Bladine: A better plan for student debt relief
Three years ago, we reported a local woman’s campaign seeking debt relief and lending fairness in America’s federal student loan system. She had borrowed $108,000 for college 10 years before, ...
Israel’s drift to right eroding its democracy
By MEL GURTOV Of Portland State University Israel has always been touted as America’s most reliable friend in the Middle East, a bastion of democracy in a region dominated by autocracies. But that ...
Look at what we’re doing to others
By SHEILA HUNTER Concerned McMinnville resident Over the years, I have felt the pressure from Blacks to feel guilty about their plight. For a long time, I said, “I didn’t bring them here, ...

Back and Forth: Nobel laureate is part scientist, part magician
With atomic aplomb, William Phillips ‘blows things up’ and puts ‘the coolest stuff in the universe’ in perspective On the coldest night of the year, Dr. William Phillips invoked ...

Tyrants at the top
Stagnant wages. The opioid crisis. Job insecurity. Climate change. Economic inequality. Christine Bader Guest writer Chris- tine Bader is the author of “The Evolution of a Corporate ...

Michael Lind: Farming's future
Willamette Valley farmers have been increasingly moving away from conventional farming, which relies on synthetic chemicals and fertilizers, and toward regenerative farming, which builds and maintains ...
Jeb Bladine: Our lazy language needs new words
Here’s a fun hint for times when someone criticizes others for being “woke”: Look perplexed and ask, sincerely, “What does that word mean?” Whatever the response, you likely ...
Jeb Bladine: Interesting twist on TML developments
Here’s an interesting twist on discussions about development of Three Mile Lane. Oregon Sen. Bill Hansell recently grumbled that Oregon lacks any site with all desired characteristics for development ...
Whitewashing history does us all a disservice
By ROBERT KOEHLER Curse that First Amendment! What were the Founding Fathers thinking? As Ron DeSantis has declared and legislated, the safety of Florida — and, yes, the safety of the nation — ...
SHUANG-YE WU: Lessons to be learned from last year's climate disasters
By SHUANG-YE WU Of the University of Dayton The year 2022 will be remembered across the U.S. for its devastating floods and storms, not to mention is extreme heat waves and drought. The nation experienced ...

Sottile: Think extremism isn’t about you?
By Leah Sottile On Jan. 17, 2011, a man placed a bomb a block and a half from my apartment building. It was the morning of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. parade, a small, peaceful march that wound ...
Molvar: Delisting grizzly bear would wreak havoc on the species
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reached a preliminary finding that removing Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears in two ecosystems, the Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Continental Divide, might be warranted.
Bladine: Interesting stories just keep on coming
Stimulating local stories abound in recent weeks, prompting this occasional column with “short takes” on the news. - Have we solved the mystery of those “booms” bothering ...

Back and Forth: Crossed paths create geometry in basketball, and life, in Mac
A few lines about the ongoing theme in this column: intersecting lines. It starts with the guy who’s become my basketball connection in McMinnville, Norm Tognazzini, who keeps me informed of morning ...

Conklin: Where science and religion intersect
Both can be powerful forces for good, but neither is infallible