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 Friday's print edition.
Keep Linda Bird on UPlace City Council
There’s a big, ugly hole in the center of University Place, potentially big enough to bury the political careers of City Council members who helped dig it.
But it would be unfortunate if voters took out their frustration over the slow progress of Town Center on Linda Bird, a fine incumbent who is on the Aug. 18 primary ballot.
Two other council incumbents also are running for re-election, but their races will be decided in the Nov. 3 general election because they each have only one opponent. An open seat will also be decided in November.
If anybody on the University Place City Council embodies the spirit of the city, it is Bird.
This editorial will appear in Friday's print edition.
Fiscal sanity the winner in F-22 vote
The Senate took a small but welcome step toward getting a handle on military spending Tuesday by voting to clip the wings of the Air Force’s hugely expensive F-22 Raptor.
The vote should have been a formality. After all, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress he doesn’t want to continue the Lockheed Martin Corp fighter jet program: It’s too expensive, the country already has 141 (with 46 more on the way), and it doesn’t have much of a role to play in the kind of wars the United States is fighting now or expects to fight in coming years.
Raptors – primarily designed for air-to-air combat – haven’t been used in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Pentagon figures it could better spend the $1.75 billion to build seven more planes on something it can actually use.
What a concept.
Although four seats on the University Place City Council are up for election, only one will be on the Aug. 18 primary ballot. Our endorsement editorial will be posted here by 8 tonight.
Also, the Senate was right to vote against funding for the F22 Raptor. Now the House should agree. The military has said it doesn't want the jet, and members of Congress who see it as a jobs program in their district need to face budget realities.
