I’ve never met Lacey Crichton, 11, who lives in Spanaway and informs me her birthday is on Oct. 9. But I like her spunk.

She is an aspiring writer and artist and not at all shy about looking for work. She sent me a four-page sampling, on school notebook paper, of her drawings and a short story. “I L-O-V-E to write and read!” she wrote. “I think if you like my work 20 dollars a week will be good.”

I do think her work is just about the best I’ve ever seen for an 11-year-old. But it’s not

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Saturday:

How often do we open a new bridge across the Tacoma Narrows? Not more than three times a century, anyway. Given the historic nature of the new bridge opening July 15, we shouldn’t begrudge the money the state is spending on the day-long opening events.

Sunday:

Our verdict on Charlie Milligan’s handsome settlement: It’s another example of poor performance by a weak school board.

The latest warning on imports from China targets seafood. When is China going to learn that nothing wrecks business like allowing contaminated and crummy products to go overseas.

Sunday’s Insight

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Some of our online readers have been unable to add comments to this blog. The reason is a software glitch that allows you to comment only if you have logged in as a registered user of The News Tribune’s website.

We hope to fix this eventually, but we’re at the mercy of the technogeeks. You can register at www.thenewstribune.com.

The latest population stats released by the state (TNT story) show Tacoma’s No. 3 again, just 1,200 souls behind Spokane. But Spokane cheated.

Randy Lewis, Tacoma’s loyal government relations guy (translation: lobbyist) issued a memo pointing out that Spokane edged out the City of Destiny only because it completed a large annexation in 2005.

Since 2000, Spokane has added 1,469 residents by annexation; Tacoma, only three. Drop those out, and Tacoma would be No. 2 with 201,697 bodies, 1,266 ahead of Spokane.

So Tacoma grew the honest way: through births and in-migration.

Other notes from Randy:

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Speaking of Patty Murray (see Dave Seago’s posting below), she or whoever writes her press releases has an interesting notion of where federal appropriations come from.

Here’s how her two latest releases begin:

Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that she has provided $450,000 for the Washington State Methamphetamine Initiative.

Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that she has provided $90 million in funding for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF) for salmon restoration projects throughout the Pacific Coast region.

Murray provided that $450,000? And the $90 million, too? I had

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Here’s the headline on a press release just in from U.S. Sen. Patty Murray‘s office:

Murray Provides $800,000 to Establish a National Meth Center in Pierce County

Does this make you glad?

Says Murray:

By building a national meth center in Washington state, we have the opportunity to use our expertise and experience to provide a helping hand to communities throughout the nation. A national meth center in Pierce County would provide training, education, prevention, and treatment resources all in one facility. It would elevate the fight against meth within our state’s borders and

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The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision against Seattle’s use of a race-based "tiebreaker" in school assignments may be colorblind, but it’s also history-blind, failing to acknowledge that race-conscious remedies are sometimes needed for generations of race-based injustice.

We can understand the coolness of the iPod. But is Apple’s ballyhooed iPhone really $500 worth of cool?

About our editorials:

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to david.seago@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune’s editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email

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