The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

After the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) took major heat last week from considering a nationwide ban on gas stoves, the Biden Administration quickly reversed... — Updated 1/25/2023

How about some encouraging news for our state? It even made the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Although Boeing didn’t outsell or make more airplane deliveries than its... — Updated 1/18/2023

Coupled with the rapid growth of data centers we rely upon for internet service and information storage is an increased demand for electricity to power millions of computers and... — Updated 1/11/2023

Looking ahead to 2023, one of the most significant shifts America needs is to return to is an “All of the Above” strategy which expands our energy options rather than further... — Updated 12/28/2022

The Holiday Season is an especially difficult time for anyone grieving lost loved ones. Evergreen wreaths placed on veterans’ graves across America help to ease that pain. More... — Updated 12/21/2022

The $5.4 billion expansion of the Panama Canal is paying off for East Coast and Gulf of Mexico seaports. It is putting pressure on the Pacific Ocean-based terminals to be more... — Updated 12/14/2022 Full story

The good news is, despite higher prices, inflation and safety concerns, more Christmas shoppers are browsing on-line but making in-store purchases. The National Retail Federation... — Updated 11/30/2022

With Russian President Vladimir Putin cutting off natural gas supplies, Northern Europeans are scrambling and reverting to firewood to heat their homes, boil water and cook. It is r... — Updated 10/5/2022

If you want a glimpse of parched river bottoms behind “would be breached” lower Snake River dams, look at recent photos of European rivers and lakes. On parts of picturesque... — Updated 8/17/2022

Implausible as it may seem, gasoline powered vehicles can be part of reducing carbon emissions. They need to be part of the solution and not brushed aside. Take for example,... — Updated 8/10/2022

Surprisingly, recent U.S. Presidents and congressional Democrats and Republicans agree America’s economic and national security hinge upon tiny, yet powerful semiconductors.... — Updated 7/27/2022

Regenerating millions of western forested acres scorched by large wildfires is a herculean task costing hundreds of billions. However, healthy growing woodlands are essential to... — Updated 6/22/2022

Prior to the corona virus outbreak, economies in the industrial world were moving along fairly smoothly — reliable supply chains with “just in time” component arrivals,... — Updated 6/8/2022

Thinning public woodlands to remove millions of dead trees is a way to generate much needed cash to reduce wildfire risks, improve forest health, and protect rural homeowners and... — Updated 5/11/2022

Wood buildings are making a comeback in the Pacific Northwest thanks to new laminated timber products. Even very large buildings are now constructed with laminated beams and are... — Updated 5/4/2022

Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair was awe-inspiring. It previewed developments that would improve our daily lives in the next millennium. While “Century 21” memories have faded, t... — Updated 4/27/2022

The news that President Biden plans to resume leasing of federal land for oil exploration maybe good five years from now, but that action alone won’t bring down record gas prices... — Updated 4/20/2022

With COVID-19 vaccines widely dispensed and masking requirements mostly lifted, will “work from home” end? Will workers return to downtown offices at pre-pandemic levels? Probab... — Updated 4/6/2022

Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota was never a darling of conservatives; however, in his later years he shocked fellow Democrats by his outspoken backing for streamlining governme... — Updated 10/20/2021

Unfortunately, what happens in Taiwan doesn’t just stay in Taiwan, it impacts us. So, when President Xi Jinping announced China’s plan to step up “unification” efforts, it g... — Updated 10/13/2021

In our zest to quickly switch from gas-powered to battery-operated vehicles and to convert our power grid to wind- and solar-generated electricity, the impacts of CO2 released from... — Updated 6/16/2021

What happens in China doesn’t always stay in China. We learned that a couple of years ago when the Chinese stopped buying massive volumes of the world’s used paper, plastics and... — Updated 9/23/2020

Replanting the millions of acres scorched by wildfires in our western woodlands will be herculean task priced in the hundreds of billions. Thankfully, many businesses, such as Bank... — Updated 9/16/2020

Not only is the world in the grasp of the COVID-19 pandemic, but America’s western wildlands are burning up as well. Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters California has a dual... — Updated 9/9/2020

Sunny summer weather helped restaurant owners and workers recover after they were broadsided by the coronavirus pandemic last March. However, as fall morphs into winter and diners a... — Updated 8/26/2020