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Longview residents are not an unlimited source of revenue, and it’s time city officials started acting like they understand that. Water, sewer, and garbage rates have been jacked up by 15%, residents are facing the prospect of increases approaching $50 a month by 2028, the local sales tax is climbing to 8.2%, and now taxpayers are being asked to help fund a proposed $26 million fire station through Proposition 1. How many times do residents have to be told to pay more before somebody at City Hall acknowledges that people are already struggling to keep up? Every increase chips away at what families have left for groceries, housing, insurance, medication, and other basic necessities. Apparently, the answer from city government is to keep reaching into the same pockets and hope nobody notices how much is already gone. This is what happens when affordability becomes an afterthought and taxpayers are treated like an ATM instead of the people who have to live with the consequences of the...

There is a particular kind of political arrogance that comes from believing the rules apply to everyone else. It is the sort of arrogance that makes a politician think he can attack a constituent, turn a personal dispute into a political crusade, and then expect everyone else to pick up the bill when things go sideways. Washington State Representative Joel McEntire has found himself dealing with the consequences of his dispute with Longview resident Britney Brown. On September 14, 2026, a judge granted Brown a one-year anti-harassment protection order against McEntire. Now, separate questions about a $3,000 legal expense have landed before the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission. For someone who presumably prefers to control the narrative, McEntire is having a difficult time keeping the paperwork from telling its own story. The paperwork is where things get interesting. Want to read the receipts for yourself? The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission’s offici...

 There are days when local social media makes you wonder whether somebody accidentally opened a portal to the 17th century. Then Cowlitz County News publishes a post like this, and you realize no portal is necessary. Apparently, all it takes is a Facebook page, a religious panic, and an alarming shortage of fact-checking. CCN wants everyone to believe Longview has a growing Satanic influence problem. Its big investigation centers on a local business owner who belongs to The Satanic Temple and people who expressed support in the comments of an earlier post. BREAKING NEWS: Someone has a religious or philosophical affiliation CCN doesn't approve of. Alert the authorities! Light the torches! Somebody find a pitchfork because apparently we're holding the Salem witch trials all over again, except this time the hysteria is being livestreamed on Facebook. The more I look at this post, the more I have to wonder whether this is really about Satanism at all, or whether CCN is trying to di...