This year’s fire season, in terms of severity and numbers of fires, is a scary and devastating reminder that we live in fire country. The Cascade mountain range and the normal summertime temperature differences between western a... — Updated 9/16/2020

Jim DeTro has been an Okanogan County commissioner for eight years and is running for another four years. This is why you should not vote for him. In 2016, after two of his compatriot county commissioners were defeated, he said... — Updated 10/17/2018

February 23, 2018, the Washington Legislature decided they did not have to abide by the state’s voter-approved Public Records Act, which requires, with subsequent judicial rulings, that state officials disclose their records. T... — Updated 2/28/2018

In 2016, hundreds of citizens spoke out against a possible move of Okanogan County’s juvenile detention facilities to the Spokane area to be managed by a multi-state business. That proposed move would have also meant a loss of 1... — Updated 11/1/2017

More than 60 engaged county residents attended the April 23 Community Outreach Meeting in Okanogan to hear Commissioner Chris Branch speak about Okanogan County. For almost an hour the commissioner spoke about current and future... — Updated 5/3/2017 Full story

County commissioner meetings are public - anyone can observe. Since they are open, the audience should be able to hear and understand the activities of the meeting, and maybe even ask questions. Most organizational meeting... — Updated 10/26/2016 Full story

In the primary, Okanogan County voters demonstrated that they want change from the county commissioners. One incumbent did not get enough votes to run in the general election. The other was in an almost three-way tie with two new... — Updated 8/24/2016 Full story

Over the past three years, the current county commissioners have outsourced jobs to contractors in other counties. I assume they want to reduce the size of government and lower expenditures. But this has very negative outcomes on... — Updated 6/29/2016 Full story

Our Okanogan County commissions are considering a grave injustice to families and the future of our county, thinking that a “potential” budget savings solution is to send our presently troubled children out of sight and out of mind... — Updated 3/9/2016 Full story