China is one of our state's largest trading partners. In 2021, for example, it accounted for nearly 23% of the goods exported from Washington, worth approximately $12.1 billion. At the same … more

I've been surrounded by music from the womb on. My mother had a beautiful singing voice and my dad had taught himself to play enough different instruments to fill this page. OK, so that's an … more

Earlier this month when President Joe Biden fastened the Congressional Medal of Honor around retired U.S. Army Col. Paris Davis’ neck, it was a welcome pause to the endless venomous rhetoric, … more

When workers in the Woodland School District showed up early on the morning of Jan. 23, they heard power saws in the bus parking lot. The thieves heard them coming and scattered, dropping their tools … more

I’m going to start this “turn off your phones” column with a call to first spend 80 minutes watching your screen. A movie called “Childhood 2.0,” which our friends at the Chehalis Parent-Teacher Organization showed last week to community members, is definitely worth your time. The whole film can be watched, free and without commercials, on YouTube at www.bit.ly/Childhood2point0. The movie, about changes to the carefree childhood days of yore, is sobering but ultimately enlightening and positive as it suggests ways to stay engaged in our children’s real and digital lives. more

As a teenager, Ada van Esso survived two years in Auschwitz-Birkenau, a Nazi death camp in Poland, and weighed only 60 pounds when she left Ravensbrück concentration camp for Sweden. Hans van … more

“It’s much more agreeable to offend and later ask for forgiveness than to be offended and grant forgiveness,” Friedrich Nietzsche once said.   I would agree, … more

As cities and towns across the country continue to grapple with the issue of homelessness, excuses for why our public spaces are overrun with those in need seem to abound. But it's time to move … more

While the people were barred from the state Capitol during the 2021 legislative session by the pandemic and a tall metal fence, majority Democrats made several policy decisions that have caused great … more

The Public Records Act (PRA) requires all public records maintained by state and local agencies be made available to all members of the public, except for records specifically exempt under the PRA or … more

Here's another of those columns that might, hopefully, bring up a little nostalgia.   This one first saw light in 2008.   A few things have been added and some were discarded, but … more

“History is so darned messy.”  So says Raymond J. Egan, of Steilacoom, a historian and reenactor who portrays legendary Northwest pioneers such as Ezra Meeker, Father Luigi Rossi … more

For the first time since 2020, the Washington state Legislature is back, in-person, conducting meetings and floor sessions on the Capitol campus. And with this return to normalcy, we’ve been … more

Listening to the newest album from local country musician Chris Guenther, you can hear the sun shining down onto a dusty landscape and a rogue’s gallery of train robbers, horse thieves and … more

A few months back, I was on an assignment with a conservation group in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Not bearing ill will toward the organization or its mission, I’m excluding their … more

Students in our K-12 public schools are clearly struggling with the “three Rs” — reading, (w)riting and (a)rithmetic. Only 32.6% of the fourth-graders and eighth-graders tested … more

Washington’s housing affordability crisis hurts every corner of the state. We’ve all heard stories. Nurses and grocery store employees can’t afford to live where they work. Young … more

About 10 years ago, Chehalis School District leadership, along with community partners from the Chehalis Foundation, created a vision for our schools. The Student Achievement Initiative (SAI) was … more

It’s still winter, officially at least, but we can think ahead, can’t we?   It’s too early to plant many vegetables, except maybe peas, but we can still pull weeds that … more

Last year at this time, I shared with you an area that needed some significant work — FAFSA completion. But, I’m happy to report that local and statewide efforts are paying off and … more