Guest Opinion

By Chris Cargill

On behalf of the Salvation Army Spokane, I want to thank the businesses and residents of this region for the wonderful support we received during the holiday season.

Sorry Shawn Vestal, gun owners do read and understand the law and are not "ho-hum."

By George Critchlow

Rather than pursuing drawn-out court cases, Washington state Attorney General Ferguson should refocus his efforts on other places where he can be more effective in helping to combat the opioid crisis.

The recent resignation of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Fred Koontz, Ph.D., exemplifies the inevitably fatal outcome when a compassionate centrist enters a polarized conversation and attempts to build a bridge, bolstered with peer-reviewed science, to preserve our dwindling biodiversity.

For the vast majority of human existence, we roamed the planet on foot the way we were designed. In the blink of an eye, the human experience of our native habitat has changed. We have lost connection with the healing, hallowed grounds that were our lifeblood. Our humanness was shaped by wandering freely through natural landscapes that took eons to build the thriving habitat and biodiversity that supported life. What little native land remains is on the chopping block. In the time it took to read this paragraph, we have lost more than 10 football fields of forested land.

By Don C. Brunell

Critical Race Theory is a baby sibling of the “cultural turn” in Marxism. It insists that racism is at the heart of our institutions, and that is simply not true.

The women and men who serve in the military make many sacrifices; having enough food for them and their families shouldn’t be something they need to worry about.

I know it won’t happen overnight, but if the Legislature steps up and creates safe staffing standards, I truly believe that we’ll keep more health care workers.

The truth is, there is still a lot we don’t know. We do have some knowledge about this variant, but we will know even more over the next few weeks.

“We’ve been blessed by growth and trade, but if we don’t make the infrastructure investments our economy won’t be able to keep up,” U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., recently said regarding the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law by President Biden in November.

As Spokane’s most prominent organization dedicated to the preservation of historic buildings, Spokane Preservation Advocates is dismayed to learn that the Cowles Company plans to demolish the historic Chancery Building, a contributor to the National Register-listed West Riverside Historic District and a Spokane icon.

Washington has a good Open Public Meetings Act. We must insist that our public officials follow it – and live up to it in spirit.

It looks like Washington Gov. Jay Inslee plans to ask the state Legislature for $375,000 to “study” removal of Washington’s clean-power Snake River dams. The science shows this would hurt the people of our state and would be a huge waste of funds badly needed for environmental projects elsewhere.

By Pam Kohlmeier, M.D., J.D., FACEP

The CDC has recommended booster shots of all three COVID-19 vaccines for everyone ages 18 and older, based on the decrease of the immune response that is common to vaccines over time and concerns of new variants that may be more transmissible.

Committing resources to creating a fully staffed Office of Civil Rights, Equity and Inclusion will build the culture of equity and inclusion Spokane deserves.