In the News

“Small Business Saturday,” the holiday shopping antidote to Black Friday, has won enthusiastic backing from two members of Washington’s congressional delegation. “Small businesses are the foundation of America’s economy across the country (and) small businesses on Main Street are the key drivers of job creation,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.,… Read more »

DARRINGTON -- Sen. Maria Cantwell says it's high time to get to work on a bill that would save the Green Mountain forest fire lookout from being pulled off the peak. Cantwell, D-Wash., got a commitment from a Senate committee chairman Thursday that he will move ahead on the proposed bill to preserve the lookout, located in the Glacier Peak Wilderness of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National… Read more »

Close to 200 people gathered under crisp, sunny skies on Monday afternoon in Sultan for the Veterans Day Ceremony. When the wind picked up just after the closing prayer, the flags flying above the Memorial Wall at First and Main Street stood at attention, seeming to give the ceremony an official salute. Sultan Mayor Carolyn Eslick served as Master of Ceremonies, welcoming the community to… Read more »

THE U.S. House of Representatives has only days left this year to vote on a comprehensive immigration-reform package, building on a bipartisan bill passed by the Senate in June. This overdue legislation is much needed in Washington state, where repercussions from a broken system cross industries, from orchards and fields to high-tech companies searching for skilled workers. While U.S.… Read more »

The Pacific Northwest spawns gadfly lawmakers who don't shape-shift to political currents. Sens. Wayne Morse of Oregon and Ernest Gruening of Alaska were the only U.S. senators to vote against the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin resolution authorizing the use of force against North Vietnam. In the mid-1970s, Idaho Sen. Frank Church shepherded a select committee to investigate extralegal intelligence… Read more »

First District U.S. Representative Suzan DelBene is co-sponsoring a bill that would rein in the National Security Administration’s blanket surveillance of Americans. DelBene says the USA Freedom Act would end the NSA’s practice of collecting mass amounts of meta-data from everyone. See more at:… Read more »

In the aftermath of a sixteen-day government shutdown that cost our country $24 billion, the message from the American people was clear: we are tired of the partisan gamesmanship and bickering on Capitol Hill. Now, more than ever, the American people are wondering if their Congress can rise to the challenge and pass legislation that lowers our deficit, creates jobs, encourages… Read more »

Ninety-five percent of the world’s mouths to feed live outside the United States, and 160,000 people in Washington are gainfully employed in feeding them, yet the state’s $40 billion agricultural export trade is threatened by Congress’ prolonged failure to write a new farm bill. The farm bill stalemate is another Tea Party-caused breakdown of business in Washington,… Read more »

U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., was named to the conference committee working to pass a farm bill. Conference committees are made up of members from the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate and are used to negotiate when the two branches pass different version of a bill. The House passed a farm bill last summer separate from a food stamp bill that would cut about $40 billion in… Read more »

Theirs is one of the deadliest occupations, with 800-pound crab pots menacing life and limb, and stormy waters threatening their ships. But the men and women who ply the Bering Sea pursuing the lucrative catch are facing a different challenge: The three-month Alaska crab season starts Tuesday, but government workers, idled by the federal shutdown, aren’t issuing the necessary… Read more »