Columns

May 16, 2019

Climate change, nukes pose dual threat

This year marks the 49th anniversary of the first Earth Day. This comes 50 years after the Santa Barbara, California, oil spills, which were instrumental in the declaration of the first Earth Day. The fate of our planet remains threatened by two inextricably connected threats, that of climate change and nuclear war. We cannot pretend to be concerned about our environment if we are not simultaneously concerned about the destruction of the planet by nuclear war.

May 9, 2019

Certificated staff deserve recognition

Our Washougal teachers are at the “heart” of this district’s success and we are thankful for their dedication and commitment to our students.

May 9, 2019

Reducing e-waste requires innovation

“One of the biggest challenges of the 21st Century is dealing with the progress of the 20th Century — especially old computers, monitors, cellular phones and televisions. These appliances depend on potentially hazardous materials, such as mercury, to operate. After a five-to-eight year useful life, many are tossed into dumpster and sent to landfills where they can leach into the soil and groundwater.”

May 2, 2019

State must pay its share for elections

Providing for the public’s safety and elections that are accurate, transparent accountable and accessible are two of Clark County’s highest priorities. However, because the Washington State Legislature continues to refuse to pay its fair share of election costs, it is increasingly difficult to properly fund these.

April 11, 2019

Dems lack respect for taxpayers

Republicans and Democrats in Olympia share many of the same priorities. We want to increase the supply of affordable housing, reform our broken mental health system, combat homelessness, make our schools safer and much more.

April 4, 2019

Inconvenient truth about batteries

Each year Americans throw away more than 3 billion batteries constituting 180,000 tons of hazardous material, and the situation is likely to get much worse as the world shifts to electric vehicles.

March 28, 2019

Immigration and the 2020 Dems

To date, Democrats have largely failed to lay out a comprehensive vision of what our immigration policy should be. Some of the announced presidential candidates have, over time, staked out positions on specific issues, such as the status of the Dreamers or the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but they’ve largely left it to President Trump and his allies to set the broader terms of the debate.

March 28, 2019

March Cheers & Jeers

March certainly held true to the “in like a lion, out like a lamb” saying this year. With spring flowers popping up all over town and the recent warm weather, it’s hard to believe we were battling snow and ice just a few weeks ago.

March 21, 2019

Student debt draining retiree income

Lots is written about students exiting college saddled with hefty student loans; however, the impact on retired parents went largely unnoticed.

March 7, 2019

2018 was a ‘challenging year’

2018 was a particularly challenging year for East County Fire and Rescue (ECFR).