News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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How is Seattle’s Lighthouse for the Blind connected to the Export-Import Bank? Very closely. Since 1918, The Lighthouse for the Blind has provided education, training and manufacturing jobs for people with visual and hearing disabilities. Of the 400 people currently employed there, approximately 240 are blind or deaf-blind. In its certified machine shop, the Lighthouse employs more than 70 visual or hearing-impaired machinists whose customer list includes the Federal Defense Logistics Agency, T... Full story
North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple has announced new rules that reduce the vapor pressure in oil tanker cars leaving his state’s booming oil patch. The goal is to reduce the risk of fiery explosions like the one that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec in July 2013. In separate efforts, Congress is beefing up safety standards for oil tank cars and the White House is calling for increased rail inspections and slower speeds for oil trains traveling through populated areas. Meanwhile, the Washington legislature is working to tighten r... Full story
California is in the midst of a fierce water war, a conflict that holds lessons for us in Washington state. In many ways, we are alike. Both of our states’ populations are growing and we have some of the world’s most prolific agriculture regions, which require lots of water. Washington is served by a vast network of storage reservoirs that make up the Columbia River drainage. It stretches from the northern Canadian Rockies to as far south as Wyoming. On the other hand, California, with its 38 million people, has series of reservoirs in the Sie... Full story
When my parents graduated from high school in 1936, a college education was too expensive for the son of a copper miner and the daughter of a plumber. Eighty years ago, our country was in the middle of the Great Depression and teens took odd jobs to help put food on the table and pay the family bills. In those days, no bank would lend money to college students. Following World War II, there was new hope. The GI bill paid for veterans to complete their college or trade school education. My father... Full story
It’s that time of year when we count our blessings. In America, they are abundant, especially this year. For starters, the unemployment rate is down from 7 percent last December to 5.8 percent. Washington state mirrors the national average. Housing starts, retail sales and our gross domestic product are all up from last year, signs of an improving economy. Since consumer spending drives economic growth, low interest rates have helped. Home mortgages and auto loans hover in the 3- to 4-percent range. Contrast that to Russia, where interest rates... Full story
There is a new look to Bavarian tourism these days. In the past, tourists flocked to Munich’s city square like Seattle’s New Year’s revelers at the Space Needle. They came to see the ancient Glockenspiel, a giant cuckoo clock on the city hall tower, and then dash to the nearby famed Hofbrauhaus for beer, brats and Bavarian music. Now the Glockenspiel has some real competition. It is BMW World, a mammoth, ultramodern, high tech new car showroom adjacent to the 1972 Olympic Stadium. It is so large prospective buyers can take a “Beamer” for a test... Full story
It’s often difficult to “connect the dots,” to show people how the global marketplace affects their daily lives. But plunging gasoline prices are giving Americans a first-hand lesson in the law of supply and demand. The law of supply and demand holds that when a commodity is in short supply, the price of that commodity goes up. When the supply of that commodity increases, producers compete for market share by lowering their prices. As a result, consumers benefit. That’s what’s happening with gas prices. The price of gasoline has been dropping... Full story
Remember the rhyme of the Ancient Mariner: “Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink?” Even though water covers 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, less than two percent is fresh water. Therein lies the problem. As the world’s population grows, demand for water is increasing; in periods of drought it becomes a crisis. California has been in the grip of a severe drought this year. As summer ends, we are beginning to see the economic impact, and it is staggering. The University of Californi... Full story
Today, there is a tendency to look with distain at manufacturing facilities, especially those located on working waterfronts. Historically, those factories were sited there because the raw materials and finished products could be transported only by water. But as our state and nation progressed, railroads, highways and even airports were added and industrial areas formed. In fact, our legislature, cities, counties and ports funded the necessary improvements to those areas to specifically... Full story
Later this year, Alan Mulally will leave Ford Motor Company. On July 1, he turns the reins over to 53-year-old Mark Fields, closing a storied career at Ford and Boeing. While he hasn’t divulged his plans, hopefully he will bring his talents to government. Mulally inspires people with his confidence, humility and charisma. His turnaround of Ford has been spectacular. Yes, government is different than the private sector, but anyone who can bring together people with diverse interests and varied b... Full story
Let’s face it. We’re spoiled. Even in our tough economy, most Americans enjoy a myriad of conveniences we take for granted. We awake to a warm house, turn night into day with the flip of a light switch, jump into a hot shower, get dressed and grab a cup of fresh brewed coffee before heading to work in our car or on the bus. On the way home, we stop at the grocery store to pick up a few items from the 40,000 choices offered there. What do all these things have in common? They are made possible by... Full story
The Seattle Times headline said it all: “Obama running out of reasons to reject Keystone XL.” For five years, the Keystone XL pipeline has been mired in studies, red tape and delay. Now, the State Department has released its final report, concluding that the pipeline would have little or no environmental impact. The State Department has jurisdiction because the pipeline would cross the U.S. border, carrying 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Western Canada to Nebraska, where it would con... Full story
