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.
Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/tntopinion.
- All
- Editorial cartoons (285)
- Editorial outtakes (325)
- Election (121)
- How we work (191)
- Taking notice (1871)
- What's coming (989)
- Who's visiting (124)
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| << < | Current | > >> | ||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |||
- August 2009 (86)
- July 2009 (91)
- June 2009 (94)
- May 2009 (80)
- April 2009 (91)
- March 2009 (99)
- February 2009 (90)
- January 2009 (125)
- December 2008 (111)
- November 2008 (89)
- October 2008 (111)
- September 2008 (87)
- More...
XML Feeds- CustomScoop
- MrSinister
- benramm
- Guest Users: 467
This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition:
With a $5 billion projected deficit looming, very hard choices face the Legislature – and the public. One involves crime and punishment.
On average, it takes about $100 a day – roughly $36,000 a year – to confine a felon in Washington’s prison system. With 18,600 prisoners in the system, the early release of some of those prisoners offers potentially immense savings for the state general fund.
This hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2003, in the middle of another budget squeeze, the Legislature gave the Department of Corrections more latitude to grant “good time,” or earned early release, to some classes of nonviolent felons.
The department previously had been able to offer selected inmates a one-third reduction of their terms, on condition of their good behavior. As of 2003, the offer rose to one-half. But that year’s legislation sunsets in mid-2010, so lawmakers will soon have to decide whether to continue the policy.
This editorial will appear in Wednesday's print edition.
Three years after a pair of Sumner kids vandalized a historical cemetery, the community is still waiting for them to make amends.
Time’s up for two Sumner teenagers who apparently can’t be bothered to pay the consequences of their two-night vandalism spree at the city cemetery.
It’s been more than three years since the pair ransacked the Sumner cemetery. The sheer magnitude of the crime and its target – the final resting place of many East Pierce County pioneers – stunned the community.
Caught pointing and laughing at the damage, the teens later seemed to take a turn toward contrite and apologized to the court and the Sumner City Council.
Now it appears that was all an act. Sentenced to juvenile detention, fines and community service, the teens have yet to make true amends for knocking over or damaging some 300 headstones and grave markers.
What's the deal with that fat new three-year contract Tacoma's rank-and-file police union just landed?
Next year, it gives Local 6 members a 6.2 percent wage increase; in 2010 and 2011, they get 100 percent of the Consumer Price Index. The arbitrator who mandated the terms decided that Tacoma's police should be paid at the top of the market, which includes Bellevue, Everett, Kent, Spokane and Vancourver.
City Manager Eric Anderson was putting a happy face on the deal today before submitting it to the City Council tonight. (Its approval is a foregone conclusion.)
"We went in at 1 percent," he said of the city's bargaining position on wages. "This is a long way from 1 percent."
But he likes the fact that there's a contract in place before the previous contract runs out – the last time that happened was 20 years ago.
He also likes the switch from 10-hour to 12-hour shifts.
"That has very significant impact on our ability to put people on the streets," he said. "It's a very very big thing. It gives us better coverage, less overtime and the abiity to focus our assignment of personnel."
"It costs more than I'd like, but it's a good contract."
In an era of 1 percent wage increases, 0 percent wage increases, and outright layoffs, Local 6 did very well for itself. I'm tempted to compare it to Detroit's hard-knuckled autoworkers union – but unlike the car industry, there's no shortage of work for Tacoma's police.
1. The Legislature’s think tank, the Institute for Public Policy, has turned up the paradox of lower recidivism when some criminals are release early – good news when the state can’t afford full prison terms.
2. Time's up for two Sumner teenagers who apparently can't be bothered to pay the consequences of their two-night vandalism spree three years ago at the city cemetery.
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.
Come to find out, the state Legislature and governor do not have to balance the state budget. Who knew?
We may come to rue this disillusionment. Take no comfort from the Gregoire administration's assurances that it's not looking at short-term borrowing. That's what it has to say at this point in the game, given that the state Budget and Accounting Act requires the governor to propose a balanced budget.
With some liberals already criticizing Dems in Olympia for refusing to consider debt, and Dems in D.C. talking up the merits of deficit spending in a recession, the temptation will prove great. Maybe too great.
