It’s absurd for Washington taxpayers to pay a large bill for Gov. Jay Inslee’s quixotic campaign for president.
Restorative justice is a trend in some communities whose leaders recognize that addiction often fuels criminal behavior. It is a system of criminal justice which focuses in part on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large.
It’s frustrating whenever political expediency gets in the way of good government, and we citizens would do well to pay attention when it happens and support efforts to put democracy ahead of gamesmanship.
ICE agents pepper spraying people in a Clatsop County Courthouse corridor while sheriff’s deputies look on? Is this really a situation anyone should find acceptable?
Outdoor clothing and gear manufacturer Patagonia recently released "Artifishal," a misguided documentary full of misinformation about the role hatcheries play in salmon recovery.
Ask our brave friends in the U.S. Coast Guard and they will tell you with cool assurance that the people who survive a rescue at sea are wearing lifejackets. Those who fish or sail without wearing one have little chance of surviving a dunking in the unforgiving Pacific Ocean.
Once in a while — perhaps more often than we realize — we must listen to the young people around us.
I don’t know how you can be against clean water, but some of the industries in our state are.
And now the good news. Anyone who worries about the future of today's young people need not worry if the Ilwaco and Naselle high school teams are an example.
Infrastructure is too boring a word for a set of assets that go to the very core of a functioning civilization.
During Emergency Medical Services Week, it is fitting to salute all those in our Long Beach Peninsula community who are trained and ready to respond to any crisis with skilled professionalism.
For all who care about state history, the Legislature’s decision to build a new combined Library-Archives Building is outstanding news.
In a nation notorious for wasting trillions on wars and welfare for giant corporations, it’s refreshing to learn that Washington state plans to eliminate or reduce college tuition and aid expenses for many low- to medium-income residents attending any of 66 in-state universities, colleges an…
Each spring for the past 35 years I’ve said the same thing: This was the most challenging North of Falcon process we’ve ever had. Every year that’s true as the tribal and state salmon co-managers’ job of sharing and rebuilding a steadily shrinking resource becomes more difficult.
“Looting” isn’t a word that crops up very often in local news coverage, so it caused a degree of consternation last month when it was applied to a theft inside Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.
Allowing prosecutors more time to bring sex-crime charges while at the same time increasing funding to test rape kits is righteous news from the Washington State Legislature.
It's been worrying to know Ilwaco's water supply comes from a reservoir surrounded by a forested watershed subject to being clearcut. Though preferable from a water-quality standpoint to having it be surrounded by oil refineries, or even houses, it isn't an ideal situation from the standpoin…
Southern Resident Killer Whales achieve nearly unanimous popularity in the communities surrounding Puget Sound, acquiring folk hero status in the past half century. Their trials and tribulations are fodder for endless coverage on Seattle TV news; 153,000 people currently belong to the Orca N…
State Parks
In this normally damp coastal zone where we measure seasonal rainfall in feet rather than inches and where some groves have survived unscathed for centuries, serious forest fires nearly always are someone else's problem. This year could be different.
Restorative justice is a trend in some communities whose leaders recognize that addiction often fuels criminal behavior. It is a system of criminal justice which focuses in part on the rehabil…
It’s frustrating whenever political expediency gets in the way of good government, and we citizens would do well to pay attention when it happens and support efforts to put democracy ahead of …
ICE agents pepper spraying people in a Clatsop County Courthouse corridor while sheriff’s deputies look on? Is this really a situation anyone should find acceptable?
Outdoor clothing and gear manufacturer Patagonia recently released "Artifishal," a misguided documentary full of misinformation about the role hatcheries play in salmon recovery.
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Articles
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- Mayor ticketed for four-vehicle accident
- Editorial: Inslee should end his presidential campaign
- Blue whales spotted off Washington coast
- Guardsmen charged in rape case receive sentences
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Videos
Ask our brave friends in the U.S. Coast Guard and they will tell you with cool assurance that the people who survive a rescue at sea are wearing lifejackets. Those who fish or sail without wea…
Once in a while — perhaps more often than we realize — we must listen to the young people around us.
I don’t know how you can be against clean water, but some of the industries in our state are.
And now the good news. Anyone who worries about the future of today's young people need not worry if the Ilwaco and Naselle high school teams are an example.
Infrastructure is too boring a word for a set of assets that go to the very core of a functioning civilization.
During Emergency Medical Services Week, it is fitting to salute all those in our Long Beach Peninsula community who are trained and ready to respond to any crisis with skilled professionalism.
For all who care about state history, the Legislature’s decision to build a new combined Library-Archives Building is outstanding news.
In a nation notorious for wasting trillions on wars and welfare for giant corporations, it’s refreshing to learn that Washington state plans to eliminate or reduce college tuition and aid expe…
Each spring for the past 35 years I’ve said the same thing: This was the most challenging North of Falcon process we’ve ever had. Every year that’s true as the tribal and state salmon co-manag…
“Looting” isn’t a word that crops up very often in local news coverage, so it caused a degree of consternation last month when it was applied to a theft inside Lewis and Clark National Histori…
Allowing prosecutors more time to bring sex-crime charges while at the same time increasing funding to test rape kits is righteous news from the Washington State Legislature.
