Election nights are always a little fun (at least, for those of us watching): An unveiling of what actually happens. And it happens, you might say (metaphorically), as elections officials unlock the ballot boxes. Tomorrow night will be something like that for Oregon’s Independent Party. Member of the party have been v

When it is jus talking trash, when is it a real threat? The difference isn’t small: One may be an annoyance, and the other a crime and possibly an alert to imminent harm. It’s a legal question with absolutely practical applications. The issue came up in Washington v. Glen Arthur Schaler, decided today by the [..

Bob Kustra We were wondering some weeks back when the celebration broke loose about Boise State University athletics joining the Mountain West conference whether all the social elements – and not just the financial elements – had been fully worked through. The nagging point was this: The conference shift probabl

Another transition: We’re seeing the phasing-out of fire lookouts. The Medford Mail Tribune had a piece out today about Ken and Colleen Struck, now in their 70s and nearing a quarter-century of summer work as upper-elevation forest fire lookouts. The Oregon Department of Forestry has only one other fire outlook left i

/Payette National Forest Remember some months back when a big blowup occurred over University of Idaho studies of whether diseases and other problems associated with domestic sheep might harm wild bighorn sheep? Today, the upshot demonstrating why that was a blowup: A Payette National Forest record of decision restricting a

Thing is, massive construction projects tend to – customarily do run over estimated costs. That’s the way it usually goes. Small projects often, too, but this one – the Alaskan Way Viaduct reconstruction in Seattle – is enormous, and the size of possible overruns is a very big deal. Most specifically

Most useful column of the weekend: Danny Westneat’s in the Seattle Times today, deconstructing the myth of the West as a place of “rugged individualism.” Not that a lot of people don’t buy into it; many do, and even more are the politicians who traffic in it. But none of that makes it any more [...]

Keith Allred at the Boise town hall/Randy Stapilus The setup was sweet for a candidate for governor. While there’s something of an embunkered feeling to the re-election campaign for Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter, his Democratic opponent Keith Allred holds – about three blocks from the Idaho State

The question is, how long will this last – and from what direction will the killer blow come? Assuming the situation is reported accurately by the Coast Lake News, the city council of Lakeview, Oregon, has passed a “New ordinance [that] allows entry to private property at will and without prior complaint to sear

The public face of Initiative 1053, the latest measure aimed at requiring two-thirds votes in the legislature for any tax increase, is its tireless chief organizer, Tim Eyman of Mukilteo. But he is not alone. There are others, too, less interested in generating headlines. In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer today, Joel Connel

Greyhound at Ontario, Oregon/Randy Stapilus There’s this, to begin with: The Greyhound bus run scheduled to depart Portland at 11:50 p.m. left at 11:50. That is exactly what the big clock on Union Station north of downtown, and next door to the Greyhound station in PDX, said as the bus cleared the building. The bus [.

Timothy Leavitt Timothy Leavitt would call it an adaptation to reality. Many of his former supporters would call it breaking his word. Wonder what the voters will think when he’s up for re-election, in 2013, as mayor of Vancouver? The change, however you define it, is dramatic. Last year Leavitt based his seemingly lo

Dirk Kempthorne Tomorrow former Interior Secretary (and former Idaho Governor) Dirk Kempthorne is scheduled to appear before the U.S. House Subcommittees on Oversight and Investigations and Energy and Environment, as one of several witnesses about the subject, “The Role of the Interior Department in the Deepwater Hori

weekly Digest Congressional campaign finance reports fell hard and heavy toward the end of last week, and they suggest the outlines of the campaign season about to unfold. That may be especially true in Washington, where the primary election is only a few weeks away. State budgeting (and revenues) remained a big concern dur

Chris Dudley The problem is somewhat bigger than it first seemed, and it started as a problem. It has sort of unwrapped, getting more pungent. If you’re Chris Dudley, the Republican nominee for governor of Oregon, your biggest problem is this: You’re untested in public – governmental and elective – l

Two subjects here. One is the long-time Washington Senator Henry Jackson, one of the most impactful the region has ever had, and his work with one of his staffers, Forrest Gerard – and we should note here that a lot of the work credited to members of Congress actually gets done by staffers, so that’s [...]

