Like many others, I read the Herald-Republic’s Nov. 21 editorial (“Redrawing legislative districts is a game of inches”) about the state Redistricting Commission’s failure to agree on new legislative and congressional boundaries on time and what happens next.
As the Republican leaders of the House Rural Development, Agriculture and Natural Resource Committee (RDAN), we are directly involved in addressing legislation related to agricultural production and lands, water rights and storage, forest practices, wildfires and much more. When the pandemic…
‘It’s only a few cents more. Less than a latte a day.” It’s the same thing we’ve heard time and time again supporting tax hikes in Washington.
In the Aug. 22 editorial “Construction ahead: WSDOT’s budget is wearing thin,” WSDOT shared concerns about stretched budgets for state road and bridge funding. As a local elected official, with almost 20 years of experience, I have seen firsthand, “Band-Aid” approaches to highway maintenance…
When I became Yakima County commissioner in 2020, my priority was to defend the businesses, schools and churches of Yakima County from government overreach in the wake of the COVID pandemic. My stance has not changed.
To the editor -- It’s Ironic that Sheriff Udell is asking for a new radio system.
To the editor -- Saturday's letter to the editor encouraging the YHR to grant talented and thoughtful local writers the space to write more syllables every month strikes me as a brilliant idea.
DTG’s landfill shows company’s lack of respect for the community
To the editor -- I’m miffed. I have just been blocked on Facebook by Yakima County Commissioner Amanda McKinney.
To the editor -- Two of your repeat writers to the Letter to the Editor section, Anne Anna and Sue Januscheitis, should be honored for their great efforts.
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Some of the most alarming government actions since the COVID-19 pandemic began have weakened state authority to safeguard public health. At least 26 states have removed traditional powers from local health departments, the institutions tasked with protecting us.
Democrats are making a big bet at the start of this midterm election year that their downturn in popularity with the electorate stems not from being too radical with their agenda, but not radical enough.
You can’t just throw money at a problem and expect it to disappear. But, in a way, that’s what the Biden administration is proposing.
As usual, Democrats are fighting among themselves — this time about what to do with the Senate filibuster.
Former Secretary of State George Shultz once said, “Americans, being a moral people, want their foreign policy to reflect the values we espouse as a nation. But, being a practical people, we also want our foreign policy to be effective.”
You can learn a lot from a holiday yard inflatable. I have several of them for different holidays, and they’ve given me some valuable insights to human relationships.
Last year after a minimal public process, the outgoing Trump Administration finalized a plan to exempt Alaska’s Tongass National Forest from the 2001 National Forest Roadless Rule despite overwhelming public comment in support of the rule and its long-standing protections for fish and wildli…
Like many others, I read the Herald-Republic’s Nov. 21 editorial (“Redrawing legislative districts is a game of inches”) about the state Redistricting Commission’s failure to agree on new legislative and congressional boundaries on time and what happens next.
This week, my kindergartner got her second dose of protection against COVID-19! To me, it feels like a bit of a light at the end of this terrible pandemic tunnel.
To quote Dr. Albert Bartlett: “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is it inability to understand the exponential function.” Read the obituaries in the daily newspapers with regard to the total amount of offspring produced in an individual’s lifetime.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit our communities hard. When cases started appearing in Washington last March, the labor movement mobilized, fighting for workplace safety protections, personal protective equipment and hazard pay for essential workers. In labor, we talk a lot about the union differen…
The ongoing transition in Afghanistan is challenging to our national identity as the superpower of our modern world. Our propensity to call this transition a failure and to find blame in past and present presidents and military leaders is misplaced and shortsighted; our withdrawal from Afgha…
While Gov. Jay Inslee has repeatedly said how important it is for Washingtonians to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 disease, his unilateral vaccine mandates, which many view as a violation of fundamental freedoms, are shifting many of the people we represent from vaccine hesitancy to vac…
Every legislative session in Olympia, there are several highly publicized and controversial bills that become law. But there also are consequential bills that advance through the Legislature and receive the governor’s signature without much news or attention during their journey.
We are a loosely structured group of retired physicians who have lived and practiced in Yakima for three and four decades. We have become increasingly concerned about the state of medical care in our community over the past decade.
Yakima County Superior Court recently declared a mistrial in a homicide case because of juror misconduct. The purpose of this writing is to explain what occurs when a court declares a mistrial and the effect it has on the court, the parties, the witnesses and the Yakima taxpayers.
“I wish my parents understood that being sad doesn’t mean I’m being lazy.”
This month marks the one-year anniversary of the creation of the Washington apples specialty license plates by the Legislature. The first plates became available on July 1.
The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump was a remarkable civics lesson on constitutional issues of free speech. The meaning of the words “fight“ and “fight like hell” were debated at length. It is certainly true that these words are routinely used in political speech and are not, in the…
For nearly three decades, we’ve been grappling with diminishing salmon runs, and these fish are running out of time. Now, thanks to Congressman Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, our hopes for the future soar as we contemplate a proposal that combines salmon recovery with true infrastructure modernizati…
As Yakima residents know, water issues here in the West can be contentious — discussions can quickly become arguments. We’re now seeing something quite different in Yakima County. We’re finding some consensus on water issues, with conversations becoming easier as we start from points of agre…
I do not know how U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse deals with reality, but his statement to the Yakima Herald on Dec. 29 leads me to believe he needs a reality check. Newhouse said, "As our national debt grows, it is more important than ever that we focus on reopening our economy and getting Americans…
If you are a regular reader of the letters to the editor, it should come as no surprise that the most frequently addressed topic is our president, Donald Trump. All other topics were a weak second place until COVID-19 showed up last spring.
A Dec. 16 article in the Yakima Herald-Republic states that I am “repeating unspecified concerns” about the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election. This is simply not true, and frankly I take offense to the allegation that, as a U.S. representative, I would sign my name to a legal docu…
During the first weeks of November, Washington state reported several record-breaking days of new COVID cases — averaging more than 1,500 cases a day. At the same time, we’re hearing encouraging news about vaccine trials and effectiveness.
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