The New Year is traditionally a time for reflection and renewal. A shiny new year lies ahead, full of promise. The New Year is a time when people pledge to change their lives: lose weight, stop smoking, be a better parent, work harder, work less. Regardless of your situation, the New Year holds the opportunity for a fresh start. Our nation needs a fresh start. We are now entering the fifth year of the economic "recovery," the slowest on record since the Great Depression. While there have been... Full story
Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler made national news when he quickly rejected President Obama’s call for insurers to extend individual health insurance policies cancelled because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also referred to as Obamacare. While five million insurance policies have been cancelled to date, the Obama administration estimated that as many as 18 million of these policies will be cancelled because of the ACA. Here in Washington state, some 290,000 people h... Full story
In 1992, a single male sockeye salmon managed to swim 900 miles from the mouth of the Columbia River to Redfish Lake in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, the end of his migratory journey. Biologists dubbed the sole survivor, “Lonesome Larry.” By 2010, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council happily reported record-setting runs for sockeye —nearly 387,000 had climbed the fish ladders at Bonneville Dam. The numbers, which fluctuate annually, stand at 186,000 this year. The resurgence of the soc... Full story
A small critter is causing big problems in the South Puget Sound. It’s called the Mazama pocket gopher. Some 100,000 pocket gophers inhabit prairie lands throughout northern California, Oregon and Washington. Our state is the northernmost part of its range, where separate populations are scattered in pockets throughout the area, including Thurston and Pierce counties. Last December, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed to list several subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher in W... Full story
The SeaTac minimum wage initiative is in limbo. The central element of Proposition 1 is a $15-per-hour minimum wage for workers at SeaTac Airport and area hotels, restaurants and car rental agencies. But, it also includes a complex web of employee work rules enforced by the city of SeaTac. On Aug. 26, a King County Superior Court judge ruled that Prop 1 did not have enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Proponents have gathered additional signatures and appealed the judge’s r... Full story
Different strategy, same results There’s an old saying, “There’s more than one way to catch a cat.” It means, if you don’t succeed one way, try again using a different strategy. In this case, the “cat” is the Columbia River — or more precisely, eliminating the dams and commercial use of the river. The activists’ vision of a wild, free-flowing Columbia River has great emotional appeal, but it would have dire consequences for our state. Those dams produce 75 percent of our electricity, maki...
Gov. Jay Inslee was in New York for the world rollout of BMW’s new electric car, the BMW i3, which is partially built in Washington. We are all justifiably proud of our state’s role and see the car as a harbinger of Washington’s economic future. The BMW i3 features parts made from carbon fiber processed at the SGL plant in Moses Lake. Because it is strong and lightweight, carbon fiber is used in the production of jetliners, fighter planes and race cars. Now, it’s making its way into the retail market to produce lighter. more fuel-efficient vehi... Full story
There’s an old saying that oil and water don’t mix. That may be true, but apparently they coexist quite well. Traveling through Sweetwater in west Texas, you see an interesting mix of irrigated farming, cattle ranching, oil production and wind energy. Farmers draw water from wells to irrigate fields and provide drinking water for people and livestock. Scattered across those same fields are traditional oil wells that have been pumping crude since 1921. Less than 10 miles from Sweetwater is the Roscoe Wind Farm — 627 wind turbines standing in ir... Full story
The tributes to former Gov. Booth Gardner, who died March 15 at the age of 76, remind us of a better time. Throughout his political career, Booth was known for his respectful demeanor, good humor and dedication to consensus. That is in stark contrast to today’s reality. Now, partisan rancor is the norm in a high-stakes blood sport where the only goal is political advantage, and people with opposing views are assailed as enemies. This scorched earth mentality has become so pervasive, people a... Full story
In November 1982, our state’s unemployment rate peaked at 12.2 percent, the highest since the Great Depression. Interest on a fixed rate home loan was 13.4 percent, and an 11.5-percent inflation rate burned through our checkbooks. The economy was a mess. The impacts of President Ronald Reagan’s Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 hadn’t fully kicked in yet, and Gov. John Spellman (R) and the Legislature had repeatedly increased taxes and cut programs to balance the state’s budget. It was a bleak t... Full story
When we moved from Montana to Olympia 35 years ago, we saw enticing television and magazine ads for our neighboring states, but none for Washington. Fast forward to 2013 and nothing has changed. It was puzzling then, but even more perplexing today, considering the money and jobs at stake. Tourism in our state is no small potatoes, it is big business. Visitors spent $16.4 billion in 2011 and accounted for 150,000 direct jobs, which is nearly twice Boeing’s workforce in our state. But our state i... Full story
California and Texas are like the two biggest kids on the block going toe-to-toe for bragging rights. Who’s the biggest? Who’s the best? Bravado aside, comparing the business climate in these two states reveals why one state is lagging while the other is thriving. California, once the most attractive business environment in the nation, is today caught in a downward economic spiral while Texas is on the upswing. Between 1960 and 1990, more than four million people moved to California, attracted b... Full story
In “the good old days,” schools emphasized “reading, writing and arithmetic” taught to the tune of the hickory stick. But today, we seem to have created a two-tiered education philosophy. College-bound students are encouraged to learn science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). But STEM skills are not emphasized for students going directly into the job market, the military or to a trade school. That’s a mistake. Part of the problem started with our parents’ generation. For example, my... Full story