With the United States bringing in a new administration, one of a different political party, some changes in trade policy and strategy could be expected. As the Biden administration takes shape, the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) encourages it to build upon the trade successes …
What if there was a simple and powerful solution to climate change that would benefit the economy, avoid government growth, and preserve personal freedom? What if that solution would also gran…
Have you seen the movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy”? If not, please do.
With the development of vaccines for the coronavirus and distribution underway, there may be an end to distance learning just around the corner. This said, there are still many children strugg…
Whenever the National Weather Service issues a winter weather advisory or a winter storm warning due to snow, we get mixed reactions from the public. Some love snow, some hate it.
This column is brought to you by the Latin phrase: Tu Quoque.
Barry Lopez once asked tribal elders in the far north Indigenous cultures who had taught him so much, “What do you mean by a storyteller?”
Normally, we would give a grace period to a freshly sworn-in politician. But the actions and words of Rep. Cliff Bentz warrant not patience, but condemnation.
It is no secret that Google has secured a near monopoly in the search and local advertising world. However, the impact on newspapers hasn’t been quite as obvious.
For this first column of 2021, I intended to address the controversy generated by the Pendleton street markers named for famous Confederates. But the Jan. 6 attack on Congress got me thinking …
Once upon a time, way too long ago, we Clifton/Smiths and a dog with no surname loaded into a Subaru with a hillock of sleeping bags, pads, books, salami, generic kibble, two huckleberry pies,…
As our climate continues to change, we are all feeling the impacts ranging from longer, drier summers to public health issues. These impacts will affect us all no matter our political persuasi…
Recently, eight prominent scientists sent a letter to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) declaring that the agency’s proposed Tri-State Fuel Break (TSFB) for Oregon, Nevada, and Idaho is flaw…
The new year is a good time to reevaluate our values and consider our priorities to improve our health and well-being. It is said you are doing well if indeed, you actually make one or two sig…
Imagine it’s early September and you hold a coveted Mount Emily archery elk tag. After a restless night, you rise three hours before dawn and drive 45 minutes to a trailhead where you are happ…
Rather than starting by looking directly at 2020, let’s go back two decades. It may help put things in perspective.
Light and warmth filtered through the trees as the road wound its way through the winter wonderland. Occasional patches of ice had turned into groomed snow as my sister and I headed west, seek…
One of my favorite movies is “Catch Me If You Can.” At one point, Tom Hanks, who plays FBI agent Carl Hanratty, encounters the target of his investigation, Frank Abagnale, portrayed by Leonard…
I’m incredibly honored to work as a hydropower advocate. My organization champions clean energy, works to fight climate change and campaigns for fair and equitable electricity access for commu…
When I worked for the BLM, us “ologists” (hydrologist, ecologists, biologists, archaeologists, geologists and botanists) used to refer to range conservationists as range “cons” because they co…
I’m not sure why — maybe pandemic fatigue, holiday indifference or just absentmindedness — but the end of 2020 has sort of snuck up on me.
In 1959, my brother sent a birthday card to me. I was born on his ninth birthday and he probably wanted a choo-choo train — not a squalling baby brother! In 1960, I sent it back to him. I’m 80…
It’s been a tough year.
In my 23 years as an educator, I have learned to roll with the changes. From No Child Left Behind to Common Core Standards and now distance learning, thousands of Oregon educators have gotten …
Since moving to Pendleton, I’ve been surprised at how many people I already knew here. Some studied at Eastern Oregon University, three of them teachers at Pendleton and Hermiston high schools…
As 2020 comes to a thankful close, so does my 22 years of public service in this incredible crucible of democracy: the U.S. House.
I write with extreme disappointment in Bobby Levy’s decision to sign a letter to Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, a letter which urges her to join in the state of Texas’ lawsuit agains…
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s order of additional restrictions prior to Thanksgiving elicited expected responses, from those who signal their belief in science to those clutching their copy of the …
Good news in this season of darkness — First Draft is back. Pendleton Center for the Arts director Roberta Lavadour and savvy Blue Mountain Community College intern Joy Holmes have made it hap…
School this year looks like something we might have seen on the cartoon show “The Jetsons” from the 1960s. Students of all ages are spending hours on electronics.
As a meteorologist, it is important to convey useful weather information to the public and our partners. Our meteorological training has focused on radar and satellite interpretation and other…
The Bulletin recently published an article from the Associated Press titled “Study: Ocean conditions, not dams, reduced salmon runs.” This is misleading reporting of the original study, “A syn…
I belong to the Wallowa and Palouse bands of the Nez Perce. My family are descendants of Chief Red Bear, who helped Lewis and Clark build canoes and navigate the free-flowing Columbia River. I…
A little over 20 years ago, this grandmother was in Hermiston sitting with her infant grandson when suddenly sirens began to go off. The sirens continued for the longest time bringing back mem…
As Christmas nears, my thoughts invariably turn to favorite seasonal books, especially Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” I faced a dilemma with this month’s column: Which of Scrooge’s thre…
This is the year of “for better or worse.”
By mid-September, there was no one left to call. The West, with its thousands of federal, state and local fire engines and crews, had been tapped out.
To watch the nightly news showing long lines of drivers accepting food handouts because their families are hungry is depressing. To know the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is spending $50 mil…
In Oregon, we believe that every child deserves the chance to succeed. Through legislation like Cover All Kids — our policymakers have shown bipartisan support for the well-being of our childr…
The holidays are just around the corner, with the attendant obligation to overeat and ingest more sugar, salt and fat than we normally would. Special occasions call for special circumstances.
Every fall, Lynn Tompkins sees an alarming increase in the number of injured raptors brought to Blue Mountain Wildlife, her wildlife rehabilitation center in Pendleton. Many of these injured b…
December is usually a time for reflection, of looking back on the year that was and measuring its highs and lows. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas — Americans’ two favorite holidays — we can…
Do you have a favorite bug?
Up and down the Columbia and Snake rivers, salmon-dependent businesses are hurting. Tribes are suffering as many of the salmon runs they depend on for sustenance and culture are on the brink o…
Most of the world’s policy makers agreed in the Paris Agreement under the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change, that society should seek to avert the threat of climate ch…
When I began my newspaper career — further back sometimes than I like to admit — the internet was still a fairly new phenomenon. The web platforms we all see and use today were simply dreams b…
Thanksgiving is a great time for counting our blessings and expressing gratitude. In challenging times, an attitude of gratitude is all the more important, and this year has been one of the mo…
If there was a ‘Rona Report Card, how would you be graded? Would you receive a passing or failing grade based on how you have incorporated recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control an…
There was cheesecake on the picnic table to celebrate LaNora’s birthday, with knitting friends in the Pioneer Park sheltered area wishing her well. One asked if she minded telling her age, and…
I first met Pendleton Fire Chief Richard “Dick” Hopper, who passed away on Sunday, Nov. 8, when I became a volunteer firefighter for the department on Feb. 5, 1981.
You’ve probably heard that ancient Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” If we didn’t catch the irony initially, the events of 2020 have forced us to understand. This year seems …
For generations we have heard how important it is to read to children. It provides adult time that the child (or children) so often crave. You model reading and share in the adventure or learn…
It’s safe to say that winter has arrived in the interior Northwest.
The 2020 presidential election is over. Or is it? This is not some sort of wink toward President Trump’s spurious claim of mass election fraud, but we truly are experiencing Schrödinger’s election.
