Inside Opinion » Graham

Our endorsements in Pierce County Council races

TNT Editorial Board — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 00:45:47 +0000

This editorial will appear in Friday’s print edition.

At least three faces on the Pierce County Council will change after the Nov. 6 election, but the political makeup of the council is likely to remain roughly the same with Republicans outnumbering Democrats. The only question is whether the GOP majority is 5 to 2 or 4 to 3.

• The District 2 race won’t affect that equation; it’s between two Republicans – incumbent Joyce McDonald, a former state representative from Puyallup, and Jeffery Hogan, the mayor of Edgewood. The district also includes Sumner, Milton and Northeast Tacoma.

Hogan’s main issue …

What’s real reason for withholding records in Powell case?

TNT Editorial Board — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:13:31 +0000

This editorial will appear in Monday’s print edition.

Despite strong circumstantial evidence in the December 2009 disappearance of Susan Cox Powell, authorities in West Valley City, Utah, never filed any charges against the only person they say they suspected: her husband, Josh Charles.

Now that he’s dead – having killed himself and his two young sons – there’s no good reason to withhold records related to the investigation. The Salt Lake Tribune has tried to get those records, but the West Valley City Council has refused to release them.

The Tribune’s request is legitimate. It is in the public interest …

Our choices for Bethel and Clover Park school boards

TNT Editorial Board — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:29:00 +0000

This editorial will appear in Thursday’s print edition.

Compared to all the drama in the Tacoma and Puyallup school districts lately, things have been quiet in Pierce County’s third- and fourth-largest districts, Bethel and Clover Park.

Even so, voters in the two suburban districts should not overlook important school board races Nov. 8 that involve challenges to three solid incumbents.

• In Bethel, District 4 incumbent Joy A. Cook is seeking her fifth term. There’s a chance that, if elected, the Graham resident would not be able to finish her term because she could be moving out of the district. …

Roundup of our endorsements

TNT Editorial Board — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 02:32:29 +0000

The following are News Tribune editorial board endorsements in the Aug. 16 primary. An asterisk (*) denotes an incumbent. A double asterisk (**) denotes an incumbent by appointment. Names are listed alphabetically in dual endorsements.

To read the endorsement editorials, go here.

Tacoma City Council
District 1: Joe Atkinson

Tacoma School Board
Position 3: Dexter Gordon
Position 5: Karen Vialle

Puyallup City Council
At-large: Nicole Martineau and Steve Vermillion
District 1, Position 2: John Hopkins

Puyallup School Board
Position 2: Therese Ngo Pasquier

Sumner City Council
Position 4: Jon Swanson**

University Place …

Looking for homes in all the wrong places

Patrick O'Callahan — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:47:11 +0000

This editorial will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

As a reality check on hopes for growth management, the new census numbers are roughly the equivalent of a whack on the head with a two-by-four.

The still-crucial goal of the 1990 Growth Management Act was to channel the state’s expanding populations into areas that were already urbanized or suburbanized. The idea was to protect farmlands, wetlands and critical wildlife habitat – and not so incidentally, the taxpayers’ pocketbooks.

Uncontrolled growth – letting suburban development overrun the countryside in every direction – is a guarantee of wasteful government spending on a stupendous …