Our society has given up on nearly every ounce of COVID preventions we once had. Few people mask indoors anymore. Even fewer think to avoid large gatherings or test for COVID infections before meeting up with vulnerable friends and family.
In this Thanksgiving week of counting blessings and gathering with loved ones, we can’t help thinking about how grateful we are to live and work in such a naturally beautiful part of the world where people — for the most part — still value ideals that bring the community together and work toward a better future for our youth.
The Nation called it.
As anyone who had the misfortune of wading through the disgusting pool of homophobic misinformation being promoted by right-wing politicians and media regarding the in-home attack on Paul Pelosi, the elderly husband of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, knows by now, we cannot afford to keep up the “both sides” narrative when it comes to misinformation.
Cheers to the return of cooler, wetter weather. The sudden shift in weather last week provided some much-needed relief for firefighters battling the Nakia Creek Fire north of Camas-Washougal. The fire, which led to “go now” evacuation notices for thousands of Camas-Washougal households, but did not, thankfully, destroy any homes or take any lives, was 30% contained when the rains returned on Oct. 21, and fire officials said the forecasted rain would ease fire conditions and “offer relief to firefighters and residents alike.”
Two of the most common answers to the question Camas Mayor Steve Hogan posed to potential Camas City Council applicants this week — “What are the top two or three issues facing Camas in the next five years?” — spoke to the city’s looming infrastructure needs and officials’ ability to proactively plan for future growth, especially in the city’s North Shore area.
It has been nearly a decade since Washington citizens voted to legalize recreational cannabis in November 2012.
Washougal middle school teacher Scott Rainey has been leading his eighth-grade Jemtegaard students on a “rite of passage” for 18 years. Students who can afford the trip — which now costs around $4,000 per person — head to the East Coast with their teacher, peers and chaperones during the summer break to take in some of the most iconic pieces of America’s history, including the United States Capitol, White House and Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.; Times Square and Broadway in New York City; and the famed Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
As much as we might love the long days, lake swims, camping trips and backyard barbecues summer brings, the shift from summer to fall has its own magic: cooler weather, the joy of drinking apple cider at a local pumpkin patch and the new school year’s promise of what might be.
We’re a week into August already, so our first Jeers for this July Cheers & Jeers column should probably go to the fact that rainy, dismal months like January and February seem to drag on forever while the sunny days of July and August fly by faster than a reporter typing on deadline.
