Opinion

By Attorney General Bob Ferguson

Ask any working mom, retiree or college student what’s wrong with today’s politics and there’s a good chance you’ll get the same answer: “My elected representative doesn’t listen to me or care about my opinion” or “My elected official routinely ignores the public will.”

In reading Lucy Holt's letter this morning ("GOP about opportunity," July 14), I feel she needs to quit looking through her rose colored glasses.

I thought school board elections were supposed to be nonpartisan. After researching the three candidates running for the Central Valley School District, I was surprised to discover that one candidate had completed a School Board Candidate Survey sponsored by a right-wing religious organization with a 96% alignment. They asked questions about a candidate’s beliefs about the Bible, the work of Christ, and Judeo-Christian values, with each question referenced by a scriptural quote. This crosses the line from our nation’s founding principle of maintaining the separation between church and state.

Thank you Shawn Vestal for the Op-Ed on July 11th ("Misleading claim about salmon twists statistics") pointing out how statistics can, and have been, turned into lies that do a disservice to what he noted as “The salmon crisis is complicated …”.

$3,695.00.

The denial of science by Republicans is manifesting many threats to our world and country. Global warming is currently being witnessed in record-breaking temperatures all over the U.S. and Canada, as predicted by climate scientists. We humans are contributing to this.

It’s not hard to see that Spokane is quickly going the way of Seattle and Portland, that is, a sanctuary for homeless and transients who have no incentive to get off the streets and get the help they need.

School board elections are usually sleepy events with one or two candidates, and in some districts they still are. But virtual school in 2020 put parents physically in the classroom as partners in learning and inspired some to get involved at a systemic level. This year has drawn an unusually high number of competitive races, with parents driven to action by debates over divisive curriculum and dissatisfaction with decisions delaying school re-opening.

As a retired professor of education (WSU), I believe we need an educator's perspective on the City Council to represent students and their families. Zack Zappone is the educator we need.

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is placing obstacles in front of efforts to restore salmon and orcas, honor commitments to Northwest Tribes, and invest in local communities. She is frankly out of step with what the people of the Northwest need now and for the future, and what the current administration is hoping to accomplish by investing in the nation’s infrastructure.

By Rep. Dan Newhouse

Recently we have seen that the states with the lowest level of vaccinations are those that are experiencing a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and ultimately deaths.