Opinion

Washington’s new tax on smoking alternatives and nicotine products is making its way through the state’s Legislature, known as Senate Bill 6129. The nearly 10,000 licensed tobacco retailers and over 500,000 smokers looking for healthier alternatives in the Evergreen State are on pins and needles, as they may soon be forced to close their doors, make purchases out of state or commit a larger share of an already strained budget to the products they need.

Sign-in fraud

Killing the tyrant doesn’t assure the tyranny will end.

On Tuesday, Texas Democratic voters selected state Rep. James Talarico to be their party’s U.S. Senate nominee come November. He defeated U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who conceded Wednesday, and in doing so sealed the party’s doom to a mediocre existence.

Elections are already secure

Sometime between now and June, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on Louisiana v. Callais, a case that could well spell the end of the landmark federal Voting Right Act. If what remains of federal voting rights fall, communities across the nation will lose needed protections – including communities right here in Washington state .

We deserve better

In 2023, JD Vance, then a freshman senator from Ohio, endorsed Donald Trump for president in a Wall Street Journal column headlined “Trump’s Best Foreign Policy? Not Starting Any Wars.” It suggested that despite his impolitic rhetoric, Trump was a statesman who understood that “the U.S. national interest must be pursued ruthlessly but also carefully, with strong words but great restraint.”

Critics say President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran is a violation of his promise not to engage in “forever wars.” In fact, the opposite is true. Trump is not starting a forever war in Iran; he’s ending one.

Baumgartner isn’t actually helping our ag community