Columns

As we move into the storm season, my mind always goes back to the Great Coastal Gale of 2007.

As a result of two people filing a court complaint regarding ballot title language, Gearhart voters have been robbed of our chance to vote on bond financing on this November’s ballot.

Gearhart Mayor Paulina Cockrum asks, “A new fire station: If not now, when?”

With children across Oregon in school full time for the first time in more than 18 months, they are spending significant portions of their days with teachers and other education professionals.

SEASIDE — After a city crackdown on Necanicum Drive near 12th Avenue earlier this year, residents in Seaside say that people living in RVs have moved across the street to Goodman Park.

Providence must have been smiling when a trio of eminent Oregon authors agreed to collaborate on this immensely readable history of three incandescent figures who in their own day and way plan…

While the pandemic has taken a tragic toll on our region, it has also highlighted one of the things that make this place special: When times are tough, we pull together and take care of our fr…

Let’s dive right into the on-and-off special legislative session about redistricting. Here are six lessons.

Karl Marlantes was one of the speakers on a rainy Saturday this month when the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial was dedicated at Seltzer Park in Seaside.

I am one of 13 gubernatorial appointees and voting members of the Joint Task Force on Universal Health Care created by the 2019 Legislature. In June, we released a status report presenting our…

The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission lost an irreplaceable leader in August when our chairperson, Lorraine Loomis, walked on.

One of the small comforts of the coronavirus pandemic is knowing most people in Clatsop County did the right thing and got vaccinated.

World-class salmon fisheries like Buoy 10 at the mouth of the Columbia River, nearby ocean fishing and inland river trips all draw tens of thousands of salmon and steelhead fishermen and women…

I had just parked outside a cafe in downtown Tillamook when state Rep. David Gomberg happened to call. When I casually mentioned my location, Gomberg commented that I was barely a block outsid…

In the end, there is exhaustion. And grief.

The stories have become so commonplace they often go unnoticed.

America’s working men and women have faced unprecedented challenges over the course of the pandemic, and on Labor Day, we shouldn’t only be remembering their dedication but redoubling our effo…

By the end of this year, you might be in a new state House district or Senate district or you could even be in Oregon’s brand new 6th Congressional District. That’s because the Oregon Legislat…

Once again, recreational fishermen descended on the Columbia River in August for the Buoy 10 salmon season, hoping to hook into some of these iconic fish.

Earlier this month, the United Way of Clatsop County Board took an emergency vote which ultimately culminated in a devastating decision.

A well-deserved tax cut! Some Oregonians will get more than $100,000 back in a tax rebate next year.

On Tuesday, the Astoria City Council considered at length, and then unanimously approved, a requirement for city employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19.

Congressman Kurt Schrader wants to slow a massive budget bill pushed by his fellow Democrats.

When Edith Hennningsgaard was widowed in 1980, she could have spent a quiet life.

Clatsop County is in the top half of Oregon counties in vaccinating residents against the coronavirus.

As the upcoming school year approaches, we as high school seniors have never been more excited to return to our campus.

Gov. Kate Brown threw Oregon’s county commissioners under the COVID-19 bus last week.

If you work aggressively as a columnist in Washington, D.C., people will come after your job.

Oregon is experiencing a behavioral health crisis that is touching the lives of nearly every resident.

Want to improve Oregon government? Elect some Democratic legislators in Eastern Oregon. Elect more Republicans in the Portland metro area.

SEASIDE — Consejo Hispano is a community-based nonprofit whose mission is the equitable integration of Hispanics into the broader social and economic fabric of the lower Columbia River community.

Congressman Peter DeFazio is not giving up.

Years ago, a friend retiring from a longtime job as library director told me she wasn’t interested in leading the transformation to the digital era.

Many people are aware of the use of East Sand Island by double-crested cormorants and Caspian terns and the salmon-related management issues surrounding those birds, thanks partly to news cove…

The craziness known as Oregon politics took another twist last week. An Oregon-bred national journalist jumped into next year’s race for governor — maybe.

The county fair is a walk through the culmination of thousands of hours of labor. It shows the time, money and love local youth spent on their animals. It is also a preview of the future faces…

Anyone who works the land should be wary of proposed legislation that applies federal Wild and Scenic River designations to 4,700 miles of Oregon rivers, streams, creeks, gulches, draws and un…

Unvaccinated Oregonians don’t trust Gov. Kate Brown’s advice. But new research shows they also lack faith in COVID-19 messaging from almost anyone else, whether talk radio, Fox News, MSNBC or …

At 75, Ken Palmrose, who was born and raised in Seaside, is the author of “Out of the Blue: A Young Man’s Journey from the Palms of Vietnam to the Pine Forest of the West.”

The Coquille and two tributaries, Beaver Creek and China Camp Creek, cross a huge flood plain or delta about 20 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean behind Coos Bay. To the common eye, it looks…

Oregon doesn’t have traffic crashes.

Over the last 40 years, our family has vacationed at the same place on the beach. While the buildings have been refurbished, the complex remains largely unchanged. The exception was last year …

State Rep. Suzanne Weber’s first legislative session was shaped by the coronavirus pandemic.

The far-reaching 2021 Legislature was the most expensive in Oregon history, approaching $30 billion in basic spending.

After 15 months, the black-and-yellow CORONAVIRUS banner under The Astorian’s front page masthead is gone.

Suzanne Weber recalls when the Oregon Capitol hallways were so crowded with lawmakers, lobbyists and other folks that she had to edge her way through sideways.

The 2021 session started with the hope that the state Legislature would honor our Vietnam veterans by passing a bill to establish a Vietnam War Memorial on the Oregon State Capitol grounds.

How do we come back? When? And what will it look like?

No more will Lawanda and James Manning carry the American and Oregon flags to start each day’s session of the Oregon Senate.

In a year of racial strife in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, many Americans would be surprised at the concept of an academic police officer.

Red velvet beet cake, hibiscus lemonade, strawberry cornbread cobbler. Each of these Juneteenth delights showcases an auspicious vibrancy symbolic of our nation’s history.

I have read that there is discussion at Astoria High School about whether the school mascot, the “Fishermen,” needs to be “updated” to be more gender friendly.

When will the Oregon Capitol reopen to the public?

Think of the hazards threatened by ransomware as akin to those caused by the Great Coastal Gale of 2007.