When I was invited to contribute a monthly column to the East Oregonian, former news editor Tim Trainor suggested I follow the lead set by other columnists — Matt Wood’s “From the Tractor Seat,” J.D. Smith’s “From the Headwaters of Dry Creek,” Lindsay Murdock’s “From Sun Up to Sun Down.”
“Fredo has a good heart but he is weak ... and stupid.” — Michael Corleone
Portland may fuel Oregon’s economy, but the city fails to propel its youth toward economic opportunity. Thankfully, Portland officials can learn from other places about giving young Oregonians…
Much has been written, discussed, opined, and debated about the denying of a quorum for nine days, when the 11 Oregon Senate Republicans made the decision to leave. Since I was one of what bec…
It’s been a week since 31 people were murdered in two mass shootings within 24 hours. Despite numerous differences between the two horrific incidents in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, there…
Cowboy Kevin and I were rolling sheep wire off a cliff and into Mazzoni’s draw on the morning of the Fourth of July. The other option was to be around the main ranch house helping the boss and…
If the circumstances weren’t so awful, the predictability of the response would almost be laughable.
Every year, I hold a town hall in every Oregon county. From coast to grasslands, Gorge to high desert, blue to red, there is one consistent issue that Oregonians ask me to address — the price …
Amidst the latest bloodshed — the worst of it triggered by a white racist domestic terrorist whose El Paso manifesto echoes Trump’s racist rhetoric — I bet you’re jonesing for some good news. …
Is it safe for me and my wife to return from our vacation in Eastern Europe?
I’ve never been one for carnival rides, especially the roller coasters. They look, smell, and even feel like fear to me, and as I watch them go up, down and around the tracks that keep the car…
Anyone who has taken a recent drive in America’s western states can see first-hand what we at American Farmland Trust have been saying for years: our farmland is disappearing at an alarming rate.
As an apartment owner in Pendleton I’m not worried about the rent control bill 608 that came out of Salem. The law is predictable, out in the open and applied the same to everyone around the s…
During a recent meeting with the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and about 20 other representatives from agencies involved in immigration, the Trump administration floate…
“What to buy (and not to buy) at the dollar store,” blared the headline for a Washington Post analysis of retail chains such as Dollar Tree and 99 Cents Only.
After April’s McKay Creek flooding emergency, city leaders promised to take action to reduce the risk of future flooding. Umatilla County is playing a leading role in this effort, so readers c…
The secret’s out. Northeastern Oregon is home to writers.
Despite the accusations, I deny that I carry a man purse.
On Oct. 28, 1980, in the final debate of his race against Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan asked a question that has come to define presidential politics.
Nurses and other hospital employees enter the profession because they want to take care of people. But we know that too often they can become victims of violent acts on the job as they deliver…
I feared that the upcoming 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing might get eclipsed by other celebrations (the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riot…
On Monday, Donald Trump disinvited the then-British ambassador, Kim Darroch, from an official administration dinner with the emir of Qatar, because he was mad about leaked cables in which Darr…
Each spring, when the city of Pendleton fires up its $25,000 flower munching, goat-driven weedeater, I think back to when I was a goatherd. To be a bit more precise, I once owned a goat.
Nature’s temporary solution to the crisis on the United States’ southwest border is upon us, in the form of high summer temperatures that should reduce the migration rate and relieve some of t…
Near the close of last Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate, Chuck Todd asked the candidates what he called “a simple question.” In “one word,” he asked, who or what is the biggest geopo…
I was gathered together with a few of my girlfriends around a table with candles, and pies, and Mason jars filled with ice cubes melting in the kind of beverage that saturates your soul best —…
There is some sort of hard-to-define spiritual crisis across the land, which shows up in rising depression rates, rising mental health problems. A survey that the Pew Research Center released …
Before the dust settles on this just-completed legislative session, we need to debunk a false narrative about the Senate Republicans’ two walkouts that disrupted legislative business.
Our daughter, Annie, recently graduated from high school. For her and the dozen or so fellow classmates — such are the numbers at Griswold High School in beautiful Helix — it was a time of gen…
What did you think of the bunch of socialists you just saw debating onstage?
I could never in a million years vote for Donald Trump. So my question to Democrats is: Will there be a candidate I can vote for?
In late 2015 then-candidate Donald Trump accused Janet Yellen, chair of the Federal Reserve, of being part of a political conspiracy.
Someone recently gave me a book of photos taken on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the 1890s. The conditions were horrible: homeless, malnourished children sleeping in a clump, barefoot in…
Today is my father’s birthday. He’s been gone for three decades — if he were alive he would be 104.
As an organization invested in the health of every person in our communities, we were extremely disappointed to hear that the Oregon Legislature abandoned House Bill 3063, a bill that would ha…
“I love the poorly educated.” So declared Donald Trump back in February 2016, after a decisive win in the Nevada primary. And the poorly educated love him back: Whites without a college degree…
Most of human history has been marked by war. Between 1500 and 1945, scarcely a year went by without some great power fighting another great power. Then, in 1945 that stopped. The number of ba…
I’ve taken up the hobby of toponymy, the study of the way in which places are named. I have uncovered some rather interesting factoids that I would like to share with the reader.
Just when you think you’ve seen and heard it all from Donald Trump, he sinks to a new low that leaves you speechless and wondering: Is he crazy, is he evil, is he maniacally committed to unwin…
It’s hard to work up much sympathy for the hollowed-out husk of a human being that is Mitch McConnell, or Lindsey Graham for that matter. This country is a harder, colder, more mean-spirited p…
When I was a boy I was taught a certain story about America. This was the land of opportunity. Immigrants came to this land and found an open field and a fair chance to pursue their dreams. In…
There was a slight breeze as I walked down the ramp of the clubhouse — green fees paid, a few new tees in my pocket, and a scorecard in my hand. The red and white flag on the No. 9 green waved…
Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on Mexican exports unless our neighbor does something — he hasn’t specified what — to stop the flow of asylum-seekers is almost surely illegal: U.S. trade…
The cost of Oregon’s green goodness will come at the pump. To get Oregonians to use less fuel, House Bill 2020 raises its price. The carbon reduction bill — seemingly destined to become law — …
Editor’s note: When correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed by a Japanese machine gun bullet in 1945, his columns were being delivered to more than 14 million homes. He wrote about war from a sold…
During my stint in the U.S. Army, I picked up a lot of life lessons. One of those examples was from an officer I knew who once told me that as a leader you are responsible for all that your me…
Over the past several years, teenage suicide rates have spiked horrifically. Depression rates are surging, and America’s mental health overall is deteriorating. What’s going on?
Joe Biden has been attacked by politicians on the left — and now, thanks to Donald Trump, on the right — for his role in shepherding the 1994 crime bill through Congress. One of these attacks …
Robert Mueller certainly looks as if he could use a rest. Give the man credit. There’s nothing more exhausting than trying to analyze the inner workings of Donald Trump’s mind.
Hats off to Beth Ford for calling out President Trump’s questionable arithmetic.
Ella is a British woman who grew up in a broken home and was abused by her stepdad. Her eldest son got thrown out of school and ended up sitting around the house drinking. By the time her daug…
There is no crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. In fact, apprehensions of illegal crossings have plummeted over the last two decades, from 1.6 million in 1999 to just 400,000 in 2018, according …
Growth has come to the Northwest. The signs are everywhere: new buildings, new roads, more cars, more people. And lights.
PRO: Democrats are doing it this time; Republicans have done it in the past. CON: Not a constitutional crisis, just a supercharged political moment of democracy in action.
