News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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When Congress convenes next year, lawmakers must focus on the cost and quality of health care. In November, voters made it clear health care was on top of their minds. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a third of voters said it was the “most important” issue. It ranked higher than the economy and jobs. What is driving Americans is their fear of losing health insurance, their home, and savings to battle cancer or other life-threatening conditions. According to the Washington Post, our...
While both sides argue over the merits of Seattle’s escalating minimum wage, there are other issues, such as the total cost per worker, which enter into hiring equations. When employers look to add or retain workers, they must not only consider wages, but the added required benefits which they must pay for each individual they employ. They must keep costs on par with their competitors, because employees are a big part of their operating costs. According to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (...
In the 1960s, there was a popular movie called “The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming.” The plot was that a Soviet naval commander runs his sub aground off a Massachusetts coastal island and sends two English-speaking crewmen ashore to procure a boat with enough power to pull them free. The Russian sailors didn’t exactly blend in and chaos ensued. That was fiction, but today American farmers face the hard facts that the Russians are invading our wheat markets worldwide. Many of us re...
When one approaches the Tri-Cities, it is impossible to ignore Lampson International’s monstrous cranes in its Pasco assembly yard. Those gantries stand out like the Space Needle in Seattle and reach over 560 feet into the sky. Like the Space Needle, Lampson is built on a solid footing. Last month, Construction Review Online (CRO) ranked Lampson as the world’s third-largest crane company. “Lampson International has been a world leader in the Heavy Lift and Transport industry for over 65 years. Initially started as a small drayage company, they...
With today’s tension and rancor, we need a dose of Yogi Berra’s wit and wisdom to put things into perspective. Let’s start with “You can observe a lot by just watching,” because seeing what is happening now is very disconcerting. We need less sarcasm and to alleviate the vilification of one another that we constantly witness in the news and on social media. To quote Yogi: “It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.” Yogi’s humorous way of sizing up a sit...
Last April, Washington wheat, apple and cherry growers hoped U.S. and China trade negotiators would resolve differences and prevent imposition of damaging tariffs on our state’s leading crops. Unfortunately, that did not happen and the costs are adding up. Thousands of Washington farmers now find themselves on the front lines of a battle between the two largest economies in the world. Here’s what has happened so far. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump imposed a 25-percent tariff on $34...
While most of our attention in the Pacific Northwest these days is on trade wars, tariffs and wildfires, there are critical talks underway between the U.S. and Canada over future allocations of the Columbia River system’s water. The two countries are renegotiating the Columbia River Treaty, which went into effect in 1964. It is a 50-year agreement under which both nations can redo, providing there is a 10-year advanced warning. That occurred, and negotiators are now busy meeting. A new a...
Last month, General Electric lost its place among our nation’s top 30 performing corporations. It was the last member of the original companies which composed the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Since 1896, American investors have looked to the Dow to judge how the top performing companies’ stocks are trading each session. The Dow favors companies with excellent reputations for sustained growth and which have broad investor interest. GE, once the world’s most valuable company, was replaced by Wa...
The Jetsons television series about a space-age family featuring “Rosey the Robot” gave us a preview of life with robots, kiosks and interactive television. In 1962, it was a fictitious cartoon; however, in 2018, many of the Jetsons’ conveniences are a reality. Take fast-food restaurants, for example. Faced with a growing shortage of workers and increased costs, some are turning to robots to flip hamburgers and clean grills — mundane, unpleasant and hard-to-fill jobs. Wendy’s installed self-clea...
Here’s a switch! Rather than closing another pulp and paper mill, a new one is under construction right here in Washington. Columbia Pulp’s plant on the Snake River will use a new technology that pulls cellulose out of the abundant straw left over from wheat and alfalfa harvests. The $184 million plant near Dayton is scheduled to open later this year. Traditionally, pulp comes from wood either grown specifically for paper making or as byproducts from sawmills. When fully operational, it wil...
