...
Politicians like buzz-words and phrases designed to distract, mock or deflect. The word woke is used today for that purpose. Here’s an example of woke obnoxiously used. In this case, it’s Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “We fight the woke in the legislature. We fight the woke in the schools. We fight the woke in the corporations. We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die.” Where did the word woke come from? It was appropriated from African America culture...
Our nation offers places for us to observer, read about and digest information on a wide collection of topics and people. The places that offer this are our museums and libraries. As a nation, we are keenly aware those places of knowledge are a hallmark, indeed a symbol of free societies. Is our nation willing to continue its support of its museums and libraries? The United States, has tens of thousands of museums, right up to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. The same applies to the nation’s l...
January 25, 1865, Company E, 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry troops were assigned to drive a herd of cattle from Camp Nelson to Louisville to supply the city with meat. While passing near Simpsonville, men at the rear of the herd were attacked by Confederate guerrillas. In the aftermath of the ambush, approximately 22 men were dead and another 20 wounded. Their antiquated weapons, 1853 Enfield rifles, were ineffective against the ambush. The Louisville Journal reported -- “The ground was stained w...
Once again, an old trope resurfaces. This time around, the rumor that pet cats and dogs are being kidnapped and eaten by immigrants. Race baiting has some deep roots in our nation. The consequences cause fear, repulsion or outright hatred of a specific group of people. Decades ago, this story appeared in Minneapolis-St. Paul. “…that immigrants from Southeast Asia eat cats and dogs circulated recently in Minneapolis-St. Paul.” Reporters sought comment from the Humane Society. “We got letters...
Are we failing to teach students about the nation’s history, it’s Constitution and civics? Are graduating students truly prepared as citizens, fully understanding how our federal democratic republic form of government operates? The University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center annually conducts a survey of public knowledge of our nation’s Constitution. The 2023 results of the annual Constitution Day survey are out. The title of the survey: “Many Don’t know Key Facts about the U...
August 11, 1934, 137 prisoners arrived at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. They were the first prisoners to arrive and be housed in the new Federal Penitentiary. The majority were transferred from Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas. Prisoners continued to arrive; they were the incorrigibles. Among their ranks were notorious bank robbers, gangsters, murderers and counterfeiters. By the first anniversary of “The Rock” being opened, it had a population of 242 prisoners. Frank Weatherman was the last prisoner to leave the Federal Pen...
August 3, 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt visited the Grand Coulee Dam project. A massive project to ease joblessness during the Great Depression. Advocates for the construction of the dam lobbied for federal support for years. Roosevelt’s predecessor, Herbert Hoover, an engineer, had rejected plans to construct the Grand Coulee Dam and the related Columbia Basin Irrigation project. Hoover said it was too expensive, and there would be no market for power produced by the dam. He also felt t...
Watching the evening television news is something I typically don’t do. There are a few reasons why. There is the widespread TV news edict, “If it burns or bleeds, it leads.” Next, there is the never-ending prescription drug advertising that is most prevalent on the national networks. Let me share an interesting fact — of the 195 nations on Earth, only two permit prescription drug advertising directed at potential consumers. It’s called direct-to-consumer advertising, or DTC. Who are those two...
We view voting as an acknowledged right here in the United States. In Washington state, we receive our ballot in the mail, we do our personal research, make our choices, and mail in our completed ballot. Currently, eight states allow mail in ballots for all elections, while two states allow counties to opt into conducting elections by mail. Nine states allow specific small elections to be conducted by mail, and four states permit all-mail elections for certain small jurisdictions. The remaining...
Developing exciting, supplemental courses that young learners will become motivated about can be challenging. Some schools have proven that it can be done. I don’t recall any supplemental classes when I attended elementary school. Of course, those days are deep in the recesses of my mind, nearly lost to memory. A friend sent me a news item about a school program that peaked my attention. It was about a supplemental course in weather. Sierra House Elementary School is located in South Lake T...
Back on Jan. 11, Peter Funt's column appeared in The Star newspaper, titled, "Cry me an atmospheric river." The author wrote about some of the terms used in weather forecasting, and how news media have sprinkled melodramatic dust on these terms, causing some to react like the person in the painting, "The Scream," by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. Let's take a leisurely swim into the waters of the phrase "atmospheric river." It is real, and is recognized by meteorologists. Yet, it shouldn't...
As we begin a new year, I thought it relevant to consider our home planet — Earth. Maybe, like you, when I view images being obtained by the James Webb Space Telescope it validates a personal observation: Earth is inconsequential in the totality of Space. Our limited scientific knowledge offers a hypothesis; there could be other planets in other universes that can support life forms. Humans have visited the Moon, and they will again. Now, there are proposals to visit Mars. Both require life support systems so one can simply survive in those h...
Looking over weather data from my personal weather station of the past five winters, December, January and February, were interesting, though no trends are revealed. A half decade of data does not create a trend. It's just not enough data to crunch and draw some conclusions. I mention this because it's arbitrary to make a statement about climate solely based on short-term weather observations. I've included a chart with data for low temperature and snowfall for the past five years. As you can...
There have been a few letters to the editor of The Star newspaper regarding the unofficial “announcement” of Dollar General Corporation being interested in establishing a store in Grand Coulee. I say unofficial because the origin of this statement was made by a non-employee of Dollar General Corporation. The corporation, which headquartered in Tennessee and was founded in 1939, currently operates over 18,000 stores in 47 states. Committing a bit of time, I searched the internet for bac...
Join me on a deep dive into the limited use of Tactical Nuclear Weapons. You ask, why this subject, it’s just unthinkable! Unthinkable yes, though it is plausible. The questions I wanted answered are: What effects these weapons may have on both short-term weather and long-term climate. Tactical nuclear weapons are generally characterized by “their size, their range, or their use for limited military targets.” For nine months, a war has been ongoing in Eastern Europe. Lately, the leader of the a...