It's been worrying to know Ilwaco's water supply comes from a reservoir surrounded by a forested watershed subject to being clearcut. Though preferable from a water-quality standpoint to havin…
Southern Resident Killer Whales achieve nearly unanimous popularity in the communities surrounding Puget Sound, acquiring folk hero status in the past half century. Their trials and tribulatio…
State Parks
In this normally damp coastal zone where we measure seasonal rainfall in feet rather than inches and where some groves have survived unscathed for centuries, serious forest fires nearly always…
It is in these early months each year when a sense begins to emerge about the condition of forthcoming salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest. Mysterious to the uninitiated, the North of Falcon …
How Washington state political parties select which presidential candidates to support has long been a source of frustration. (Republicans less so — their system of partially using primary ele…
There is much about modern American healthcare that is controversial, but few doubt that scientific advances have made amazing strides in diagnosing and treating ailments. Advanced imaging tec…
With the possible exception of some high school graduates who can’t wait to put a few hundred miles between themselves and their hometowns, everyone loves community colleges. They are the Mari…
Washington's public officials — like officials everywhere in the U.S. — have an uneasy relationship with open-records laws. Even those who philosophically believe in governing in the daylight …
If the question could be resolved via citizens' initiatives, there's little doubt about the outcome: Pacific Northwest states would follow California in supporting a move toward year-round day…
As Virginia’s Democratic governor learned to his regret in recent days, a huge majority of Americans remain disgusted by the toxic bigotry of the Ku Klux Klan and all it stands for.
As a society, we have made such progress against once-common illnesses that we forget they are still around and still potentially life-threatening. The measles outbreak in Southeast Washington…
One of the primary duties and pleasures of being an adult is conveying knowledge of the past to future generations. Accomplished through storytelling, archiving records, and preserving physica…
CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT — Readers may be interested to know that much of Cape Disappointment State Park is actually owned by the National Park Service, which acquired title to most of the former U…
Questioning the fundamental usefulness of government is the backbone of some American political factions, notably including the now seldom-mentioned Tea Party. Most of these righteous skeptics…
A federal judge has dismissed a third lawsuit filed by an environmental group to stop the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from shooting barred owls in an experimental attempt to boost numbers o…
We at the Chinook Observer seldom if ever struggle to come up with a full load of news for our weekly newsprint edition — news we update much more frequently on our website and Facebook page. …
As we wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and an enjoyable holiday season, it is fitting to reflect on some positive aspects of this week and next’s week’s fresh start with the New Year.
The Trump administration’s environmental policies are the ultimate screw-you moment for the youngest Americans as well as for generations unborn. Following on the Environmental Protection Agen…
After a very sunny and dry start, the Pacific Northwest’s December is now expected to turn wet and windy — at least for a while.
Check it out for unique local news, sports, weather, photos, video
It’s time to get your flu shot — if you haven’t already. You owe it to yourself, and to protect the people around you.
Long Beach
President Trump created a firestorm — a phrase that could describe almost any of his actions — when he said last month that he would issue an executive order ending “birthright” citizenship fo…
Every year the Don R. Grable American Legion Post 48 in Ilwaco holds its annual law and order awards.
Columbia River salmon need all the friends they can get. So why is former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber still demonizing some of the most knowledgeable and passionate salmon advocates?
In Mark McClain, Pacific County has an excellent prosecutor. He should be re-elected.
Elections for U.S. House are every two years but the advantages of incumbency mean real chances for change come up less often.
“Neonic” is a word that sets off alarm bells among those who are reflexively opposed to pesticides on farms and ranches.
This month reporters from our sister publication, the Capital Press, tried to put a dollar figure to the impact of retaliatory tariffs placed on U.S. agriculture products to farmers and ranche…
A recent incident in Long Beach helps spotlight the precarious nature of coastal residents’ struggles to find and keep affordable housing.
It was always going to be ugly. The Washington Legislature’s first major effort to implement court-ordered statewide full funding for K-12 education has upset decades of local school levy arra…
Perhaps nothing personifies the late Sen. John McCain better than this episode from his 2008 presidential campaign.
Despite its factions and feuds, Oysterville remains a really remarkable community success story. Even its quarrels are encouraging in a way, indicating it is a place that stirs passionate feel…
Americans have looked down our noses at the Chinese, whose dirty air we’ve seen on television — dreary gray and brown, shrouding ugly streets in a kind of sickly twilight. How disheartening it…
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Chinook Observer is joining this week with publications around the U.S. to issue a warning about the ongoing assault on America’s free and independent press, one of the para…
If it looks like a scene from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean,” that’s because it is.
‘Beauty and the Beast’
The press is not the enemy, despite what President Donald Trump has said. His relentless campaign against independent journalism is a self-serving strategy meant to shield himself from account…
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