Over the last 35 years our family has vacationed at the same place on the beach. While the buildings have been refurbished, the complex remains largely unchanged. However, our entertainment has changed a lot. We still swim, jump the waves and build sand castles, but our board games, puzzles and playing cards have been replaced with kids’ electronic tablets, smart phones and movies downloaded from the internet. We still take lots of pictures, but rather than taking them to film processing centers, we use cellphone cameras to instantly text a... Full story
In the presidential campaign leading up to the November elections, hopefully we will hear about ways to “Make America Great Again!” One of the most effective strategies is to entice U.S. companies with foreign factories to relocate back home. Another is to encourage those who remained in America to reinvest here. Discussions about bolstering domestic production of goods and services did not start this year. They are largely rooted in our nation’s anemic job creation over the last decade. A “Reshoring Institute” launched in 2014 at the Unive... Full story
Today, more millennials are moving back home, even though the economy is improving and wages are inching upward. Recently, Pew Research Center revealed that a third of young adults today are more likely to live with their parents than they were before the Great Recession. Unemployment among young adults has been dropping since 2010, as has the number of millennials living independently. In 2007, prior to the recession, about 42.7 million individuals in that age group lived on their own. In the years in between, the population of 18- to... Full story
The good news this Memorial Day weekend is more than 38 million Americans are expected to travel, making the unofficial kickoff to summer this year the second busiest on record. AAA reports nearly 34 million people across the nation will be driving, which is up by 2.1 percent over last year. Air travel is expected to increase as well, with 2.6 million Americans taking to the skies. AAA finds stable or lower costs for airfares, rental cars and hotels. Compared with 2015, gas prices average up to 50 cents a gallon lower. So what’s the bad n... Full story
Kirk Adams has earned the reputation as a visionary leader who gets things done for people with disabilities. Those qualities, coupled with hard work and determination, rewarded him with the nation’s top job advocating for the blind. In May, Adams, who grew up in Snohomish, becomes only the sixth American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) president since the non-profit was formed in 1921. It is the organization where the legendary Helen Keller’s archives reside. Carl R. Augusto, retiring AFB pre... Full story
Even though President Barack Obama has less than a year remaining in office, his administration is cranking out new government regulations at a record pace. The rush reflects the President’s plan to use his final months to cement his domestic-policy legacy. Unfortunately, that process circumvents Congress, which is constitutionally charged with writing our laws. The new rules are sweeping and cut across labor, health, finance and the environment. They range from setting overtime pay for white-collar workers to more obscure matters, such as r... Full story
Boeing’s new cost-reduction plan has deep ramifications for Washington because the bulk of the 4,500 job cuts are likely to land here. CEO Dennis Muilenburg asked investors to view the savings initiative as “playing offense in a competitive marketplace” even though Boeing has a $431 billion backlog of 5,800 aircraft orders. Translated, Muilenburg means the aerospace giant needs to find ways to lower the price tag of its airplanes. Boeing leaders worry because Airbus’ A320 scooped up 63% of the... Full story
When Boeing rolled out its first 737 MAX last month, there was little fanfare. Nevertheless, its importance to the company’s future and our state can’t be overstated. The good news is Boeing delivered more airplanes last year than Airbus, and it has a backlog of 5,800 orders. However, a yellow flag goes up when it comes to the 737 MAX. It is behind the Airbus A320neo in development and sales. According to the Seattle Times, “Not counting Airbus sales in December — those figures are still to come — the European jet maker’s A320neo in 2015 had... Full story
On Dec. 12, Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke patiently waited two hours in line with 70,000 volunteers at Arlington National Cemetery to collect wreaths and secure them to headstones. Thousands of others across our nation joined those at Arlington honoring soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who died while serving America. In all, nearly one million wreaths were laid this year. Wreaths Across America is a privately funded charity that accepts no government money. As part of the project, truckers volunteer to haul the wreaths, and veterans and... Full story
Today, many elected officials are fixated on tearing down coal-fired power plants and replacing them with solar and wind farms. But that isn’t practical, because when there is no wind or sunlight, those plants produce no electricity. There is an alternative. Nuclear power plants supply 10 percent of the world’s electricity. But opponents say they are too dangerous and too expensive. They point to the 1986 meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union, considered to be the world’s worst nuclear disaster. But 30 years later... Full story
Maybe there is finally something Democrats and Republicans can agree on — fixing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare. From the day it was signed into law in 2010, Republicans have tried unsuccessfully to repeal Obamacare, saying it is unworkable and unaffordable. Until this year, Democrats have held the line for the President. But not now. After the President leaves office, change will come. The first is repeal of the so-called Cadillac Tax, the 40 percent excise tax on generous health care plans, which is scheduled to b... Full story
Tesla is the premium entry in the electric car market, with a starting price of $75,000. According to the Wall Street Journal, the high-end “Signature” model costs $132,000, slightly more than the base price for Porsche’s AG’s 911 GT3. Even with a $7,500 federal tax credit, an assortment of state tax credits, and $10,000 in fuel saving over five years, the driver’s investment is over $110,000 – far beyond the reach of the average family. However, Tesla’s luxury styling and impressive performance give high-end buyers the best of both worlds ... Full story
In China, the government has launched an “eat more potatoes” campaign – and Washington state could benefit as a result. China’s potato push is, in part, an environmental effort to provide more clean drinking water for its exploding urban population and offset its polluted water from factories and inadequate sewer treatment. Home to more than 1.3 billion people, China has, until recently, enjoyed a decades-long economic boom that raised more than 600 million people out of poverty, according to World Bank statistics. Urbanization is expecte... Full story
Imagine rolling into Olympia in your travel trailer each year for the start of the legislative session knowing your district has the highest unemployment in the state and the lowest average annual wage. Folks in your sprawling rural 7th District earn between $15,000 and $20,000 less than the state average wage. Stevens, Pend Oreille, Ferry and Okanogan counties are rich in minerals and have abundant forests and natural public grazing lands, but over the years mining, logging and lumber mill jobs dried up, in large part due to government... Full story
Yakima Valley farmers have the same problem as their California counterparts: there just isn’t enough water for crops, migrating fish and people. In California this year, an estimated 564,000 acres of prime cropland will be left unplanted because of the fourth straight year of drought. Economists at the University of California, Davis estimate the drought has caused $2.7 billion in economic losses and cost 18,000 farm workers their jobs. The water shortage is so acute in California that Gov. Jerry Brown ordered a 25 percent reduction, which has... Full story