By Fred Obee Much is lamentable in our political discourse. It can be senselessly coarse, wildly inaccurate, insulting and cruel. But it also can be inspirational and move us to courageously confront the intractable and corrupt. While calls to limit our right to speak freely are always with us, over centuries, we have concluded that […]
Editorials
Editorial: Ballot surprises
Well, this is going to be interesting. After filing closed for state and local elective offices, it was instantly clear that Okanogan County government leadership is going to look a lot different come next year. It remains to be seen what that will mean for the county’s residents, as we have a lot to learn […]
Writers on the Range: A water-stressed California valley needs to curb development
By Rebecca Lawton Writers on the Range In my drought- and fire-plagued home valley, 40 miles north of San Francisco, a debate has been simmering for decades over a massive development planned on state-owned property. The conflict is focused on nearly 1,000 acres of rural and wildland in Sonoma Valley. The prime wine-country property has […]
Editorial: Here come the candidates
It’s candidate filing week for all state, county and local elections, so by the end of the day on Friday we’ll know who’s angling for public office this year in positions that we most care about in Okanogan County and beyond. Some early-out-of-the gate candidates have already made their intentions known, through campaign signs, appearances […]
Writers on the Range: Plenty of food, but not for all farmworkers
By Astra Lincoln Writers on the Range On a summer morning in southern Idaho, the day breaks early, before 6 a.m. The air is stale, never fully cooled from the heat of the day before. In the indigo hour when night becomes morning, dozens of people — most from Mexico — queue for the van […]
My Turn: Large-scale forest restoration overdue for the Methow Valley
By Susan Prichard As a fire ecologist, I recently had the honor of meeting with the President of United States to discuss the state of our nation’s forests. I then returned home to the Methow to read letters to the editor in the Methow Valley News expressing strong opposition to the Twisp and Mission Restoration […]
Editorial: Moratorium movement
Until recently, overnight housing rentals weren’t much of an issue in Twisp. There aren’t many licensed in the town, and not all of them are currently operating as overnights. It only took one new application — which will convert an existing rental house in a single-family residential neighborhood to a nightly rental — to change […]
Writers on the Range: A do-it-yourself, homegrown national park
By Asta Bowen Writers on the Range National parks have been getting a lot of love since the pandemic, so much that this summer you need reservations at many. For example, you must make a reservation just to drive Montana’s legendary Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, and passes can sell out within hours of […]
Writers on the Range: Unusual coalition unites for clean energy
By Matt Witt Writers on the Range Communities in the rural West can stand up to giant outside gas companies, if they work together despite their differences. That’s how the Jordan Cove gas pipeline project was finally killed in Oregon by a coalition of conservative ranchers and farmers, climate activists, Indigenous tribal leaders, anglers, and […]
Let’s put the ‘elect’ in ‘electricity’
By KC Golden The numbers are, well, choose your cliché — eyebrow-raising, jaw-dropping, heart-stopping. Other body parts reacting badly might also be cited. Yes, a consulting firm’s cost estimates to build and operate a replacement for Twisp’s outdated Wagner Memorial Pool are a tad scary. More to the point, the estimates are realistic and ultimately […]
