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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Some nifty electric cars were displayed at the Discovery Institute's "Beyond Oil" conference I attended last week at the Microsoft campus in Redmond.
My pick as most practical and affordable plug-in for daily, in-town use is an NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle) that sells for $17,000 to $20,000 depending on the model.
It's the ZENN car(Zero Emissions No Noise) sold in the Northwest by MC Electric Vehicles of Seattle. NEVS are small battery-powered cars with a federally mandated top speed of 25 mph due to lack of air bags. In Washington, they're allowed to go 35 mph.
Salesman Ty Rice (pictured), who was showing off the car, said it has a 30- to 35-mile range and can be charged in any conventional electric outlet. Takes six to eight hours to fully charge, three to four to charge 80 percent.
Drives like a Mini Cooper, Ty claimed. Runs on a six-pack of deep-cycle marine batteries – off the shelf technology, so to speak. The next generation will have lithium ion batteries, lighter and longer-lived. Operating cost about a cent a mile, 92 percent less than a gasoline-powered car. "Sales are excellent," Ty told me. "Thirty of 'em on Bainbridge Island alone."
OK, the catch. After three to five years, you need to replace the batteries, at $300 a pop. But hey, you get to feel so GREEN!
Believe it or not, there was plug-in hybrid school bus on display, used in the Lake Chelan School District. The extension cord, of course, is yellow. The drawback to this one is that it costs about $200,000, compared to $85,000 to $90,000 for a conventional bus.
Coolest EV I saw was the daffodil-yellow, Corvette-like experimental model from Western Washington University's Vehicle Research Institute. It gets the equivalent of 100-plus mpg and will be entered in next year's $10 million X-Prize competition for electric cars.
You don't want to buy this one, even if you could. This baby is totally stripped down to minimize weight. Not a stitch of upholstery or seat padding and, worst of all, no stereo.
