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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This editorial will appear in Wednesday's print edition
Time – and money – was a wastin' as the parks district struggled to please its many masters.
Kandle Park, it is.
Three years after voters handed Metro Parks $6 million to build a new pool, parks commissioners have taken their first major step toward getting it done.
In selecting Kandle Park, board members gave up the dream of a perfect solution and settled for a pragmatic one. The parks district is better for it.
Metro Parks can't please everyone. What many want – replacement of the Titlow Park pool at its current site – is simply not feasible, given financial and regulatory restraints. New environmental standards protecting shorelines and wetlands would make rebuilding there an expensive – if not irresponsible – proposition.
At the same time, building another Olympic-size, 50-meter pool would certainly suit competitive swimmers but give short shrift to the bigger number of parks district residents who just want a place to have fun and cool off.
For perhaps too long, Metro Parks commissioners held fast to the idea that they could serve both groups. They promised a two-pool complex, betting on their ability to raise outside funds. Meanwhile, the $6 million they already had in the bank was losing spending power.
This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.
Bad mortgages lie at rotten heart of the world financial crisis. Turn enough bad ones into good ones, and you may have a fraction of a remedy.
That alchemy is desperately needed. Thus the brace of recent initiatives designed to let America’s most threatened homeowners restructure their loans before their homes slip into foreclosure. The Bush administration Tuesday announced the broadest effort so far – a welcome push to ramp up previous efforts to help borrowers keep their property.
Under the new plan, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would move to help struggling homeowners bring their payments down to 38 percent of their incomes. Terms would be extended and interest rates brought down as necessary.
Experience has shown that borrowers can swing mortgages under that ceiling. That’s precisely the kind of guideline that lenders and borrowers cast aside in recent years during the reckless buying frenzy that set up this year’s catastrophic subprime bust.
Rush Limbaugh nails the source of the recession:
"The Obama recession is in full swing, ladies and gentlemen ... Stocks are dying, which is a precursor of things to come. This is an Obama recession. Might turn into a depression."
The Wall Street Journal hasn't been a cheerful read lately.
Here's what's on page 1 of its Marketplace section:
• Circuit City filing for bankruptcy.
• General Motors stock falling to its lowest level since 1946.
• Nortel Networks posting a $3.41 billion quarterly loss and planning 1,300 more layoffs.
• DHL shutting down its operations in America and planning 9,500 layoffs.
• Marketing experts wondering who's going to buy those $3 million Super Bowl ads this year.
And that was just the cover of the section. I was almost afraid to look inside.
1. The broad mortgage relief initiatives announced by federal officials today are necessary to stanch the home-loan defaults and pull the nation’s housing values out of their nosedive.
2. Building a pool at Kandle Park is not the perfect solution sought by the Metro Parks board and Titlow Pool fans, but it is the most responsible option.
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@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.
Kind of puts our quarrels into perspective:
By Jeffrey Fleishman
Los Angeles Times
CAIRO, Egypt — Desert winds blow, sands shift, archaeologists dig, and one day you find a pyramid. Egyptian authorities announced Tuesday that they discovered what’s left of the base of a pyramid estimated to be 4,300 years old near Saqqara.
The site has been under excavation for 20 years and is believed to have belonged to Queen Sesheshet, the mother of King Teti, who ruled the Sixth Dynasty around 2291 B.C.
“It’s common for us to find a tomb or a statue, but to find a pyramid, that is rare,” Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council on Antiquities, told reporters. “There are probably many more discoveries to be made around this site.”
Archaeologists have yet to enter the pyramid’s tomb.About 12 miles south of Cairo, Saqqara was a necropolis for rulers of ancient Egypt.
