Columns

In 2009, I was working on a disaster recovery project for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. I had a General Services Administration contract and my little company set up information te…

Merle Chessman ran this newspaper during tumultuous times.

Of the lessons learned in my years working in the Pacific Northwest timber industry, the most significant has been the importance of taking the long view.

Astorians have always been tough, resilient and compassionate. They demonstrated this by quickly rebuilding after a 1922 fire obliterated 32 blocks of businesses, workplaces and homes, and by …

Unlike tsunami preparedness, we don’t have a go-bag for this coronavirus.

The antidote to Oregon’s vitriolic 2020 legislative session came in a phone call from a woman who had a basic question for me: “How am I supposed to survive?”

The Astoria City Council is looking to take steps to prohibit more large chain-type restaurants and lodging in town.

The field is set for the local 2020 elections. Tuesday was the filing deadline for candidates running in Oregon’s May 19 primary election.

‘The Twilight Zone,” also known as the 2020 Oregon Legislature, has gone off the air.

Astorians have legitimate concerns and are asking good questions about what preparations are being made locally to deal with what experts say is the inevitable appearance of COVID-19.

Thirty years ago, tribes and conservation organizations had to submit petitions listing Snake River salmon under the Endangered Species Act because the federal agencies would not take action t…

#TimberUnity is a misnomer. Climate deniers are attempting to claim the timber industry is unified in opposing cap-and-trade legislation. This is a lie.

Twenty years ago, West Coast groundfish stocks such as sole and rockfish were in serious trouble. Decades of overfishing had brought their populations to the cliff edge of collapse. In 2000, f…

Now in his early 70s, Daniel Koller should want to be known to us as a veterinarian who dedicated his life to relieving the pain of animals and to contributing to their fitness and well-being.

I was deeply saddened to read the editorial published by The Astorian in support of the cap-and-trade bill being considered by state lawmakers. Not only did the content ignore some very basic …

I started out picking strawberries for our neighbors at 6 years old, and graduated to picking black caps at 10. From then, I moved to hauling hay and working on a dairy.

Secrecy is the enemy of public health. That truism has been reconfirmed in China, where the totalitarian government kept news of the coronavirus from key decision-makers and the Chinese public…

The fleeting shelf life of fame is nowhere better illustrated than in politics. A typical mayor or state legislator has no greater chance of being remembered beyond their term in office than d…

Drive through the picturesque town of Yamhill at the foot of the hills of the Willamette Valley and you’ll see a high school, gas station, red blinking traffic light, city hall and a few shops.

SALEM — At 5:30 a.m. Thursday, the Oregon Capitol was eerily quiet.

Perhaps you still doubt whether climate change is really occurring. Or, perhaps you accept it is occurring, but think it is part of a “natural cycle” and not due to human activity. Or, you thi…

The climate change debate isn’t really about a change in the world’s climate. Almost everybody knows the earth has undergone millions of years of hot and cold weather cycles. The controversy i…

I was shocked when I heard the Washington County commission had decided to join Linn County in a lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Forestry for not harvesting enough timber.

Dead outnumbered the living on the Great Plains in the terrible winter of 1846-47 as white settlers began to spill across the West, for the first time exposing many Native Americans to dreadfu…

One of the Oregon Senate Democrats’ negotiators on climate change legislation made her position clear to constituents at a town hall meeting last week.

The plot thickened last week in the Oregon Capitol.

The name Deep River conjures thoughts of complex mysteries drifting in eddies far below the water’s surface like monstrous old sturgeon. It makes an ideal title for a novel about a feisty cont…

The book “Deep River” by Karl Marlantes is the fictional story of a woman, Aino Koski, from her youth in Finland in the early 1900s through a series of harrowing events to her later years in t…

I’ve been thinking a lot about what to say on The Ship Report about the tragedy on the beach at Falcon Cove near Cannon Beach this weekend. A dad and his two small children were swept out to s…

Last May, the U.S. and Canada began negotiations to modernize the Columbia River Treaty — a 1964 agreement that defines the way both countries share the Northwest’s greatest waterway.

Four questions will determine the fate of the 2020 Oregon Legislature. Several days of legislative committee meetings this week will provide the first clues to the answers.

Many people want to be sheriff’s deputies to catch the bad guys and put them in jail.

I’ve never been one to make New Year’s resolutions or annual predictions. Instead, in the interest of stirring the political pot, I offer five possibly provocative proposals for education in Oregon.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s draft report on the lower Snake River dams raises important questions about the future of our region’s salmon runs, energy and infrastructure. But one of the most …

“Ringing in the new year” with wild and pure noise is a folk favorite long predating the expensive and smelly ignition of fireworks. With mom’s Bell surname pumping deep in my veins, bell ring…

As the new year approaches, the No. 1 issue for Oregon voters is …

After a monthlong trial, after hearing more than 100 hours of testimony and reviewing hundreds of exhibits, some going back to the early 1900s, the Linn County jury deliberated for only a few …

State Rep. Caddy McKeown, D-Coos Bay, minced no words.

Thank you for reading this column.

What contributes to student success? Across Oregon, educators, parents, students and community members are gathering to discuss just that, and to determine how funds from the recently enacted …

Hailing from each of Oregon’s 36 counties, nearly 150,000 Oregonians served in the armed forces during World War II, according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.

The Port of Astoria burned through five executive directors since 2012.

It took a Linn County jury only a few hours to determine what timber communities have long known — state forests are being mismanaged.

Earlier this year, I was honored and delighted to be asked to serve as parliamentarian for the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners. This is a mysterious role to many people. Some wondered wh…

Despite the certainty that what we publish will never please all of our readers all of the time, at The Astorian we still continually strive to improve our content and timeliness.

The popular narrative around the Oregon Capitol and much of the Willamette Valley is that 11 Republican state senators shirked their constitutional responsibilities by twice walking out on the…

As someone who lives in or loves to visit Oregon’s North Coast, you’ve probably visited a park that has been protected or improved by the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

One of this newspaper’s great assets lives not in our building.

Oregon is assured of having a new member in Congress in 2021.

SEASIDE — Mark Hansen, a Vietnam War veteran, presented plans for a granite memorial to be installed in Seltzer Park in the Cove. The plaque will honor veterans who attended Seaside High School.