The latest congressional campaign reports turned up late last week, and they suggest some contours for the races. Not as absolutes; contrary to widely-held belief, money isn’t all in political campaigns. Less-funded candidates win regularly, and we’ve seen significant cases of that happening in this Northwest th

Among the stories not happening in the Northwest . . . wildfires. There was a substantial fire this week, more than 100 acres and since put out, in the flat desert lands of the Idaho National Laboratory, west of Idaho Falls. But early indications are that it wasn’t natural, that it resulted from some human [...]

The Ron Wyden Oregon Senate campaign in 2004 didn’t talk a lot about the opposition (which was slight), but it’s talking a little more this time. And it’s even made an accusation of the opposition, which on its face looks pretty sound. Jim Huffman is a stronger candidate, but yes, he seems – certainl

The do-away with plastic bags bandwagon is abruptly rolling at full speed. What lies behind the sudden impetus is unclear, but in Portland at leas the push is on. Although, Jack Bogdanski makes a useful point: “At our place, every plastic grocery bag gets reused, usually for household garbage. If the stores stop handi

Almost sounds like a joke: How do you solve the problem of drunken behavoir at closing time? Maybe eliminating closing time will help. Actually, it might. Has it ever made sense that cities dump their heaviest drinkers out on the street at the same hour? (Recognizing, of course, that plenty of bars simply choose to [...]

Most people probably won’t encounter this, but it’s worth considering as we think about the long-range future of vote-by-mail, which is probably growing, and of the U.S. Post Service, which has been slowly spiraling downward. The Klamath Falls News & Herald reports about the community at rural Crescent Lake

The point tends not to be made this bluntly – and for good reason. It seems worthy of quote here because, we suspect, quite a few people out there are like-minded. It comes in a letter to the editor of the Tri-City Herald from Jerry Czebotar of Pasco, who starts out mentioning (inaccurately) statistics on [...]

weekly Digest A variety of indicators last week, ranging from a slowing growth in Washington state, along with a decline in sales tax revenues, to – strange though it might seem in these times – growth in revenue the state of Idaho has received from banks. Politics was a little quieter last week, although the [.

Butch Otter When politicians talk about governments benefiting business, they almost always talk too generically. Very few governmental actions can help, or hurt, all businesses equally. Walmart and Ridenbaugh Press are unlikely to be equal recipients of benefits of any single government policy. (Well, health care reform co

There’s been a lot of talk about the idea of dramatically changing the legal structure within which Oregon’s universities operate. Several university presidents have raised the idea. But the state Board of Higher Education, meeting today at Portland, now seem to be taking work on the idea much further. What the

The dustup between Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna and Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark has gotten only limited media attention, though the Horse’s Ass blog has been tracking it thoroughly. The dispute has to do with Goldmark’s request for legal work from the attorney general’s office in a land ca

Clint Didier Republican Washington Senate candidate Clint Didier has a variety of things to say on the subject of illegal immigration in an interview on KUOW radio. (Transcription from the conservative blog Palousitics.) He calls for improving security at the borders, as almost everyone does. His take on dealing with people

Oregon candidates running under partisan tickets will, this year, be able to list cross-nominations from other (mainly minor) parties on the ballot and in the election guide. What hadn’t been entirely clear is how, exactly, all of that works. What’s the procedure? Well, it’s in this month’s Oregon Bu

Question – Might it be possible now, a year later, to have a sane discussion about end of life care and possible help in planning for it, without degenerating into “death panels” lunacy? That stuff was actually believed by a lot of people. At a congressional town hall meeting last year, we stood next in [.