Blog
New World Screwworm in here, put those Checkoff dollars to work
The first confirmed case of New World Screwworm in the United States in more than 60 years highlights what makes the checkoff system valuable to food producers today.It is nearly 2,100 miles from Washington state to Zavala…
The state is courting people who received exemptions from WA Cares
WA Cares is like an ex-boyfriend who knows ‘I miss you’ will not get the job done, so he sends something with better stationery explaining why now is a good time to get back together.Read my guest opinion in The Center Square…
How far does $36,500 really go?
I wrote a guest column for The Seattle Times on WA Cares, as the state prepares to send out the program’s first benefits. Starting in July, a small share of workers may qualify if they have paid the tax for three years and…
Taxpayers Need Transparency
"Taxpayers should demand answers from local governments who fail to provide the full financial transparency which state law demands." The following has been adapted from an excerpt of the Frontier Weekly Newsletter…
Lawmakers Consider Hiking Fees for Filling Prescriptions
Legislation that would potentially increase New York’s pharmacy costs by hundreds of millions of dollars annually is moving toward final passage in Albany’s end-of-session rush. The bill would require the companies that…
Seattle adds population by international migration, not policy success
Recent headlines highlighted Seattle posting the fifth-largest numeric population gain among U.S. cities with 20,000+ residents in 2025, adding 11,572 people for a 1.5% increase to reach 784,777. The city was the only West…
Washington’s farms are not what you think
This year’s legislative session featured proposals to “modernize” agriculture through the forced creation of collective bargaining units. Many activists and legislative advocates persistently implied farmers and ranchers were…
Only a fool or a politician would try to control food prices
Seattle’s new Mayor Katie Wilson has made no secret of her frustration with high grocery prices and store closures. She has declared that “food deserts are not natural” and that “corporations create them when they abandon our…
The people behind the program: An H-2A onboarding
The breakfast tacos and tamales were hot, and the faces were familiar for nearly every farmworker settling into the family style rows of tables set up for a recent H-2A onboarding at a tree fruit farm in central…
Bellingham follows Seattle lead on trying to control rents – it’s doomed to fail – again
Seattle’s ill-conceived ban on algorithmic rent-setting software illustrates what critics see as a textbook case of unconstitutional government meddling in private markets. Now Bellingham is poised to repeat the same mistake.…
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