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  • The abundance of Thanksgiving masks struggle of farming in America

    Pam Lewison|Nov 26, 2025

    We are a nation that celebrates with food. Birthdays are synonymous with cake and ice cream. Easter is all about eggs and chocolate. Halloween is everyone’s favorite day for candy (or potatoes if you swing by the Washington State Potato Commission Executive Director’s home). But the ultimate in food-related holidays is Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving, Americans will consume about 46 million turkeys, about 77 million hams, about 250 million pounds of potatoes, about 50 million pounds of sweet potatoes, and about 40 million rolls to celebrate the...

  • This Week in History

    Nov 26, 2025

    November 26, 1883, Sojourner Truth, women’s rights advocate, preacher and abolitionist died in Battle Creek, Michigan. She was born into slavery in Ulster, New York. The date of her birth is uncertain, sometime around 1797. Sojourner was bought and sold four times, escaped slavery in 1826 as her “owner” failed to fulfill a promise to free her before the date mandated by New York law. At the Women’s Rights Convention held in Akron, Ohio in 1851, she said. “I have plowed, I have planted and I have gathered into barns. And no man could head me....

  • In response to letter on biased editorial page

    Doctor Galen Schmidt|Nov 19, 2025

    Kudos for the letter to the editor dated October 29th from Kurt Steinke. Thanks, Mr. Steinke, for speaking out! Impartial news is all but extinct and has been for quite some time. It’s all about pointing fingers now and hating the opposing side. These United States have turned their collective backs on God, the Bible, He gave us, and just plain Christian decency for so long, that I’m shocked He has held our Nation together for this long. Recently I heard it said by a reputable source, that of the near 1100 registered voters in Grand Cou...

  • On the patriot and the coward

    Norm Luther|Nov 19, 2025

    My current read is “Patriot”, by Alexei Navalny, who courageously tried to save Russia from Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship before Putin murdered him. That raised my mind’s question: Who is currently our US Patriot playing the same role as Navalny was in Russia? I immediately thought of former US Rep. Liz Cheney and her courageous dedication to saving our democracy from wannabe dictator President Donald Trump. At the other (bottom) end of the courage scale, my recent read was the Aug. 18 Time magazine featuring Republican House Speaker Mike Jo...

  • This week in history

    Nov 19, 2025

    November 21, 1864, a letter from President Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby Dear Madam - I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our...

  • China critical to America's metals supply

    Don C. Brunell|Nov 19, 2025

    During his first year, President Trump has been globetrotting attempting to ink trade deals, repair tattered relationships, and attract manufacturing back to America. However, no mission has been more crucial than his recent trip to South Korea, Japan and China. Behind the bluster of new “reciprocal” tariffs was the simple fact that China is not only a manufacturing, trading and military challenge but it is our primary supplier of strategic metals. Not only is America short of RARE minerals, but metals such as iron, copper and aluminum. Wea...

  • Find a way to work with Village Cinema

    Kristen Heidenthal|Nov 12, 2025

    Dear Mayor Poch and City Clerk Bowden, Please share this email with Council Member Black, Council Member Schmidt, Council Member Adkins, Council Member Hall, and Council Member St. Jeor, since I can’t seem to locate their email addresses on the Town of Coulee Dam website. I understand the challenges our communities face, especially rural towns, when balancing pinched budgets during these difficult times. I have spent the last year participating in these discussions across the state, and I’ve seen how difficult these decisions can be and how...

  • Over a ton of thanks

    Dave Noggles|Nov 12, 2025

    On behalf of all of us at the Grand Coulee Care & Share Food Bank, I just wanted to take the time to give out a BIG THANK YOU to all of the Boy Scouts and their leaders! You are all amazing and appreciated very much for your outstanding work this past Saturday. You brought to us over 2,600 pounds of food! This will really make a difference in helping those in need. Thanks also to all of you that contributed by leaving bags of food on your front porch! We truly live in a wonderful very Blessed community! God Bless all of you! Dave Noggles...

