Opinion
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From the editor: The day after Earth Day 2024
Monday was the 54th anniversary of Earth Day, organized in 1970 as a teach-in on college campuses to emphasize the harm out-of-control pollution has on human health as well as the environment. In typical homo sapiens fashion, giant inflatable earth...
Tsunami? In La Conner? Don't rule it out
Tsunami is a Japanese word for what used to be more appropriately called a “tidal wave.” In movies and television dramas, tsunamis are portrayed as monster ocean waves cresting over the likes of New York City or Los Angeles. A bit misleading to say...
Tribe takes advantage of its taxing authority
The Swinomish Tax Authority uses the same levy rate for 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021: $11.98 per $1,000. The assessed value of homes in Shelter Bay, Pull & Be Damned and Thousand Trails increased from $206,399,050 to $262,085,926. The Swinomish Tribal...
Letter to the editor
Make housing a Jensen priority The population of La Conner is aged and aging. In-migration or family formation by families of low and moderate incomes hasn’t been the case for a decade or more. There is little to no housing available for young famili...
So many what-if moments of possible energy development
The energy infrastructure we have today is the result of thousands of years of technological development, during which the systems evolved based on what had and hadn’t been invented, and where. The R...
Tell Rick Larsen no to Israeli aid
Earth Day is Monday, April 22. This is not an Earth Day editorial and not because the almost holiday atmosphere and platitudes reverently uttered by politicians and corporate heads have hijacked the original intent. It is the same with Mother’s D...
Hypermilers are champs at saving gas
A few years ago I was managing an experiment aimed at determining whether it was practical to power cars with hydrogen, instead of gasoline. Most of the cars were small gasoline-engine SUVs which had...
News and media literacy: Are you informed or influenced?
Do you know fact from propaganda when see or hear it? Learn more at the April 29 forum “News & Media Literacy: Informed or Influenced?” The League of Women Voters of Skagit County offers its second program in their series of voter education, par...
EMS Levy supports all fire departments
My name is Wood Weiss and I am the Chief of Skagit Fire District 13. Recently people have been asking me about the upcoming ballot measure for the countywide Emergency Medical Services (EMS) levy renewal. I thought it might help to clarify who we...
A vision for the Jensen parcel
About that cute little 0.53-acre plot known as the “Jensen Parcel?” As a resident of Channel Cove for a couple of years, I spent a lot of time thinking about it, from my permaculturalist perspective. How many wants and wishes could be achieved if...
Tidal energy is coming, once hurdles vanish
The tide-based currents in the Swinomish Channel may offer a local source of reliable, predictable renewable energy. Several people have asked me whether this natural resource could be developed to...
From the editor
If there is one thing that is certain in the dominant culture of the United States, it is that we are number one. The best. The greatest. Back in the halcyon days of certainty portrayed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, the metaphor was that we...
Musings - On the editor's mind
Journalists, self-reflective navel gazers, are quoting studies that 2.5 newspapers a week – 10 a month and 130 annually – closed in 2023. Is there a future for small newspapers? Yes there is. Here is one way to succeed. In the March issue of the nat...
A view from the Jenson Field neighborhood
Just beyond the deer fencing, lying between this old rotting house with fruit trees just as old, between these and a dense development, lies what used to be called a “vacant lot.” It might have been called a “swamp,” also, rather than a vestige...
A critical look at Snapdragon Flats
We live at the bottom of Snapdragon hill, one of those beautiful, quiet islands of wildlife in town, that made La Conner’s charm. It was covered in summer with wildflowers, people would come pick blackberries, deer liked to climb up the hill, t...
Prepare for the inevitable earthquake
On Dec. 27, 2022, a predicted 11-foot tide in La Conner Channel was met with low atmospheric pressure, high river flow and a western wind. As a result the channel rose to over 14 feet and spilled over along lower places on the eastern bank, flooding...
Where Bitcoin's power needs meet volcanos
One probably wouldn’t think that El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, would be particularly influential as regards the future of electric generation in the Pacific Northwest. Surprisingly, he mig...
Save big with passive technologies
Reducing energy use during the design and construction phase of a new building is almost always easier than retrofitting the building afterwards. There are many techniques that can be used to reduce t...
From the editor - When the Earth did stand still
In the 1951 movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” the landing of a spaceship on the Washington Mall and the emergence of Klaatu in a spacesuit and helmet immediately changed everything worldwide. By the film’s end, humanity learned valuable lessons...
Thanks for the quicker delivery
To the editor: Thank you so much for the effort to get the newspaper out earlier to those of us in the 98273 ZIP code area of the school district. Much appreciated! Gale Fiege Pleasant Ridge...
From the editor - Counting students in or out
La Conner School District Director of Finance David Cram offered a realistic assessment last summer when presenting student enrollment numbers and the year’s budget to the school board and Superintendent Will Nelson. The head count in the e...
La Conner needs its Little Braves preschool
Dear Editor: I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the recently announced closure of Little Braves preschool due to lack of funding. As a member of our community and a parent who understands the importance of early childhood education, I...
Families support E-school buses
To the editor: Thanks for running the article about zero-emission school buses (Weekly News, March 13, 2024). The bill would not have been possible except for the work of a broad coalition of Seattle climate and education activists, including...
We need parking enforcement
To the editor: In all the parking discussions I have read and heard, enforcement seems to be ignored. I walk my dog daily through the South Third Street lot, which is theoretically pay parking, and have yet to see anyone checking for compliance. For...
Renew EMS levy to preserve service
To the editor: I would like to thank the Skagit Board of County Commissioners for placing an EMS levy renewal on the April 23, 2024, special election ballot to continue critical funding for emergency medical services in our community. Every second...
