Serving Franklin County, WA
Serving Franklin County, WA
Sorted by date Results 126 - 144 of 144
Washingtonians now pay nearly $17,000 per student, per year, for K-12 public education, more than tuition at most private schools. That is more than $400,000 for a classroom of 25 students. What are the results? The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction reports most schools fail to meet the standard in teaching math (70% of students failed) and fail to meet the standard in teaching English (52% of students failed.) More than 41,000 Washington students have left public education since the COVID-19 lockdown orders...
It’s not often that we see an athlete at the top of his (her) game walk away from a multi-million dollar payday to go home and fight for his (her) country. However, that is exactly what world heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk did after Russia invaded Ukraine. Usky postponed his championship rematch with Britain’s Anthony Joshua and returned to war-torn Ukraine. He enlisted in the homeland defense force; however, he’s not alone. Fellow boxers Vasiliy Lomachenko and K...
Washington’s Board of Natural Resources is considering banning timber harvesting on state lands. That is extremely unwise. Instead, the Board must insure its healthy forest policies incorporate all management tools including planting, thinning and logging. The board, established in 1957, sets policies to manage Washington’s 5.6 million acres granted by Congress in 1889. More than 3 million acres were designated as trust lands to support various public institutions of whi...
The United States has a unique health care delivery system. Unlike other industrialized countries which all have some form of top-down, government-run system, the structure of medical care in the U.S. has evolved organically over the past 80 years. Half of all Americans receive their health insurance from their employer or their spouse’s employer. Over 40 percent of Americans receive their health insurance from the government through Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare. A...
"Wear masks!" "Social distance!" "Wash hands!" "Do not gather!" "Don't be a danger!" "Quarantine!" "Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate!" "Follow the science!" "Listen; do not speak!" "Stay in your lane!" "No room for rebels!" That was the narrative in the beginning. It was void and without form. But the narrative grew – and quickly. While it still had little form and virtually no substance, somewhere in its early growth, the narrative developed its own self-perpetuating energy su...
When St. Patrick’s Day rolls around March 17, the Irish have lots to celebrate. Ireland is still clean and green. Now, it is spending $15 million to bring visitors back. Irish tourism officials are targeting 35 million people living in the U.S. with Irish heritage. They are key to generating $3 billion in pre-coronavirus yearly revenue. Ireland is an island nation roughly one-third the size of Washington state with 5 million people. It is no longer an agrarian country. T...
As we conclude National School Choice Week 2022, people around Washington state are about to hear a familiar refrain: Public schools need more money. Official reports, however, show that isn’t true. In a world of online misinformation and fact-checking, it’s more important than ever for the public to get an accurate picture. Official figures show public schools in Washington state now receive record levels of funding, even as the system has fewer students. Citations to the...
In an emergency, governors need broad powers to act fast. Legislative bodies inevitably take longer to assemble and act than a single executive, so they temporarily delegate their power to the executive in emergencies. But these powers are supposed to be transferred for a limited period of time. For example, in Wisconsin a state of emergency cannot exceed 60 days unless it is extended by a joint resolution of the legislature, and in Minnesota, a governor must call a special...
The first order of business when Washington state's Legislature convenes in Olympia is replacing the state's new long-term care law. It is fatally flawed. Gov. Jay Inslee and Democrats who control the state legislature wisely postponed implementing the sweeping "Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Program," but it is beyond repair. It is time to find a better alternative. The new law, also known as the Washington Cares Act, is a mandatory, public, state-run long-term care in...
Washington has one of the highest minimum wage levels in the U.S. For workers who have a job this sounds like a great deal, but as with all things the government mandates, there are some serious, negative consequences, primarily on young and entry level workers who are forced into joblessness. Nowhere is the harm imposed by a high minimum wage demonstrated more clearly than in Seattle, where the city council has aggressively increased the minimum wage over the last few years....
Due to the federal government changing the unemployment benefit eligibility rules mid-pandemic, some Washington residents, who have been receiving unemployment benefits, will now have repay the benefits despite being approved to receive benefits initially. The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, launched shortly after the pandemic started, did not fully verify that a benefit claimant was eligible for program benefits. Claimants that applied under the rules of the...
TVW recently held a Q&A event between students and the Gov. Jay Inslee discussing various topics, which included dam breaching, homelessness, climate policy, police reform and vaccine mandates. One question was about the governance structure of the state and whether there should be more statewide elected officials to help improve bipartisanship. The governor replied instead that there should be fewer statewide elected officials to improve accountability. At present, the...
Lowering our flags to half-staff seems to be an all too familiar sight these days. It is a solemn act that recognizes our fallen heroes, whether they be men and women in our armed forces or a Vancouver police officer killed in the line of duty. It is a vivid reminder of the ultimate sacrifice made by those who serve us. Unfortunately, after those flags return to the top of the pole and time passes, we tend to forget that the suffering for the friends and families continues....
A friend of mine, let's call her Mary, began college at the University of Washington in 1967 and graduated with an undergraduate degree in 1971. According to the university's records, she paid $3,160 (in 2020 dollars) for her final year of in-state tuition. Mary's granddaughter, Emma, graduated after four years from the University of Washington in 2020 and paid $10,630 for her final year of in-state tuition. Essentially, school administrators more than tripled tuition at the s...
This will sound funny anywhere outside Olympia, but there is a question that for years has stumped half the Legislature. If an income tax is so good for the people of the state of Washington, why do they say no every time they are asked? Advocates of higher taxes and spending have tried just about everything. Big income taxes, little income taxes, income taxes dedicated to noble purposes and income taxes that are only supposed to hurt millionaires. Yet the people keep voting no — 10 times since 1934. The last time, in 2010, t...
Surprisingly, there is something U.S. Presidents agree upon — America’s economic and national security hinge upon maintaining our technology edge in semiconductors. Those tiny computer chips are the brains of modern electronics. They operate our laptops and smart phones and permeate every sector of our lives from farming and manufacturing to health care and public safety. They are embedded in our military’s most advanced equipment and give us a tactical edge. Semic...
Last week, the Legislature got a terrific piece of news. State tax collections have rebounded despite one of the worst economic situations we’ve ever faced. The latest projection adds $3.3 billion, and we’re right back where we were before COVID-19-related shutdown orders. The strange thing about it was the reaction of our Democratic colleagues. They said they wouldn’t let this good news stand in the way of their effort to impose an income tax on the people of Washi...
Everybody associates March 17 with St. Patrick's Day, that one holiday in which we are all encouraged to wear green. Around the Capitol last week, March 17 brought a different meaning of "green." That morning, the state Economic Revenue and Forecast Council announced the first state-revenue forecast for this year showed a surprisingly large increase of $3.3 billion through the 2021-23 budget cycle and $5.2 billion over the next four years. It is the largest positive quarterly...
To the average American, China’s control of the world production, processing technology and stockpile of critical metals is not their concern. However, to our military and high-tech leaders, it is a very big deal. Our government has a list consisting of 35 metals considered to be vital to our national economy and security. While 17 are classified as “rare earth” and are not commonly known, all are critical components of products such as smart phones, laptop computers, lithi...