  • Thankful

    John Adkins|Nov 12, 2025

    In appreciation, I wanted to mention someone we lost recently that was a true angel on earth. Judy Kuiper was a one-in-a-million human. She was a simple, humble, wonderful, loving, optimistic individual who was unwavering in her faith. Judy was such an amazing person, woman, wife, mom, grandma and community member. She always saw the best in everyone, was comforting and could put anyone at ease. Judy was a tremendous role model and will be greatly missed. I was fortunate to have known her for decades and she made me a better person. I enjoy...

  • The usefulness of tension

    Kathy Lynott|Nov 12, 2025

    I’m gonna need Democrats to stop cosplaying as conservatives. It’s not funny anymore. It’s not useful anymore (if it ever was). Conservatives play a real and vital role in American society. They’re the ones who hold onto the past, who grip the edges of our traditions and say, “This is who we are. Don’t forget where we came from.” That instinct isn’t always right, but it’s valuable. It keeps us connected to our roots; to the stories, lessons, and boundaries that give us identity. But progressives, often Democrats, are supposed to do the opposite...

  • This Week in History

    Nov 12, 2025

    November 14, 1851, Herman Melville’s classic American novel, Moby-Dick, was first published in the United States. The novel captures Melville’s real-life experiences aboard a whaling ship. Melville was a crew member aboard the whaling ship Acushnet, and departed from New Bedford, Massachusetts on January 3, 1841. Melville was 21 years old when he signed on in December 1840, he never completed the journey with the ship. They sailed around Cape Horn and across the Pacific Ocean. Melville and another crew member deserted in July 1842 when the shi...

  • Fortunate to have The Star

    Bruce Holbert|Nov 5, 2025

    Please renew my subscription to The Star. The editor has won national and local awards; the paper provides important community news and a variety of insightful perspectives that entertain and enlighten its readers. The editor prints editorials from perspectives with which I sometimes disagree and perhaps which the editor himself has reservations over as well. Yet, consistently, his belief in permitting his community to speak through The Star overrules whatever his own political perspectives might be. The community is fortunate to have such an...

  • Not a leftist, woke space

    Dan Langdon|Nov 5, 2025

    Anyone who expects a newspaper’s editorial policy to exactly match their own political ideology, or is triggered by editorial cartoons, would be better off in a dictatorship. The free press should not be a safe space for those who fear their beliefs questioned. The Star’s editorial page regularly features columns by our Republican Congressman Dan Newhouse, and conservative business columnist Don Brunell, as well as local conservatives. It’s hardly a leftist, “woke” space. But apparently, it doesn’t pass some potential readers’ purity test f...

  • TDS relentless in paper

    Ken Noggles|Nov 5, 2025

    Well, well, well. It seems like your relentless pounding of your TDS “Trump Derangement Syndrome” drum has reached the ears of others too? Maybe the “Wayfinders” can find a way to convince me that open borders, illegal immigration, assault on ICE officers, and defunding the police is a good idea? America is 250 years old. Never had a monarchy, never will. Where they get this “no kings” idea? Your left-leaning, liberal rag is republishing garbage of a “cartoon syndicated editor.” No ideas of your own? Maybe so, huh? What’s wrong with the st...

  • SNAP funding fix does not make recipients whole

    Dan Newhouse Congressman 4th District|Nov 5, 2025

    We are now in the sixth week of the federal government shutdown, and Senate Democrats still refuse to vote to reopen the government. The latest victims of what will ultimately be the longest shutdown in history are recipients of benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. On November 1 funding for SNAP expired, meaning that nearly 42 million Americans — and over 900,000 here in Washington state — will not receive their full benefits. In response to a federal court order, the Trump Administration announced it would fun...

  • This Week in History

    Nov 5, 2025

    November 7, 1837, defending the site of his anti-slavery newspaper, the St. Louis Observer, Elijah Parish Lovejoy was killed by a pro-slavery mob. His death strengthened the abolition cause. Lovejoy was born in Albion, Maine, after college, he decided to head to the Midwest. His funds were low, so he walked to St. Louis, Missouri. Over time he became editor and part-owner of the St. Louis Times. In 1832, he went through a religious conversion, sold his interests in the newspaper to attend seminary. By 1834, he was editor of the St. Louis...

