Oklahoma actor, performer, cowboy and Depression-era political pundit Will Rogers once declared, “It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so.” Whether he meant to or not, he could well have been opining about anthropology (the study of past human cultures) and paleontology (the study of ancient life). Discoveries weeks ago on federal land administered by the Bureau of Land Management prove Rogers’ point. For decades, the scientific consensus was that, about 13,000 years ago, “the first Americans” traversed a now-submerged land bridge called Beringia across the Bering Sea between Asia and Alaska. From there, they and their progeny spread across North and South America over the next few millennia. This conclusion was based on the 1929 discovery of a human-occupied site near Clovis, New Mexico, and the presence there of fluted projectiles, hence “Clovis points.” Since then, “Clovis points” have been found throughout the American West – including my home state of Wyoming – and Texas and as far south as Venezuela. Thus, as to the origins of the first Americans, case closed.

With the U.S. Senate passing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) last week, Washington small businesses are one step closer to benefiting from the trade agreement. Considering Canada and Mexico are the U.S.’s largest trading partners combined with our state’s shared border with Canada, the impact of the USMCA is substantial to small firms in Washington state.

According to the U.S. Census American Community Survey, one in seven Spokane households do not have broadband internet at home. That’s where libraries come in.

The youth-led climate strikes have started the conversation; now it’s time for us to turn that conversation into advocacy.

The practice of charging high school students mandatory costs to participate in advanced learning has to end, with or without additional funding from the state.