This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.
Editorial board bloggers
Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com
Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.
Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.
Guest bloggers
Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.
Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.
Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.
Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.
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Much ado about (possibly) nothing. That was the message from Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt on Thursday about a growing furor over draft federal rules that appear to make dispensing birth control tantamount to abortion.
"An early draft of the regulation found its way into public circulation before it had reached my review. It contained words that lead some to conclude my intent is to deal with the subject of contraceptives, somehow defining them as abortion. Not true."
The draft regulations purport to underscore federal law that prohibits employment discrimination against individuals who refuse to perform or provide referrals for abortions. But the way the proposal defines abortion – as the performance of any procedure or the dispensing of any drug that "results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation" – would undeniably be an escalation in the war on abortion.
The medically accepted definition of abortion is the termination of a pregnancy that begins with uterine implantation of a fertilized egg. But under the proposed rule, contraceptives such as birth-control pills and IUDs that work by interfering with implantation would have been on par with terminating a pregnancy.
For Sunday: Fewer addicts are cooking their own meth, which is good news for the children, families and property owners who became unwitting victims of the drug’s toxic and explosive alchemy. But the shift to more potent, Mexican-made meth brings its own challenges.
For Monday: Following the accidental shooting of a hiker earlier this month, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife is taking a welcome look at state laws with an eye to preventing a similar tragedy from happening again. One suggestion: Set a minimum age for unsupervised hunting. The hunter who shot the hiker was 14 and unaccompanied by an adult.
About our editorials:
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.