  • When traveling, visit the small shops

    Roger S. Lucas|Nov 5, 2025

    I learned on my first trip to Japan to go into the small shops if you want to find interesting things to purchase. I was in Tokyo and my hotel faced one of the large, wide city streets. I got a city map and decided to wander around on my own. Just off the large street was what looked like an alley. It was wide enough for a single car and was full of tiny shops. I started going from one to another and found that the small shops had a few very interesting items. I had heard that you can purchase things and have the merchant send them to you, for...

  • Re: "Opinion page bias prevents subscription" Oct. 22 Star

    Kurt Steinke|Oct 29, 2025

    In response to Arlo Roell’s letter last week about the bias editorial page, yes, and why is the one-sided weakly stupid cartoon always about making fun of Republicans? Then there’s the front-page splash about how this certain person started this embarrassing weekly sign demonstration because she wanted to do something about Trump’s abuse of power and bad decisions. REALLY? Were you asleep during that awful Biden presidency that drove our country into the ground? Republican versus Democrats has always been and always will be nothing but head...

  • Village Cinema resetting operations

    Larry Hernandez|Oct 29, 2025

    Village Cinema is officially resetting its operations as the Village Cinema Performance, Events & Recreation Center, expanding what we do and how we serve our community. This next chapter opens the door for more than just movies. We’re building a creative, flexible space for performances, events, recreation, and community gatherings and all under one roof. This change allows us to bring even more diverse programming to the area while maintaining compliance with our updated public performance licensing. You’ll continue to see free and aff...

  • Predictions now reality

    John M. Adkins|Oct 29, 2025

    I want to remind our GCDSD upper brass that our schools belong to the community. Community members will continue to question dysfunctional, reactive actions that you make. Intimidation, retaliation or vindictiveness will not be tolerated. GCDSD ballot measures should not be supported when the upper brass continues to show zero responsibility with the funds involved. They need to quit boasting they are good stewards. They only have themselves to blame for the on-going crisis the organization is in. Over time, as I’ve shared thoughts, I’ve nev...

  • In support of American cattle ranchers

    Dan Newhouse Congressman 4th District|Oct 29, 2025

    Last week, rumors of a proposal by the Trump Administration to import large quantities of beef from Argentina took the agriculture industry by surprise. The alleged plan suggests the United States will quadruple the amount of beef imported from the South American nation as a means of lowering beef prices for American consumers. While it is no secret beef prices are higher than years past, a decision to import beef from Argentina would be disastrous for American producers. The U.S. is already at a trade imbalance for beef with Argentina. In the...

  • Surviving the Great Depression

    Roger S Lucas|Oct 29, 2025

    I was born at the beginning of the Great Depression and survived it. I often write about how I had a good childhood in Palouse where I was born and went to school. I was the fifth of five in our family, four boys and one girl. My next youngest was my brother Bob, who was nearly five years older than me. They were all born in Minneapolis. Our house had a partial basement, with a dirt floor. My Dad was a carpenter, among other skills, and built racks to hold the canning foods my mother prepared that lasted part way through the winter, such as...

  • Big news for our community

    Larry Hernandez|Oct 22, 2025

    I’m proud to share that the 501(c)(3) paperwork came in and officially established the Village Cinema Foundation, a nonprofit I started to help preserve and improve the historic Village Cinema building in Coulee Dam. The Foundation’s focus is preservation, restoration, and capital improvements as a gift to the Town of Coulee Dam and the surrounding communities. Small towns like ours don’t always have the resources for major projects, so I’m working to bring in grants and outside support at no cost to local taxpayers. My first priority is the...

  • Opinion page bias prevents subscription

    Arlo Roell|Oct 22, 2025

    What is stopping me from subscribing to your paper is your editorial page bias. In my view a bunch of crybabies leftist people who spout false news. This side of the Cascades largely consists of Republicans. Surely the exceptions are the colleges. An editorial page should consist of views from both sides. Arlo Roell Editor’s response: The editorial page is at its best when it presents both viewpoints. When readers send letters in that represent them, they get printed....

  • An open letter to our alleged congressman

    Daniel Wixman|Oct 22, 2025

    Dear congressman Dan: Your paid vacation has lasted long enough. Get your lazy butt back to that other Washington and represent us. Oh, release the Epstein files while you are at it. Daniel Wixman...

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