crosscut.com : Montana

A Seattle software exec makes sure that the buffalo don't roam

Crosscut — Sat, 10 May 2008 15:35:01 PDT

In the 19th century, tourists used to slaughter bison herds from passing trains, blasting the big beasts into near extinction just for fun. That ugly tradition is echoed in the recent massacre of buffalo in Colorado, which has also touched off a classic confrontation over rights between two ranchers. The Northwest connection: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's John Cook points out that the man behind the recent massacre is the chairman and CEO of one of Seattle's top software companies, Jeff Hawn of Attachmate. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Annals of Northwest secession

Crosscut — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:00:01 PDT

A primer of regional separatist movements, real and imagined.

A radical management plan for gray wolves: hunting

New West — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:00:01 PDT

With healthy numbers, the gray wolf faces de-listing as an endangered species. Introducing trophy hunting into the management plan has arguably worked for other species, such as the mountain lion, and some think it will work for the gray wolf, but the idea is not without its staunch critics.

Recession alert: Put Oregon on the danger list

Crosscut — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:38:01 PDT

Marple's Pacific Northwest Letter, a bible of the Northwest economy, is predicting that Oregon, "if not yet in recession, it likely soon will be." The reasons: sectors like lumber exposed to the homebuilding recession; continued manufacturing decline in computer chips and electronic instruments, which have not fully recovered since the dot.com meltdown; and overall manufacturing decline since mid-2006.

Bellevue ranks at top for places to live and launch a company

Crosscut — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:00:01 PDT

Bellevue is the top city in a new ranking of best American cities to live and launch a new business by CNN Money.com. Seattle doesn't even make the list of the top 100 such places. The survey rates Bellevue high for its low crime rate, great schools, excellent health care, and diverse population (40 percent nonwhite or foreign-born). It describes the town as having "grown with unusual grace" into a place that is sophisticated and metropolitan but not yet crowded or expensive. Apparently the survey is not aware of the traffic problems on the Eastside, though some of the comments on the site point that out, along with the high cost of housing. One Seattleite protests: "Boring!"

How we fare in the quest for academic pork

Crosscut — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:59:01 PDT

The respected Chronicle of Higher Education has just published a new report on the scramble for academic earmarks. A surprise, considering how well the University of Washington does in federally funded research and how well placed Sen. Patty Murray is: The UW is not among the leading porkers.

Sharing a sense of place when change is fast-paced

New West — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:00:01 PDT

A definition of the Western landscape varies according to individual economic, social, and recreational values. Here's a look at how our Western neighbors foster a shared sense of place across differing perspectives.

High Tex: A new generation covers the campaign its own way

Crosscut — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:00:01 PDT

Sixteen journalism students from the University of Washington descended on Texas during the presidential campaign to see what they could do with few resources and little clout. In hindsight, one might ask, what could they not?

Do we need guns at Paradise?

Crosscut — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:00:01 PST

Some Northwest lawmakers have pushed the Bush administration to allow visitors to carry loaded guns in our national parks. It gives backpacking a whole new meaning.

Our economy's secret sauce: the weak dollar

Crosscut — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:02:01 PST

The Northwest economy continues to surge, while the rest of the country struggles, and it's tempting to think it's because of all the smart folks out here, cooking up new companies. Doubtless that's partly true. But a bigger factor is the weak dollar. Washington state, for instance, leads the nation in exports as a share of state output. Those exports are booming because of the weak dollar, which translates into bargain prices offshore. Michael Parks, editor of the invaluable Marple's Pacific Northwest Letter, tallies up the figures for Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska, and finds the export totals hitting new all-time highs for the fourth consecutive year. Total exports last year for the region ($92.5 billion) were up 20 percent over 2006, about twice the national increase.

A housing slump hits the Mountain West

Crosscut — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:21:01 PST

Utah, normally immune to slumps, is feeling the effects, and a survey story in The New York Times sheds some interesting light on the changing Mountain West. In the past, the Rocky Mountain West's economy has been driven by commodity prices for oil and copper and gold, notoriously cyclical, and military spending, also fickle. More recently the economy has been dominated by real estate and construction, as well as recreation.

Blue turning red: the foreclosure map

Crosscut — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:04:01 PST

Here's a new kind of misery index: the rate of foreclosures across the nation. The rate is figured as the number of foreclosed homes as a percentage of total homes in a county. Media attention has been on the worst states, such as California, Florida, and Colorado. The Northwest is clustered around the middle of the misery: Idaho is 20th, Washington 21, Oregon 22, and Montana 36. A story in NewWest also looks at the trends from December to December. Oregon's filing rate went down 10 per cent, and Washington's also dropped, by 18 per cent.

Old Testament punishment for timber thieves, please

Crosscut — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:22:01 PST

The Northwest is no stranger to timber theft, but a case that raised a lot of eyebrows was the recent plea-bargain of a Camano Island man who pled guilty to a federal theft charge for cutting down 27 old-growth cedars in an isolated part of Wenatchee National Forest. The trees were between 400 and 700 years old. Unfortunately, the logger faces a sentence that's much shorter than the damage he's done.

Reaganomics, Election '08, and the New American West

New West — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 00:00:01 PST

We live in a changed world — of NRA Democrats and environmentalist Republicans.

Northwest wind-gust forecast for 10 a.m.

Crosscut — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:59:01 PST

The numbers on this image from the National Weather Service, which forecasts wind gusts for 10 a.m. Pacific time, are in knots. Quick conversion:

Oregon and Washington coast: 71, 78, and 82 mph
Bellingham: 54 mph
Seattle: 50 mph
Portland: 44 mph

Current weather warnings for: Western Washington, Oregon. Metro Puget Sound Regional Public Information Network with government-issued warnings and other news.

Why we hate soccer

Crosscut — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 05:00:01 PST

Will Paul Allen and Drew Carey succeed in establishing Major League Soccer in Seattle? Some suggest they're kicking the ball uphill.

Bitch-slapping bears, Bigfoot, and mystery moss

Crosscut — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 01:00:01 PDT

Mossback update: Critters big and bigger, some of which can be seen and some of which can't, and none of which you'd want to.

Time for a new backcountry coalition of MPVs: muscle-powered vehicles

New West — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:00:01 PDT

Outdoor-recreation constituents who oppose motorized vehicles need to consider the concept of 'Wilderness Lite' instead of full wilderness designations for federal lands. It means allowing traditionally banned mountain bikes but would bring more political clout to the preservation cause.

Eating our way out of extinction

Crosscut — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 05:00:01 PDT

Bruce Babbitt speaks for a strategy to bring down the Snake River dams and save our wild salmon — all while enjoying the taste of success.

A wilderness discovery brings to bear new problems

Crosscut — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 05:00:01 PDT

The possibility that grizzlies aren't extinct in Idaho presents no less a political challenge than when they were thought to be long gone.